GoPro Karma drone price rise for UK customers after recall

Image taken from gopro.com

GoPro’s Karma drone is back in stock in the UK store, though the news of the GoPro Karma drone returning to the UK market is not all good. In its time away it has increased in value by about 10% for customers in the UK. This will come as no surprise to some, as article 50 is triggered today and since the Brexit vote UK prices on electronics have been exceptionally high.

One of the better parts of the GoPro Karma launch for UK customers was that competitive converted price when compared to rivals like DJI’s Mavic Pro that released at a flat price across currencies. It is sad to see after they did such a good job in recalling the product and offering refunds and compensation in the form of cameras.

Loyal customers who bought their drones upfront are being hit the hardest and are now being stung with additional costs. Essentially you are seeing nothing new for your money, except for a newly designed battery catch that will stop the drone falling out of the air (fingers crossed).

People are already desperate to see a DJI Mavic 2 and although GoPro’s Karma will still sell a lot of units, this price rise will not help UK sales for them at all. GoPro have already lost a lot of the market share to DJI and other manufacturers with the initial recall and this is not a good way to get people back onboard with the product.

To top it off, the price of the GoPro Hero 5 Black has also seen an increase from its launch price. The initial price of £339 is long gone on the GoPro website and it now sits at £399. The GoPro Session 5 has also seen an increase in price from £249 to £299. It is unclear whether this is to do with the state of the British Pound or if it is to recoup some loses from the Karma drone launch failure. In either case, it will certainly push more people in to buying cheaper GoPro knock offs and rival action cameras in turn drawing people away from the drone.

The Hero 5 Black Karma bundle now comes in at £1099.99 compared to its £999 release price. While the Karma drone without the camera has gone up from £719.00 to £869.99. Along with it comes a new option to buy the Karma flight kit (this excludes the Karma Grip and Hero 5 camera ) for £569.99. This allows early adopters of the Karma Grip to retro fit it to a Karma drone. You can check out the new pricing here.

It all comes as a real shame, we were really excited at the launch of the Karma , but a lot of time has passed since then. Let us know your thoughts in the comments.