(tense, dramatic music)

(grunting)

[Drone] Friend.

Oh.

Hey guys, I'm Brent Rose,

writer and habitual buzzer of Towers,

and today we're going head-to-head

with a new GoPro Karma and the DJI Mavic Pro.

(techno music)

So, the Karma is GoPro's first ever drone.

For $800 you get the drone,

a backpack carrying case,

a gimble handle,

and the remote control.

It's also foldable.

Good to go.

The Mavic is DJI's first folding drone.

It's much smaller and more compact

than the Flagship Phantom line.

The banner feature here is

just how small and compact it is.

Not only could it fit in a backpack,

it could fit in a large jacket pocket.

The Mavic Pro retails for $1000,

or for $300 more you can get the combo,

which comes with a carrying case,

an extra battery, a car charger,

and a few other useful accessories.

For starters, let's check out the speed and agility.

So, just going to floor it towards the bridge,

see how fast we can get it going.

It takes off like a bat out of hell.

And it's already at 40 miles an hour.

It's just so damn quick.

It climbs and falls really fast, too.

It's certainly somewhat dangerous in this mode,

but it's awesome if you know what you're doing.

28, 30, 34, peaks at about 34 miles an hour.

It's a little bit slow to respond, I'd say.

It's a bigger drone.

Turns pretty slowly, which is actually not so bad.

It gives you a smoother shot

generally when it's rotating.

Next up, arguably the most important feature,

image quality.

So to test that out, I'll be flying the Karma,

and Todd here will be flying the Mavic.

We're going to try line up our shots exactly the same

so we can get one to one image comparison.

One of the first things you'll notice is

just how much wider GoPro's field of view is.

At 165 degrees, it's extremely wide.

Compare that to just 79 degrees on the Mavic Pro,

and it's like night and day.

You just get so much more landscape in a single shot.

But that's not the only advantage for the karma.

Details are noticeably sharper,

colors are more vibrant,

dynamic range is wider,

and it adjusts in different lighting conditions better too.

Not only does the Mavic look like it has soft focus,

but on cooler days, condensation formed on the inside

of the lens, which fogged up what might have been

great footage.

Obviously, with the Karma, the image quality will depend

on which GoPro Hero camera you use.

We tested it with a Hero Five Black.

But when the next Hero camera comes out,

and the next, and the next,

you can just swap it in.

Whereas the Mavic Pro's camera is disappointing

and you're stuck with it.

Alright, let's talk remotes.

The GoPro remote is really all about simplicity.

It just folds up, and the screen is built into it.

On the side you've got this ring

to tilt the camera focus.

You've got start and stop, and mode changing here.

And it's just very intuitive.

For DJI, you've got to use an external screen

to see what you're doing.

The screen on DJI is way more information dense.

Ultimately, the Mavic is more responsive

and the remote control has a lot more

pro-level features.

That said, a novice user could easily

get lost in the settings here.

There's just a lot of clutter on the screen,

and you need to pair it with an external phones or tablet.

In contrast, the Karma remote is super user-friendly.

I love that it has a built-in screen that's easy to see,

even in bright sunlight.

There just isn't that many places you can get lost

or confused in the remote.

It's all very intuitive.

That said, sometimes it's a little overly simplistic,

and a more advanced user might want

some more granular controls.

Now, let's compare intelligent modes and unique features.

A big point for the Mavic is that it can track

a moving subject by using it's camera alone.

You just tap a person on the screen, hit confirm,

and the drone will follow it.

Unfortunately, it won't adjust it's altitude.

So, if you're travelling downhill,

you'll appear to get smaller and smaller as you go.

When this feature works, it's really cool,

but it's definitely buggy.

On one bike run it lost me early on

and just started spinning frantically in circles.

Still, it's better than no tracking capabilities at all,

which is what you get with the Karma.

The Mavic also has a whole suite of sensors,

so as long as it's not in sport mode,

it has obstacle avoidance while flying forward.

Let's see if I can crash it into myself.

My nipples!

There you go.

So, one of the biggest distinctions

between these two drones is that the camera

on the Karma is basically just a GoPro.

So not only is it removable,

but so is the stabilized gimble.

You attach it to this little Karma grip, as they call it,

lock it in, and now you have this very slick,

stabilized rig.

So to test it out, we'll do a little head-to-head

with the standard grip and the gimble.

(exciting showtime music)

The backpack even has an attachment point,

so you just clip it right in.

If you're backpacking or snowboarding or something,

you get some really slick stabilized shots.

Currently, the karma only has four smart modes.

But they're all easy to use

and produce excellent results.

Here's Dronie, which is the unfortunate name

for a swooping drone selfie.

There's Reveal, which tilts the camera up

as the drone rises over something,

dramatically revealing what's behind it.

There's Cable Cam, which lets you set two points,

and the Karma will go back and forth between them,

and best of all, there's Orbit,

where you set the centre point,

and the drone will circle around it facing inwards.

It's perfect for mountain tops and vistas.

The Mavic can do this one too,

just not automatically.

For all of Karma's smart modes,

the speed can be adjusted on the touch screen.

Another advantage for Karma is GoPro's passenger app.

Your friend can pair their phones or tablet

with the Karma remote

and not only view the live video stream,

but also control the camera if you grant them access.

Now, you're not supposed to lose sight of these,

but if you do, you can always tap this button

and it can return to the place that it launched,

or it can use the GPS built into the remote control

and return it to you.

That would be a huge advantage if we were on a boat,

or something that moved.

So you call him right back to where you are.

[Drone] Karma is returning to you.

So, what did we learn here today?

Honestly, I'm pretty conflicted.

Both of them have things I really like,

and both leave me severely wanting.

On the Karma's side, you've basically got a complete

film making package.

It's pretty compact.

It's really easy to use.

That said, it's a lot bigger and heavier.

You only have 18 minutes of flight time per battery.

It doesn't have any of the obstacle avoidance,

or tracking features that the Mavic has.

So, there are a lot of things to ding it on.

On the other hand, the Mavic is super light and compact.

You get 27 minutes of flight time.

You get double the range of the GoPro,

but image quality compared to the Karma really sucks.

And as a film maker, I have trouble sacrificing

image quality for some smart features

that don't always work that well.

Honestly.

(growls)

I just want to merge them.

If I had to decide right now,

I'm gonna go with the GoPro system.

But what do you think?

Let us know in the comments below.

Subscribe to Wired if you haven't already.

With all that being said, there's only one thing left to do.

(electro pop music)

Are you ready?

Are you ready?

Tug of drone!

(dramatic music)

The winner!