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GoPro shows its vulnerability after horrific Q3 earnings

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Re: GoPro shows its vulnerability after horrific Q3 earnings

#51

Perhaps the chinese clones are denting sales? I own two GoPros but I understand the clones are very nearly as good, for a much lower price.

Agree, one can easily study the clone's features, price and customer reviews here:

https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_c_1_12?url=search-alia...

They use the same SOC, camera sensors. There are tons of HD Videos comparison reviews on Youtube.

Re: GoPro shows its vulnerability after horrific Q3 earnings

#52
post #31

I try not to generalize personal experience to a company's stock price. But in GoPro's case I'm picturing a bunch of folks like me who bought one, and then swore to never again buy anything with GoPro's name on it. And those people tell their friends who are considering an "action camera". So you end up with a segment of customers from whom you'll never extract another dime, plus all of the people who might have boug…

I haven't read your account. What's bad about GoPro? Note : I have an action camera, but it's from Garmin

>Note : I have an action camera, but it's from Garmin

Fwiw, I own a GoPro, but use Garmin's video editing software. Not only do I find it easier to whip up quick edits, but I can also overlay my Garmin Edge cycling data.

Re: GoPro shows its vulnerability after horrific Q3 earnings

#53

Another victim of Chinese leaching off Western entrepreneurship. Can someone point to any, any sector that this country has invented itself? Challenge.

Please don't post baseless attacks on entire countries out of nowhere like this. That's not the kind of discussion this site is for.

Re: GoPro shows its vulnerability after horrific Q3 earnings

#55
post #39
post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think GoPro suffers from two problems. 1. Many people buy these camera's that never use them, or use them a few times but realize editing videos takes longer than they hoped it would. So after a while of non use, they sell the camera. 2. They built a good product, one that lasts and is therefore good for the used market. People are comfortable buying a used GoPro because they know it's rugged and well built. So GoP…

If only they made crappier products that break more often, at least then their stock shareholders would think it's a good company. This exemplifies everything that's wrong with capitalism and planned obsolescence.

In what way do you think that strategy is an inescapable consequence of capitalism?

Re: GoPro shows its vulnerability after horrific Q3 earnings

#56
post #14
post #2

They have a drone? Oh, they do, but it doesn't ship until the end of November. The Engadget review (dated today) [1] presents a good look at the device and how it compares to the competition -- different trade-offs. Nicer if you're in the GoPro ecosystem, but the competition is a better flyer. So perhaps the market for rugged cameras is fairly saturated by their own products, and the aerial market has partially saile…

I think GoPro suffers from two problems. 1. Many people buy these camera's that never use them, or use them a few times but realize editing videos takes longer than they hoped it would. So after a while of non use, they sell the camera. 2. They built a good product, one that lasts and is therefore good for the used market. People are comfortable buying a used GoPro because they know it's rugged and well built. So GoP…

I'm not convinced that GoPro is unusually affected by #2 but resale values seem relatively strong, so maybe to some degree.

There's also more competition.

I'm inclined to think point 1 is significant though. This seems like one of those products/product categories that was a hot ticket for a while. Then most people who bought them realized that they didn't actually jump off cliffs and, after the 10th time, the video of them going down an intermediate ski run was sorta boring and not really worth the trouble to make. So, like many fads, it didn't go away but it wasn't a must-have gadget for the would-be daredevil (or those who wanted to think of themselves in those terms).

Re: GoPro shows its vulnerability after horrific Q3 earnings

#57
post #39
post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think GoPro suffers from two problems. 1. Many people buy these camera's that never use them, or use them a few times but realize editing videos takes longer than they hoped it would. So after a while of non use, they sell the camera. 2. They built a good product, one that lasts and is therefore good for the used market. People are comfortable buying a used GoPro because they know it's rugged and well built. So GoP…

If only they made crappier products that break more often, at least then their stock shareholders would think it's a good company. This exemplifies everything that's wrong with capitalism and planned obsolescence.

Or.. its just a reflection of the market they're in. Understanding how much innovation opportunity is left in a market/category is a huge part of identifying whether you should continue to invest there or elsewhere.

Re: GoPro shows its vulnerability after horrific Q3 earnings

#58
post #31

I try not to generalize personal experience to a company's stock price. But in GoPro's case I'm picturing a bunch of folks like me who bought one, and then swore to never again buy anything with GoPro's name on it. And those people tell their friends who are considering an "action camera". So you end up with a segment of customers from whom you'll never extract another dime, plus all of the people who might have boug…

I haven't read your account. What's bad about GoPro? Note : I have an action camera, but it's from Garmin

My main complaint is that it's difficult to determine camera state. My main use case is having it mounted to a motorcycle where I can reach the buttons but can't safely or easily see the indicator LEDs. Is it on? Is it recording? I have some awesome videos of me sitting on a curb in front of a gas station drinking a Gatorade because I thought it was recording the whole time, and it turns out that when I pulled up and stopped the recording I was actually turning it on. That can and should be fixed by making a button that isn't so mushy. Even with bare fingers I can't tell you if I really turned it on without looking at the lights. With motorcycle gloves, it's a complete (and as noted above, often wrong) guess.

Okay, I'll strap my Pebble to the handlebars as there's a GoPro app for the Pebble. But the Pebble needs to go to the iPhone, which then talks to the GoPro iOS app, which then talks to the camera. Yeah, you can see where this is going: I spent more time trying to get all those devices to stay connected than I did riding.

Fine, I didn't want to do it, but I'll buy your $80 remote with status LCD. That piece of shit didn't work any better. I spent most of the time looking at an animated WiFi icon because it couldn't find the camera literally 50% of the time. If it did find it, it often wouldn't stay found. A single company made the hardware and firmware on both ends, and they still can't get them to stay connected.

Additionally, the thing eats batteries. I wouldn't mind so much if there was a way to power the thing while its in the case. There is a way, but it'll cost $65 for a waterproof case with USB port from a third-party vendor. I bought one. And about half the time when the bike fires up and pumps power to that connection, the GoPro's little pea brain gets confused and needs a reboot.

This is the kind of stuff I expect when I bought the cheap Chinese knock-off instead of the name brand. But I did buy the name brand, and specifically for this reason. And I end up still having the cheap Chinese knock-off experience, only at name-brand prices.

Re: GoPro shows its vulnerability after horrific Q3 earnings

#60
post #14
post #2

They have a drone? Oh, they do, but it doesn't ship until the end of November. The Engadget review (dated today) [1] presents a good look at the device and how it compares to the competition -- different trade-offs. Nicer if you're in the GoPro ecosystem, but the competition is a better flyer. So perhaps the market for rugged cameras is fairly saturated by their own products, and the aerial market has partially saile…

I think GoPro suffers from two problems. 1. Many people buy these camera's that never use them, or use them a few times but realize editing videos takes longer than they hoped it would. So after a while of non use, they sell the camera. 2. They built a good product, one that lasts and is therefore good for the used market. People are comfortable buying a used GoPro because they know it's rugged and well built. So GoP…

GoPro 2 was rock-solid, but 3 and 4 had huge quality problems. Terrible customer service as well. I used to like GoPro, but since the GoPro 2 they've completely soured me. I don't know if the GoPro 5 is any better, but the Amazon reviews are terrible.
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