Hi All,
Based on the very negative reviews on Amazon.com it sounds like the GoPro Hero3 Black Edition is a piece of crap that GoPro should have never released in its present form. Have any members experienced problems with their GoPro Hero3 Black Edition?
Regards,
TCIII ArduRover2 Developer
Replies
We have it and never happy with it so far. I don't realy get how this kind of bad product become so popular. Video quality is low, it has problems like video recording stops by it self, it's not powering up even it is fully charged, very bad colors. If anyone thinking to buy it for aerial business, don't. Go buy a pocket size sony steady cyber shot camera half of the price.
Have 2 3+ Black.. Both fine. (Tho I lost one somewhere under water LOL...thank you insurance!!)
I like the video quite a lot, still experimenting with the different modes.
Man bummer is the wifi interfence possibilty..as it would be useful to control the go pro and use telemetry together.
-P
Does these complaints apply to the GoPro3+ Black Edition too, or by the time of my question all these problems are long gone now?
In my experience 3+ is a solid beast.
And captures footage that blows my mind considering the small form factor.
If only swapping lenses was not a mod but a feature...
Hi All,
I feel that the GoPro Hero3 Black Edition left such a bad taste in a lot of people's mouths that GoPro has decided to come out with a Hero4 and distance itself from the Hero3 fiasco:-)
Regards,
TCIII ArduRover2 Developer
It seems that, like many companies, they released the Hero3 prematurely to hit the Christmas season. And they did it with a bang... outselling any camera at BestBuy for the season. However, the firmware was way underdeveloped, and it seems they found themselves under a mountain of pain trying to fight fires with the firmware updates instead of just making it right to begin with. Only just recently were they able to update their desktop editing app and that should have been ready at launch. I agree with many that they screwed up. I also know that I bought a Hero3Black several months after release, when the firmware was a little more mature... and I love it. Think about what this tiny thing does... it can shoot 4K video at 15 fps and more valuable 2.7K at 30fps! It can shoot 720P at 120fps!! 12MP stills with built in time lapse and burst modes. This is truly amazing. When you take the battery out, you realize just how small this camera really is. Half of it is battery... and the battery is small. Which is the other issue. Yes, the battery runs down fast, but it is small and this camera is doing a ton of processing. If you get the Black, immediately get 2 or 3 after-market batteries and an external charger. (I've had good experience with Wasabi http://amzn.com/B00AAIPT76 ) It really helps the battery issue go away. :) Also buy it from a place like REI or a big box that will make it easy to return if you get a dud. I've had multiple sport cams including 2 Contours. The image quality and features are simply better on Hero3Black IMHO.
The price for the Black has just recently dropped so it may be worth picking up but the newer 4 should be coming out soon in time for the holidays. When that happens, you should find the Black Edition at even better prices on e-Bay and other outlets during the initial changeover to the 4. You might pick one up then.
+Gary McCray
You are right, nice camera, utterly crappy company. They even abused DMCA to stop comparsion to Sony's camera for a while.
Anyway - What you say about hardware problem, mine HDH3 was recently replaced under warranty (by using norwegian consumer rights, with the shop - not by help from GoPro who only says "erease SD and reflash" to anything)
The new I got has an additional letter "A" after the usual serial number.
For what it's worth, I've not seen any crash-related problem yet (but did not use it that much..)
Additional cool discovery:
Using the new black HD, (new battery), and 3 extra batteries (also new) + charger I got from ebay (not original)
Original battery recorded HD for 1:24 min (continous recording, hunting willow grouse)
The three aftermarket batteries exceeded that by +14-16 minutes extra !
I bought a Hero 3 Black Edition last year right when they came out and had a lot of issues right at first with the WiFi not turning off, connection issues, etc. It happened mostly when I was plugging into the computer to offload the pics, then I would disconnect and the power light would stay on solid. The only thing you could do was remove the battery. I 've done all the updates (2 I think) and for the most part those issues are gone, plus the new App for tablets is awesome. It lets you not only start and stop like the old app did but now you can retreive your stills or videos for review. A nice feature if your GoPro is in a gimbal or hard to reach spot.
The biggest issue still remains, for a camera that originally cost $400.00, it still only gets about an hour of constant use and thats with everything turned off, WiFI and LED's set to 2. I came across this last night. Great idea although probably not practical for thise of us here due to weight.
http://www.photographyandcinema.com/pages/cagepro
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