# Contour calls it quits



## killclimbz (Aug 10, 2007)

They kind of had their problems, but was still a viable product. Seemed to be the number 2 player in this market. I am surprised they couldn't find a niche...


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## linvillegorge (Jul 6, 2009)

Sucks. I definitely preferred their form factor over the GoPro lunchbox on the forehead.


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## BurtonAvenger (Aug 14, 2007)

Any camera I can break within 10 minutes of opening the package is doomed. I'm honestly not surprised.


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## ComaShell (Mar 10, 2013)

Was Nick Woodman spotted in the area shortly afterwards?


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## Donutz (May 12, 2010)

They DID have their problems. The microphone issue was a bad one, but their response to it (which was to basically ignore it) was a bigger one. The lack of a viewfinder was a problem, but their response -- creating a bluetooth connection to a smartphone -- was a good one. Or would have been, if the smartphone was able to actually watch the video. My understanding was that all you could see was a snapshot. Not good enough. I moved from the Contour to a Drift based on my experiences with the different cameras.

The biggest thing though, was marketing. GoPro, whatever you may think of the teletubby/lunchbox thingie, are very good at marketing and strategic alliances. Locally, you see GoPro stands in Future Shop, in sports shops, specialty retailers like Boardroom and Comor, etc. Contour is only available from a second-floor mail-order business in North Van (Launch Helmetcams). Not that there's anything wrong with Launch, I've always found them very good to deal with, but you don't get impulse purchases with that kind of sourcing.

IMO, Contour died for the same reason as Borland died a decade ago -- good product technically, but lousy marketing and lousy attention to non-engineering details.


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## killclimbz (Aug 10, 2007)

That is the biggest thing that kills off company after company. You point out a problem and they then ignore it. The consumer sees this so they ignore them.


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## BurtonAvenger (Aug 14, 2007)

People are forgetting one of the biggest issues in the POV market. Recessed lens! Nothing like one pow slash and poof lens is packed in. That shit ruined 2 days of heli riding for my friend up in AK as the only usuable stuff he had was before he slashed a spine.


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## jdang307 (Feb 6, 2011)

Sounds like they are looking for a buyer so there's a chance they may rise from the dead.

Good point about the recessed lens.

Now if GoPro can do something about the fucking low battery life. Is one day without replacing too much too ask? At least there are solutions I guess (extra batteries and a pack)


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## Cr0_Reps_Smit (Jun 27, 2009)

BurtonAvenger said:


> People are forgetting one of the biggest issues in the POV market. Recessed lens! Nothing like one pow slash and poof lens is packed in. That shit ruined 2 days of heli riding for my friend up in AK as the only usuable stuff he had was before he slashed a spine.


that was my biggest reason for not giving contour a 2nd look.


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## jwelsh83 (Jan 9, 2013)

Man that blows...just got a Contour+ for Father's Day. Thought it was awkward that Travis Rice signed with Contour awhile back and then you started seeing him push GoPro through social network...


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## Argo (Feb 25, 2010)

Drift closed their eagle headquarters also. We have the same contacts but no office for them and a hold on free gear for a couple months.


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## killclimbz (Aug 10, 2007)

I am not surprised that Drift closed their Eagle offices. What a horrible location to run that sort of business and costly. I'm sure they wanted to be in an area where they consider it idea for their cameras, but it doesn't serve them well for awareness. A city would have been a better choice to start. 

I really like Drift's product. It just seems they are sort of shooting themselves in the foot with their attempts to gain traction in the States. I do think the camera is doing much better overseas. It doesn't seem like they are in the troubles that Contour has, but maybe I am wrong.


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## ShredLife (Feb 6, 2010)

who went out of business?


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## Kevin137 (May 5, 2013)

Wow i was lucky then, i sent one back 8 weeks ago for replacement under warranty, and only got it back 3 weeks ago...!!!

It does suck though, as i have 2 x contour+2's, my son has the GPS, and my stepson Sneaky has the Roam...!!!

Although i did purchase a GoPro last week as well... Haha 

Might be time to have a clear out of old gear before it becomes common knowledge and get all new gear...!!!


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## hktrdr (Apr 3, 2012)

They are offloading stock of some Roam 2s on The Clymb.


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## volcom21d (Sep 11, 2012)

Blows. I liked their product. My +2 never gave me any issues. Took some great training vids doing hoist work from the skid of a 'copter. I never noticed the mic problems people keep mentioning, I always had it turned off anyway. Bought an armband for my iPhone and always had a viewfinder on


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## Deviant (Dec 22, 2009)

Sucks for the people working for them especially. Got to agree with Donutz here about the marketing

Sorry if this has been posted before, the news article is from January, but this is a pretty interesting read of what might be to come as far as sports/HD cams.

AnandTech | Ambarella Announces A9 Camera SoC - Successor to the A7 in GoPro Hero 3 Black



> ...lower power consumption for the same workloads and the ability to record 4K30 video as well as 1080p120 or 720p240, double the framerate of the previous generation thanks to higher performance. The A9 is the direct successor to the A7 and enables 4K video capture with enough framerate (30FPS) for playback without judder, the previous generation's 4K 15 FPS capture pretty much limited it to use for recording high resolution timelapses or other similar scenes that would be played back at increased speed.


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## RagJuice Crew (Apr 8, 2012)

What recessed lens? On my Contour +2 the lens is flush with the body.




This sucks. Much prefer the Contours over the Go Pro's, the form is so much better, the app worked brilliantly, the rotating lense and status checks were better and the always on on the +2 meant no more "is it on?" nonsense. And I've never had any problems with flimsy parts or breaking easy. Only issue I had was when the dive housing failed on a dive and leaked water in, destroying the camera. They shipped out a replacement (only recently too, lucky timing for me).


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## Kevin137 (May 5, 2013)

volcom21d said:


> Blows. I liked their product. My +2 never gave me any issues. Took some great training vids doing hoist work from the skid of a 'copter. I never noticed the mic problems people keep mentioning, I always had it turned off anyway. Bought an armband for my iPhone and always had a viewfinder on


I have a viewfinder in my Goggles... Hehe


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## DrGreeNThumB420 (Aug 19, 2007)

BurtonAvenger said:


> People are forgetting one of the biggest issues in the POV market. Recessed lens! Nothing like one pow slash and poof lens is packed in. That shit ruined 2 days of heli riding for my friend up in AK as the only usuable stuff he had was before he slashed a spine.


:thumbsup: happened to me multiple times. It sucks getting home to watch that awesome run only to find after my first face shot lens packed with snow :blink:


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## Argo (Feb 25, 2010)

I like the drift ghost over our gopro black. The lens protrudes and is oval so snow will fall off almost immediately unless its super wet. It also has the live cell phone view/edit/upload features plus you can adjust the settings through your phone on the fly.... aside from that it has an lcd screen for viewing built in. 

They still have their main offices in europe, just not in eagle, co anymore


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## jdang307 (Feb 6, 2011)

I had a really fun run and went home and there were two water spots on it. So, not ice but ruined it just as much :laugh:


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## tdn (Dec 30, 2010)

I never used mine for snowboarding, but I used it during a deployment where it worked wonderfully. Much more sleek than a GoPro, and with the rest of my gear no one really noticed it much or it never stuck out much when people did notice. All the captured footage came out great.

I've been meaning to use it snowboarding, but I have plenty of friends with their helmet cams already - and the last thing I usually care about while snowboarding is footage.. until of course I do something sick - but that rarely happens.


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## poutanen (Dec 22, 2011)

I'm surprised! Gotta be something weird, no real reason to close a company that's making money (if that was in fact the case).

I've got no issues with either Roam I've owned. Re-flashed the Roam 1 with Roam 2 firmware and I'm enjoying 720p60 out of a $99 camera!!! :yahoo:


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## WhistlerBound (Aug 24, 2008)

I hope something rises from the ashes of Contour, I really liked the form factor.

My biggest gripe was their response to requests for firmware changes/features. I waited two years for them to add timezones to their GPS-based timestamps and they never got around to it, despite numerous indications that it was "in the works".

I also hated the fact that when they hyped their next big version they seemingly forgot about the version they released only a few months ago.

At some stage they pretty much cut off their community, no official forums or discussion. I'm not sure what drove this move but it seemed at best naive and short sighted, at worst, arrogant.

Something with great potential destroyed by poor execution.


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## Extremo (Nov 6, 2008)

Wow...I was shitting on Contour after I got my first +2 because it was giving me all kinds of problems. I exchanged it for a new one and it's worked flawlessly. So far it's been everything I've wanted in a POV. 

It's a shame.


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## MarshallV82 (Apr 6, 2011)

Sorry for bringing this thread back to life!

I had no idea Contour shut down, I must admit I've had alot of good runs I couldn't see due to snow packed lens. I figured that was an issue on all of them honestly. Last year my buddy convinced me not buy the new go pro because he had nothing but trouble with his. Go pro is way ahead with mounts though. 

I've had good luck with my +2 so far though.


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## Triple8Sol (Nov 24, 2008)

Such a bummer to see a local company close its doors, especially with a product with so much potential. That said, after demoing multiple products, I own a GoPro 3 Black, although I hate it and may be getting rid of it soon.


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## Extremo (Nov 6, 2008)

Looks like Contour is still intact and looking for a buyer. 

Contour Up For Sale - Press Releases - Vital MTB


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## killclimbz (Aug 10, 2007)

It's in receivership. Now I am not a pro in this area but I think all this means is someone has been appointed over everything left. They are basically looking for who will pay the most. It could be piece meal or the whole thing. Whatever is going to bring the most $$$. The bit about keeping the brand is probably little more than lip service. More negatives does not help their sale. 

So yes someone could by them and continue the brand. I doubt it. Maybe a related company like Sony or JVC will biy them up to use some of their designs. Doesn't sound like anyone cares about that either. 

We just have to wait a little longer to find out what will happen. In reality anything can happen.


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## Incogneato (Nov 14, 2007)

the reason they "died" is because they were over extended on their credit and the investors got spooked and pulled their backing. this caused the banks to call their loans/lines of credit. this results in the company going into recievership which means their assets etc are held and then sold off to pay off creditors. its an unfortunate thing that can happen to any company. it wasn't because their customer service sucked or whatever. that may kill a company but not overnight as it takes time for the bad word/dissatisfaction has to spread. they tried to go for the brass ring but fell off the horse.


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## hktrdr (Apr 3, 2012)

Incogneato said:


> the reason they "died" is because they were over extended on their credit and the investors got spooked and pulled their backing. this caused the banks to call their loans/lines of credit. this results in the company going into recievership which means their assets etc are held and then sold off to pay off creditors. its an unfortunate thing that can happen to any company. it wasn't because their customer service sucked or whatever. that may kill a company but not overnight as it takes time for the bad word/dissatisfaction has to spread. they tried to go for the brass ring but fell off the horse.


Not quite. They were 'over extended' at the end because they did not sell enough units, which was a direct result of piss poor customer service, weak product development, etc.
Consequently, they went into financial distress and their backers refused to put up more cash - and that is where the story ends, unless somebody snaps it up.


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## linvillegorge (Jul 6, 2009)

Exactly. Investors and financers aren't bailing out unless the situation is very dire.


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## Extremo (Nov 6, 2008)

hktrdr said:


> Not quite. They were 'over extended' at the end because they did not sell enough units, which was a direct result of piss poor customer service, weak product development, etc.
> Consequently, they went into financial distress and their backers refused to put up more cash - and that is where the story ends, unless somebody snaps it up.


GoPro has it's problems as well, and def inferior in design to the Contour, Drift, Ion POV cams. They were just smart enough to buy a bunch of athletes and ad time. Nothing to do with customer service and weak product. It came down to image and branding and gopro dominated.


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## hktrdr (Apr 3, 2012)

Extremo said:


> GoPro has it's problems as well, and def inferior in design to the Contour, Drift, Ion POV cams. They were just smart enough to buy a bunch of athletes and ad time. Nothing to do with customer service and weak product. It came down to image and branding and gopro dominated.


Oh, I am not defending GoPro at all - they have had plenty of fuck-ups (Android app, etc.) and the H3 series has been a huge let-down. That said, they did get a few things right:
1. First mover advantage. Realistically the market for action cameras is not huge, so being the first to market and building an installed based and brand is enormous.
2. 1. Was helped by strong promotion/sponsorship, as you pointed out. 
3. Superior core functionality for the respective user groups.

Don't underestimate 3. In many respects the Contour was/is a superior all-around product, but if you focus on specific customer groups GoPro came out on top:
- For professional users it was all about video quality - that's it that's all, no matter the other drawbacks (idiosyncratic operation, battery life issues, etc.). Until recently (and arguably still) GoPro was a step ahead of all other offerings in that respect - as a result, even when sponsored by other POV brands, pro riders and video makers would use GoPros.
- For consumers things like branding/promotion obviously matter, but also factors like choice of mounting options, ability to swap stuff with friends, etc. First mover advantage/installed base was huge for both of these.

Contour's failure was not just due to weaker promotion. They were coming from behind, so they needed to have a competitive or superior offering - and they did not. So yes, customer service and weak product were definitley significant factors in their failure.


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## jcam1981 (Jan 22, 2012)

I love my contour 2+ and aside from having to wipe off snow after I had to navigate past snow makers, east coast life. The image quality was great and the mic was fine. As long the software still works I am not going to freak out.

Plus they gave me two coupons for testing the contour 2+ and the web store allowed me to use both coupons at the same time 1 for 30% off and then it let me add on a 50% off coupon. I was just trying to use the 50% off coupon only. Not a great business strategy.


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## MikeCL (Oct 13, 2012)

Sad to hear.. I'm just now finding out about this.. like others have said I liked the Contour designed over the GoPro.. I don't understand why GoPro can't design the camera around the look of the Contour.. that might make me decide to buy one then.


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## eastcoaststeeze (Jan 17, 2013)

Investor plans to revive Contour after winning bid to buy GoPro rival for $1.9M - GeekWire


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## racer357 (Feb 3, 2011)

I just left my local best buy store. there are 6 - 8 cameras in their inventory that look really close to the contour in design.

I too have a brand new +2 and plenty of batteries so I am not worried. I hope contour comes out with something incredible under the new ownership.

I am not a fan of the physical design of gopros product.


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## WhistlerBound (Aug 24, 2008)

eastcoaststeeze said:


> Investor plans to revive Contour after winning bid to buy GoPro rival for $1.9M - GeekWire


Good news!


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## MikeCL (Oct 13, 2012)

That's good news to hear as I perfer contours design over gopro.


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## jcam1981 (Jan 22, 2012)

MikeCL said:


> That's good news to hear as I perfer contours design over gopro.


I agree. The design looks better on helmet or googles and isn't as bulky as the gopro "toaster style." I also enjoy the slide on/off button instead of the push button.


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