Post
by Tetge » Mon Nov 24, 2014 4:06 pm
I hit Costco for some provisions today and they had Hero3+ Black cameras with two batteries and a charger for $349.99. They also had 64 GB class 10 micro SD cards that showed a pic of the GoPro on their card for $48.99. It seemed like a great deal but, I had watched the video link on this thread and so knew the the Hero4 Silver was only $50 more, and an extra battery would be only a bit over $20. The Hero 4 Silver is a better camera in every aspect and it also has the LCD screen, so it was a no brainer to pass on the "deal" at Costco.
That said, I was an early adapter and on the waiting list for one of the original GoPro's. I updated to the first HD camera and, when that broke, I got the next HD Hero, which I still have. By the time I got the last camera, I was not too happy with GoPro for a variety of reasons. The first was that they were the masters of churning and cameras hardly were introduced before they were completely obsolete. My first HD cam failed because the SD card no longer could be read by the camera. This was because I took the card in and out of the camera a lot to read it with a card reader since it read a lot quicker in the card reader than it did when left in the camera. It turns out that the SD slot in the HD camera was not very robust. When I spoke to GoPro about this, they stated that I was out of warranty and that the cameras could not be repaired as they were basically throw away cameras. I only got a new Hero HD cam because I still wanted to shoot video and I had a lot of mounts and batteries and such. When I got the new camera, I also picked up a 16GB Transcend SD card that was optimized for cameras. But, it didn't work in the GoPro, although it worked everywhere else. When questioned, GoPro stated that it was obvious that Transcend did not adhere to the industry standards, as their camera was perfect.
Since then, GoPro has continued to churn out new products, and, the cameras have continued to get more expensive. It is true that the cameras have evolved to have more features and to have better audio and video, but, they also are nmo longer inexpensive. So, I have resolved to continue using my old HD Hero and to abstain from buying any new GoPro stuff. I have four batteries and the pack that lets me run two batteries and a large capacity SD card and lots of mounting hardware, and, I can edit the output using MS's LiveMovieMaker, just fine.
Still I am thankful that the link to the Hero 4 was posted since, had I not been educated, I might have weakened and got the new Hero3+ Black edition just for the remote control feature and for the higher 1080p resolution.