GoPro advice please

[Phil B]

I think my wife would love one of these and her birthday is in Feb.

Anyone here that can decode all the model specs to human speak and perhaps advise on the best model?

She'd be using it for general outdoors fun, motorcycle helmet cam, possibly dashcam, plus may use as underwater camera (assuming a housing is required.

Advice on the screen would be handy. Are the newer models better?
What size card to buy?? Any connectivity advice (Laptop and iPad here)?

It's a nightmare for me, I'm a Mechanical Engineer.

All help gratefully received.

 

[Phil B]

Also, where's cheap to buy please??

 

[garethw]

Hi there
I've got the Gopro Hero 3 but I'd go for the Hero 4 with the screen on the back. The latest Hero 5 is much dearer... They come with a waterproof housing for swimming and keeping the dust out for action stuff. A 16gb card should be ample, you'll get an hour plus of HD... You can film up to 4K &and use modes like Protune to get more editable images...

It depends how you want to use it. I find Adobe Premiere can edit it fine, upto 2.7k but my PC is not fast enough for 4K. A simple USB connection to download the sequences is all you need.
For me it is just an extra angle type camera, I can stick anywhere to get an interesting angle. It in no way replaces a proper camera, as you have no control over anything. The image quality for such a small piece of kit is very good, and most of my films have a few GoPro sequences.

You can get kits of fixing accessories on Amazon, with suction cups, body harnesses, stick on mounts, head mounts etc.. all for only 30 odd quid. The original Gopro stuff is much dearer, and I can't see any difference in it except the logo.

You can get Chinese knock off cameras too but most I have seen aren't as good as a Gopro.. Except perhaps the Sony models but they are larger.

cheers
Gareth

 

[sunndog]

Have a look at the stealth drift 2. Its what i'm getting as a motorbike helmet cam

 

[sunndog]

Heres the stealth

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Drift-Ste...413375?hash=item33c476357f:g:txQAAOSw4shX687B

I'm as confused as you on specs but this one seems a good price, good picture, more subtle mounting on a helmet, and much much longer battery life than gopro

 

[neoaliphant]

I would recommend the git2. I've been using as dashcam for a year. Lots of good features. Chinese does not mean poor quality always.

Gopro accessory kits are cheap on Amazon. I got a huge kit with the works for 1.50

 

[neoaliphant]

Git2 is same size as Gopro. Uses same cases etc. Don't buy official Gopro accessories. Way too expensive

 

[Phil B]

Thanks chaps. The Stealth does look interesting, but I think the Gopro has a playback screen. I admit to being a bit of a snob with stuff and usually opt for originals.
basically I don't buy a Chinese "swiss" army knife when I know the Victorinox is better.

So, question, is the Gopro better for the money and is it worth it?

 

[Gcckoka]

If it won't hurt your wallet buy the gopro hero 4black , buy a minimum 32gb class 10 memory card , you can buy cheaper ones like I have for 80$ and I love it , but if I could afford it I would buy the gopro for sure , the difference is not big though... I doubt you need those 4k resolution

 

[Robson Valley]

My brother is close to logging 200 SCUBA dives. He uses a couple of GoPro, one is a head-mount and the
other sits between a pair of really high intensity lights for close-ups. I never hear him complain about GoPro
equipment/accessory failures.

Was thinking about buying one just the other day. Believe I'd use GoPro based on company reputation.

 

[Phil B]

Both helpful answers. Thank you.

 

[GGTBod]

I have a hero 4 silver and a hero 4 session, bought the 4 silver to do 4k video, timelapse and nightlapse and cos it has a touchscreen, screen is totally pointless as you control all gopro via the app (awesome having your cams set up and flicking between them and turning them on and off with your phone, getting a wearable gimbal soon that can control pitvch and yaw from the app too, can't wait) and if you do use the screen the battery life is comical, other than that an amazing camera, but ......... wish i had just bought 2 of the hero 4 sessions, goona buy another 4 session soon or a 5 session if i am flush, it doesn't do 4k vid or nightlapse and you can tell the difference between it's 1080 60fps video and the 1080 60fps of the hero 4 silver but it is not enough of a difference to care but it is so simple and straight forward to use and so little and light you almost forget about it.

Not sure if any of that helps but that is my experience so far of using 2 different gopro and trying to film outdoor activities with them both for an extended period of time

 

[GGTBod]

ohhh yeah seriously you need a 128gb cards, even 1080@30fps eats the data so quick, i took 700+GB of cards with me for 3 weeks in the wild and had about 150gb spare when i got back an i never shot anything above 1080@60fps and have over 9hrs of raw video from a 3 week trip

if you want to record in 4k uhd you have to have the cards faster than the 10 class, they are the newest versions called Class U3 it literally has a symbol on it of a capital u shape with a 3 inside of it and must have up to 90mb/sec transfer rate or your 4k vid with be glitchy and often auto stop as the card can't keep up with the writing speed of the file system, if you are just gonna shoot 1080@60fps then a class 10 sd card will be fine

these are the ones i got but the 128gb versions, you can get 256gb versions but not all gopro recognise that size

here is apick of the packet with the speed info

 

[GGTBod]

The only gopro official accessories i'd recommend are the little feet that fit into the clamps as the teeth snap on the cheap ones, i went through three of them just this week swapping my camera out of a chest mount and to a tripod and back, the little gopro official feet never break

the little tabs keep snapping off on these for me, might just be me being a bit rough and sausagy fingers but i have never broken a gopro one yet and i treat them all the same, i just grab the first one from the pocket they sit in, you end up with loads of them as every clamp or mount etc comes with several

 

[Squidders]

The latest generation don't need cases to be waterproof which means better sound recording. I have a little session model and love it but would much rather a screen on the back as using the app on my phone and the wifi eat the battery life.

 

[GGTBod]

i'd totally forgot about the 4 session being waterproof without the extra case that's one of the things i love about it, I agree with squidders on the battery getting eaten by the wifi but the screen on the 4 silver is insane, talking instead of 90 min constant recording from battery, to having the screen in use and to switch off at the shortest interval after use reduced my battery life to less than 40 mins of solid recording, the screen has been switched off since day 2 of my Adirondack trip, only switch on if i need to mess about in the settings menus, very tempted by the session black but not yet

 

[artschool]

i have a hero4black. i use it for deer stalking. you don't need a screen as it can be controlled from your mobile.

i carry two spare batteries and get around 30mins of footage per battery.

i have used the camera in -20 and over 40, the only fault being the sound goes funny in extreme heat.

if i lost it i would replace it with another go pro.

 

[Bluebs4]

I got shot of my GoPro screen version to small and juiced the batts , I have a GoPro session now so simple to use one button to start and stop the audible tone and red light make it idiot proof and it come puddleproof out the box, nice small cube that can even fit in your pocket 👍

 

[XRV John]

I bought a Hero3 Silver as my first action cam and added a Black version when one came up on a motorbike forum for £170 with loads of extras (charger, wifi remote, straps and mounts). Have added the extra battery pack (good) and the LCD screen (not so good, eats battery life, only useful for lining up a shot but as most times they are on my helmet or motorbike not a lot of use to me!)

I like the fact I can edit the video using Linux (free programmes). I'm not an expert I just want a video record of what I get up to!

 

[Phil B]

All helpful and interesting, thanks all. I'm leaning towards the session camera now.

Any downsides? Can you change the batteries (ie carry a spare)?