GoPro is recalling its Karma drone

GoPro is recalling its Karma drone(theverge.com)

60 points by kevinbluer 9 years ago | 12 comments

huffpopo 9 years ago |

The stock fell from $85 to $10. At around ~$60 the CEO sells ~$180M in stock to buy a yacht. This may sound stupid to most people but consider this. While yachts depreciate they depreciate less that GoPro stock, which the CEO could have known. CEOs need an excuse to sell large chunks of stock. And given that GoPro is* being sued for grossly misrepresenting projections the CEO can make plausible case that he believed in his own projections no matter how outlandish - because after all he bought a yacht. So while a yacht may look like a ridiculous waste of money, it can actually be a very smart investment.

*or was, I don't keep that close of an eye on them.

olex 9 years ago |

This is not looking good for GoPro at all. The Karma hasn't had really good reviews from the very start, and once DJI released the Mavic it basically lost all chances of grabbing a significant portion of the market. Now this is adding to the injury.

sschueller 9 years ago | |

Yes exactly.

When I first saw the karma I was intrigued especially because of the removable gimbal but then DJI announced the Mavic Pro and it is just generations ahead of the Karma even thought the gimbal is fixed.

Karma doesn't have any of the flight intelligence that the Mavic has which is very disappointing.

grosbisou 9 years ago | |

It's dramatic... Wasn't the drone their come back strategy?

totalZero 9 years ago | | |

I saw it as a way to show off their brand, the same way that car companies have race teams. A bunch of cool GoPro videos on YouTube, drone displays in stores, etc. But they undersold even the conservative sales figure needed to accomplish that marketing goal. Now it seems they have abandoned it entirely (at least for the time being).

yabatopia 9 years ago |

I'm surprised by the low number. Of course, it makes it easier for a recall, but 2,500 sold Karmas seems like a very disappointing launch for a new GoPro product category. Or maybe drones are less popular than I thought.

kawsper 9 years ago | |

I have built my own drone, for racing, but also for toying with soldering, electronics and repairability, but I also follow the commercial offerings. Most of my friends are getting a DJI Mavic, even though they already own GoPro cameras for their quadcopters.

A Karma will cost you, if you already own a suitable GoPro, $800. If you don’t already have a GoPro that fits the Karma, you can get the Karma bundled with either a Hero5 Session for $1,000 or a Hero5 Black for $1,100.

That includes the drone, the stabilisation gimbal rig, the remote, and the padded backpack.

In comparison a DJI Mavic Pro is $999.

They were beaten by DJI that launched a week after them, and people are more interested in the Mavic, that combined with them not having shipped a whole lot of them (they are even canceling orders now because of this issue) is why you see such low sale figures.

POTUS 9 years ago | |

I believe about 1 million consumer drones were sold during last year's holiday season. So I would call that moderately popular and 2,500 doesn't seem a lot of units in that regard.

ljf 9 years ago | | |

1 million is good but I wonder how many fall into the the Hubsan x4 category - small 'fun' drones - some have FPV cameras, but most either have a fix recording camera or none.

How many 'prosumer' drones sold, do you know?

bpicolo 9 years ago | |

Seems like an extremely saturated market.

TaylorGood 9 years ago |

Why did they have to go public? Had they not, their bio would read like:

GoPro. A private company with a cool brand and strong following which sells versatile cameras, is testing out a drone and makes millions along the way.

Of course, not every IPO leads to warmth and smiles but for this company in particular it has seemed like such a burden.