The long awaited GoPro drone is finally here! GoPro has announced the Karma at Photokina 2016, and first impressions are pretty spectacular.
Initial images we saw of the Karma earlier in the year showed what looked to be a drone that followed the pretty standard quadcopter design. It does however differ in as far as the camera, which is of course a GoPro Hero 5, is on a front mounted gimbal.
The reason for this quickly becomes apparent as you delve into what this drone is and how it differs from anything that has been before. The Karma appears to be a mash-up of all the best parts of consumer drones at one incredible price.
The gimbal is designed to be removable, much like the system employed by the Yuneec drones, it’s simply unlocks from the front of the karma and then directly into the Karma griop. The design of the system is a little familiar as mentioned the Yuneec Typhoon features a camera that can be removed and then used as a handheld stabilzer, but here the design is far more refined. It is closer to DJI’s OSMO and X3 / X4 cameras that can be removed from the Inspire 1 and connected direct to the OSMO.
Here it’s on a drone that is a fraction of the price of the Inspire 1 although with the price of a GoPro Hero 5 added it does work out as quite a bit more than an OSMO.
The design of the drone itself is exceptionally clever and GoPro have gone for a folding design that enables it to pack up small. They even have a very stylish bag ready to go that fits the new drone and gimbal. The design of the drone and backpack show that the GoPro drone is actually quite unique in a rapidly filling market. It, as with the GoPro Hero cameras has been designed to go with you.
Likewise the controller which is usually one of the largest aspects of a drone also arrives in miniature, and in a very neat fold out design. This controller features the usual two stick layout and the flip over lid has a small screen. This screen enables you to get a live display showing information from your drone as well as an all important live view.
The Karma will inevitably have a few intelligent flight modes but I have yet to see full details of these. I’ll bring you an update as soon as I hear.
The price for the GoPro Karma is set at £719 / $799 and will include all accessories, but you will need to buy a GoPro Hero 4, 5 or 5 Session to capture video.
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