Anyone knowledgeable about GoPro's?

joneve

Mother in law wants to get Father in Law one for Christmas, and wants help on which model. 

As far as I can tell, the more you spend, the better the spec and extra bells and whistles, but does one REALLY need the £500 model? 

He'll be using it for filming during ski trips etc...so what most people use them for! But just wondering if the Hero3 white at £170 will be sufficient? 

midiglitch

I've got a hero 3+ black edition.  Very awesome, and i paid less than £300 for it of ebay.  I'm sure older models are absolutely fine, but i figured i'd spend the money once and hopefully still have a useful bit of kit in 5/7/10 years time.

Budget to buy a bunch of attachment fittings from ebay too.  I spent about £40 and that covered all my sailing/windsurfing/skiing/kayaking/motorcycling needs.

Jalapeno

Hero3 / 3+, helmet mount or chest strap and Selfie pole.  Turn the f*cker off when not filming or the battery runs down :x

strumjoughlamps

I have 3 Hero 3s(2 blacks 1 silver), I never push them to the abilities, just normal HD video so I personally wouldn't get swamped in spec..

what yo uneed to find out is whether your FiL wants a screen or not or if he will use his smartphone... I personally don't use either the FOV is so huge and it doesn't take long to get the knack of getting things about right.

joneve

Cheers all. I've given the M-I-L a few different models at different price ranges to look at (Hero 3+ silver at £199, Hero 3+ Black at £249 (from SportPursuit) and Hero 4 Silver £279)

As far as I can tell the main differences between the silver and black models (other than the colour!) is the frame rate capabilities for the various video settings but like you say, I reckon he'll be doing most stuff in standard HD, so it won't matter too much. 

sinbaadi

Why not just get a Hero then?  720p 60fps or 1080p 30fps and under £100.

joneve

Fair point.

Does it come with the waterproof casing? 

hubobulous

Hero 3 user too. We used it with the waterproof case for scuba diving, and a lot for skiing. The app works well with it and we haven't needed anything more than this.

joneve

When you say "app" does this refer to an app say on an iPad? or are we going to have to lug our laptop on our ski trip? 

hubobulous

Its an app on my iPad that allows me to see the video on the camera, (through Bluetooth as I recall)

robinbowes

I have a 3+ Black.

My views:

1. evaluate what mounts you want and consider one of the bundles - it may be cheaper

2. buy more batteries - they don't last all that long

3. if you're going to use it in (deep) water, get a floaty back door or floaty handle, depending on how you're going to be using it

4. don't expect good audio, especially in the waterproof case

R.

hubobulous

Sorry. Had to snigger at 'floaty back door'..... ;-)

All good points though. We got a floater, (fnar fnar), for diving, and got the pack with the helmet, bike and chest mounts

strumjoughlamps

joneve said:

When you say "app" does this refer to an app say on an iPad? or are we going to have to lug our laptop on our ski trip? 

which is why I posted the thought about finding out if you want a screen or not...

joneve

@strumjoughlamps - aye! Cheers Dave, didn't really know WTF you were talking about  

Dont' think he'd need a screen on the camera, but would want to be able to download/view the video at the end of the day if we wanted. 

strumjoughlamps

joneve said:

@strumjoughlamps - aye! Cheers Dave, didn't really know WTF you were talking about  

Dont' think he'd need a screen on the camera, but would want to be able to download/view the video at the end of the day if we wanted. 

only one thing that is stopping me from agreeing with @sinbaadi 's £95 GoPro suggestion and that is I think that model is a non removable battery which could be an issue, it certainly would be for me.

joneve

That might be a deal breaker actually. The ability to swap out batteries would be a must