GoPro Karma news and updates: Falling drones are now being recalled; company to issue full refund

Barely a month since the drone camera, GoPro Karma, hit the market, its manufacturer had already announced a recall for all its units after reports of it crashing after a few moments of use. The company will issue a full refund to those who will return their drone cameras.

Since its release last Oct. 23, there have been at least 2,500 units of GoPro Karma sold at $800 each. And last week, the California-based tech company announced that it is launching a general recall for all the GoPro Karma units sold and will issue a full refund.

In a statement, GoPro said, "The recall was announced after we discovered that in a small number of cases, Karma units lost power during operation. We are investigating the issue and working in close coordination with the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission and the Federal Aviation Administration."

Before the recall announcement, GoPro Karma users have posted raw videos of how their drone cameras crashed badly after only a few minutes if being up in the air in a good weather. One GoPro Karma owner and YouTube user Steve Budnick posted a four-minute video of his drone crashing last Nov. 2 and said in the description box, "Flying in perfect weather, no winds. Took off from flat surface (baseball field). Tried out orbit feature that worked well. Motor made odd sound while descending and crashed."

In the same GoPro statement about the recall, they are asking all their customers to return even the GoPro Karma units that seem to be working fine.

To get the refund, customers will only need to bring back the drone cameras to the GoPro stores or partner retail stores where they bought it. For anyone who bought via Best Buy's online store, they can return it via Best Buy's physical stores while for those who ordered through GoPro's online store, the company wants them to contact online support.

GoPro also clarified that HERO5 Black and Karma Grip items that were individually bought are not affected by the recall. However, if a customer bought the mentioned products as bundled offers, they will have to return all of it with the Karma drone camera to get the full refund. The company does not offer an exchange of product upon return of GoPro Karma.