Gear Patrol has acquired DPReview

AdamJacobMuller 2 years ago |

That's great. Despite the fact that I had little to no use for dpreview anymore (I haven't picked up my SLR in 5-10 years), it made me very sad that dpreview was going away. Their reviews were exceedingly through and in-depth and could be trusted. Happy news for all of the dpreview team!

jojobas 2 years ago | |

There is quite a deep connection between people like you or me not picking up their (D)SLRs in years and dpreview getting sold. The Moor has done his duty.

prmoustache 2 years ago | | |

They not only cater to DSLR, high end compact cameras were also reviewed but your point still stand.

I still think there is still a niche market good enough for a website to strive. Photographers and lots of Vloggers still use high end cameras.

jojobas 2 years ago | | |

Yes, high end (and not so high end as also reviewed) compact cameras are even more irrelevant these days.

usrusr 2 years ago | | |

In part because manufacturers fail to identify niches underserved by phones. E.g. gopro-sized and gopro-robust, but unlike gopro/clones with stills as a core competency and not just as an afterthought (e.g. the entire stabilization approach of gopro-class devices does not apply at all to stills). I see a lot of people taking stills with a gopro in situations where they would consider their phone too bulky and/or too fragile. An RX100 will fit those situations no better than the phone.

antisthenes 2 years ago |

This may sound harsh, but Gear Patrol looks to me like just another content farm with affiliate links, generating "Top X of Y" articles.

Sure it's got a premium feel of the website, but the lack of product specs make its value to me as a consumer 0.

obmelvin 2 years ago | |

I've come across a few Gear Patrol articles in my mobile chrome feed and I must agree - they aren't very helpful. It seems like they just want to add to their network with a quality domain name.

> Will all DPReview staff join Gear Patrol? > Our current core editorial, tech, and business team is moving forward with DPReview. Gear Patrol is committed to continuing DPReview’s industry leading journalism, and we look forward to collaboratively investing in the site’s future moving forward.

As I read it, this is corporate-speak for 'no one from DPReview staff will join', so I'd expect it to become more bland content where you wonder if the writer actually used the products or just read the best buy product pages.

AdamJacobMuller 2 years ago | | |

I think you read that backwards, move forward in this context means they will continue working with dpreview at it's new home.

Are there changes coming? change is the only constant, but, it sounds like everyone who had a job yesterday at dpreview (a wholly owned division of amazon) will have one tomorrow at dpreview (a wholly owned division of gear patrol) .

omoikane 2 years ago | | |

The question was "will all DPReview staff join Gear Patrol", and the answer said core as opposed to just simply affirming all, so perhaps not all staff get to keep their job.

obmelvin 2 years ago | | |

For some reason I read the FAQ from the POV of Gear Patrol. I think the use of 'core' threw me off - it does feel like they are trying to avoid saying that some people lost their jobs. I do expect changes, and I do expect them to cryptically worded in a press release :)

notatoad 2 years ago | |

Gearpatrol is the worst sort of website, because they do just enough of what could be called journalism to maintain a bit of integrity. Some of their reviews actually contain a critique!

But for every one of those posts, there’s ten where an advertiser clearly dictated the content.

rcmjr 2 years ago | |

I actually enjoy Gear Patrol. I have had them in my rss feed for years. I understand what you are saying but they do keep me up to date on certain things.

LTL_FTC 2 years ago | |

You’re right. I first discovered Gear Patrol many years ago and they featured some pretty cool products and I was a huge fan of the photography and aesthetic of the site. These days, I can’t help but notice just how often the same articles circulate the site and always with affiliate links. I have been visiting it less and less along with Uncrate.com (which did similar things).

AdamJacobMuller 2 years ago | |

I never heard of them before, but, their quality seems pretty good.

https://www.gearpatrol.com/food/a44258552/oral-history-big-g...

That's a whole article with extensive interviews/content/context without (as far as I could find) a single affiliate link (not even a buy link?).

notatoad 2 years ago | | |

But that whole piece is just a promotional item for the big green egg brand of barbecues. It’s entirely complimentary and written to promote the brand. It’s not journalism, it doesn’t help anybody other than the people who sell those barbecues

AdamJacobMuller 2 years ago | | |

Everything is to some degree promoting something else. Are the myriad articles in the past few days promoting OceanGate Expeditions? Their competitors? Titanic tourism in general?

I think that only crosses the line from informational to promotional if Gear Patrol was paid to write/show that article and I see no evidence of that.

DaiPlusPlus 2 years ago | | |

> Everything is to some degree promoting something else.

Does the concept of critical-evaluation not fit into your worldview?

And unless actual money is involved, all reviews are equally valid?

Sir, you lack nuance of thought.

jacooper 2 years ago | |

Thats was dpreview entire business model though?

antisthenes 2 years ago | | |

Dpreview's reviews from their golden era are of vastly higher quality and depth than anything I've seen on Gear Patrol's website, which also stretches itself thin over multiple domains, not just DSLR photography.

I have little hope that that quality or depth will be replicated in the future.

PaulHoule 2 years ago |

I wonder what happened behind the scenes at AMZN to make this possible.

Washuu 2 years ago | |

Amazon selling off companies they own is not very common. The last one that I know of that they sold off was Curse.(Sub-Subsidiary of Twitch) It was a huge effort by the director at the time to make it happen.

usrusr 2 years ago | |

Likely someone in a position where they could stand up for sale over closure (but usually not doing it because wouldn't expect to get a career boost from that approach) being a photography hobbyist?

pklausler 2 years ago |

This is a better outcome than losing DPReview entirely.

anuraaga 2 years ago | |

Almost all of my interaction with DPReview was when I wanted to buy a camera and got a Panasonic micro-4/3 based on their reviews I guess 13 years ago. It was good times but there's no chance of me buying a camera again ever I suspect.

I somehow feel like making good history just that isn't necessarily a bad outcome given there is always a reasonable chance the site will be butchered by new leadership. Camera pros must have a discord channel or something by now and not need a newly managed site?

MR4D 2 years ago |

I’ve been reading geek blogs and tech sites for years, and I’ve never heard of Gear Patrol. Based on this, my hunch is that DPReview will go here to die and in the future, Amazon will be able to say “we had nothing to do with its death!”

Woodi 2 years ago | |

Yeah, can be it. But there are also few other possibilities:

- DP was actually profitable... Or can be with some cuts and merge with GP

- maybe I hear once or two about GP but my second thought was" Do DP secretly owns GP ?? ;)

Anyway, with Fred Miranda removed lens review forum from public (or altogether ?) there is really shortage on unbiased, complete, with historical perspective and broad gear reviews...

skronch 2 years ago |

It's unfortunate for DPReview that this happened after they already lost their best talent (Chris and Jordan over at DPReview TV)

freetime2 2 years ago | |

Chris and Jordan never really seemed fully integrated into DPReview, anyway. There was the DPReview site, which continued to operate as it always had. And there was the YouTube channel, which for the most part was completely separate, and continued to operate as it had when Chris and Jordan were with TheCameraStoreTV.

I don't know that the DPReview site really benefitted that much from the YouTube channel. And frankly I'm happy for Chris and Jordan that they are now with Petapixel, which seems more relevant these days than DPReview. I do kind of wish they had just set out on their own, though.

LTL_FTC 2 years ago |

GP is far from journalism. There’s no way. It’s mostly, if not all, paid sponsorship with the rest affiliated links.

kylehotchkiss 2 years ago |

I've found gear patrol to be an enjoyable source of new product details (similar to Uncrate). Seems like a good acquirer to me! Better than losing such a great photography resource. I hope they're able to save more review sites in the future. Better than a wirecutter-only future.

gainda 2 years ago |

I used dpreview to buy my dslr back in early 2017 and it was so helpful in comparing the different options even as a newbie. Beyond thrilled to see amazon giving it up -- hopefully this means it can thrive.

mr3martinis 2 years ago |

Hopefully this means that they'll be able to maintain their thorough review format.

kwanbix 2 years ago |

I hope they can update their horrible forum software.

I have been a user there for like 10 or 15 years, I don't recall, and the ui sucks.

esel2k 2 years ago |

What is the business model behind this and Gear Patrol? Just ads or do they have deals with gear producer?

mwambua 2 years ago |

I haven't used Gear Patrol much in the past. Are their reviews of the same quality as DPReview's?

lofaszvanitt 2 years ago |

First, nuke that forum out of sight.