As of this week, GoPro’s website has gone from showing the Karma drone as “Coming Soon” to “Now Shipping”.
GoPro says “shipping will occur on or before February 28th”, however only orders direct from GoPro are available. GoPro’s Amazon.com store still lists the Karma Drone as pre-order only, but we expect that to change at any moment.
Since DJI has had it’s own issues with delay after delay getting the Mavic Pro out the door, should we be concerned that the Karma is back in the ring?
We don’t think so. There’s only one folding, compact drone that hits every check box on the spec sheet. And in side by side comparisons the GoPro Karma lacks the hover and more stable flight characteristics of the Mavic Pro.
Even the fact that Karma requires a totally separate camera that must also be charged, and in review videos we keep seeing the propellers in the view of the GoPro video depending on how it’s being flown. Visual rotor wash is just not seen in the Mavic.
Since GoPro has sold millions of it’s HERO action cameras, it’s not a surprise that the Karma will probably be the go-to drone for many who already have a HERO4 or better. But that’s likely where it stops. Anyone who is truly serious about flight quality and built in tech to make better videos will be buying a DJI Mavic Pro.