After a brief setback, GoPro’s first drone – called the Karma – is back in the sky. It’s fun and easy to fly and captures super stabilized video.
The first batch of GoPro’s Karma drones had an issue that caused them to lose power in flight. That has been fixed and now the Karma is back on store shelves – and back in the air.
At a recent outing at the Valley Flyers Club I got to fly the Karma. I found it super easy to get into the air and land, since it handles many of the take-off and landing functions all by itself.
Once it’s in the air, it stays put thanks to a ton of sensors and GPS. All you need to do is concentrate on capturing your video. The 4K video output is just amazing. It looks like a Hollywood crew captured it: smooth, flowing and super cinematic looking thanks to a special stabilizer on the Karma that holds a standard GoPro camera.
The other thing I like about the Karma is how you can detach the stabilizer and attach it to another accessory called the Grip. This is a special stabilizing handle for your GoPro. It allows you to capture super-smooth video in handheld mode.
GoPro is making some amazing cameras and accessories these days, but I still see a slightly bumpy road ahead. As someone who owns their latest HERO 5, I sometimes find myself just using my smartphone since it’s faster, always charged and has cellular connectivity for instant sharing. Also, some phones like the LG G6 have the ability to capture the wide angle video GoPro’s are known for. Still, you can’t beat the video quality and performance of GoPro’s tiny cameras and accessories if you want the best quality video in a variety of situations – no matter how extreme.
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