If you want to point out to GoPro lovers the moment that their GoPro Karma drones were rendered obsolete, you can look back to late September of last year.

That’s when the DJI Mavic Pro was released, the drone that’s so far ahead of the competition it has become something of an industry joke.

Then again it didn’t help that the GoPro Karma drone kept on plummeting from the sky, something we covered in November last year HERE. Those tumbling drones echoed the company’s ailing stock price, completing the picture.

Here’s how bad it is via CNBC:

Shares of GoPro hit record lows Monday after a second major downgrade on concerns the action camera maker has reached the limits of its market…

“GoPro faces significant challenges following saturation of its core action cameras market, product rollout issues in the holiday season, and a disappointing entry into the drone market,” analyst Simona Jankowski wrote in a note to clients Monday.

Jankowski said he anticipates negative cash flow through 2017, which could “prompt [GoPro] to tap its credit facility.”

So let’s put the Karma to bed, where it can’t hurt anyone, and touch on why the DJI Mavic Pro has blown the competition out of the water.

For a start it’s one-sixth the size of the highly-popular DJI Phantom, meaning it can fit in the pocket, yet it somehow manages to pack in every feature and then some.

I’m not one of those drone fundis, but weFix sum it up pretty well with this list of features:

• 4K Ultra HD video camera and 12-megapixel camera for stills
• 27 minute flight time and a maximum flight distance of 13kms
• Reach speeds of up to 65km/h in Sport Mode
• FlightAutonomy senses obstacles 15m away
• ActiveTrack picks a subject to follow during flight
• New selfie mode requires a simple wave gesture to take a picture

Don’t take their word for it – try popular review site DCR:

I said recently that I thought the DJI Mavic is one of the most impressive pieces of consumer tech out there, and that’s 100% true.  It’s @#$#@ brilliant.

When you hold it in your hand (because, literally, it fits on your hand) you can’t help but marvel at the engineering and design behind it.  There’s nothing like it today in the marketplace that combines the tiny size of the unit with the flight power and cinematography specs. Period.

Sheesh, someone is a fan.

Here’s the video that accompanied the release back in September:

In the words of Steve Irwin – crikey, ain’t she a beauty?

So of course the million dollar question is how much you’re forking out for the pleasure of owning one – ready, set, R19 999.

When we spoke to weFix they said orders were flooding in, so it seems like the local market has also taken stock of just how far ahead of the competition this drone is.

We suggest you head HERE and order yours – hurry, at the time of writing there were only 11 left in stock.

BONUS: Because I’m a sucker for the great outdoors, here’s a cracking video of orcas filmed with the Mavic Pro:

[sources:wefix&dcr&cnbc]