GoPro H3 Disappointment!

So, after investing a little over $550 for the mounts, extra battery, etc I was still disappointed with the overall quality, battery life and antiquated set up of this camera. Video was high quality but choppy and the vibration with 2 different mounts was ridiculous. For this kind of money these days i would expect a LOT more than what i got. Its basically all manual as you have to click the same 2 buttons over and over to get anything done, you have to guess what exactly what your looking at (of course its fine once you set it on your bike but for everything else im saying)

You have to purchase a battery so you get more than 45 minutes which in my opinion is ........ for a camera of this cost. After reading review after Review, its pretty clear they rushed this camera out before christmas and did it half ass. For $400 this camera should have a built in LCD with Extra battery power already installed. Yes i know theres an App, but the 2-4 second delay renders that idea worthless to me.

After all the hype, just was very let down on something that might have been cool like 5 years ago but just seems like yesterdays fad. Also i understand it does 4K but really whats the point of that when TV's aren't even that high of resolution. Seems they should have invested that research money in battery life of maybe at least throwing in a few extras with their already over priced camera.

THE VERSION I HAD WAS THE BLACK VERSION

I should add that i am seriously considering the New Drift Ghost HD. Anyone have any thoughts or et to play with this one yet?

Some info here: http://ducati1199.com/gear/2974-drift-hd-camera.html

Glad I held off getting one of those.

Would this be the black, white, or silver edition?

SoutheastJay said:

So, after investing a little over $550 for the mounts, extra battery, etc I was still disappointed with the overall quality, battery life and antiquated set up of this camera. Video was high quality but choppy and the vibration with 2 different mounts was ridiculous. For this kind of money these days i would expect a LOT more than what i got. Its basically all manual as you have to click the same 2 buttons over and over to get anything done, you have to guess what exactly what your looking at (of course its fine once you set it on your bike but for everything else im saying)

You have to purchase a battery so you get more than 45 minutes which in my opinion is ........ for a camera of this cost. After reading review after Review, its pretty clear they rushed this camera out before christmas and did it half ass. For $400 this camera should have a built in LCD with Extra battery power already installed. Yes i know theres an App, but the 2-4 second delay renders that idea worthless to me.

After all the hype, just was very let down on something that might have been cool like 5 years ago but just seems like yesterdays fad. Also i understand it does 4K but really whats the point of that when TV's aren't even that high of resolution. Seems they should have invested that research money in battery life of maybe at least throwing in a few extras with their already over priced camera.

Click to expand...

We had this discussion a little while ago on another thread! I tried to warn people... they have some glitches in it, the battery life was terrible and it was rushed into production too soon. I'll stick with my Hero 2 for now. Did you see my video of where I had mine mounted? Either on the side of the bike or on the helmet. Also, DON'T use the camera stabilization tool in the youtube program or any other. It has this strange affect on tilting the image around to correct it. If you are mounting the camera forward, the closer you are to your forks, the more vibration you are going to get.

I've got the H3 black edition and I've had very good results with it so far. I use the RAM ball mounts for all of my cameras regardless of what brand they are. I have seen too many of the gopro mounts fail at the track (all versions) to trust them.

Mounting location is key. On my Yamahas I use the mirror mounts with a RAM ball mount in place of the mirror. The same thing on the 1199 gives too much vibration. I'm still working on a few different options.

I have the Ghost HD and all I can say is that I have not had any problems with vibration. I don't know how long the battery will last but I would expect a couple of hours. I took an hour ride and then went back and forth to work a couple of times before I recharged the battery. A trip to work is 20 minutes so that would be 2hr and 20 minutes and it was still running when I shut it off. It has a remote switch that can be used with gloves on but it will not turn the camera on or off it just starts and stops recording and taking pictures.

1080P looks really good to me on my pc. I have not hooked it to my TV to see how it looks yet as it requires another special HDMI cable. It was not available when I purchase camera and got $100.00 of accessories for free.
I did get an extra battery, charger for the car, case and mount for the car as I also use it in the car just in case of accident or any other problem on the road where a video would come in handy.

I like my hero 3 black, took me awhile had to get the higher class SD card and blah blah, after playing with it for a bit I'm happy with it, I did notice though when I had the lower level card it was a lot choppier and quality wasn't near as good

Perfect pictures, no jitter, but alas short battery life - but enough for me

I agree with what most others have said. I used the RAM mount and had very little if any shake or jitter. The battery life just sucks and the battery bacpac defeats the purpose of having the smaller camera. Haven't used it yet to see how it improves the life, but without it is about 30-35 minutes. The picture quality is excellent for having such a small sensor though, auto WB is decent. Although it was a present, I've invested in all these accessories, so sticking with it.

bronch said:

I agree with what most others have said. I used the RAM mount and had very little if any shake or jitter. The battery life just sucks and the battery bacpac defeats the purpose of having the smaller camera. Haven't used it yet to see how it improves the life, but without it is about 30-35 minutes. The picture quality is excellent for having such a small sensor though, auto WB is decent. Although it was a present, I've invested in all these accessories, so sticking with it.

Click to expand...

Its power is unlimited if you attach a power cord, which I have setup for- so no big deal,

Trauma said:

Its power is unlimited if you attach a power cord, which I have setup for- so no big deal,

Click to expand...

Unless you have a mountain bike, skateboard or other vehicle that you want to also attach it to!

I was set on buying one until I started seeing so many bad reviews.

AntiHero said:

Unless you have a mountain bike, skateboard or other vehicle that you want to also attach it to!

I was set on buying one until I started seeing so many bad reviews.

Click to expand...

Check ur inbox sir!

Hmmmm

Trauma said:

Its power is unlimited if you attach a power cord, which I have setup for- so no big deal,

Click to expand...

You mean you attach a couple 100 foot extention cords into the wall outlet before you go out riding man? How long does that last before its yanked off the bike?

SoutheastJay said:

I should add that i am seriously considering the New Drift Ghost HD. Anyone have any thoughts or et to play with this one yet?

Click to expand...

For what is worth, I have the DRIFT HD 1080p and an assortment of accessories. I have never had a GoPro etc, so I have nothing to compare it against.

I am quite happy with the camera, battery life is not exactly great, however stocking up with a couple of extra batteries addresses that. Quality is outstanding.

EDIT : I have had no vibration problems (either on a mount or on the side of my helmet). The unit comes with a remote control which I wrap around the cross bar (rather than my wrist).

Trust this helps.

I use a Sony Cybershot TX55 on a RAM suction mount. Lot's of settings, big touchscreen, anti-vibration, multiple photo / movie options. Batteries are cheap. Sitting on the tank, behind the fairings, no issue with wind noise. They now make a TX20 which is water resistant and I'm upgrading to that and giving my wife the TX55. GoPro can eat .... & die. It didn't like the vibration. The TX55 worked sweet.

best camera eva heva

PAVEL said:

best camera eva heva

Click to expand...

Dude that looks like a Telitubbie head haha

Trauma said:

Its power is unlimited if you attach a power cord, which I have setup for- so no big deal,

Click to expand...

Trauma :But to run it power while in the protective case you have to modify it dont you? or keep it out of the case completely (which is risky to me).

Everyone else: Look im sure its a great cam for some who just dont mind spending a ton of extra $$ to make it work the way it should but come on, for $400 camera shouldnt you demand higher batter life than 30-45 minutes? And it should piss people off they have to spend an additional $50 to make up for the battery life. Then to get nikel and dimed for everything else and the WIFI App blows due to the lag, like i said its just not for me and the 40%+ average poor ratings online dont make me feel alone.