The future of GoPro

RoflCopter726
So apparently GoPro's issues are getting worse. They announced that they are pulling out of the drone business with the Karma being a failure and they'd be putting themselves up for sale or partnership after hiring JP Morgan to assist. Didn't they just announce a sponsorship extension with MX/SX? I also worry for the TLD team as they are a big sponsor. Link.
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mauidex
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mauidex 1/9/2018 12:29pm
1/9/2018 12:29pm
Stock hit low of $5 yesterday. Yeah they got big big problems !!!
Forty
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Forty 1/9/2018 12:32pm
1/9/2018 12:32pm
mauidex wrote:
Stock hit low of $5 yesterday. Yeah they got big big problems !!!
Maybe a good time to Buy....
mauidex
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mauidex 1/9/2018 12:33pm
1/9/2018 12:33pm
When they get bailed out. More likely to lose more than gain right now
PJ205
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PJ205 1/9/2018 12:36pm
1/9/2018 12:36pm
Was reading that yesterday. GoPro Hero 6 cams dipped $100 to $399 shipped from some places. Sucks to hear that they’re struggling! Hopefully they’ll turn it around. I own a Karma system and love it! For all of the bad things that people who have probably never even used or seen one before say, it’s a pretty cool toy to mess around with.

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Zaugg
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Zaugg 1/9/2018 12:52pm
1/9/2018 12:52pm
GoPro's struggles are due to poor upper management and direction. Leaving the drone business is a very smart move. They're a camera company not a drone company.

The Karma is a good toy but painfully overpriced for what you get. For the same price, the Mavic is a far more capable machine. from a drone perspective and very comparable on the camera side as well.

Devenhallen 1/9/2018 12:55pm
1/9/2018 12:55pm
They pulled out of SX/Mx completely. This year they are back and trying to make a go at it but they are dead broke. It sucks to see them doing so horribly but hopefully we see them rebound.
tek14
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tek14 1/9/2018 12:59pm
1/9/2018 12:59pm
There are nothing left to Gopro ad value for action cameras. Others have matched products with lower price and even china copys are enough for many with 1/10 price.
mauidex
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mauidex 1/9/2018 1:00pm
1/9/2018 1:00pm
They lost sight of the original mission. Ride it out far too long with no real upgrades. If you bought a 2 very limited reasons to buy 3 or 4 or 5. Core market saturated. Needed smaller. Lighter. Etc. etc. a shame when you invent a category and blow it!!
kaptkaos
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kaptkaos 1/9/2018 1:10pm
1/9/2018 1:10pm
mauidex wrote:
They lost sight of the original mission. Ride it out far too long with no real upgrades. If you bought a 2 very limited reasons to...
They lost sight of the original mission. Ride it out far too long with no real upgrades. If you bought a 2 very limited reasons to buy 3 or 4 or 5. Core market saturated. Needed smaller. Lighter. Etc. etc. a shame when you invent a category and blow it!!
This ^
Rhino
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Rhino 1/9/2018 1:22pm
1/9/2018 1:22pm
I have a few Vivitars. 50 bucks. Work great.
RoflCopter726 1/9/2018 1:28pm
1/9/2018 1:28pm
Zaugg wrote:
GoPro's struggles are due to poor upper management and direction. Leaving the drone business is a very smart move. They're a camera company not a drone...
GoPro's struggles are due to poor upper management and direction. Leaving the drone business is a very smart move. They're a camera company not a drone company.

The Karma is a good toy but painfully overpriced for what you get. For the same price, the Mavic is a far more capable machine. from a drone perspective and very comparable on the camera side as well.

Thats actually how I found out about all of this. I bought a Mavic 2 weeks ago (loving it!) but was strongly considering the Karma&hero6 combo because it was on sale. A lot of side by side comparisons showed the Mavic beat it out in pretty much every category. The Karma still intrigued me though because I'd be able to use the Hero6 for moto, but I already have a 3+black that is working fine for how often I use it. The news popped up in the drone forums I've been going to.
ML512
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ML512 1/9/2018 1:29pm
1/9/2018 1:29pm
PJ205 wrote:
Was reading that yesterday. GoPro Hero 6 cams dipped $100 to $399 shipped from some places. Sucks to hear that they’re struggling! Hopefully they’ll turn it...
Was reading that yesterday. GoPro Hero 6 cams dipped $100 to $399 shipped from some places. Sucks to hear that they’re struggling! Hopefully they’ll turn it around. I own a Karma system and love it! For all of the bad things that people who have probably never even used or seen one before say, it’s a pretty cool toy to mess around with.
The Karma was overpriced, oversized, and lacks the features of its competitors that were available when it entered the market.

It's a good drone, but the value isn't there compared to the others available. For the same price, I got a drone that was less than half the size, lighter, faster, flies longer, and has more features.

The upside for the Karma is using the GoPro itself separately, but it seems that wasn't enough to sway the drone market as they weren't looking for a multi-use product and more of the "best drone" for the money.
Charper732
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Charper732 1/9/2018 1:39pm
1/9/2018 1:39pm
mauidex wrote:
They lost sight of the original mission. Ride it out far too long with no real upgrades. If you bought a 2 very limited reasons to...
They lost sight of the original mission. Ride it out far too long with no real upgrades. If you bought a 2 very limited reasons to buy 3 or 4 or 5. Core market saturated. Needed smaller. Lighter. Etc. etc. a shame when you invent a category and blow it!!
kaptkaos wrote:
This ^
This is so true. Besides the housing, there has been pretty much no upgrade from the 4 silver til now.

I have constantly checked every year for them to increase the bit rate at which their cams record at because that was always an issue for me and if any company had the resources for R&D it was them...but they never have. I feel like that is a major reason for their downfall. The innovation stopped a couple years ago.
Acidreamer
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Acidreamer 1/9/2018 1:44pm
1/9/2018 1:44pm
How is gopro failing? Their cameras are literally the #1 and most selling action cameras... got some idiots running that ship obviously
cameron96
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cameron96 1/9/2018 1:54pm
1/9/2018 1:54pm
I think it’s going to get a bit worse for Gopro before it gets better

They will restructure and figure it out. But it’s gonna take a while
endurox
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endurox 1/9/2018 1:57pm
1/9/2018 1:57pm
Tesla is burning thru 5 million a day, maybe Musk can infuse a day's worth into GOPro for some on dash cameras.
roninho
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roninho 1/9/2018 2:19pm
1/9/2018 2:19pm
I wonder what the future for action cams is in mx.

In the nerherlands we are not allowed to use a helmet cam on any track since start of 2017.
Devenhallen 1/9/2018 2:29pm
1/9/2018 2:29pm
Acidreamer wrote:
How is gopro failing? Their cameras are literally the #1 and most selling action cameras... got some idiots running that ship obviously
Tesla is a failing company too. You’d never know it though...

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aFACEdismembered 1/9/2018 2:36pm
1/9/2018 2:36pm
...and to think of all the other action camera companies and all of their money that couldn't enter our sport because GoPro had a monopoly on action cam advertising.
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RandyS 1/9/2018 3:02pm
1/9/2018 3:02pm
A friend of mine was one of their main athletes from almost the beginning. I don't know the whole story but I know enough by his reaction to the name that I won't shed a tear when it all crashes down.
RandyS
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RandyS 1/9/2018 3:04pm
1/9/2018 3:04pm
Acidreamer wrote:
How is gopro failing? Their cameras are literally the #1 and most selling action cameras... got some idiots running that ship obviously
Devenhallen wrote:
Tesla is a failing company too. You’d never know it though...
Tesla isn't failing, they figured out how to make their product more affordable by having the government help people buy. We're the ones that are failing.
m.hardesty16 1/9/2018 3:42pm
1/9/2018 3:42pm
Maybe they should stop coming out with a new camera every year for $500 and make a more cost efficient one. I like the idea of the little square one, light weight to.
KGAspeed
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KGAspeed 1/9/2018 3:44pm
1/9/2018 3:44pm
mauidex wrote:
They lost sight of the original mission. Ride it out far too long with no real upgrades. If you bought a 2 very limited reasons to...
They lost sight of the original mission. Ride it out far too long with no real upgrades. If you bought a 2 very limited reasons to buy 3 or 4 or 5. Core market saturated. Needed smaller. Lighter. Etc. etc. a shame when you invent a category and blow it!!
But it happens all the time. Being first-to-market is the hardest position to be in.
ToolMaker
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ToolMaker 1/9/2018 3:48pm
1/9/2018 3:48pm
Being #1 is the most expensive and most difficult place to be. You have to fund and develop all kinds of new ideas that go nowhere. Being #2 much easier. Sit back and see where the market goes and design similar. Engineereing expenses go way down, not wasting resources on losing ideas. And nobody expects cutting edge products.
TM
mauidex
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mauidex 1/9/2018 3:49pm
1/9/2018 3:49pm
KGAspeed wrote:
But it happens all the time. Being first-to-market is the hardest position to be in.
Not if you understand why you’re in the position and know you’re going to get ripped off. They stopped innovation. Apple.
Rockinar
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Rockinar 1/9/2018 3:54pm
1/9/2018 3:54pm Edited Date/Time 1/9/2018 4:04pm
Articles I read said they are blaming market saturation and smart phones for their problems.
WhiteTaco
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WhiteTaco 1/9/2018 4:23pm
1/9/2018 4:23pm
At least when they televise GoPro video the quality is good. Remember the nationals last year with the Garmin? I was embarrassed for Garmin.
tkimb
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tkimb 1/9/2018 4:41pm
1/9/2018 4:41pm
m.hardesty16 wrote:
Maybe they should stop coming out with a new camera every year for $500 and make a more cost efficient one. I like the idea of...
Maybe they should stop coming out with a new camera every year for $500 and make a more cost efficient one. I like the idea of the little square one, light weight to.
^ This. They're constantly developing and releasing too many different cameras. Buy one $500 one year, you don't need another one next year, or even the year after that. Reminds me of Apple and their phones, only GoPro is only a camera.
JM485
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JM485 1/9/2018 4:43pm
1/9/2018 4:43pm
mauidex wrote:
They lost sight of the original mission. Ride it out far too long with no real upgrades. If you bought a 2 very limited reasons to...
They lost sight of the original mission. Ride it out far too long with no real upgrades. If you bought a 2 very limited reasons to buy 3 or 4 or 5. Core market saturated. Needed smaller. Lighter. Etc. etc. a shame when you invent a category and blow it!!
Dude, you are talking completely out your ass right now. The difference between a Hero 2 and Hero 4 session is massive. Specs don't tell the whole story, there's a lot more at work than simply the camera specs. Even going from my 4 session to my 5 session is a noticeable difference, you would have to be blind to not think that these cameras improve significantly over the generations.

I see the same regurgitated bs all the time about "lack of innovation". If people really think there is nothing going on year to year then they obviously haven't bought any cameras lately. I refuse to believe I'm some sort of camera reviewing prodigy, so if I can see a huge difference in image quality and realistic picture (ie not flattened out of slow looking), then anyone who is actually buying cameras would as well.
mauidex
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mauidex 1/9/2018 4:49pm
1/9/2018 4:49pm
JM485 wrote:
Dude, you are talking completely out your ass right now. The difference between a Hero 2 and Hero 4 session is massive. Specs don't tell the...
Dude, you are talking completely out your ass right now. The difference between a Hero 2 and Hero 4 session is massive. Specs don't tell the whole story, there's a lot more at work than simply the camera specs. Even going from my 4 session to my 5 session is a noticeable difference, you would have to be blind to not think that these cameras improve significantly over the generations.

I see the same regurgitated bs all the time about "lack of innovation". If people really think there is nothing going on year to year then they obviously haven't bought any cameras lately. I refuse to believe I'm some sort of camera reviewing prodigy, so if I can see a huge difference in image quality and realistic picture (ie not flattened out of slow looking), then anyone who is actually buying cameras would as well.
Then they’ve had a pretty piss poor campaign to actually convey that to the masses that purchased the prior versions. Never once anywhere did I see anything remotely addressing performance and video quality. But hey what do I know just a consumer.

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