DJI Mavic or GoPro Karma

In the first two weeks after the releases there were a lot of online discussions about if DJI’s new Mavic is a GoPro Karma killer or not.
Most of the time people just took some spec sheets and forgot that a review should also take care of many different aspects, like “what will you be using the drone for” and not a spec sheets only. This blog post will not show all the fancy specs of these drones. I’m pretty sure you have already seen them, or can just hop over to the company websites to find them there.
This blog post is about which one might suit your needs better than the other.
In my opinion there is no clear winner. It all depends on what you want/need to do, what you already own and where you’ll be using it.  Your choice might be the one or the other drone or maybe even none of them when taking your personal facts in consideration.

ETHICS STATEMENT: I have flown jobs for DJI and delivered footage to GoPro in the past. But I’m currently not involved regarding their new drones, the Mavic Pro or Karma. I use their products and for a big part I love them. In the end we use the tools that work best for us and our clients. Regardless of a brand name.

Lets see why most comparissons will get you a wrong view on both of these new drones

The DJI Mavic looks like a awesome piece of technical wonder works. Its travel footprint is very small, its light, it has lots of geeky flight modes and a 4K capable camera, good flight time, some guide and avoid features and a control distance of up to 7km. Its a full out of the box feature as long as you own a supported smart phone (more on that later).

GoPro’s Karma also has a decent, but bigger footprint, but comes in a more modular option. You are not only getting a drone but also a handheld gimbal along, which will work in various setups, with different cameras. It will offer some clamping options not available for the DJI OSMO yet.  It has no guide and avoidance, less geeky flight modes and up to specs less flight time.

So lets look at a few different situations / possible owners scenarios

  • You want/need a drone that is as small as possible, you already own some action cameras and handheld gimbals, or have no need for them. You don’t look out for a very simple option for someone else to control the camera, plus you already own a supported smart phone.
    In this case the DJI Mavic might be the absolute no brainer winner for you.
  • You are already working with GoPro’s, you don’t own a handheld gimbal yet, but it would be great for your needs/work. You will do a lot of action stuff and you prefer a drone that you might be able to repair your self and be able to order replacement parts online for low money?
    In this case the GoPro Karma might be YOUR better choice.

People say the Mavic is even cheaper. This might be true, but as soon as you look on different scenarios this might false thinking.
Cheaper usually also goes along with less features or more money needs to be spend to use the full potential.
Maybe you don’t need all features, maybe spending money on different parts is even a good and smart thing.

In its cheapest configuration you’ll be able to fly the DJI Mavic per Wifi on a supported smart phone for about 80m distance and a max flight altitude of 50m above starting point. Flight speed will also be reduced. This could be a perfect solution for people like bloggers, that are looking for the smallest possible footprint and a new capture angle.
But it will reduce the full potential of the DJI Mavic a lot. DJI also only announced this version yet, but you can’t order it that way in their shop yet. No release date announced as of today.

But most likely you would get the controller and drone option anyway. Which raises the price above the cheapest GoPro Karma offering. The Mavic already includes a camera, but needs a supported smart phone. So its not really fact sheet comparable.
You already own a GoPro? Then the added camera might not be factor that counts for your price comparison. But same applies for the smart phone. You’ll need any kind of supported smartphone to fly the Mavic, while the Karma comes with a included screen in their controller design.

In the end it really depends on if you are looking for a solution that allows to capture as many possible angles or not.
Lets say you want the max comparable option of these two drones from a hardware point of view.

DJI solution

  • DJI Mavic
  • DJI OSMSO
  • Supported Smartphone
  • Different brand waterproof action camera

GoPro solution

  • GoPro Karma package with camera or even without if you own a previous GoPro and don’t need any of the Hero5 features

So you would need to spend a lot more money on the DJI solution to get the same amount of shot possibilities. As the Karma comes with a removabal gimbal. But on the other hand you would get an option to shoot with two cameras at the same time with the DJI solution. Are you using your parts alone or with someone else?
So spending more money might be a good thing or you might have spent it in the past already. So here’s no clear winner and it all depends on your needs.

What about more flight modes and guide and avoidance?

Here’s Mavic the clear winner. At least as long as you actually want and use these features. For the beginner pilot, or in some special cases these features might be a plus.
On the other hand these features add weight and raise the power consumption reducing flight time. Now you’ll say: But the Mavic has a lot more flight time than the Karma already.
This seems true on specs and most likely will be so. But no one knows yet. To reach the 27 min Mavic flight time, you’ll probably have to turn off any additional feature. So you are actually reducing functions to maybe reach a spec sheet fact that does not talk about reduced features.
So again no clear winner
Personally I would like a Mavic without any added ground- or guide and avoid sensors and no fancy flight modes. I know how to safely fly a drone, I know that I need to be aware of the surrounding so these features are none I will use and have turned off in any other product I own. But that’s just my personal wishlist.

Cameras

Both cameras seem to deliver decent footage for its price. But GoPro is at first a camera company. They know a lot about it and offer a lot more options than the Mavic camera does.
The flat GoPro Cineform profile adds some plus for post production and grading. If you really use it.
So depending on your needs, there is no clear winner again. But when talking about a drone being a flying camera, this might add some weight to the one or other product for your own needs.

Conclusion

It all depends on what you want to do, what you already own, how good you can fly and where you fly.
Don’t trust spec sheet comparisons. Make your own list of features that you need and tick your own boxes.
In the end these are just fun tools. Depending on your case you’ll have a different winner.

Personaly I orderd a DJI Mavic.
Why? I already own a lot of different drones, cameras, gimbals etc. I will use the DJI Mavic just as a fun companion on things like hiking, traveling and not really as a production tool.
I don’t see it as a  production tool for 95% of our cases.

 

Some more?
Personal wishlist for the Mavic

  • DJI Please add a second camera operator option. Sometime getting a picture is better than none, even its not the best image quality.
    Mavic could be a cool and cheap option for high risk shots. Karma offers some simple second operator tilt option 😉
  • Please offer a white version. Black looks cool and stealth. But due of its low contrast color its the wrong color for a drone. The Mavic is already small. So even from a short distance it will be difficult to see it and control. Even worse if its in front of trees, houses etc. So please go function over looks here.
  • A camera horizon that will be level. Most of the current pre release images show again a tilted horizon. A problem we already know on most past DJI drones as of today.
  • hdmi out on the controller or OcuSync receiver to grab the live signal for different needs or goggles.
  • Full waterproofing
  • Self changeable arms and gimbal for low money like GoPro offers for the Karma.