North Australian FISH FINDER TM forums

Hey guys,
I'm considering buying a Go-Pro camera and a bit unsure as to which one to get. At present there seems to be two of the Black versions available, the standard Hero 3 Black and the Hero 3 Plus edition. Was wondering if any fellow members had any of the two versions and if they wouldn't mind letting us the know the pros and cons of either.

Just an added piece of info, the standard Hero 3 Black is currently on sale for $399 and the Plus edition is around $529; if there's not performance difference between the stand and the plus edition, it does seem to be a bit of a waste of money to opt for the plus edition.

On a side note, I've also heard that the Hero 3 Go-Pros have had issues with overheating and randomly locking up, is this the case?

Any info would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance

Cheers

Buzz

My missus reckons I should get one... To go with my EPIRB.

G'day Buzz,
I have the Plus edition, don't think there are too many differences mainly the remote control,
Which is a big battery drainer as you need Bluetooth on, my go pro continually freezes up, have to remove the battery to reset it. Hopefully someone replies with how they resolved the issue. Awesome clarity on photos and footage!!
Cheers Muntzy.

muntzy wrote:G'day Buzz,
I have the Plus edition, don't think there are too many differences mainly the remote control,
Which is a big battery drainer as you need Bluetooth on, my go pro continually freezes up, have to remove the battery to reset it. Hopefully someone replies with how they resolved the issue. Awesome clarity on photos and footage!!
Cheers Muntzy.

G'day Muntzy,
At first I was pretty excited about buying a Hero 3 Black and or Hero 3 Black plus, but after reading a ton of reviews (including your one) I'm starting to think otherwise? Of all the reviews I've come across, 80% of them have been bad and seem to revolve around the Go-Pros not function correctly, overheating, short battery life and or locking up, which the remedy is to remove the battery in order to reset the camera. $529 is alot of money to spend on something which seems to have so many issues?
My brother has the Go-Pro 2 and it was great! No issues encountered and took fantastic videos and pictures.
I'm wondering if the bluetooth function on the camera, coupled with the wifi remote is the reason for all these issues ie locking up, overheating and short battery life? Would turning the bluetooth off and doing away with the wifi make any difference? I suppose then you'd have to ask yourself 'Why buy a Hero 3 Black with wifi at all in the first place?

Try a contour camera mate. I only bought the roam 2 which is the low model but im stoked with it. Super easy to use. Waterproof without case. There is a higher model that has viewing on your mobile.

Got a go pro 3 in white editionbought for $100 off my boss brand new..he bought it than it didn't interest him...but other than updating issues on the computer it has worked great..I get 4 hours battery life and great video footage probably not as clear as a go pro 3 black edition but I'm happy with it

any wifi on any device is a battery drainer. You can use it to set the position of the camera and then turn it off. The bonus is the viewing via your phone.
But are you going to fish or sit there and look at yourselves via the phone. Turn it off when done & save battery and extra heat issues on all your devices.
I still got the old hero 2. set & forget.

My standard black edition has never frozen. I just bought a 2nd battery to tackle the short battery life. I love it

Try gopro web for an update to fix the freeze maybe

Ive had heaps of dramas with my hero 3. Overheating, wont turn on, battery life is cr.p etc. Just frustrating to operate sometimes.

Once it's working though its gold and have made some great vids, but I hate mucking around with gadgets when I could be flicking lures.

The cameras are great but could also be a lot more user friendly in my opinion. I think sometimes its too hot up here in the sun for them to operate. My advice would be, if you choose a gopro (I havent used the plus version) you will make some great vids but be prepared to be frustrated with it at times. You might score a good one with no issues who knows.

Hi ive just ordered gopro hero3+ black i got it for $419 including delivery. The add seems to change daily, the previous day it was $419 + delivery and atm it is $409 + delivery, this is alot cheaper than the price you were looking at here is the link http://www.kogan.com/au/buy/gopro-hero3 ... k-edition/. I have heard that if you don't have the correct high speed memory sd card it can cause these problems, there are recommended ones on the gopro site http://gopro.com/support/articles/softw ... te-release, i ordered off ebay http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/SanDisk-64GB ... fb8&_uhb=1 for about $78 which was the cheapest i could find,i think you need at least 45mps read write speed for the black edition to work properly hope this helps.

maxpower wrote:Ive had heaps of dramas with my hero 3. Overheating, wont turn on, battery life is cr.p etc. Just frustrating to operate sometimes.

Once it's working though its gold and have made some great vids, but I hate mucking around with gadgets when I could be flicking lures.

The cameras are great but could also be a lot more user friendly in my opinion. I think sometimes its too hot up here in the sun for them to operate. My advice would be, if you choose a gopro (I havent used the plus version) you will make some great vids but be prepared to be frustrated with it at times. You might score a good one with no issues who knows.

X 2, mine produced good footage but its had its dramas when I first got it. But as MaxP said it can be a lot of stuffing around you almost need to say today is all about getting footage. I've miss getting good fish on video because I've just plan forgot in the heat of the moment, including a 108 the other day which did two big bucket mouth jumps clear of the water 2 meters from the boat. The call afterwards was "frig I should of turned the gopro on".

I bought two standard Black Editions from FOW not long after they were released. For a great price too mind y

I noticed the freezing issue fairly quickly and it is a pain in the backside. To have to take the camera out of the waterproof case, remove the battery and put it all back together just because the thing froze, it gets to you after so many times. I updated the firmware as soon as it was released but didn't see much of an improvement.

I've thought that they do get a little too hot than they should but haven't really been concerned too much. The heat may be caused by the WiFi or simply continuous recording for longer periods than necessary. The heat may also attribute to the freezing issue as well but I can't say with certainty.

I was really shocked by the battery life. I half expected the battery to last quite a while. Recording 1080P @60fps with the WiFi on, from what I can recall, I would get 50-60 minutes of battery life. It may have been more but I can't really recall, I haven't used them for a while, sorry. Maybe my expectations were too high but in the end I purchased another two batteries as spares. Now I just swap them over when I have to (still a bit of a PITA).

I can't speak to the performance differences between the Standard and the Plus. Naturally, Go Pro's sales pitch is that there's an improvement in the models. For the performance of the Plus, I can only suggest you put in some extra time behind the keyboard, like you have already, and read as many reviews as you can.

I would like to suggest that you look at the other brands on the market. In particular the Sony Action Cam, Link Here, or the Contour +2, Link Here, as mentioned earlier. Check out the Whirlpool Forums Photography section and search for "Go Pro" and what not to find reviews.

Which ever your choice, I'm pretty certain that they all record great quality video.

Get either the standard or plus!
Dont buy a go pro WITHOUT wifi.!!!
Once you get one, go to gopros website and get the firmware update (very straight forward)
Once you do that, download the gopro app (if you use ipad / iphone).
The app is brilliant, makes transfering files a breeze, also you can change all your camera settings, makes life very easy.

But The best 'action camera' i own is the Orgeon atc9k.
Full hd, long battery life and full gps. Gives speed and over lays on google maps. Gives g-force too.
Its less effected by wind noise too , has built in laser pointer so once mounted you can check its direction, also has 2inch led screen built in.
Beats gopro hands down and is cheaper.

G'day Escape,
Where abouts would you pick up one of those Orgeon atc9K?