I recently bought a Karma GoPro Drone. Oh man, what a machine!
And technology is advancing so fast, I was amazed at how cool it is, and how incredible the capabilities of other drones are too.
Being a tech junky I’ve always been fascinated by the quad-copter technology that’s suddenly descended upon us. My first thought was “jeez, how come such a cool thing did not exist when I was a kid?!.. or that I did not invent it… Damn!”
It’s such a seemingly simple and obvious design that can be operated remotely for a variety of tasks and of course fun too! BUT it required other cost effective technologies to be developed first like: complex algorithms, gyro stabilization, high output light-weight batteries, GPS capability, etc.. in order to bring together a viable system and be affordable.
The GoPro Karma drone includes a controller featuring a touchscreen & joysticks, and folds up small enough to fit into a backpack (which is also included with the complete package). It’s compact and light enough so active peeps can haul it to the top of a mountain before base jumping, take on a gnarly bike ride or throw in your car anytime the opportunity arises for specialized video capture.
UPDATE NEAR BOTTOM OF PAGE: Gopro Karma Drone Firmware Update To Include ‘Follow Me’ Capability, etc… And, Where to Get The Updates!
Also, Sadly GoPro Is Terminating Drone Production Forever ;(
Really Easy To Fly, BUT also easy to CRASH!
My biggest concern was how difficult it would be to fly since my first experience was with one of those smaller palm sized units. Especially since we’re now talking about a few hundred dollars worth of machine that could potentially be damaged or destroyed in a crash. The stability of a smaller drone, like the one I have, is like roller skating on ice – extremely precarious!
Not so with the Karma drone. It practically flies itself! First of all when you let go of the joy sticks, it will hold it’s current position both in altitude and laterally (baring any major wind gusts or other outside forces influencing it). Though it does do really well holding it’s position even with some semi-strong wind gusts buffeting it.
It’s possibly the best out there at capturing aerial video. Cost is $1099 with the Hero5 camera. BTW I searched for a better price on Ebay and at the time DID NOT find anything cheaper. As a matter of fact BestBuy currently has the best price on the complete Karma Package which includes the camera.
The easy to crash part is because it’s so stable and self flying, you can get lulled into complacency, not needing to control it that much to keep it in the air – but the pilot still has to steer it, point the camera AND avoid obstacles – Karma won’t do that for you (unless you select one of the automatic modes for capture, but it still won’t avoid obstacles).
Innovations That Some Might Be Missing In This Drone
Unlike some of its competitors, Karma doesn’t have an auto-follow function (FIRMWARE UPDATE GIVES KARMA FOLLOW-ME CAPABILITY, NEAR BOTTOM OF PAGE) meaning it can’t automatically track someone while they ski, ride a bike or surf – someone must always be at the controls, flying the drone.
“We don’t think that obstacle avoidance and ‘follow-me’ technology is at a level where the customer can get what they expect from it,” GoPro founder and CEO Nick Woodman told the press at the Karma launch.
Which tells me that they surely must be intent on eventually incorporating this type of technology into Karma as soon as it’s viable.
The Cool Features About Karma Drone
The top half of the controller features a live stream from the drone (which is compatible with the Hero4 Silver and Hero5 Black), letting you see what you’re filming in real-time. Karma has an official range of 3,250 feet, so the display comes in handy if the drone momentarily disappears from the pilot’s line of sight, but I recommend focusing on the screen ‘from the drones perspective’ as much as possible to avoid any confusion about which way to actuate the joy sticks and keep the drone flying & pointing in the direction you want it to. In my experience, the only exception to this is landing manually near by when there’s obstacles around. In this case it’s best to watch the drone while you land.
The controller features a button that will return Karma to the launch point: ‘Return To Launch’ or return it to where the controller is: ‘Return To You.’
This is amazing technology! The combination of intuitive controls and stable design makes it one of the easiest drones to fly as a beginner. Unpacking to take-off takes less than a minute.
Also, the controller has a built in ‘learn to fly’ mode that walks a new user through learning how everything works (like an on screen flight instructor). Then you can ‘practice flying’ with the realistic flight simulator – very cool!
Karma claims to have a maximum flight time of around twenty minutes (realistically more like 15ish) – less in windy conditions and less than DJI’s Phantom 4, which claims 28 minutes on a full charge. The flight time window starts from when one takes off to the time it lands, but keep in mind that karma starts to panic when there’s only about 4 minutes of drone battery life left – meaning that at about 4 minutes it will give you a warning to land soon, then if you don’t comply shortly after that Karma will take matters into it’s own hands and start a forced landing sequence to avoid falling out of the sky when the battery dies. So realistic functional flight time is about 12ish minutes max, which is still plenty enough time to get some good footage if you stay focused and diligent (keep in mind that other drones will probably have similar fail safe protections, so it’s not really a negative for Karma, just something to be aware of).
The controller also features a ‘passenger’ mode which beams the drone controls and live stream to a nearby tablet or smartphone, allowing someone else to take control of the drone if necessary.
It would definitely be nice to have a longer battery life and I am hoping that we will see an improvement with this in the near future. I mean why wouldn’t we with how fast technology continues to advance? The battery is 5100 mAh, which stands for milliAmpere hour. Just like in your cell phone or computer, the more mAh, the longer the battery life. I don’t know if this is the upper limit for the battery given the size of the bay, but it would seem a larger mAh battery could be produced for this chassis. As of this writing I am not aware of any improvement in this area being discussed, but in order to keep up with competition, i’m certain they are keenly aware of this limitation compared to competitors. One could always just purchase another battery ($100 retail) and have it on stand by. I know…it’s yet one more expense; but even the drones that have a 30 minute max flight time per charge would be well served to have an extra battery or 2, ready to switch out for extended flight time.
It takes approx 1hr to fully charge Karma’s battery.
The drone’s stabilizing software, and its three-axis gimbal, results in some of the smoothest and sharpest drone footage out there. REALLY. It’s quite amazing! Thanks largely to the excellent Hero5 Black camera (I have not used any other GoPro camera besides the Hero5 Black).
Karma also has a top speed of about 30mph, compared to other drones like the DJI phantom 4 for example having a top speed of 44mph.
To me this seems plenty fast enough for someone who wants to take aerial footage for making a movie, documentary, or create lasting memories of an experience.
HD Video Requires a Fast Processor For Best Results
One thing to note here, and this goes for any of the cameras with HD capability. The image resolution is so good – 720p, 1080p and especially with 2.7k or 4k Ultra High Def, that it demands a very fast processor to process the footage without getting the dreaded ‘jumpy video.’ The jumpiness was really noticeable while panning.
I learned this when trying to process, then view some footage I captured in HD mode. My computer only has a 2.5GHz core duo processor and after doing some research on GoPro’s site, found out that it should be at least 3.0GHz quad core or equivalent, if I was planning on making a jump free video using HD or better (keep in mind that 2.7k and 4k ultra high def video is literally Cinema Quality). Even the 1080p HD is stunningly sharp but would be benefited by having faster processor speeds to keep up with the enormous amount of data it takes to make it so. Still, settings like 1080p at 30 fps or 720p at 60 fps help to cut down on, but not completely eliminate, the jumpy playback on lower GHz capable computers.
The 12mp still-shot photos are quite nice with the Hero5 and processing them are not effected by the processor speed of the computer.
One Major Selling Point
The detachable image stabilization grip can also be used for handheld footage, which brings me to one of the main selling points of why I bought this drone over others I had looked at. Though the $1099 retail selling price is more expensive than other drones which can take nice aerial footage too, it has this ‘dual purpose feature’ of the detachable camera/gimbal (image stabilizer) that plugs into the handheld grip and works amazingly well! I have used it for some very stable ground capture real estate videos. Though DJI does make a camera/stabilizer combo called the Osmo, according to a review I looked at.
DJI has a very impressive handheld platform that takes stunningly great videos too!
The bottom line for me was that the GoPro Karma & handheld Grip complemented each other and were combined so well into an easy no hassle package. Plus, i’ll have to admit I was biased towards GoPro from the onset being that they have been around for a while now and whenever I went to BestBuy, always drooled over how awesome their marketing videos were.
The GoPro grip can also be taken with you anywhere to create very smooth action videos from your bicycle, motorcycle, skateboard – running, hiking, skiing.
Another cool thing is that the handheld grip provides up to 2 hrs of battery life and also acts as a charger for the camera at the same time.
Once done with with ground footage it’s tremendously easy to disconnect the camera/gimbal unit and just reinsert it back into Karma and commence with more aerial video capture.
What all comes with the complete GoPro Karma package:
6 propellers (4 for the drone and 2 in case you have a boo boo)
Battery and charger
Case and mounting ring
Controller with touch display
GoPro HERO5 BLACK
Grip handle
Harness and frame (for HERO5 Black)
Karma Drone
Stabilizer
USB-C cable
The GoPro Karma costs $1099 at BestBuy with the Hero5 Black camera ($799.99 without camera)
Notice how nicely it folds up and is easily stored away completely protected in the padded case.
Compared To Other Drones
From what I have read it doesn’t come with some of the bells and whistles other drones now have, and in some cases the operating range is dramatically less; BUT really the only major things it lacks compared to others’ is the obstacle avoidance and auto-follow, which if incorporated into this platform would make it a great extreme sports drone too. Though GoPro cautions against flying in adverse weather conditions like rain or fog because Karma is NOT waterproof. Nor is it good to fly in high winds (note however the Hero4 & Hero5 camera’s are water proof up to 33’ w/o the case, but the handheld grip or gimbal are not).
The DJI Phantom 3, for example, has limited auto-follow functions and shoots video in HD for $499 at BestBuy. But again, the DJI does not have a way to detach the camera/gimbal and plug into a handheld grip to shoot ground footage; the DJI Osmo camera is their version of a handheld camera with image stabilization – which are very nice units!
It is possible that the auto-follow capabilities and other such improvements could be added to Karma later as a software update. In my opinion the GoPro Karma has a unique, versatile platform and if so inclined, can only get better from here.
With the GoPro Plus cloud storage service and Quik editing app, the company is attempting to simplify video production and open it up to a much wider audience. So far I have only had limited experience with this app, but it appears to be pretty cool. My video editing has been done using iMovie and ScreenFlow.
Karma Components Can Be Bought Separately
The entire $1099 Karma package can be bought al-la-carte which is both good if you wanted one thing and not the other AND in case something got broken or needed to be replaced.
As of this writing, from BestBuy the separate Karma components are as follows:
GoPro – Karma Quadcopter with Harness for HERO5 Black, which is the full chassis with the camera harness for $799
GoPro – Karma Core – Black, which is basically a replacement body which includes the main body, landing gear and four arms $399
GoPro – Karma Controller – Black is sold for $299
GoPro – Drone Propellers for Karma Drone (2-Pair) – which is probably one of the first things one might need to replace, because it’s the easiest thing to break if anything fairly solid is hit. $19.99 for 2 pair (4 total)
GoPro – HERO5 Black 4K Action Camera. $399
GoPro – Karma Grip which includes the handle, stabilizer (gimble), camera harness, mounting ring, and some other misc components (camera not included) is $299.
Karma doesn’t do anything that other drones don’t already do – although what it does do, it does very very well . As a mass-market drone it’s not the cheapest, but it doesn’t have the credentials to be an extreme sports drone either – if you want one of those, you’re better off buying a DJI’s Phantom 4 or Staaker drone.
Staaker is a fully autonomous drone for filming yourself. If you were you looking for a drone more suited toward autonomous aerial sports action capture on the cutting edge of drone technology, I would check out the Staaker selling for $1395. It features a 30 minute battery life, 50 mph top speed and to quote the company: A fast and portable autonomous follow drone. It consist of a tracker that is placed on your wrist and a quadcopter with a camera. With the touch of a button, it follows and films you automagically.
Then there’s the Base DJI Phantom 4 selling for $998.99, which has the follow me technology and obstacle avoidance.
To Wrap Things Up
The Karma is great fun to fly, and capable of capturing absolutely stunning video AND it has the GoPro grip that the gimbal image stabilizer plugs into for stellar ground footage. If I were looking for an extreme sports camera that could be operated by myself and get amazing action shoots without the need to have someone else filming me for extreme sports applications, i’d look into the line of DJI drones that are priced from $499 to $1799 http://DJI.com OR the new Staaker for $1595 http://staaker.com)
BTW, the Staaker uses the GoPro camera and so it could be used with GoPro handheld grip for ground video capture. Ultimately it would end up costing more then the Karma GoPro package which includes the grip as part of the deal.
BUT, if you want an all around beautiful machine for both aerial and ground video capture, something that is well suited for commercial use, family outings, vacations and some sports situations, then the GoPro Karma would be your huckleberry.
If you do decide to purchase one of these sweet drones, lemme know what your experience is; good, bad or ugly, I’d like to hear back from you.
UPDATE! – Gopro Karma Drone Updated To Include ‘Follow Me’ Capability, Etc…
Gopro finally updated their software to give Karma Follow Me capability; and they didn’t just half way go about it either. Once the firmware is updated to the controller (use any WiFi to update) then from the controller the Camera & Drone can be updated wirelessly.
The improved capabilities include: Follow Me(with Leash and Follow), Orbit, Watch, Pattern, Dronie, etc…
Here’s the link to update the firmware for your Karma Drone:
https://gopro.com/update/karma-drone
This is a great addition to the already very capable drone but there are many other drones that already do what this software will allow Karma to now do.
Other drones have a wrist tracker that enables you to focus totally on your activity and allow the drone to fly itself capturing your movement. Karma does not have this capability. The tracker is the controller that you must take with you in order for Karma to capture your activity.
Being that Gopro has decided to scuttle their drone production indefinitely (see article here) they may never produce a wrist tracker for those that want Karma to do it’s thing filming you, while you FREELY do yours.
When I heard the news, that they will no longer produce drones, I was disappointed and worried about software updates and spare parts for mine.
From what I have read so far Gopro has vowed to support Karma owners with the necessary resources to keep their drones flying, even though they will no longer make drones. I HOPE THIS IS THE CASE.
Bulky Karma Controller Tracker Hack
Yeah, it sucks Karma does not have a wrist tracker BUT fear not, I have figured out a rough hack that allows easier mobility while having the controller on your person so you can “SORTA” concentrate on the activity at hand rather than what Karma is doing – Though Not Nearly As Good As Having a Wrist Tracker, by a long shot.
I learned that the controller must stay open in order for Karma to do it’s thing. BUT the easier way to hold it on your person is to shut the cover and either carry it like a football or stuff into a backpack, etc…
Only problem with shutting the cover completely is that Karma needs the controller open so it can do it’s thing.
So the solution I came up with is to shut the cover ‘almost completely closed,’ but open just enough to fool Karma into thinking you’re still at the command staring diligently at the screen.
The material used is similar to a scotch bright pad and in fact a scotch brite pad would probably work in a pinch but I caution you to only use the green pad (which is much less abrasive than the red). Any non-abrasive material about 1/4” thick that can be cut to the desired shape and will hold the lid open just enough, while you grip it in your hand, will work.
Although a Scotch Brite pad is not ideal, it could be a temporary solution.
If possible I recommend the softer felt like material shown in the photos – It’s Not Abrasive At All. What is it you ask?? It’s used to cover tool box trays to keep tools from bouncing around and scratching everything up. I would normally point you in the direction of where to purchase, but from what I have discovered it only comes in large rolls. Hardly worth it for one tiny piece.
The other item I recommend are some Velcro pieces attached to the bottom that allow the pad to be kept with the controller when not in use (the Velcro attachment may not work, depending on the type of material you use for your pad).
This keeps it handy for quick application and prevents the pad from getting lost, though the Velcro attachment is not necessary, it’s really just an extra convenience to keep the pad from disappearing.
Enjoy your Follow-Me flying!
