Is this the end of the once-mighty GoPro? • Hacker News Board

Re: Is this the end of the once-mighty GoPro?

#181

Post by duzer65657 » Sat, Jul 18, 2026, 5:34 PM UTC

bartread wrote: post #72

QuantumNomad_ wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> These days other brands give better quality video in better quality hardware and more functionality, for cheaper. I had a GoPro many years ago. Eventually sold it because I needed the money for other things. Been thinking about buying a new action camera eventually. Got any recommendations? The one that interests me the most of the ones I’ve seen is the Insta360 X4 Air plus an underwater case for it. I want to be a…

As someone who watches a reasonable amount of PoV outdoor activity footage shot on helmet cams and the like (base jumping, mountain biking, skiing, snowboarding, etc)… I don’t love watching 360 videos uploaded in the raw because of the perspective distortion. I’m assuming it must be possible, if the resolution is good enough, to post process a portion of each overall frame into an undistorted 1080p (or better) view o…

part of this is by design, which unfortunately also makes very steep terrain not look as terrifying, but gives you huge FOV. I find in all but the latest Instas its the worse low-light quality that is most notable. More annoying is that everyone is trying to compete on weird angles and perspectives, andY YT shills push attachments and niche features vs. photographic quality

Re: Is this the end of the once-mighty GoPro?

#182

Post by hmokiguess » Sat, Jul 18, 2026, 5:35 PM UTC

I bought my first GoPro for a scuba diving trip in Mexico once. Was super excited, it was my first scuba diving experience too.

As soon as we hit deeper waters the capture button pressed itself down due the pressure and it wouldn’t come back up. That, unfortunately happened in a way that I couldn’t start a capture. Lost the entire thing, despite the camera being perfectly fine after we came back to surface.

Hated them ever since.

Re: Is this the end of the once-mighty GoPro?

#183

Post by OJFord » Sat, Jul 18, 2026, 5:36 PM UTC

shepherdjerred wrote: post #146

abalashov wrote: post #142

As a cyclist (and former racer), I still want to know how to capture videos with telemetry overlays (speed, power, HR, etc) from my head unit in a straightforward way. NorCal Cycling's videos - https://www.youtube.com/@NorCalCycling - are an excellent demonstration of this at work. Yes, I've done the Garmin VIRB Edit thing, which is the very approach recommended by Jeff (NorCalCycling) in his tutorial videos on the s…

Am I wrong in thinking you could do this with ffmpeg, your video files, and your data from Strava/Garmin/whatever? This feels like a program an LLM (or human!) could write pretty easily

Yeah I had a little script to do something similar (no video, but merging data) just for Strava recording a while back. Had forgotten all about it until this description & 'FIT files'.

Video's a bit more complex no doubt, but like you say all the pieces are there, SMoP.

Re: Is this the end of the once-mighty GoPro?

#184

Post by nunez » Sat, Jul 18, 2026, 5:36 PM UTC

rr808 wrote: post #16

I'm just surprised that an American brand making electronics lasted this long. Even Japanese companies are giving up. No one can compete with China. Apple somehow reigns supreme still. Anyone else?

Consumer electronics, yes. For defense, though, American companies very much still make electronics.

Re: Is this the end of the once-mighty GoPro?

#185

Post by crote » Sat, Jul 18, 2026, 5:37 PM UTC

haunter wrote: post #24

romanovcode wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is apple making electronics? I thought they are made in India and China.

Mac Mini will be made in Houston (they already make their own servers there) https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2026/02/apple-accelerates-us-...

Apple is one of the few brands I completely expect to be able to genuinely pull this off.

Their volumes are high enough that they will literally build an entire factory from scratch to produce a single product line, they are far enough up the luxury ladder that a few extra dollar in labour won't hurt them too badly, and the contracts with their suppliers are significant enough that they don't need the short supply lines of a Shenzhen and can just demand their suppliers Get It Done.

Having a domestic factory won't hurt Apple, and with an erratic President who'll flip on tariffs twice a week it's a sensible hedge against his inevitable next meltdown.

Re: Is this the end of the once-mighty GoPro?

#186

Post by gruez » Sat, Jul 18, 2026, 5:38 PM UTC

nikisweeting wrote: post #163

jaapz wrote: post #160

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not really a free market when one country is heavily subsidizing it's industries

and the US famously never subsidizes any of its industries...

Which industries are the US leading in because of subsidies?

Re: Is this the end of the once-mighty GoPro?

#187

Post by a34729t » Sat, Jul 18, 2026, 5:39 PM UTC

Robotbeat wrote: post #89

sen wrote: post #13

I’ve owned a lot of Gopro cameras, having done video capture for a variety of motorsports, and they just got too expensive for what you get. You can be more expensive if you’re better, or you can be worse if you’re cheaper, but they’re both the downsides while living purely off brand recognition. They also blew up in a time where there wasn’t any real competition. Sony had action cameras but they were bulkier and exp…

GoPro is a US company designed in U.S. with manufacturing in Thailand, China, and Mexico. Insta360 is a Chinese company designed in Shenzhen and built there, too. People think this doesn’t matter, but GoPros are used all over in aerospace. If we replaced the brand with Insta360, that puts a big attack vector all over the place. A similar pattern happened with drones with DJI, intentionally killing all non-Chinese dro…

100%. It would strongly behoove the US to encourage domestic 3d printer manufacture (or friendly countries like Japan), to the point of bannning Bambu and Chinese companies. Obviously we are doing fine for industrial 3d printers, but the small scale consumer stuff is very important too.

If and when AI commiditizes professional services, it would be good to have modern industry to fall back on. With 3d printing the gap isnt insurmountable yet.

However, our country is run by lawyers, not engineers, so I dont have too much hope. At least a lot of our billionaires started out as engineers...

Re: Is this the end of the once-mighty GoPro?

#188

Post by overfeed » Sat, Jul 18, 2026, 5:44 PM UTC

wartijn_ wrote: post #136

CWuestefeld wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Garmin watches that have mapping support have an introduction price of >600 Euro. Even at that price point, zooming or panning maps is excruciatingly slow I just got a Garmin Instinct 3 Solar. It does mapping, and cost me about $300 US. You're right that it's slow due to a wimpy processor. But the processor isn't because they're too lazy to innovate, but because they have something sipping tiny amounts of power so…

I think they meant watches that can show actual maps, not just a line or arrow with your route. That feature has always been reserved for the more expensive watches.

The more expensive watches (Fenix) also have long battery lives: lasting up to a month on a battery that can fit in a watch. The processors still have to sip power.

Re: Is this the end of the once-mighty GoPro?

#189

Post by rjrjrjrj » Sat, Jul 18, 2026, 5:45 PM UTC

skippyfish wrote: post #128

I slept on GoPro for a long time because, but then wanted to document some outdoor activities. I went with two Hero 5 units and as a photographer, I was shocked by how overhyped these devices seemed to be. The first surprise was just shoddy electrical engineering: unlike any camera from a big-name manufacturer, they drain the batteries in storage, to the point where they're dead after 2-3 weeks. But that aside, image…

> So I get it that if really want to go snorkeling or mountain biking with a camera, this might be a good choice, but that's a tiny market, and for everything else, why would you buy it?

I don't think people are cross-shopping action cameras and mirrorless cameras. Either you want a wearable light-weight shockproof, waterproof camera or not.

Worth pointing out that your experience is with a model from a decade ago. The current Hero model is the 13.

Re: Is this the end of the once-mighty GoPro?

#190

Post by SoftTalker » Sat, Jul 18, 2026, 5:45 PM UTC

Grombobulous wrote: post #86

rr808 wrote: post #16

I'm just surprised that an American brand making electronics lasted this long. Even Japanese companies are giving up. No one can compete with China. Apple somehow reigns supreme still. Anyone else?

A whole bunch of American and Western multinational companies design hardware in Western countries and manufacture them in China. The manufacturing isn’t usually the most valuable part of the value chain. E.g., Apple makes the most money when you sell you an iPhone, not their Chinese and Indian factory suppliers and assemblers. GoPro isn’t failing because they’re an American brand. They’re failing because they’re mis…

Most of those appliance brands have become expensive enshittified garbage, or are legendary brands that have been bought up (e.g. KitchenAid used to be a Hobart brand, it's now owned by Whirlpool. Their stand mixers used to last generations; the new ones have a lot of plastic parts inside them). I have one of the original Cuisinart food processors that my mom bought in the 1970s. The base/motor unit is heavy and it still works today. The brand today is now just a label on Conair kitchen gadgets.

Some have held out. Speed Queen are still made in Wisconsin. I will be looking at them when I need to replace my laundry machines, which I expect in the next couple of years.