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Will. Not. Calibrate.

moosedrooln

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New here, and new to the Karma. Been flying a DJI for quite some time so not new to the drone world. Recently picked up the Hero7 black and I wanted the Karma grip for it. Ran across the refurbished deal that cost the same as the Karma grip so that was a no brainer. Anyway...yesterday the Karma showed up. I charged it all up, performed all updates and got myself familiar with both the drone and grip. Went outside to calibrate...fail. Tried over and over...fail. Always on step 2. I get full blue circles on both steps but calibration fails EVER. SINGLE. TIME. just when it gets to the end of step 2. I've tried everything. Restarted both units countless times. Moved to a dirt road in the country in the middle of nowhere a half mile away from any power line or anything. Walked 100 yds from my truck, left my phone and watch in the truck. Walked away from the controller etc... I've literally tried everything. What a bummer. Thinking I need to send this heap back? Any suggestions?
 

mitchmilo

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New here, and new to the Karma. Been flying a DJI for quite some time so not new to the drone world. Recently picked up the Hero7 black and I wanted the Karma grip for it. Ran across the refurbished deal that cost the same as the Karma grip so that was a no brainer. Anyway...yesterday the Karma showed up. I charged it all up, performed all updates and got myself familiar with both the drone and grip. Went outside to calibrate...fail. Tried over and over...fail. Always on step 2. I get full blue circles on both steps but calibration fails EVER. SINGLE. TIME. just when it gets to the end of step 2. I've tried everything. Restarted both units countless times. Moved to a dirt road in the country in the middle of nowhere a half mile away from any power line or anything. Walked 100 yds from my truck, left my phone and watch in the truck. Walked away from the controller etc... I've literally tried everything. What a bummer. Thinking I need to send this heap back? Any suggestions?
do you have the drone as well or just the go-pro and the karma grip.
 

SurfDog

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Hey @moosedrooln - long story from my side but am having a very similar story. Here is my take...

The refurbed units must not be tested very well (or at all). I am working on my second refurbed unit (that replaced a defective NON-refurbed unit) and am hoping they got this one "right".

TIP: if they want you to return the "CORE" make sure you remove the battery, props & stabilizer! Otherwise you will fight with them for 3+ WEEKS trying to get them to replace those items!

I've been out of commission since November tying to get this resolved.
 

107KarmaPilot

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I had compass calibration issues recently while shooting near the lakefront in Chicago, like you, couldn't get through the second leg of calibration. I literally moved 20 feet away inland away from concrete (rebar) and the unit finally calibrated correctly. Also since owning and only flying a few times, I've lost GPS lock while in mid air, that's an interesting experience, the drone is all over the place drifting and surprisingly hard to get control of, hard to explain, but kind of a fight to regain control. I love the Karma outfit, but it does not inspire confidence.
 
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107KarmaPilot

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Wish I could two thumbs up that!!

I will only sell mine if or when I can determine that the bad outweighs the good. Having an out of control flyaway would be a deal breaker with this outfit, mine's loaded with a $350 GP Hero 7 Black, I would hate to lose the camera.

Secretly I'm hoping that a fellow tech nerd out there will pull the Karma apart and discover that folding back a section of foil shielding or swapping out it's internal antenna will solve all of it's issues, because it really is a cool system.
 
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moosedrooln

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Update: Friday the 26th I reached out to gopro via chat "help".....again. I was starting to get upset because they kept just telling me to wait for an email from their team....for over a week. This time I got lucky and had a top tech on the other end of the chat. Within a few hours they determined my Karma core unit had a faulty calibration issue. They provided me with a shipping label and I sent off the core unit to be replaced. He assured me the new unit would be extensively tested before he sent it to me. I did remove all that stuff SirfDog mentioned before I read his reply. Sounds like that was a good thing!
 

107KarmaPilot

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Update: Friday the 26th I reached out to gopro via chat "help".....again. I was starting to get upset because they kept just telling me to wait for an email from their team....for over a week. This time I got lucky and had a top tech on the other end of the chat. Within a few hours they determined my Karma core unit had a faulty calibration issue. They provided me with a shipping label and I sent off the core unit to be replaced. He assured me the new unit would be extensively tested before he sent it to me. I did remove all that stuff SirfDog mentioned before I read his reply. Sounds like that was a good thing!

Hey, that's great news, they took care of you like they should have, hopefully they turn it around fast and you're back in the air quickly !
 

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