Forbes article on the downfall of 3DR

[Frank Foster]

Just my 2 cents worth..... I got into Pixhawk, and 3DR, years ago, I have 4 Iris+ machines, 2 Y6's, a few APM's, etc. etc. When 3DR came out with the Solo, my first disappointment was the price. My second was the fact that they (3DR) went to China. Kinda like if Ford closed all it's plants and set up shop in Japan, because Toyota was out selling them. 3DR jumped on the cheap/slave labor, mass produced, try to flood the market communist strategy that has kept DJI afloat all these years. It's a real shame, just another good idea, down the toilet. I'm 67 years old, and have enough parts and pieces to last me the rest of my life, so maybe I came in at the right time? Just my opinion. Please don't flame me, I don't have my asbestos suit on yet.

 

[User Name]

try to flood the market communist strategy

Huh??!?!!

Communist? What the heck does that mean?

Sorry, it just irks me when people bring their unrelated political positions into every argument.

 

[richnat]

Just my 2 cents worth..... I got into Pixhawk, and 3DR, years ago, I have 4 Iris+ machines, 2 Y6's, a few APM's, etc. etc. When 3DR came out with the Solo, my first disappointment was the price. My second was the fact that they (3DR) went to China. Kinda like if Ford closed all it's plants and set up shop in Japan, because Toyota was out selling them. 3DR jumped on the cheap/slave labor, mass produced, try to flood the market communist strategy that has kept DJI afloat all these years. It's a real shame, just another good idea, down the toilet. I'm 67 years old, and have enough parts and pieces to last me the rest of my life, so maybe I came in at the right time? Just my opinion. Please don't flame me, I don't have my asbestos suit on yet.

Huh??!?!!

Communist? What the heck does that mean?

Sorry, it just irks me when people bring their unrelated political positions into every argument.

And if the Solo had been built in the US, I wonder what it would have cost when it was new? The reality of the world is that we just can't build things like this at a competitive price. We CAN build them, it will just cost a lot more.

 

[Frank Foster]

Well excuse the chit out of me "USER NAME" ???) I spent a year of my life "fighting the communist aggression" in Viet Nam. Now I wear "Hanes" underwear, "made in Viet Nam" Simply amazes me how fast bad can become good, and visa versa. And I don't think it off topic to state that CHINA is a communist nation, when the majority of the equipment we use originates there. My country, The United States has become a consumer country, at the expense of other peoples miss fortunes (low wage, living conditions, etc. etc.) And if you can't see that, you need to pull your head out of the sand.

 

[andrew.baker.142]

Talking about how all the manufacturing moving to China is a bit off topic (but a reality of life today)
3DR used to manufacture their DIY stuff in Mexico, but moved to China for the Solo. Probably to be competitive with DJI.


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[erikgraham]

Well excuse the chit out of me "USER NAME" ???) I spent a year of my life "fighting the communist aggression" in Viet Nam. Now I wear "Hanes" underwear, "made in Viet Nam" Simply amazes me how fast bad can become good, and visa versa. And I don't think it off topic to state that CHINA is a communist nation, when the majority of the equipment we use originates there. My country, The United States has become a consumer country, at the expense of other peoples miss fortunes (low wage, living conditions, etc. etc.) And if you can't see that, you need to pull your head out of the sand.

Flooding the market, by definition can't be communist. So it was kind of weird that you threw that in there.

 

[Frank Foster]

I apologize to anyone I may have insulted, or upset. I had a nerve touched. But my point was, in my opinion, out sourcing to China was the downfall of 3DR. Let's say like General Motors setting up an assembly line at a Ford motor company plant. I'm done.

 

[User Name]

I apologize to anyone I may have insulted, or upset. I had a nerve touched. But my point was, in my opinion, out sourcing to China was the downfall of 3DR. Let's say like General Motors setting up an assembly line at a Ford motor company plant. I'm done.

I don't like outsourcing any more than you do, but I just don't see how it materially effected 3DR's fortunes, especially in light of their numerous other mistakes, namely: rushing the Solo to market before the gimbal was ready, the delays in finally releasing the gimbal, the early bugs causing sporadic loss of gimbal stabilization and the lousy GPS performance. These resulted in justified negative reviews, and issues competitors and their minions could jump all over. And then there was DJI's ability to significantly cut prices, and 3DR's reportedly manufacturing vastly more Solos than they should have.

None of these issues have anything to do with the sociopolitical structures of each country involved. I can understand how involvement in something like Vietnam could influence your views, but with all respect, I suspect you're seeing a ghost - something that's just not there. I would virtually guarantee that 90% of the electronics in your home and by which you're reading this very post, were made in China, right beside your Solo. None of those other companies have gone out of business because they manufactured in China, so I just don't see how that can specifically be cited as a cause of their downfall.

I'm sorry if I touched a nerve... I've always thought the clearest path to the truth is to be as objective as possible.

 

[SARDG]

I apologize to anyone I may have insulted, or upset. I had a nerve touched. But my point was, in my opinion, out sourcing to China was the downfall of 3DR. Let's say like General Motors setting up an assembly line at a Ford motor company plant. I'm done.

Our President would agree about outsourcing - however, we are already irreparably 'screwed' as no one would, will, or could pay the prices that would have to be asked if this junk was manufactured in the USA. Probably would have been looking at a $5-6K Solo initially, and a $2K gimbal.

 

[User Name]

Our President would agree about outsourcing - however, we are already irreparably 'screwed' as no one would, will, or could pay the prices that would have to be asked if this junk was manufactured in the USA. Probably would have been looking at a $5-6K Solo initially, and a $2K gimbal.

It'd be interesting to know how much the savings provided by outsourced/overseas manufacturing plays into lowering the actual selling price of the product, and how much it plays into increasing corporate profits.

Products are ultimately priced at what the market will bear, not what it cost to product + a fixed, desired profit. If they reduce the cost of manufacture, they don't just reduce the selling price because they can... they keep on selling it for what people will pay and make more money in the process.

But yea, it's going to be a tough problem to solve because so many disparate issues factor into it. US salary requirements are high, but that's partly because 30% of income goes to taxes, modest health care coverage costs at least $10,000, property taxes are often about the same. Then there's executive salaries, which used to be about 10x that of the average worker 50 years ago, but now is often several thousand times. We truly have painted ourselves into a corner. It'll be very interesting to see how we get out of it.