The all GoPro models discussion thread

[V8LM]

Bugger. A Black? I've sent them an email...

[nick s]

Finally got my Black edition from Actioncameras on Friday!

[audi321]

Does anyone know if the US ones are identical to the UK ones? I've just found out my mate has bought me one from the US (without me knowing!) before xmas as the UK ones were out of stock at the time.

Now I'm worried it won't work the same as the UK ones!

ETA - Black edition version

[Salgar]

audi321 said:

Does anyone know if the US ones are identical to the UK ones? I've just found out my mate has bought me one from the US (without me knowing!) before xmas as the UK ones were out of stock at the time.

Now I'm worried it won't work the same as the UK ones!

ETA - Black edition version

They're all exactly the same, they don't even come with a plug so the box contents are 100% the same.
I bought one in the US in November, it's lovely

[mrmr96]

audi321 said:

Does anyone know if the US ones are identical to the UK ones? I've just found out my mate has bought me one from the US (without me knowing!) before xmas as the UK ones were out of stock at the time.

Now I'm worried it won't work the same as the UK ones!

ETA - Black edition version

Pretty sure they are. I mean, they don't plug into the mains do they? (they charge by mini USB, so any mini usb charger will work.) They also write .mp4's and .jpegs to micro SD card, which again are international file formats.

I literally see no reason whatsoever to make them territory specific, except for maybe languages in the manual or firmware. The camera won't know what country it's in, will it?

It'll be fine.

[audi321]

Excellent thanks. I've gone crazy at him buying it for me, but what can you do when someone gets you a surprise pressy like that!

What mounts should I buy for it, bearing in mind the main use for me will be snowboarding/skiing. I like the idea of this pole mount thing, but looks a little cumbersome? Also, should I get another battery if the battery only lasts 30 mins on high def mode?

[Dave 500]

audi321 said:

I like the idea of this pole mount thing, but looks a little cumbersome? Also, should I get another battery if the battery only lasts 30 mins on high def mode?

Pole mount will give you the best footage but its the hardest to use (ie you need to be able to snowboard with out thinking about it)

Battery should last a few hours but its worth having two.

[Salgar]

Dave 500 said:

audi321 said:

I like the idea of this pole mount thing, but looks a little cumbersome? Also, should I get another battery if the battery only lasts 30 mins on high def mode?

Pole mount will give you the best footage but its the hardest to use (ie you need to be able to snowboard with out thinking about it)

Battery should last a few hours but its worth having two.

Battery certainly doesn't last a few hours, 30 minutes is much closer, possibly even less sadly, it's worth having 2 or 3 batteries. the good thing about it though is you don't just strap it to yourself and record hours of nothingness that you're never going to watch or edit.

[Dave 500]

Salgar said:

Dave 500 said:

audi321 said:

I like the idea of this pole mount thing, but looks a little cumbersome? Also, should I get another battery if the battery only lasts 30 mins on high def mode?

Pole mount will give you the best footage but its the hardest to use (ie you need to be able to snowboard with out thinking about it)

Battery should last a few hours but its worth having two.

Battery certainly doesn't last a few hours, 30 minutes is much closer, possibly even less sadly, it's worth having 2 or 3 batteries. the good thing about it though is you don't just strap it to yourself and record hours of nothingness that you're never going to watch or edit.

That must be a new thing for the Black then as the H2 I have on full HD last for 2 hours min

Wonder why the new one is so bad

[mrmr96]

Dave 500 said:

audi321 said:

I like the idea of this pole mount thing, but looks a little cumbersome? Also, should I get another battery if the battery only lasts 30 mins on high def mode?

Pole mount will give you the best footage but its the hardest to use (ie you need to be able to snowboard with out thinking about it)

Battery should last a few hours but its worth having two.

I've got 4 batteries, because batteries tend to go flat much faster when it's cold. I think I'll have more than enough, esp since the black edition comes with the remote, so you can shut it off between runs saving memory and battery life. (It sits in a standby mode when "turned off" with the remote, then wakes up when you tell it.)

There's a guy on youtube who does loads of gopro mounting "tips and tricks" videos, can't remember his name right now. He did a couple of cool ones for snowboarding which I want to try out. One of them involved buying the head strap (i.e. the one which mounts to your head, not your helmet) and then modifying the straps so you could put it around your leg above your ski boot. I intend to try this by putting it above my snowboard boot, but below my knee, and turn it to face down hill. Should be a slightly better view than mounting on the board itself, as you're a bit higher, but it will still always be facing where I'm going with no effort. It also means it has a bit of "suspension" for smoother shots, as mounting directly to the board or ski will likely vibrate too much for a good picture.

The other thing I'd recommend for snow use would be some of the anti-fog patches, as you'll undoubtedly trap a little moisture in there if you open the case anywhere other than your warm hotel room. Nothing more annoying than an epic run being taped, only to find out the camera was fogged up!

[gp1699]

if you get the seatpost/handle bar mount, use it on you ski pole might need to pack it alittle with some gaffa tape.

should get some good shots

[Salgar]

mrmr96 said:

Dave 500 said:

audi321 said:

I like the idea of this pole mount thing, but looks a little cumbersome? Also, should I get another battery if the battery only lasts 30 mins on high def mode?

Pole mount will give you the best footage but its the hardest to use (ie you need to be able to snowboard with out thinking about it)

Battery should last a few hours but its worth having two.

I've got 4 batteries, because batteries tend to go flat much faster when it's cold. I think I'll have more than enough, esp since the black edition comes with the remote, so you can shut it off between runs saving memory and battery life. (It sits in a standby mode when "turned off" with the remote, then wakes up when you tell it.)

There's a guy on youtube who does loads of gopro mounting "tips and tricks" videos, can't remember his name right now. He did a couple of cool ones for snowboarding which I want to try out. One of them involved buying the head strap (i.e. the one which mounts to your head, not your helmet) and then modifying the straps so you could put it around your leg above your ski boot. I intend to try this by putting it above my snowboard boot, but below my knee, and turn it to face down hill. Should be a slightly better view than mounting on the board itself, as you're a bit higher, but it will still always be facing where I'm going with no effort. It also means it has a bit of "suspension" for smoother shots, as mounting directly to the board or ski will likely vibrate too much for a good picture.

The other thing I'd recommend for snow use would be some of the anti-fog patches, as you'll undoubtedly trap a little moisture in there if you open the case anywhere other than your warm hotel room. Nothing more annoying than an epic run being taped, only to find out the camera was fogged up!

We used to get around this by leaving the camera open outside in the cold for about 15 minutes before closing it up and leaving for the day, otherwise yeah, sadness.

[TommyBuoy]

Has anyone had any issues with their 3 yet?

I've got a silver that I'm having problems with. It tends to stop recording randomly and then subsequent recordings only last for 1 second. It is also now not recognising the SD card - but will still record to it? It just means the computer doesn't recognise it - I'm using a Sandisc 32GB Class 10 as recommended?

One thing that I really like and was putting me off the Hero 2 is that with the free app for iphone etc you can preview the camera and use it as a control - so you can frame the image you want to record instead of a bit of guesswork.

[Feirny]

TommyBuoy said:

Has anyone had any issues with their 3 yet?

I've got a silver that I'm having problems with. It tends to stop recording randomly and then subsequent recordings only last for 1 second. It is also now not recognising the SD card - but will still record to it? It just means the computer doesn't recognise it - I'm using a Sandisc 32GB Class 10 as recommended?

One thing that I really like and was putting me off the Hero 2 is that with the free app for iphone etc you can preview the camera and use it as a control - so you can frame the image you want to record instead of a bit of guesswork.

I find that connecting it to the iPhone/iPad saps the battery like no tomorrow. Even when pressing the lock button on the phone, the app still runs.

[audi321]

TommyBuoy said:

Has anyone had any issues with their 3 yet?

I've got a silver that I'm having problems with. It tends to stop recording randomly and then subsequent recordings only last for 1 second. It is also now not recognising the SD card - but will still record to it? It just means the computer doesn't recognise it - I'm using a Sandisc 32GB Class 10 as recommended?

One thing that I really like and was putting me off the Hero 2 is that with the free app for iphone etc you can preview the camera and use it as a control - so you can frame the image you want to record instead of a bit of guesswork.

Could be a card issue, have you tried another card? Did you buy it from a legit place (i.e. could it be a copy?) Try a 100% legit card and see if it does it, also have you done the update?

[Lefty]

Try formatting the card...

[TommyBuoy]

audi321 said:

TommyBuoy said:

Has anyone had any issues with their 3 yet?

I've got a silver that I'm having problems with. It tends to stop recording randomly and then subsequent recordings only last for 1 second. It is also now not recognising the SD card - but will still record to it? It just means the computer doesn't recognise it - I'm using a Sandisc 32GB Class 10 as recommended?

One thing that I really like and was putting me off the Hero 2 is that with the free app for iphone etc you can preview the camera and use it as a control - so you can frame the image you want to record instead of a bit of guesswork.

Could be a card issue, have you tried another card? Did you buy it from a legit place (i.e. could it be a copy?) Try a 100% legit card and see if it does it, also have you done the update?

Last thing for me to try is another card - was putting off buying one to be honest. I have formatted the card several times, carried out the update and bought from an official stockist (an actual shop too!).

Oh well, I'll try a new card and cross my fingers - support from GoPro is a bit slow at the minute.

Also, the app / wifi does drain the battery - I use it for framing the shot only as there is also a bit of lag on the preview image.

[Salgar]

GoPro just said this:

"
GoPro
Dear GoPro Community,


All of us at GoPro apologize that many of you have been frustrated by software bugs in early production HERO3 cameras. This is not OK and we feel very badly about it. We believe all known bugs have been fixed with a software update that was published on December 15th at https://gopro.zendesk.com/home. Most GoPros currently on sale in stores have the most up to date software.

Some of you are experiencing problems updating your cameras but are having a very difficult time getting a hold of us via customer support. There's no excuse for this. We simply were not prepared for the demand for the HERO3 camera nor the resulting customer service requests associated with the software bugs found in early production units. We are as frustrated as you are. This should be a time of celebration and stoke over how awesome the HERO3 camera is… not a frustrating experience that bums people out.

We are aggressively expanding our Customer Support efforts in order to respond to your questions as quickly as possible and our goal is to quickly improve GoPro Customer Support to be world class. We're sorry we're not there yet, but we're busting tail to get there as quickly as we can. We promise we will get to you as fast as possible. In the meantime, many of your questions can be answered at: www.gopro.com/support

GoPro has succeeded thanks to the passion we all share for capturing and sharing amazing life experiences with our GoPros. We're so much further along this journey than we ever imagined possible thanks to the incredible support from you, our customers. When I started GoPro I thought it would be just a small surf company making wrist cameras for surfers. But thanks to all of you...it's now, well...GoPro, the world's bestselling and most versatile camera company. But that means it should also have the world's best customer service. I and the rest of the GoPro team are totally focused on this and we deeply appreciate your patience and understanding as we make this happen.


Much love and appreciation, everyone. It takes a village and we're grateful for you...our tribe.



Nicholas Woodman
GoPro Founder & CEO"

[mrmr96]

Sounds like the firmware needs updating then. Which is pretty easy. So long as it IS just a firmware issue, and not a hardware issue.

[TommyBuoy]

Well, I tried another Class 10 SanDisk card yesterday and still having the problem of it randomly stopping the recording, then recording 1 second everytime I try to restart it.

I can confirm that GoPro are struggling with Customer Services - been trying to get hold of them all week, and still no reply to my email.

It seems some people have had issues over in the states with hardware problems so maybe there is a bad batch?