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Help me pick between Karma and Mavic Pro

gee whiz

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I want a drone but I am stuck between these two. I am loyal to go pro and want the Karma for everything it comes with, but seeing that it only has 15 flight time and is noisier than other drones bothers me. Batteries are 100 bucks to fly 15 minutes? Besides that, Karma is my first choice. Mavic Pro is smaller, more portable, 27 minute flight time, has sensors, more quiet and same price. Biggest difference is you can't disconnect camera from Mavic and use it by itself like Karma. The footage I have seen from both looks about the same. Y'all help me decide!
 
I want a drone but I am stuck between these two. I am loyal to go pro and want the Karma for everything it comes with, but seeing that it only has 15 flight time and is noisier than other drones bothers me. Batteries are 100 bucks to fly 15 minutes? Besides that, Karma is my first choice. Mavic Pro is smaller, more portable, 27 minute flight time, has sensors, more quiet and same price. Biggest difference is you can't disconnect camera from Mavic and use it by itself like Karma. The footage I have seen from both looks about the same. Y'all help me decide!

I think the answer depends both on your budget, and on what you plan to do with your drone. I know they both seem to cost the same, but the Karma and the Mavic Pro are not an apples to apples comparison.

The Mavic Pro is just a drone. It’s a great drone, but that is all it is. If you plan a trip to Hawaii, you might get some fantastic drone shots. But if you want POV shots riding a bike down a volcano, surfing, snorkeling, or swimming under a waterfall good luck! With the Karma package of a drone, action camera and gimbal, you can get fantastic photo and video of all these activities at a reasonable price point.

There is a trade-off in quality of the drone, and weight and portability of the entire package, and that is why I mentioned budget. If you can afford to purchase these things seperately you might appreciate the quality of the Mavic over the Karma Drone. The Mavic will weigh less, take up less space in your pack, stay up in the air longer, and theoretically suffer less from connectivity issues. Plus, If you crash it while on vacation in Hawaii, you would just be out a drone, not your drone, gimbal, and action camera.

I personally love the Karma, but not when I’ve been hiking with it strapped to my back for 10+ Miles, lol. If you were wandering around Hawaii, 5+ Miles a day is not unrealistic. You could throw the Mavic in a day pack and forget about it. Definately not the case with the Karma!

I think the Karma package is a good budget concious decision, but I wouldn’t knock someone that purchased their action camera, gimbal, and drone separately. The Mavic Pro is an especially good deal right now, given that the Mavic Pro II might be just around the corner. The Mavic Air seems like a great little drone as well.
 
Let me just add that the Karma grip was just an after thought. Before I purchased the Karma I would never have considered spending $300 bucks on a gimbal. Once I used it, I can’t imagine life without it! I only have the Hero 5, but image stabilization, and auto horizon correction are a dream!
 
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You should also look at the DJI air, it actually has better video quality than the Maverick and is cheaper. I like my Karma, but it does have some limitations.

I get about 17-20 minutes from a full charged battery.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
 
I've had 2 karmas and both lost gps and crashed out of control.
Both were replace by GoPro no problems but I'm swapping to DJI. I just ordered the air.
As said above. The best thing about the karma is the grip. But there are other solutions for that out there too.
 
I own KARMA, Mavic Pro, Mavic Air, Tello & former Spark & Solo. All great drones for what they do best. I still love my Karma in many ways. I can get it up and flying from backpack to air in one minute!, I love the integrated controller. I LOVE the Karma Grip so having that as a package is crazy cool. PLUS now you can shoot 4k/60 from the air or 1080/240 which cannot be done with Pro or Air. Last;y you can get great deals on Karma.

HAVING SAID ALL THIS - The MP is my fav at moment, I love long battery, the connection is solid plus I can use my DJI Goggles which are incredible.

My air is pretty new but I am really enjoying it too, the auto modes are amazing.

The Karma + grip is most versatile and really fun to fly -- you cant go wrong with any of your choices.
 
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Once again the Karma is a photographic survey unit and has the stability of a rock with a good GPS connection. It is a great machine but, don't push the flying time envelope. Plan your flight path ahead of time. I work on a ten minute flight pattern. I hope to be flying in Nova Scotia at the end of April, doing a couple of property surveys for family.
 
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It's pretty windy where I live and the KARMA just handles it incredibly well. That was important for me.
 
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