GO Pro Camera

[BigN8]

I bought the Hero 3+ a few months ago and really just used it for the first time on a spring break ski trip. I must say, this one trip was worth the money. I basically chronicled our trip from start to finish with videos and pics. Got shots in the car ride out, we hiked through Palo Duro Canyon and I got excellant pics and videos, then used it for pics and videos on the mountain for 3 days. I have started the editing process yet, just saved and filed all the pics and videos onto my computer. It is so cool to go back and revisit the trip through pics and videos.

If you are going to snow ski with it I highly recommend not using the remote, turning off the wifi, and bring an extra battery. The cold zaps the battery big time. I got amazing videos of us skiing through the trees, but then on our second and third runs through the trees it died.

 

[Rigger]

I've been considering the Garmin VIRB Elite. Has anyone here done a hands on with one?

 

[duanepillar]

I never use the remote but I like the higher resolution of the black.

 

[jcyamaharider]

I broke down and bought the white version today. I like the go pro app with the cell phone. Picture quality and video quality are perfect for what we are doing. Very happy with my purchase.

 

[Ronnie]

Here are a few shots I took with my GoPro 3+ white today in Walnut Grove CA. I also took footage from the time I bought gas to nearly the end of the trip which was almost 6 hours later. I ended up killing two batteries and didn't have a third to capture the last 30 minutes, oh well, live and learn, I'll have a third the next time I go out.

 

[Norboo]

SHot with Hero3 Black Edition with suction cup mount on windshield

So, GoPro Hero 3+ Black Edition is the top of the line right now?

 

[jcyamaharider]

Yes

 

[duanepillar]

Yup!

 

[KXCam22]

Battery life is why I built my remote battery pack. Plus when skiing the battery sits in a nice warm pocket. It worked great with the old gopro. I haven't tried the new Hero Black + battery pack skiing yet. Cam.

 

[Ronnie]

At least the batteries are relatively cheap at $20 each. Most of the mounts cost more than that.

 

[duanepillar]

I get about 45 mins per battery.

 

[Ronnie]

That doesn't seem right Duane. I'm getting 2 + hours per battery of recording time now and think I had about the same on my first gen gopro 3 as well as my gopro 2.

Has 45 mins always been your average? If not maybe your battery has gone bad.

 

[duanepillar]

Right from new I get 45 to one hour. I have my camera set to the highest frame rate with the highest resolution if that makes a difference. I have a GoPro battery and two after market and they all get about the same run time. I have the Black edition Hero 3 WI-FI is OFF.

 

[Ronnie]

This is alarming to me. I'm about to upgrade to the gp3 + black edition for the higher frame rates but at 45 mins per battery I'd had a hard time justifying the reduced battery time with the increase in frame rate. Although, I'm ready to give up the space on the memory card if I move from white to black. That is, if I record twice as many frames per second with the black edition it makes sense that I will use up the memory twice as fast, but I didn't think this applied to battery usage.

What kind of battery times is everyone else getting on their gp3 black editions + or not?

 

[BigN8]

I get more than 45 minutes. Haven't really run it straight for a full battery yet, but i have friends that run them during hare scrambles and they film an entire race which is around 2 hours.

 

[OperationROL]

The battery life depends on the settings of the camera. If you have Wifi on, it will drain the battery more. Higher resolutions and higher frames per will also drain the battery more and take up more storage space. I knew all of this when I decided to go with the Hero 3+ Black. I decided that I never wanted to regret not having the additional options: 12 MP, Continuous Photo, Simultaneous Video and Photo, Resolutions higher than 1080p, higher FPS, superview, auto low light. Also, since the Wifi reduces battery life, we will probably use the remote more that Wifi, so having that included was cherry on top of the pie.

 

[BigN8]

The remote operates via wifi. I learned this lesson the hard way skiing. I used the remote to turn the camera on and off and record. Next time I will keep wifi turned off, leave the remote at home,and simply reach up and turn the camera on with my hand and hit the record button.

 

[Ronnie]

Thanks guys. I will probably still buy the black + soon but will pick up at least one extra battery as well. I rarely use the wifi to preview, review or control the camera since I've already been disappointed several times to find a dead or near dead battery because the wifi was on in standby mode. If the blue light is blinking wifi is on.

 

[duanepillar]

I have purchased battries from Amazon for very reasonable prices. I got two batteries and a wall charger for 27 dollars a while back.

 

[scokill]

My brother in law got the go pro at costco, don't know which model. We have the mount on the top of tower rope mount. That is the most aggressive adhesive I've ever seen. It's been on for a few years. As far as editing I think he uses an editor on the ipad. Here some go pro video of me finally clearing wake. When we surf we just use iphone, quick double surf on iphone with my daughter and big board. We just started trying to surf last year.