The future of DJI in the USA

[mavic3usa]

Skydio is no longer making consumer drones they recently announced.

Yeah I heard that; pretty sad because the Skydio 2+ was actually a pretty nice drone. At this point, I'm not seeing a lot of competition from America in the consumer market; seems like DJI has the completely dominated. Not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing.

 

[Droning on and on...]

Well, I have a different opinion of the Skydio 2. The best tracking drone on the planet, OA DJI dreams of, and very good flight planning during tracking to produce good quality cinematic footage. It's still the best drone for sports activity tracking.

Almost bought one. Had paid the deposit, was backordered.

Then I flew one.

I couldn't cancel that order fast enough.

 

[rwilliam99]

Well, I have a different opinion of the Skydio 2. The best tracking drone on the planet, OA DJI dreams of, and very good flight planning during tracking to produce good quality cinematic footage. It's still the best drone for sports activity tracking.

Almost bought one. Had paid the deposit, was backordered.

Then I flew one.

I couldn't cancel that order fast enough.

Just curious, but what was bad about flying it?

 

[mavic3usa]

Just curious, but what was bad about flying it?

Skydio drones are not easy to fly and it's almost for sure, the person who would hate this drone upon first flying it (without paying for it or without extensive learning on it) will likely say that because the learning curve is too steep. For sure, it takes awhile to understand all the connections and the settings between the remote/beacon/drone/mobile and on top of that, you have to get it right else it behaves poorly. It can be accomplished but if a person doesn't get it right or something is defective, then yes it probably sucks for them.

I've seen Skydio flyers try to track themselves going so fast they outpace the drone, or they fly the drone so low that it cannot possible keep up. Or, do something no drone is meant to do. The Skydio is much improved over time and if you meet one, it's likely flying on outdated software. So many factors, so many potential issues. This is coming from someone who had the Skydio 2 and now I have the Skydio 2+ and have actually paid attention to how to use it properly because just like with our DJI camera drones, details matter. Bottom line, *not for everyone*. Tell me what you see wrong with either of these:

 

[anotherlab]

Here is the announcement from Skydio

Skydio to sunset consumer drone offerings

We will continue to provide software and customer support for existing customers.

www.skydio.com

...While Skydio 2 has been an incredible success in enabling new kinds of content capture, Skydio drones are also having a transformative impact for over 1,500 enterprise and public sector customers, putting sensors in dangerous and important places to perform inspections, find missing children, and protect our troops around the world. Our drones are making the core industries that our civilization runs on - public safety, transportation, energy, construction, and defense - safer and more efficient. And it’s becoming more and more clear every day that we need trusted, secure drones to meet these critical applications. The impact we’re having with our enterprise and public sector customers has become so compelling that it demands nothing less than our full focus and attention.

As a result, I have made the very difficult decision to sunset our consumer business in order to put everything we’ve got into serving our enterprise and public sector customers.

This means that we will no longer offer our Skydio 2+ Starter, Sports, Cinema, or Pro Kits. We will continue to provide software and customer support for existing customers. We stand by all warranty terms, Skydio Care, and will continue vehicle repairs. Additionally, we will retain inventory of accessories for as long as we can to support the need for replacement batteries, propellers, charging cables, etc..

 

[Meta4]

Here is the announcement from Skydio

Skydio to sunset consumer drone offerings

We will continue to provide software and customer support for existing customers.

www.skydio.com

That comes across as saying:
We cannot compete with what DJI offer and are not going to try any more.
Operating in the government sector where customers aren't allowed to use DJI and pay higher prices is a more attractive prospect.

 

[Droning on and on...]

Bingo.

Couldn't compete. It's that simple.

Had they been taking market share from DJI with revenue and earnings growth in their consumer business exceeding forecasts and expectations, yeah, they'd drop their consumer business.

And have a new CEO before breakfast.

You don't exit successful businesses. You exit failing ones.

It was a wise move, and the management team demonstrated their smarts and competence by doing so decisively and before it was too late.

I've seen the exact opposite too many times.

 

[mavic3usa]

Here's what I believe. And I have absolutely zero to back this up so I'm just guessing. Drones in the war in the Ukraine was such an oh **** moment for the entire world and especially for the US who thought we had this under control and had the last word before we realized, nope we don't. So Uncle Sam put out the word and US drone manufacturers had to completely shift gears and play catch up and get on teh ball in record time in order to regain the lead or at least get back to leading the way. And that includes Skydio and more importantly, it is probably true that they were simply "not permitted" to maintain a consumer category (if you know what I mean) and I'll stop right there.....

 

[anotherlab]

With Skydio, it comes down to a business decision. They could not compete with DJI in the consumer market and expect to make any income. For enterprise and public sector customers, it's a different story. While cost is still important, there are more factors in play. Skydio can focus on features that support those markets (S&R, asset inspections, etc).

They can also price their software and support services with a subscription model. Paying an annual fee is anathema to consumers, but for commercial and government agencies, it can be easier to budget X each year than having to pay Y every 4 years. Having a subscription income stream makes it easier for smaller companies like Skydio to fund their own R&D.

And being a company that does not have the letters "D", "J", and "I" in the name can make it easier for government agencies to purchase its products. For that reason alone, it makes a lot of sense for Skydio to go after a market that is being blocked from DJI.

 

[Meta4]

For that reason alone, it makes a lot of sense for Skydio to go after a market that is being blocked from DJI.

And it seems that Skydio was pretty active in getting DJI blocked from the government services market.
See the video I linked in post #16.

 

[anotherlab]

And it seems that Skydio was pretty active in getting DJI blocked from the government services market.
See the video I linked in post #16.

There is a big difference between Skydio trying to exploit the ban on DJI and Skydio having a role in DJI being banned. See the transcript of that video that was linked in post #16.

Florida's rule (reference) for banning the official use of drones from certain countries of origin is already in place. Skydio saw the opportunity to sway the influence of the FL state government in a heavy-handed way, guaranteed to blow up in their face,

 

[lookout]

There is a big difference between Skydio trying to exploit the ban on DJI and Skydio having a role in DJI being banned. See the transcript of that video that was linked in post #16.

Florida's rule (reference) for banning the official use of drones from certain countries of origin is already in place. Skydio saw the opportunity to sway the influence of the FL state government in a heavy-handed way, guaranteed to blow up in their face,

Skydio got a little too big for their pants. I think they are also really big on the remote ID campaign that none of us like.

 

[Hauptmann]

What US company makes better Drones than DJI ?????

None I have seen, but then I haven't really looked. I would LOVE having consumer drones of DJI quality made in the US or EU, but I don't see that happening. Starting out, costs would be so high they couldn't be sold to consumers at a profit. DJI seems to be far ahead of the curve.