New GoPro Karma review

Three months after cutting off the wings of his Karma drone, GoPro offers it again for sale, in limited quantities to begin with.

Originally the Karma went on sale 23 October 2016, but was quickly recalled due to reports of batteries disconnecting in the air and causing complete power loss. GoPro says the issues are fixed and the Karma drone is now back on sale at GoPro.com and some US retailers as of 1 February.

If you’re not in the US, you’ll have to wait a little longer: the GoPro Karma will be officially re-released in “international markets in Spring”. There’s no exact date, but as soon as we have more information we’ll update.

The new GoPro Karma drone costs £719 / US$799, and comes without an in-built camera. If you want to buy the GoPro Karma together with a camera as a bundle, you can get it with a GoPro Session for US$999 or the new GoPro Hero5 Black for US$1,099.

We had expected the Karma to be priced competitively as GoPro is late to the party, and chief rival DJI already has a low-cost drone – the Mavic Pro – which has a stabilised camera which you can buy for just $999 on DJI Store.

From the photos, you can see that GoPro has thought carefully about how to make the Karma convenient. Everything you need – apart from the camera – is included in the box.

You get a backpack into which fits the fold-up drone, the controller (which has a built-in screen), the handheld grip, a battery and charger.

The 3-axis gimbal can be swapped between the drone and the Grip handle so you can get stabilised handheld shots. Plus, the Grip can be mounted to vehicles and even your body thanks to a new range of mounts.

The GoPro Karma uses brushless motors and screw-on self-tightening propellers. It takes a proprietary Li-Po battery with a capacity of 5100mAh and GoPro says it’s good for up to 20 minutes of flight time. It takes an hour to recharge, while the controller takes 2.5 hours and the Grip 2 hours. Only one of the Grip or Controller can be charged at the same time from the battery charger.

The remote controller of GoPro Karma looks a bit like a video game controller. It can be controlled with two joysticks, plus a take-off/land button. There’s also a built-in touchscreen, so you don’t need to plug in your smartphone or tablet. You can however pair the remote with a smartphone, so you can concentrate on flying while a buddy works the camera.

Finally, the Karma is also said to be repairable, with replaceable arms and propellors. Users can also specify “no-fly zones” to keep their new drone out of trouble.

Here are the drone’s key specs:

Maximum Speed	35 mph (15 m/s)
Maximum Distance	3280ft (1000m)
Maximum Flight Altitude	14,500ft (4,500m)
Maximum Wind Resistance	22mph (10m/s)
Operating Frequency	2.4GHz
Dimensions (Opened/No Propellers)	Length: 12in (303mm)
	Width: 16.2in (411mm)
	Height: 4.6in (117mm)
Dimensions (Folded/Transport)	Length: 14.4in (365.2mm)
	Width: 8.8in (224.3mm)
	Height: 3.5in (89.9mm)
Propeller Length	10in (25.4cm)
Weight	35.5oz (1006g)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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