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[mikegiotto]

I know there a lot of members on here running Gopro cameras. I am considering buying a Hero 3 and I was reading about all the problems they are having (freezing up, trouble playing back the videos and poor battery life) are you haaving any problems? As always most people on post the problems I was hoping for some feedback.

[tlr]

subscribed.  My wife just bought me a Hero3 Silver.  The Black seems to have much better video recording especially in low light and has a remote.  I have read that the firmware fix  has taken care of the freezing up but the battery life is not very good. you can buy the remote for the Silver but now you are close to the price of the Black.  I am waiting for feedback as well or for GoPro to fix these issues.  T

[UAV Pilot]

I purchased the first GoPro Hero 3 Black that was available in my City.  I almost took it back.  Had I not been on a cruise / diving trip, I would have done so.  It seemed like nothing would work right or at least consistently. I was plagued with problems for the whole trip.  By the way, battery died on both dives. Dive was about 45 min to hour.  The pictures and video however are amazing.  When I got back from the trip I found an update to the firmware and it seems to have settled down and is working correctly.  The battery life however is terrible.  I see now that they have an extra capacity battery as an add on. Poor battery design or great marketing? You decide!  About to download the second firmware update and will see how that goes.  I initially complained to GoPro that the camera seems to run very hot.  Someone within GoPro told me that was to keep the battery warm and usuable, knowing a little about electricity, that just means wasted battery life in the form of heat.  I personally believe the Hero 3 was not ready for prime time, but dang, it sure takes some good pics.

[petewerner]

I still have the original, ride with it on, just in case of an accident. It has 25K miles on it, never great with battery, now with the add on battery, it works great. Still on original everything except it broke a mount once and fell off, bought a new case and vola it was and is fine. Really, almost daily use for 2.5 years...
So with the Pro II or the Pro III, I don't know what I'm missing I guess...                                

[tlr]

I initially complained to GoPro that the camera seems to run very hot.  Someone within GoPro told me that was to keep the battery warm and usuable, knowing a little about electricity, that just means wasted battery life in the form of heat. 

Nonsense. I read that the latest firmware update has corrected the battery heat issue. I dont know for sure, just passing on the info.  Truly not acceptable.

[FLSTFI Dave]

20 years as an electrician, and 10 more years now as an electronics tech and all I have ever been taught is heat destroys batteries and battery life.

[UAV Pilot]

Well, I downloaded the latest firmware and have not had much chance to use the camera.  One thing that I failed to mention earlier was the built in wifi of the Hero 3 Black.  I can link my bluetooth enable device to see a preview of what the GoPro sees.  This is very handy when placing the camera on a less than ideal mounting position or if you do not have the LCD backpac.  I simply link the GoPro to my iphone, view the preview on the iphone to see what kind of picture I am getting wherever I have the camera mounted.  Its keeps you from having to lay down and look/ guess at the camera placement.  It also allows me to change from picture to video to time lapse, etc.  A very neat piece of electronics for the money. Yes it has its quirks, but I am sure this level of picture quality and versatility would have cost thousands of dollars just a few years ago.

[2Manytoys]

It's my understanding that the continual use of WiFi will drain the battery much faster. A friend of mine only uses the WiFi linked to his phone for aiming purposes then shuts down the WiFi. He states by doing this the battery life is much better. Not great if you have your camera mounted somewhere that you can't reach to turn it on and off manually.