GoPro Making a Consumer Drone

Nick Woodman a very clever American who started from a basic idea now a Billionare, surprised more Americans are not supporting the go pro drone idea .
 
I agree, it's about photography. R/C (for me, for 40 years) used to be about the building and the flying. That's kind of boring these days. Now, for me, it's about the photography. That's why it pisses me off so much that DJI would put a fragile POS camera/gimble with mediocre video performance on a $1200 radio-controlled flying machine that by its very nature is subject to trees and ground, random puffs of air, and niggling electronic gremlins. And then...$679 to replace the component that represents the primary reason for flying the thing in the first place? And then making it poorly enough that it's lucky to survive the inevitable crash? Seriously? That would not seem to customer-oriented engineering and marketing.

I wanted FPV for this new aspect of my R/C career. I know how to use a soldering iron and certainly am no stranger to modifying model aircraft electronics, but the flying and the photography was the aspect of the hobby that I wanted to focus on, not the modifying, building or re-building so I elected to go with the P2V+ for my initial foray into drone photography. I haven't broken it yet, but reading all these online forums, I'm apprehensive about it.

My suspicion is that given the ready availability of companies putting together the electronics and systems necessary to build a viable drone, GoPro would have no trouble acquiring the components and expertise to market a very serviceable drone, and I suspect that if and when they do, it will be able to take a beating, unlike the Vision +, it appears.

So yeah, I'm really rooting for GoPro.
 
Well stated. I have used their products for years, Great Customer Service, as someone sated before, bet they buy a company that already is in the drone space and improves on it. Very clever those GP boys...drive on..or fly on!
 
I suppose it's because I've only been familiar with GoPro since the Hero 3 Black Edition and I hang out on three GoPro discussion forums where comments are sometimes negative, but I haven't heard GoPro's service referred to as "Great" that often.

I heard the rumor of GoPro doing multi-rotors pop up when the IPO was in process as a means to generate revenue for the multi-rotor venture. While I find the complete integration of a GoPro, a gimbal and flying machine appealing, I'll wait for the reviews from the bleeding edge, first adopter folks before jumping off the DJI ship.
 
Buk said:
I heard the rumor of GoPro doing multi-rotors pop up when the IPO was in process as a means to generate revenue for the multi-rotor venture. While I find the complete integration of a GoPro, a gimbal and flying machine appealing, I'll wait for the reviews from the bleeding edge, first adopter folks before jumping off the DJI ship.

Makes sense. They were probably looking at it for some time before they decided to make an announcement. I hope they spend the time to do it right. Hopefully, they will raise the bar by improving the flight controller and the gimbal making it easier to get solid and stable shots. Basically, a Phantom that actually has no bugs/issues would be a great start.

- A gimbal that holds the horizon, doesn't kick, can accommodate an ND filter, work in the cold and take the occasional bump.
- An FC that detects and adjusts for compass and IMU anomalies instead of letting them cause erratic behavior and fly aways.
- Follow mode.
- Waypoints that transition using adjustable bezier easing and independent controls for yaw and gimbal tilt.
- Reliable batteries that don't weaken after only 50 cycles.
- HDMI downlink.
 
Interestring. Gopro finally starts to fight back. Drone company like DJI has started making its own cameras. Now camera maker GoPro starts fighting back by making drones.
 
If DJI had ben smart, they would have done a deal with them to develop jointly. GP has DEEP pockets to out do ANYTHING DJI can build. Stand by
 
If GoPro can break even on their drones, they make money from selling more cameras. For them, it has to be about selling the cameras. Design, maintenance, warranty coverage, upgrade, R&D...gotta be expensive.
 
they got the dough..Where else can they expand into? Perfect long term plan...goodnight DJI....or maybe they buy DJI?
 
Agreed. This is DJI's loss, not GoPro's. GoPro doesn't care if DJI tries to build a camera. GoPro simply noticed a bunch of their cameras on Phantoms and realized the opportunity.

GoPro is flush with cash. They could buy DJI. More likely though I'd expect GoPro to develop something very simple somewhere between a Parrot and a Phantom. Hopefully they will consider building something at the Phantom level that can shoot high quality, stable shots that simply works.
 
I just hope some of these big boys are very involved with this FAA crap in the end it will determine sales .
I will give a GoPro bird a try long as it is not like the P2V with a fixed camera .
 
After all this settles out, I will bet dollars to doughnuts that one buys the other out, or as they like to say, 'a merger.' Guess who buys whom, invest now, and makes a lot of money :lol: or lose it all :cry:
 
spudraleigh said:
After all this settles out, I will bet dollars to doughnuts that one buys the other out, or as they like to say, 'a merger.' Guess who buys whom, invest now, and makes a lot of money :lol: or lose it all :cry:
Dji have not enough cash to buy out Go pro it would be the other way round for sure but since gopro are going to make there own then i dont they would waste money on buying them out .
 
Buying Chinese companies is tricky. Not impossible, but tricky. And it would be hard to figure out what to do with DJI's larger birds.
 
Gopro and Align multirotors would make a good team. Align could steal all of DJI innovations and incorporate them into a RTF drone. With Gopro quality control and customer service I would certainly give them a good look.
 

Members online

Forum statistics

Threads
143,091
Messages
1,467,572
Members
104,974
Latest member
shimuafeni fredrik