So excited wohooo

[dronelover]

im officially karma drone member!!

Ok guys. Made a deal with someone with a gimbal and hero 5 black along with extra accessories and pelcan style hardshell waterproof case.

testedthe droneand everything infront and yes everything worked.
Camera worked. Gimbal horizontal worked everything worked. I even got. A green to fly but offcourse i didnt. Took off all props.

i looked in thefirmware update and only the gimbal was needed.

My question now. Should i update the gimbal FW or leave it be?

i read before from others having problems with gimbal issues as soon as they updated to the latest and i dont want to kill my joy today.

update or not?

Ill send pix later whem i get home.

 

[dronelover]

Also.
i dont care about garantee since i got everything used no GP care and no warranties left.
So if the old gimbal firmware will let me fly then why need to update it if not broken right ?

or. Wrong?

 

[dronelover]

Here is the firmware for the stabilizer.
Like i said. This old FW works perfect. And it let me even fly without props. Spin fast and good.

still winder if i should update the stabilzer

 

[Ironspear]

G'day mate.

Welcome to the club lol.

I have never had any issues with updating the Karma and accessories and all parts have worked outstandingly to the time of this post.

I guess it is really up to you and how you feel about updating it. If it flies fine then maybe leave it. Personally I would update everything as I have. Maybe someone else can add their 2c worth and help you. I would update.

Have fun.

 

[dronelover]

Today. I will fly it for the first time.
Then if anything, ill update the gimbal. Otherwise ill leave the gimbal alone.
Its funny that it didnt force me to update the gimbal like others before it allows to fly.

 

[dronelover]

Ok. So i flew it with updated stabilizer from version 1.01 to 2.00.
So far i see no difference in performance other than the latest version supports the tilt upwards limit.
The latest version also have the option of stabilizer calibration. Something that was greyed out in the old version of the firmware.

So i flew it. It was defenitely not as stable in hover like the mavic air that i also own but i like the ”give” that it bounces around the air. If i make sense. It had like a weight to it.

i love it that i can hear it clearly and see it cso i know where it is. I can see it better than the MA and it was defenitly have that finished product of the quality of the videos. 2.7k was way better quality than 4k in the MA.

Yes sure it was defenitly more sensetive to the compass/GPS where the compass color goes from green to yellow. My screen touches was also sluggish compared to my iphone 6s plus with the mavic controller.

I just love how it hovers around the air.

also people complain about hard landings or difficult landings. Hmmm. I didnt experince it.
I was actually more confident in landing it where i let it hover slowly til 1 foot before i slowly and gently hold the left stick tiny bitsy touch until it touches down.

tips for those that have the karma.

1.
With your camera connected to the drone and gimbal but only the camera is turned on, turn OFF the GPS and the wifi of the gopro hero camera.
Especially the wifi. Turn that thing off. It is in the manual of the karma in small letters that you must turn off wifi from camera before you drive it with the drone.
the wifi MIGHT interfere with the connection of the karma drone to the controller and will leave you no control of the drone.
its even in the phantom 3 manual.

2.
Download the UAV forecast app where you could see the KP value.
you want the value 3 or lower. Anything higher than that number, dont fly as you’ll certainly have interferance.

3.
Always always and one more, always calibrate the compass each and every flight. Might not need to when changing batteries on the same place.

4.
let the drone be on the ground before take off to lock more GPS. On the mean time, check your settings of the camera while waiting.
Hover for a while and check for response to the controls. Check for hover behavior.
if it is jerky or drifts too much then land ASAP.
move away and try again.

5.
Always fly line of sight. Always check battery level.
The karma is advertised as 20 mins but youll get 18 mins.
mavic air advertises thesame 20mins but im getting 13 mins right from the start even in 100% battery. And it only has 8 cycles of battery

When you are a bit far, start to come home manually with in 10 minutes remaining.
if you are close then 6 mins remaining come close to you abaout 50-60 meters distance. That way if anything, you can land as soon as possible.
Dont push the batteries capacity and dont test your assuptions thinking you could have the last percentage of battery life. Always be on the safe side.

Thats my rant.

moral lesson.
Not all karma drones suffer like others are having. Even DJI mavic 2 pros suffer from gps and connectivity disconnections and fly aways.
Mavic minis have problems with uncommanded descents.

If only the consumers knew all this tips right from the beggining at release, gopro wouldnt have as much problems as they have now.

 

[dronelover]

I must add this and i know ill get hate son thsi coz its not what you bought this for but here goes.

We all know how flimsy usb ports/connectors are.
stop using the gimbal with the grip. Just stop.
leave the gimbal permanetly in the drone.
Turn off drone and only turn on the camera tp transfer files to your phone via wifi.
but if you must then take camera out but not the gimbal.
That way only the camera ports and the harness gets worn out and it cheap to replace.

GP hero balcks and feiyutech G6 plus are cheap these days used. Go for that if you need hand held stabilization.

 

[Ironspear]

"Ok. So i flew it with updated stabilizer from version 1.01 to 2.00.
So far i see no difference in performance other than the latest version supports the tilt upwards limit.
The latest version also have the option of stabilizer calibration. Something that was greyed out in the old version of the firmware.

So i flew it. It was defenitely not as stable in hover like the mavic air that i also own but i like the ”give” that it bounces around the air. If i make sense. It had like a weight to it."


Well done, glad it all worked out for you.

Have fun.

 

[107KarmaPilot]

I updated all of my firmware first thing before doing anything else, it went well. If I'm not mistaken, if you subscribe to GoPro Plus, (which I did), your Karma and associated parts are covered under their warranty, it's a cheap way to assure you'll get help from GoPro. I always had the best of luck with my Karma outfit and really didn't have any problems worth mentioning. I did have to sell mine because the company that I work for requires that I fly a very specific drone, but otherwise, I really liked the Karma.

 

[dronelover]

I updated all of my firmware first thing before doing anything else, it went well. If I'm not mistaken, if you subscribe to GoPro Plus, (which I did), your Karma and associated parts are covered under their warranty, it's a cheap way to assure you'll get help from GoPro. I always had the best of luck with my Karma outfit and really didn't have any problems worth mentioning. I did have to sell mine because the company that I work for requires that I fly a very specific drone, but otherwise, I really liked the Karma.

so the gopro plus sub will let me have some sort of warranty for parts i bought used? Even those parts is way out of the 2017 original warranty?

must i have a reciept? I didnt get any of my parts, drone or gimbal/camera.

 

[107KarmaPilot]

Naturally, you'll want to visit the GoPro Website and read the fine print, here: GoPro Plus Subscription Terms I believe you are better off with the subscription than without it. You can also contact one of their customer service representatives and ask them.