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Karma drone disappears

Will GoPro replace my Karma drone and Hero 5 Black?

  • Yes

    Votes: 18 52.9%
  • No

    Votes: 16 47.1%

  • Total voters
    34
hello from an unlucky owner of Gopro Karma.....
I bought it a few days ago and in the first flight it lost gps signal and fly away....
I spent 2 days looking for it but no luck.
I open a file in Gopro and waiting for the results and their decision.
 
Was this your first quad?


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Was this your first quad?


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
Yes my first, as an owner of go pro 4 and 5 plus stabilizer i thought it was the most logic desicion.....foolish desicion

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orr
hello from an unlucky owner of Gopro Karma.....
I bought it a few days ago and in the first flight it lost gps signal and fly away....
I spent 2 days looking for it but no luck.
I open a file in Gopro and waiting for the results and their decision.

Sorry to hear it! I am still emotionally wrecked from mine flying away into some other ungreatfuk humans hands that must have found a nice Xmas present

Go pro didn’t replace mine, aparently I shouldn’t have flown it where I did...
Put a post up everywhere stating you lost it
Gumtree, Facebook etc etc and hope for a miracle
 
There is a lot of good advice here. One consistent message is learn to fly a quad without GPS stabilization. It is very different and a first time flyer who suddenly looses GPS will think the aircraft flew away when it really did not.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Finally proved it wasn' my problem but karmas.replacement is on the way.

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It sucks for sure. But, DJI certainly has their fare share of drones flying away. I wouldn't really call it a GoPro issue, more of where the drone technology is at this point.

Maybe a nearby airport gets to hack in and steal them if you fly without filing a flight plan first. ;-)
 
hello from an unlucky owner of Gopro Karma.....
I bought it a few days ago and in the first flight it lost gps signal and fly away....
I spent 2 days looking for it but no luck.
I open a file in Gopro and waiting for the results and their decision.

Hi are from malaysia ??
 
No, from Hellas

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I hear from my friend .. someone in Malaysia have same case as you GoPro didn’t replace... I just received email from GoPro

Below:

Thank you for getting back to us! After reviewing the flight logs, it has been determined that the actions of the user is the main cause why the drone resulted in a fly away/crash.

Flight Log Details:


Where was the customer flying? car park, open space.

Did they have GPS? (Prior to launch? During launch?) yes

Was there a solid connection with the controller? connection is on the good/excellent rating

Events occurred? (Auto Land, Return to launch, etc.) return to you


Please refer to article below :

https://gopro.com/help/articles/How_To/How-to-Land-Karma

"the drone flies up to the preset altitude and then flies toward the specified location. Once it reaches the location, it begins its descent. The drone automatically slows its landing speed the closer it gets to the ground for an easy landing. During the return flight, use the joysticks to nudge the aircraft around obstacles.  "

Karma drone initiated the correct procedures and performed as expected.

Based on the flight logs and information provided, it has been determined that the result of the flight is due to user error and is not covered under warranty.

Since it was your first flight we would like to consider this as one time exception and replace broken parts under warranty.

Can you please list the items which are broken and needs to be replaced along with purchase receipt of the Karma so that we can review and help.

Please also provide me with your shipping address in the format below:

Name
Street Address
City
State or Province
Postal code
Country
Phone number

Looking forward to hear back from you soon.


Many Thanks,

Azwar
GoPro Support
http://gopro.com/support/
 
I hear from my friend .. someone in Malaysia have same case as you GoPro didn’t replace... I just received email from GoPro

Below:

Thank you for getting back to us! After reviewing the flight logs, it has been determined that the actions of the user is the main cause why the drone resulted in a fly away/crash.

Flight Log Details:


Where was the customer flying? car park, open space.

Did they have GPS? (Prior to launch? During launch?) yes

Was there a solid connection with the controller? connection is on the good/excellent rating

Events occurred? (Auto Land, Return to launch, etc.) return to you


Please refer to article below :

https://gopro.com/help/articles/How_To/How-to-Land-Karma

"the drone flies up to the preset altitude and then flies toward the specified location. Once it reaches the location, it begins its descent. The drone automatically slows its landing speed the closer it gets to the ground for an easy landing. During the return flight, use the joysticks to nudge the aircraft around obstacles.  "

Karma drone initiated the correct procedures and performed as expected.

Based on the flight logs and information provided, it has been determined that the result of the flight is due to user error and is not covered under warranty.

Since it was your first flight we would like to consider this as one time exception and replace broken parts under warranty.

Can you please list the items which are broken and needs to be replaced along with purchase receipt of the Karma so that we can review and help.

Please also provide me with your shipping address in the format below:

Name
Street Address
City
State or Province
Postal code
Country
Phone number

Looking forward to hear back from you soon.


Many Thanks,

Azwar
GoPro Support
http://gopro.com/support/
To me they replaced without say anything.what was the problem and why fly away still a mystery....

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To me they replaced without say anything.what was the problem and why fly away still a mystery....

Στάλθηκε από το SM-N910F μου χρησιμοποιώντας Tapatalk

My drone problem with auto landed once I press the button and fly to me . The drone fly up at hit the palm tree and drop from the tree 3 meter high .. even the drone at next to me the drone still fly up 3 to 5 meter up
 
Hi everyone,
Just purchased a karma drone brand new from Amazon UK, very happy to be owner..
Everything up to date, first flight was great, great feelings
second flight, everything was OK for 10 seconds then my drone give a gps lost message, took a tangente full thrust and disappeared, lost connection between karma and controller, hovering message and that's it
No way to find it back.
I got a last known location and tried to find it
I know that deep feeling, powerless
It was less than 1 week old
 
I had a issue with mine when I was flying it over water a week ago. Lost GPS signal on the screen and the screen was blacked out. It didn't take off on me but was very erratic and was only 40ft in the air I was standing on the sunpad and was still not getting any signal. The drone started dropping to the water below so my wife got the boat under it just in time for me to catch the drone before falling in. I sustained some minor cutting on the arm and cut thumb but I was able to save it. The front arms of the drone collapsed when it hit me and broke both blades and knocked the top of the gimbal cover off (into the water). I have yet to try to fly it again since im a little gun shy on actually losing it.
 
Beware Karma drone operators - this device clearly has a problem, in certain conditions, that result in the drone flying out of control, in a single direction, without responding to the controller. In addition to this thread, a quick google search indicates this is a serious problem.

My personal experience:

I consider myself an experienced drone operator. The Karma is my second drone, and I have used it for professional use. Up until last month, I had no significant problems with this product.

During a fall hike to one of Ontario's highest cliffs, in Sleeping Giant Provincial Park, I launched the Karma at the peak to take a few pics - no problems. We hiked to the other side and again I launched the Karma to snap a few pics, however within seconds the controller lost connection with the Karma. This happened directly over our heads, about 25 feet in the air. At this point the Karma is supposed to return to the point of take off. There was a warning to manually return the drone and land, however the Karma stropped responding to movements of the joysticks/controller and suddenly took off toward Lake Superior.

The Karma flew at a very high rate of speed, in a long sweeping arc directly away from us, and toward Lake Superior, where it eventually ran out of battery and crashed. It was unresponsive to the controller, flying out of my control. It was lost and never recovered.

GoPro's response:

I completed a 20 minute questionaire online, and uploaded the flight logs. (I question why the owner/operator of the drone does not have access to these logs. Regardless, I uploaded everything and didn't hear back. It would be useful to know the coordinates if they had them, but although I own the drone, we are not privy to this information)

When I called, I received a response over the phone, and later that night via email. I have copied and pasted the email below:

Thank you for being so kind and patient for waiting for the flight logs analysis.

I was able to work with Karma experts regarding your case. I was able to

Logs shows Karma was launch with GPS prior and during flight. Karma system was not updated as well. It is is important to to update the Karma system for better flight experience and will help on getting a better GPS allocation which is important whenever we fly the drone.

Upon reviewing the flight logs we are able to identify that the drone exhibit PROPER low battery behavior. Log shows that the controller reached the marker and initiate its low battery protocol.

It would be great to monitor the battery marker to avoid any lost in the future. Also, your were flying the drone far away from the line of sight. When this happened, the wireless connection gets weak.
We have to consider the distance of the drone when it reach the critical low battery warming, drone reach it's limit and had a hard time to go back from it's launch location. That's why it's important to keep a certain distant when flying the drone to ensure navigational hindsight is always in check.

Unfortunately logs does not show any indication of manufacturer defect and log shows that the orientation of the controller that includes the joystick inputs from yaw, pitch and roll correspond to the direction of the drone during the incident. It is suffice to say that the drone was following the inputs of the controller and still in control of the drone when it crashed.

Lastly the place where you flew the drone is not ideally a good location. It is surrounded with trees that can be consider as an obstacle when flying the drone. In this case, any action prior to the crash could have resulted to the command prompted by the user.

Many Thanks,

Abegail M.
GoPro Support



There are many problems with this response, which seems written using parts of a form letter, and in very poor english.

Essentially, GoPro is calling me a liar, and not acknowledging that the Karma would not respond to the controls - although this is clearly a problem reported by other users.

They basically blame everything possible, from trees (which we were well above), line of sight (we maintained line of sight, and only intended on flying above our head before it flew away), low battery (after it flew for several minutes on its own at a high rate of speed in the opposite direction), pilot error (actually suggesting I intentionally flew it away from me at a high rate of speed until it ran out of battery and crashed.) It is suffice to say that the drone was following the inputs of the controller and still in control of the drone when it crashed. - THIS IS INSULTING TO ME AND WITHOUT MERIT OR PROOF> I HAVE FIVE WITNESSES

The customer service rep I communicated with refuses to discuss it further with me, instead communicating through one of their operators, who while kind, was not able to help, or fully understand the situation which requires some knowledge of the product. I spoke to the rep once, and have been unable to make any progress to speak with one of the Karma Techs who supposedly make this decision.

My guess....this product was a disaster from start to finish, resulting in a significant loss in revenue, and eventual quick exit from the industry. GoPro is probably breathing a sigh of relief whenever another Karma crashes (without injury). They certainly don't want to keep replacing Karma's and are less likely to provide a replacment, instead they will make it very difficult to discuss it with anyone important, and hide behind their front line operators.

Please keep posting these stories, it all helps keep GoPro accountable, and/or if there happens to be a lawsuit (class action or otherwise), should anyone get seriously injured as a result of a Karma flying out of control, due to flaws/bugs with this discontinued product, not operator error.
 
Those reports always scare me because I don‘t know it is a hardware or a software issue. If it‘s really a software issue, every Karma pilot is in potential risk of loosing his drone. My Karma now has about 50 flights since unboxing and it never lost any GPS or remote control signal.
But anyway - after reading about this in the forum I decided to attach a GPS Tracker to the drone. It only weights 60 Gramms an has a complete cellphone inside. If I send a message to drone it automatically replies with a Google Maps link of it’s Position. If even has microphone and loudspeaker build in. When I call the drone it hooks up on it’s own and I could speak directly to person who found my drone for example. Since I fly with tracker attached I feel muss better. The drone might fly away and crash but I will be at least able to get my lost parts and the Hero with memory card.
The tracker does not influence the drones flight behavior. You won‘t feel any difference in flight when it is attached to the drone. Photo of my Karma with attached tracker:
96DD761E-FC68-497C-98A4-6382DEBB25AA.jpeg
 
Do you have a link to the GPS tracker you got?

03A95A57-4F26-4947-8C19-2828864355C1.jpeg34BAD1D3-DB89-4C25-ABAA-E3ACA81894D2.jpeg

Sorry, no link but a photo of the box. The tracker looks big on the box but it is really tiny in fact. I bought it at a local store some time ago.

It‘s attached to the drone with velcro tape so I can remove the tracker at any time. The weight is about 55 gramms. The yellow rubber casing on the box’ photo is not important so I don’t use it. A few gramms less weight. I put it under the battery compartment so the drone‘s balance is not affected. At first I had worries about the GSM-Signal interferring with the Karma‘s signal but the drone doesn’t care. I even called my drone during flight with my cellphone. I could hear the drone’s propellers and nothing happend to the Karma. So this works perfekt for me and makes me feel better while flying the Karma. Even if it flies away one day, chances will be very good to get the smashed drone and the Hero back. I hate losing my stuff.
One feature I miss is the possibility to play a loud beep through the tracker’s loudspeaker. But it is possible to ask someone to call the drone and make a loud noise at the phone so that you can hear this noise through the tracker‘s speaker.
 
Last edited:
Perhaps a class action lawsuit against GoPro would be in line. Since this seems to be a documented issue by dozens, if not hundreds of Karma Drone users. Maybe this is in part the very reason GoPro dropped the Karma Drone in the first place. I’m livid! I purchased the Karma drone kit with Karma handheld stabilizer and GoPro 6 kit less then 45 days ago and I experienced the dreaded “fly away” issue. I have yet to file with GoPro support to supply the needed logs. I am not new to drone, I also fly my DJI phantom 4 without issue, and feel while not an expert, I am competent pilot and this issue with the Karma drone was a total breakdown in the drone. I would bet the farm that GoPro will blame operator error and deny replacement and I’m out the $900.00!
 

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