Surprised by the Pro3 price drop. Is there something I should know?21667
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Casey_Clark private msg quote post Address this user | |
| Hi everyone, I saw the news today that Matterport dropped the price of the Pro3, and I was a bit surprised. I’ve been thinking about my next step for a while. The hardware upgrade was one thing, but the increasing software costs were also a big reason I started looking at other options. The new Pro3 price seems pretty attractive. I’m a little confused by such a big price drop and wondering if I’m missing something here. Is Matterport simply trying to make the Pro3 more accessible, or is there a chance we’ll see changes somewhere else later? Like another subscription price increase? Would love to hear what others think. Has anyone here changed their upgrade plans because of the new pricing? |
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 WGANStandard Member Osaka, Japan |
Meidansha private msg quote post Address this user | |
| I'm not sure. At least here in Japan they seem to have problems accessing photographers for Capture Services. Most of my competitors stopped using Matterport because of the high subscription prices. I see it like Uber struggling to find drivers because no one can afford gas. At least Matterport can drop the price of the vehicle (the camera) Uber can't. Perhaps the idea is to mobilize a bigger workforce? Or Perhaps it is just because Realsee has released a higher resolution camera for less than the Pro3? I cannot say for sure. |
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WGAN Standard Member Osaka, Japan |
Meidansha private msg quote post Address this user | |
Not the least confused because there is no explanation on their news page (or any news since they merged with Co-Star). |
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 Owner,Managing Editor and Publisher of WGAN Forum and WGAN-TV Podcast Fairfield, California |
TomSparks private msg quote post Address this user | |
| @Casey_Clark I don't have any firsthand knowledge but i'd speculate and say that they are preparing for a Pro4 release. The pro2 came out around 2017 I believe, Pro3 around 2022, Pro4 should be on par for 2027. | ||
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MeshImages private msg quote post Address this user | |
| As Tom said: Matterport kept updating the Pro cameras in release-cycles of 5 years - 2017 Pro2 - 2022 Pro3 - so maybe a Pro4 in 2027? The Pro3 is still a fantastic Tool, but not really capable of 3DGS. A SLAM type Pro4 could speed up capturing and open the doors for the new visual 3D standard after the OBJ dollhouse. |
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 WGANStandard Member Los Angeles |
Home3D private msg quote post Address this user | |
| I also have no knowledge to share, just gut reactions. Let's see: • We've noted competition from Realsee, higher res and faster spins • Could be a Pro 4 coming. MP has to be aware of more competition and the 3DGS threat long term • Maybe they do want to expand the Pro 3 workforce. MP has complained about the inconsistent quality of MP-hired scans returned by techs. In fact, I've scanned where the client has commented that previous techs did a mediocre job, rushing through and doing too few spins. MP should be inspecting and "rating" every delivery for quality, publishing the scores and financially awarding techs that deliver top-quality work consistently. They don't do this, but should. • Another angle, my personal experience, most real estate agents have quit using MP for residential due to the Zillow ban on displaying MP tours. I rarely am asked for MP tours now in residential real estate. I'd guess that MP home scans are way down nationally. |
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MeshImages private msg quote post Address this user | |
| @Home3D Good points, with one exception: "Quote: Originally Posted by Home3D I don´t think that the 3DGS threat is long term. I think that the year 2027 will be the break-through for 3DGS - the development of 3DGS is so fast, like I have never seen before. And AI coding is significantly accelerating this development. Many of the competing platforms have already implemented 3DGS. Matterport has shown this demo. Also MPSkin may show a 3DGS integration soon. Also Treedis have already shown one. That said, I think that Matterport must deliver a 3DGS solution soon, otherwise the platform will not stay competitive. 3DGS captures are much faster than tripod-based lidar. Maybe Matterport does not yet show a Pro4 camera optimised for 3DGS, but they might come with a 3DGS Capturing Solution (in the capture app) supporting 360 cameras like the X5 or X6 (coming soon) and with a 3DGS Showcase Solution (in the cloud) supporting the upload of 3DGS file formats to the showcase player. |
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WGAN Standard Member Osaka, Japan |
Meidansha private msg quote post Address this user | |
| @MeshImages I agree that 3DGS is pretty amazing, but outside of uses in entertainment I really don't see much practical use. Not in the fields of real estate or surveying etc. that many people in this forum service. Most of us are still struggling to find markets in our countries for what Matterport promises now. which is quick, (relatively) easy and (relatively) cheap 3D models based on real spaces. 3DGS does not offer all three of those elements and the key draw back is that no matter what method you use to make 3DGS you need to scan so much more of the space to do what Matterport (or any other conventional laser scan) does. For me now with Matterport, even when trying to make in-roads on precision laser scanning I have to deal with people who pretend to know it all (you know, like the client who knows how many milimeters of accuracy each laser scanner has). Ask these people how much accuracy is actually needed by the ultimate user and nine times out of ten a Pro3 with a fast turn-around is much more appealling than than a 55,000 plus USD Faro Focus etc. The same is true of 3DGS at the moment. The clients I got in the depths of COVID are now all looking for 3DGS to update their portfolio. The funny thing is they are just retaking the same buildings with a new camera and paying huge costs for it. These clients never actually utilize the scans for what the equipment was made for. These clients just want the latest thing no matter what it is. So naturally they do not want to buy the equipment themselves, just show off the results to get some attention as "early adopters". It would be sad if Matterport had to switch to 3DGS before ever making a profit on laser scanning and mesh models. That would mean that the cost of the technology never made ends meet with the market it was supposed to serve. That would be a bad omen for my business too. An ongoing "bicycle" style business model that never grows and only "cycles". |
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WGAN Standard Member Osaka, Japan |
Meidansha private msg quote post Address this user | |
| @MeshImages I do agree with SLAM 100% | ||
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MeshImages private msg quote post Address this user | |
| @Meidansha Good points, but there are more use cases than just measurement, and for these use cases 3DGS plays a significant role. I have 5 key benefits - one for each finger of my left hand: 1. Teleportation - save travel time - immersion 2. Information - tags and more 3. Measurement - as you said 4. Communication - share space with others - share positions - communicate with notes - virtual staging 5. Documentation - save the current state for later visits |
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WGAN Standard Member Osaka, Japan |
Meidansha private msg quote post Address this user | |
| I understand that @MeshImages. I am experimenting with 3DGS too. I hope to make something useful out of it. However all of these things are done cheaper and faster with the existing options (Matterport, Cupix, Giraffe and the others promoted here). Where is the difference that warrants the extra time and financial cost for 3DGS? It exists for entertainment. I can't see it in other industries yet. The sad thing is if people go for 3DGS instead of the cheaper alternatives, that it will show the move to make digital twins was never about the their utility. Only the "wow!" factor of the tech. In the latter case we may as well give up on the hope that digital twins will become an integral part of our lives (and that we will have an endless job list) and just keep throwing money at the latest thing. Not the way it has to be just the way it seems to be going sometimes. |
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Hopscotch private msg quote post Address this user | |
| In 2022 there were severals months where iGuide had the advantage, then the Matterport Pro3 came out and I sold my iGuide not long after I made this video actually (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L4hotMnw8bQ). There is the same cycle happening now. Realsee has the advantage. It is the million dollar question if they will keep that advantage, and if Matterport has decided to stop creating hardware. I have long believed CoStar didn't purchase them to be in the hardware business. (https://youtu.be/tJyaBmGIvkY?si=NNhXA2S7nloPm2iL) breaks down a good comparison from a couple years ago. I think that Tom is likely right and the price drop signals a new camera coming out (or equivalent announcement) so we don't know yet, and that's another thing that feels different. | ||
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Casey_Clark private msg quote post Address this user | |
| Yeah, that seems reasonable. Maybe there's a new camera coming. I had already reached out to Realsee before this and looked into their pricing model a bit. After seeing the Pro3 price drop, I'm thinking it might be worth waiting for a little and seeing what Matterport does next, whether it's a new camera or maybe some changes to the subscription. I also asked Realsee if they had any offers available after the price change, and they said they could help. So for now I'm probably going to wait a little and see how things play out. |
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 WGAN FanClub Member Queensland, Australia |
Wingman private msg quote post Address this user | |
| with 3DGS currently is nobody addressing such an important aspect as user usability. We need to ask this first: How many people have a proper hardware on their devoices and what is their broadband speed? If you start looking at 3DGS examples you discover pretty fast that even small areas 3DGSs can completely make irresponsive regular desktops/laptop not to mention mobile devices. Sometimes it takes minutes even with 200Mbps channel to load 3DGS in a browser. Who would sit and wait for it to be loaded? I have seen great quality big size 3DGS that I cannot even explore on a 3d desktop that has 12GB of VRAM and can process easily point clouds with millions of points. And yet in some big size 3DGS I cannot even move as it is taking all my desktop resources. 360/3D tours beat all that as they do not need to be loaded in full and pretty much any 10 years old device can handle them. |
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Casey_Clark private msg quote post Address this user | |
| I haven't really dug into 3DGS much yet, but I had similar thoughts after seeing some examples. It looks great in demos, but I'm still not sure how practical it is for everyday use. The loading time and hardware requirements seem like a pretty big hurdle when most clients just want to click a link and explore. Compared with a Matterport tour, the simplicity is still a big advantage. The technology is definitely interesting though, curious to see how it develops. |
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