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Is this the end of the once-mighty GoPro?

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

#411

Post by UltraSane »

faitswulff wrote: post #335
UltraSane wrote: post #327

Earlier quoted context omitted.

China isn't bad, the CCP is.

That simplistic characterization is still essentially "China-bad." The CCP is the same government responsible for lifting historically unprecedented numbers of people out of abject poverty. Does it make up for other human rights violations? No. But "CCP bad" flattens a complex and powerful political organization into a fairy tale boogeyman.

The worst part of the CCP is it's hatred for free speech

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jul/16/hong-kong-book...

Five arrested in Hong Kong bookstore raids in ‘seditious’ materials crackdown

Third round of arrests linked to independent bookshops widely regarded as clampdown on dissent in territory

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

#412

Post by Gigachad »

matsemann wrote: post #251
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…

A gopro isn't worse than the competition, nor at a premium. What makes gopro the standard in proper productions (and science etc) is that they're so hackable with the gopro labs software. With that, all the other cameras are toys in comparison for professional usage.

The bulk of the market is toys for aspiring content creators. Professional usage is pocket change subsidised by tiktokers.

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

#413

Post by Gigachad »

nikodunk wrote: post #235
recursivecaveat wrote: post #225

Extremely similar to iRobot (Roomba). They both practically genericized themselves by inventing and dominating the product category, then just couldn't keep up with the competition. GoPro does feel more self inflicted though. Their drone was a failure, and they burnt a lot of money trying to do some kind of pivot to being a media company.

Was just about to say Roomba too! Next up IMO is Philips Hue, which don't support Matter and cost $25, vs. Matter-enabled Amazon brands that cost $7.

IKEA is winning here rather than a Chinese brand.

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

#414

Post by foxes »

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…

Lol your country and your capitalism helped build China.

Wasn't that the thing like ~30 years ago? All the western companies pushing manufacturing into China for increased profit?

Capitalism and the west gave all that power away :), you deindustrialised yourselves.

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

#415

Post by Gigachad »

tomaskafka wrote: post #258
nikodunk wrote: post #235

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Was just about to say Roomba too! Next up IMO is Philips Hue, which don't support Matter and cost $25, vs. Matter-enabled Amazon brands that cost $7.

Hue also peaks at 20 W sources which leave even small room in the dark (for comparison, I have 70 W of LED lighting in the kitchen central light).

Ideally for good lighting you do want multiple lower power lights than a single mini sun

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

#416

Post by seanmcdirmid »

rangestransform wrote: post #356
faitswulff wrote: post #304

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Didn't they bring hundreds of millions out of poverty, and built amazing cities and facilities in the past 30 years? Yes, but China-bad ideology demands that we ask ”at what cost?”

There was a real human cost to how China industrialized that isn’t “muh freedoms”. China overproduced STEM grads so that their industries could hire them for pennies on the dollar. They had to withstand insane competition starting in elementary school, only to end up unemployed or doordashing. This isn’t a PRC specific thing either, TSMC is infamous for having PhDs doing night shift lab tech work for pennies (compara…

> This isn’t a PRC specific thing either, TSMC is infamous for having PhDs doing night shift lab tech work for pennies (comparatively).

Engineers from Taiwan go to mainland China these days to earn more money. Taiwan was pretty brutal with personal sacrifice in its development as much or if more than the mainland. We could say similar about Korea, Japan, and Singapore as well. This is why Asia seems to be taking over the world now, but the people are about as happy as you’d expect.

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

#417

Post by giancarlostoro »

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…

I bought one back in 2018, curious what brand would you recommend today? I wouldnt mind upgrading to something more modern but I dont care about GoPro for brands sake. Would love something I could take in the water like the GoPro.

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

#418

Post by Robotbeat »

inigyou wrote: post #318
lokar wrote: post #216

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The CCP has publicly explained that their strategy is indeed to dominate key sectors via gov subsidies, de-industrialize other nations and gain strategic leverage in the process.

Why doesn't America do that too? It seems to work really really well.

America does that for aerospace & some defense stuff. But the reason not to is that the industrial policy needed to do it like China does has the effect of reduced wages, longer work hours, and lower quality of life.

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

#419

Post by krick »

microtonal wrote: post #112
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…

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. Sounds very similar to another US company - Garmin. They are still popular, but have been raising prices a lot every generation, because for a long time there was no real competition [1]. At this point, Garmin watches that have mapping support have an introduction price of >600…

Really considering Coros since Garmin introduced a subscription. It doesn't currently prevent me from using anything I want to use, it's just moving in the wrong direction, but I was annoyed by Garmin for a long time, and this is the last drop.

However, my understanding is that Coros just doesn't have an SDK. At all. So it's not really "lagging on features", it's a totally closed platform, that doesn't any have 3rd party apps at all, and will not have them, because it's impossible to write them. I don't know if it's enough of a reason to completely write them off as a competitor, but that does give me a pause. I mean, if I don't have a feature on Garmin, I can theoretically implement it myself, or even hope that somebody else did. If I don't have it on Coros, I will just have to make do.

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

#420

Post by kevin_thibedeau »

lostlogin wrote: post #263
thih9 wrote: post #243

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> GoPros are used all over in aerospace. If we replaced the brand with Insta360, that puts a big attack vector all over the place. What would the attack vector be? I’m not saying there isn’t any, I don’t know much about aerospace and this sounds interesting.

> What would the attack vector be? The cameras. But quite how, I don’t know.

Any backdoored camera with wireless networking can take pictures remotely.
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