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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
All i can say that if by any chance this thing gets replaced. if it even so much as shows compass interference its not going up. sad but true, i mat wait for a couple updates in fact. Being a new drone owner this has been a big wake up call whatever caused it.

We just ordered the trackimo and will attach it to our drone as soon as we get it. We were pretty upset when ours flew away. We had it for less than 10 hours.


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@Linda.Ca That's interesting (3G GPS Drone Tracking Device From Trackimo) It has me intrigued. Becareful -- if it transmits a signal out (even if its 3G), it may cause interference that the drone is needing to receive because the tracker is so close to the drone. (I was thinking about something like this too)

Update: Trackimo has a "magnetic attachment" -- it may affect the drone's compass
 
We just ordered the trackimo and will attach it to our drone as soon as we get it. We were pretty upset when ours flew away. We had it for less than 10 hours.


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Linda did you end up getting your replacement for free or did you dish out the 400 ?

I cant say that im going to give the Karma a third shot if im more money out of pocket. I would Much rather save the 400 towards a DJI at that point as its tried and true (relatively speaking). The gimble had me sold on Karma, so knock on wood if im in the same situation as you were in i may request to just get the Gimble to go with my than useless battery grip. Or since my second hero 5 black is within 30 days (i ordered a second camera so i could have a dedicated) Ill return it and go with the DJI gimbles.

Fingers crossed...
 
No power lines, cell towers, or large buildings -- i was flying out over water. But the thing is, the comm link should have reestablished itself when it was "returning", but it didn't -- i'm still waiting to hear back from Support about why my drone went double-speed.

By the way, I did get an email from Support earlier today. Basically, it was a reiteration of their last email focusing on WiFi & GPS interference, but still without an explanation of 54mph. Looks like Im going to be calling support back again...

Keep trying! We all seem to have the same story so you should get it all replaced also. I called everyday to check in. They gave me no info on why it happened.
 
@Linda.Ca That's interesting (3G GPS Drone Tracking Device From Trackimo) It has me intrigued. Becareful -- if it transmits a signal out (even if its 3G), it may cause interference that the drone is needing to receive because the tracker is so close to the drone. (I was thinking about something like this too)

Update: Trackimo has a "magnetic attachment" -- it may affect the drone's compass

So far the reviews seem to be good. I'll let you know how it goes once we get it.


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Linda did you end up getting your replacement for free or did you dish out the 400 ?

I cant say that im going to give the Karma a third shot if im more money out of pocket. I would Much rather save the 400 towards a DJI at that point as its tried and true (relatively speaking). The gimble had me sold on Karma, so knock on wood if im in the same situation as you were in i may request to just get the Gimble to go with my than useless battery grip. Or since my second hero 5 black is within 30 days (i ordered a second camera so i could have a dedicated) Ill return it and go with the DJI gimbles.

Fingers crossed...

My boyfriend had to dish out the $400. We had to get the GoPro Care and the replacement fee. We were going to get the GoPro Care anyway so my boyfriend was okay with it. Me not so much.


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Three weeks after my initial call to GoPro I finally got them to send me a replacement after my karma disconnected and took a nose dive. Hands down, absolutely the worst customer service. If the goal is try to frustrate the customer so they hopefully just give up, then good shot, but if the goal is customer service they really need to get their shit together. I was told I would be contacted by the karma team within 24-48 hours 3 SEPARATE TIMES and never got a call or email without me making contact. After about a week and a half of that I spoke to a "supervisor" named Mona, he told me specifically that they had received my flight logs on june 6th(3 days prior) and that they would need up to 7 more business days to review the logs. About a week later Mona emailed me asking me questions I had already answered in the very first email questionnaire AND asking me to upload my flight logs. I resent the info and he gave me a new 3-5 business day time frame. At the end of that I had to call again and spoke to someone else. After 45 minutes on the phone with that guy, live on he line the whole time, they went from offering me nothing, to offering a replacement camera, then replacement parts, then finally gave in and said they would replace the drone. The guy never mentioned results from the "tier 3 karma team" or anything, it's a big load of bull. I sent off the broken drone and I'm waiting to get the replacement. Meanwhile, they sent me the replacement camera, and forgot to send a battery for it. Honestly kinda funny if done on purpose, but probably wasn't. Top notch idiocy.image.jpg
 
Yes I did not have GoPro care and it does not cover this anyways. They need to be real with people and put a disclaimer on the box telling buyers to only fly in wide open spaces with no wifi interference around. I received my replacement last week. After 10 days they wrote me saying they would be granting me a one time replacement. I will most likely not fly it again as I don't want to risk losing the camera and stabalizer again. Let alone the karma.
I'm sure most people with our same issue are all getting replacements!
Good luck!
The interference thing is bullshit. It's gotta be a software issue.
 
@DannyJop you had to send the old stuff back in order to get replacement stuff?
The karma drone and what was left of the stabilizer, it cracked in half and the camera was lost in the crash. Obviously they didn't want me to ship the post-crash battery. I really liked this thing( for the 3 days I had it before it killed itself) but now I really thinking about trying to sell it off and get a phantom 4
 
It probably won't matter, but once I have all my replacement stuff in hand I'm calling GoPro back to make a formal complaint, if they're gonna operate a shady like this they should at least do a better job of hiding it.
 
The karma drone and what was left of the stabilizer, it cracked in half and the camera was lost in the crash. Obviously they didn't want me to ship the post-crash battery. I really liked this thing( for the 3 days I had it before it killed itself) but now I really thinking about trying to sell it off and get a phantom 4

Did you have to pay postage to send yours in?

I'm glad you didn't have to send in your battery. (I already disposed of mine because it was damaged and didn't want the hazard around the house during this ordeal)..

I'm still working through the runaround
 
Did you have to pay postage to send yours in?

I'm glad you didn't have to send in your battery. (I already disposed of mine because it was damaged and didn't want the hazard around the house during this ordeal)..

I'm still working through the runaround
No, they emailed me a shipping label. You're still dealing with them? I think you posted your incident before I did. Don't let them ever put you on hold and keep calling.
 
UPDATE !

So i received a weird email this evening stating "we have not heard from you in a while" At first i was like seriously ! Im waiting on you guys !

After calling I was placed on hold (i presumed they were speaking with "Engineers" and when the service tech came back, I asked him what they found. I THINK they had there mind made up, but i was instructed that it was out of range of the controller. I corrected him as when i lost the drone i was well within distance when i lost it.

I was than asked where i was flying it and he asked me to confirm my address (just in case). I found later on that he googled mapped my address and asked were i was flying. No harm there, but he warned me that trees can be issues and he's crashed his multiple times losing line of sight with trees. Of course i had LOS when mine was lost so i think this was just education.

I also mentioned that no one had told me about the maps function or i would have had a drone carcass. and i was searching in the wrong area. completely. this surprised him, and glad it did ! as many of these as they probably get they would have alot more 200 dollar deductibles paid if people could just find them. To those that paid that found there's i would have too !

To wrap this up finally i was told they would be taking care of it, but they believe that there was some interference AND some issues with the drone, but they are very hush on those flight logs for some reason. I was educated on where not to fly ( i know this sounds silly for a drone, but the info was helpful and will be minded given the circumstances)

to other posters having shipping issues i was advised that they have two warehouses where these are shipped from and the first was sold out... he said i may get two packages and i received an order number while i was still on the phone.

He noted also that i should really re-calibrate the compass each flight as it appeared the GPS & Radio possibly went out. although this did not explain why it did not just Hover. He said its an extra step that will help insure the drone stays put. I think ill do this...

ANYWAYS, im happy with the results, but honestly like others a little afraid to fly it, and ill be more mindful of its limitations.

I could return it... buy a DJI, but given the customer service i think ill purchase the Care package and hope i hit something next time. I should still be money ahead as i don't have tablets etc for the DJI.

As for shipping and packaging i will update this with the time it takes and the contents once it arrives.
 
My boyfriend had to dish out the $400. We had to get the GoPro Care and the replacement fee. We were going to get the GoPro Care anyway so my boyfriend was okay with it. Me not so much.


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Ill be buying the Care as well. although not force-ably. That is very interesting that they would make you buy it. It would seem that the replacement cost is usually 400, but i assumed 200 for the camera 200 for the drone etc. Insurance should always be optional IMHO, this guy is buying it after what happened.
 
Ill be buying the Care as well. although not force-ably. That is very interesting that they would make you buy it. It would seem that the replacement cost is usually 400, but i assumed 200 for the camera 200 for the drone etc. Insurance should always be optional IMHO, this guy is buying it after what happened.

It was a better deal to get the GoPro Care $200 and pay for the replacement fee $200. We would at least have another replacement if it crash or something else happens. They did offer the $400 deal before the supervisor offer the GoPro Care + replacement fee. GoPro Care only covers for 2 crashes.


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@photoguy0126 Can you elaborate on "I was educated on where not to fly". Im curious what they are telling you.

In regards to the "we have not heard from you in a while" email -- yeah, those are robo messages. If you don't respond in 5 days, they'll close the ticket.

In regards to my case: I finally got a Supervisor. She said on Monday that she's going to look into my case, then call me back on Tuesday. She didn't. They are still trying to blame me for RF and GPS interference. Even after I pointed out that the telemetry from the recovered video shows the GPS track appears to be fully intact.

I'm serious considering reporting my case to the Consumer Product Safety Commission to express my concern that GoPro has a serious safety issue with their drones (a drone that exceeds the stated max speed and is uncontrollable while doing so) and don't care to listen to their users reporting such issues.

At this point, I think I am going to ask for a full refund -- why ask for a replacement if they can't even explain the breaches of the 3 safeguards (RTH, Land In Place, max speed), let alone promise that those issues won't reoccur. They sure in the hell don't take my report of 54mph runaway with any credence.
 
@photoguy0126 Can you elaborate on "I was educated on where not to fly". Im curious what they are telling you.

In regards to the "we have not heard from you in a while" email -- yeah, those are robo messages. If you don't respond in 5 days, they'll close the ticket.

In regards to my case: I finally got a Supervisor. She said on Monday that she's going to look into my case, then call me back on Tuesday. She didn't. They are still trying to blame me for RF and GPS interference. Even after I pointed out that the telemetry from the recovered video shows the GPS track appears to be fully intact.

I'm serious considering reporting my case to the Consumer Product Safety Commission to express my concern that GoPro has a serious safety issue with their drones (a drone that exceeds the stated max speed and is uncontrollable while doing so) and don't care to listen to their users reporting such issues.

At this point, I think I am going to ask for a full refund -- why ask for a replacement if they can't even explain the breaches of the 3 safeguards (RTH, Land In Place, max speed), let alone promise that those issues won't reoccur. They sure in the hell don't take my report of 54mph runaway with any credence.

@McToddy

So the Elaboration of the education i was informed seemed a little on the (hey we don't want this happening again, and next time you wont be so lucky)

I flew in front of my home. residential. So of course i got the speech on RF interference which included. stay away from power lines, Maintain LOS at all times, and even do not fly too close to trees. In one specific example he stated that if you were to be inside of a football size field and there was a dome... He would not recommend flying it as it could interfere. He would not reference the DJI but at one point said that even their competitor is not immune to these issues. He recommended calibrating the compass each time. This info was given both voluntarily and upon further probing on my part. I REALLY wish i was given the last images from the camera, because im sure they could tell a story.

I probed as much as i could to get info, but it seemed they were not going to release any statistical or data information from my logs or perhaps they simply had nothing to share... I do not think i was any special case, i think either they had limited Data on the issue or, and i strongly believe it was when i advised him that i called for the last known location. His reaction seemed to be inline with my disbelief that someone had not shown me this when i had asked.

So much so that he said "OH ! so if we had given you this information it may not have been a lost drone case ?" I said of course ! I mapped my trajectory and from where i lost connection it would have been in the street for all to see assuming it had some thrust ! 3 days and a dishonest individual is all it takes.

I did find out that i was not speaking with the same individual from my first call, and I do not think i was talking to a first level agent honestly. He would place me on hold, said he was looking at the data... and as mentioned a couple times in this thread he advised me that he was "taking over the case" from this point. He also told me he google mapped my home and was seeing everything i was referencing, and where i had been looking.

It was not for almost 5 minutes into the phone call that i was told they were going to replace it. In fact the whole call i was damn nervous and correcting him on things, as i thought for sure he was trying to find a polite way to say "open your wallet."

One thing is for sure though, you have much more data than i ever had. I never knew speed or anything, and i agree that this thing has no business going that speed out of control(scary)

I wish i knew more about their process, but i think they are keeping it tight lipped for disclosure purposes as i bet alot of these drones go down with user error on a daily basis. Yours with as much data as you have i would think they would do something. I have had mine only a month which may have played into the equation.

My firm argument the entire time was the Maps function, had i not called the day of the incident and asked about the last known location i do not think i would have been given leniency. That should have been in the email they sent with directions on how to send flight logs. It was a blatant waste of my time looking and calling for something when it was in the menus the whole time and asked for on two separate occasions. It must have been noted that i was perturbed by this.

I have the option to return mine as well as its was purchased Via AMAZON its a tough call... Ill be out hundreds more to get into DJI and i wont have my hand held gimble. I think its all going to be on how well this new unit flys. My first drone seemed error free in all respects. These images were taken by a MASSIVE power structure and i never had issues flying underneath lines etc. Im the little Jeep in the left hand corner standing literally underneath power lines, the second image im directly over the lines (whoops)

Needless to say this wont be happening again... but i never lost ANYTHING not one blip of the screen. Hoping this is an isolated incident

KARMA-0059.jpg KARMA-0060.jpg
 
As a future reference for anyone that has a runaway drone, try and take pictures of your controller screen with your cell phone. My pic (posted earlier in this thread) shows the general area of the last image (which I used to help locate my crashed karma), but more importantly, it shows the "no GPS" status, and speed (50+ mph in my case) -- I submitted this pic to GoPro as part of my claim.

Also, you may want to put your phone # on the drone in addition to your FAA Reg#, as it will make it easier for a finder to contact you.

By the way, I think the No GPS runaways is relating to something with the updated v1.5 FW -- I got a "no GPS" alert once when I had v1.0 FW, but I still had control of the drone.

Lastly, I think this may be a wide spread issue (considering the inputs posted here) and GoPro may be a bit overwhelmed on the support backlog.

This happen to me on 6-3-2017 with my Karma drone. It lost gps signal after hovering at 150 ft and took off uncontrollable and lost the drone in wooded / swamp area. Call Karma support to report the incident and asked to upload flight logs to them. I purchased the GoPro care for Karma when brought the drone. I seemed that the GoPro care plan is bullshit and they are telling me it will not cover the list of my Karma drone. This was caused by a software / hardware issues on GoPro part and should be a major concern by their engineers and upper management to fix and care for the sales purchase by customers.


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hi @photoguy0126 -- Sorry for lagging getting back to you... just been really busy. Im really short on time but will post this quick update. on 6/26, contacted Support and was able to speak to a supervisor. I stressed how I see GoPro's lack of interest in a case where a drone failed to comply with three safeguards in the event of lost of contact with the controller (failed to return to home, failed to land in place, and failed to stay within max speed of 20mph). I also expressed how fortunate I was that my runaway didn't hit / injure anyone. I pointed out the fact that not once has any member of the support staff (8 calls at that point) has expressed any concern if bystanders may have been injured during the runaway event. I said that GoPro really needs to examine this event to find the root cause of the lost control (more specifically, lack of regaining control) /speed breach because if they don't they can be held liable for ignoring an known and now reported flaw. The supervisor said she was going call me back, but never did. On 7/3, she sent me this ...

Screenshot_20170703-210730b.jpg

Not one word about the malfunction, the cause of the speed breach, or any express of concern what the root cause is. Absolutely insulting!

A reply to the email resulted in a robot response that the case was closed. How much more insulting can GoPro get?

It's taken me most of the week to calm down and repose myself.

Today, I called support and complained how pissed if was that they prematurely closed the ticket. I went off! I told the agent how bullshit it was that supervisor never called me back. I also told him that I'll be filing complaints about GoPro to the FAA, Consumer Product Safety Commission, and the BBB, and that I am filing a lawsuit. (I've already talked to LA County Courts and I'm working to get paper work filed) The agent told me that he reopened the ticket and that he'll have the supervisor call me back. I'm not holding my breath.

And, you know what the icing is on this f'ed up cake? Other users that I've seen on YouTube (who clearly crashed due to user error) got replacement units!

(wow, I didn't mean to spend that much time on this post)
 

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