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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
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!

I would bet you are right about the likely results of a claim to Gopro Support..and unlike with the Phantom...You aren't going to find independent analysis that can confirm or deny what they are telling you. Still...even if you plan class action, I would recommend that you file a claim with them...because you can't sue them for something they didn't tell you. Who knows...they might surprise us both. I have seen them acknowledge a problem with the drone and offer a full replacement. For all we know...it could have been a QA issue with the stabilizer.

The Karma is no Phantom 4. It uses a different radio frequency much closer to the Spark than the Phantom. It is highly susceptible to electronic interference in comparison to other drones. it also solely relies on GPS for positioning. if you are flying in an area with electronic interference, and you lose GPS, it will quickly drift away in the slightest breeze. Lose connection to the controller too...and RTH doesn't know where to find you...

Best of luck in whatever you decide.
 
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Wow, I thought I was alone in a fly off! GoPro has decided to replace the complete core. The only thing that survived the crash was my Hero 7 Black and the controller.

It hit a neighbors brick house a block away so hard the battery was crushed.

442

443
 
I am returning my Karma due to the same thing but I found my drone. This seems to be happening alot and luckily I bought mine through Amazon and they are refunding my money. Gopro wont return calls and customer service sucks!!! I bought the procare and I guess im out $160 on it. Sorry about your loss. Seems like this company got into something they do not understand. Im done with gopro!!!!
GoPro karma care will refund your money based on time you've had I got refunded 114 dollars based on 13 months of Karma care. My camera got so hot after not coming on with multiple batteries .they wanted me to look in battery compartment for serial number that I couldn't see. Called Amazon where purchased they refunded all my money. Went got used drone like brand new. If only GoPro treated customers like Amazon they'd be better off financially on their drone market.
 
Wow, I thought I was alone in a fly off! GoPro has decided to replace the complete core. The only thing that survived the crash was my Hero 7 Black and the controller.

It hit a neighbors brick house a block away so hard the battery was crushed.

A quick update. After sending flight logs and pictures of every SN on the drone and other identifiable parts my new drone has shipped. Being a Plus member worked for me thus far.
 
A quick update. After sending flight logs and pictures of every SN on the drone and other identifiable parts my new drone has shipped. Being a Plus member worked for me thus far.
Depending on the logs - you might not even have to be a Plus member. I wasn't.
 
Depending on the logs - you might not even have to be a Plus member. I wasn't.
If the flight logs were anything like the recorded video you are spot on. This drone looked like it was possessed once it lost GPS then said signal lost....
 
@robertmcginily and @seadonky -- can you provide more insight about your experience with customer support?

My Karma did a runaway this past Sunday.

I was flying out over water (0.3 miles according the recovered telemetry) when the Karma lost GPS. I started arcing it back to shore when the Karma started going nuts -- it dropped in elevation (from about 50 feet to "7 feet") and almost hit the water. The Karma was then able to climb but started to accelerate crazy fast -- hitting 54mph at 1.2G's. (In the past month and a half of flying the Karma, I've only been able to get it to about 20mph. I haven't flown in Sport Mode, and I don't think I will).
View attachment 25
As a point of reference, that orange horizontal line on speed chart (lower right) was 17-20 mph before runway started.

As the Karma approached the shoreline, the controller started to loose signal as I could not control the direction or speed -- I could control the yaw as I was able to rotate the Karma to point at my general area as it flew by.

The screen at some point went black and then said something like "Karma will autoland in 3:00" (and did a 3 minute count down). That's when started my hunt for the lost Karma. (I had a general idea of what direction to head on foot.) After the 3 minute countdown completed, the last image from the camera showed up, which helped me to narrow down the final position ...
View attachment 26

It took me about 10-15m to locate the end-point based upon the last image my controller displayed. Apparently, it clipped a tree before it came down onto a building. Some kids saw the Karma hit the tree and the subsequent fall -- they were in the act of retrieving the Karma when I got on site (about 1500 feet from launch).

Everything was damaged, but the SD card survived.
View attachment 27
In any case, this runaway was not my fault -- especially the 54MPH part!!! I want to make a claim with GoPro for a replacement, despite not having the GoPro Care.

Any insight about how to deal with customer care is greatly appreciated. (Did you have to send in any damaged parts? Did you have to sign an NDA? Did you have GoPro Care or not).

I know I'll have to upload a flight log (I have no problem with that), but I want to setup Wireshark first so I can capture IP packets from the controller to GoPro. I'd like to see what gets transferred, and thus far, I haven't heard of anyone being able to capture flight logs or decipher the .SES files on the SD card.

By the way, here's the firmware levels of my gear (applied on 4/23 -- i took pics during the update process. Sounds a little OCD, but at least I have a record of the updates and the change log that was displayed on the controller before the apply)
-- Hero5 : v2.00
-- Karma Stabilizer: v1.50
-- Karma Drone: v1.50
-- Karma Controller: v1.50

I don't know if the runaway was due to v1.50 updates per se, or something more intrenched from v1.00 that still needs to be resolved.

Thx in advanced.

mine just tumbled stright down 45 sec after launched hitting a building and a tree along the way. luckily, no one got hurt and the memory card survived leaving me with just a controller and a microSD. it was very gloomy.

I contacted gopro thru the provided channel and clearly reported the incident using their forms and waited almost forever for their reply. the communications went back and forth for 2 months and in the end, the replaced my drone. id have to say, they kept their promises.

here is the thing tho, i bought mine at Bestbuy near Atlanta area (early 2018)during my traveling. however, the crash happened in Bangkok, Thailand 10 weeks after. Gopro dont have an office (just resellers) in Thailand so repair or parts are not available. The nearest gopro office is in Singapore and they dont deal with replacements. a small team of Gopro reps. that was handling my case managed to get me one unit sent from New Zealand. i didn't expect to get anything under my circumstances but the whole thing was done Right and i still fly Karma today thanks to that team of Reps.

i did found out the cause of the crash from gopro ,it was a "software error"

yes, that was it nothing more....well, good luck with your verture and be safe.
 
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