GoPro battled through a number of woes in 2016, but the start of 2017 looks bright for the company with what looks like a re-launch of the Karma Drone.
Last year was a turbulent time for GoPro. The company faced problems meeting sales targets, they saw competition moving in on their core market and their first drone failed to take off (well they took off, but were then literally falling out of the sky).
The GoPro Karma drone was meant to be the device that would reignite the GoPro brand and boost their market share, so when users started to report erratic behaviour and issues with power-loss during flight the company acted fast to recall all 2500 units.
That recall was way back in November and since then rival brands have had similar folding drones hit markets and mop up potential GoPro customers, so what is the action camera maker up to?
Well officially we still haven’t a clue what GoPro intend to do about fixing the recall, but they have just updated their website today to list a new product called the GoPro Karma Core.
The official description reads as follows;
“The Karma Core is a complete replacement for damaged Karma Drones that can’t be fixed with a new arm or landing gear. These parts can be easily replaced and are available individually if there is no other damage to your drone. The core includes the main body, arms and landing gear. Use it with your controller, stabilizer and battery to get back in the air.”
So basically this is the main body, motors and other gubbins that you can use to rebuild a crashed Karma drone and get back into the air. More interesting though is the fact this listing has only just gone up, suggesting perhaps that GoPro has fixed whatever issues were plaguing the Karma in the first place.
A replacement Karma Core will cost £349.99 while the Karma drone with detachable stabiliser is priced at £719.99 and a complete Karma set-up with GoPro Hero 5 is £999.99. Re-launch dates haven’t been announced but they surely cannot be far off.