Super curious how the new $129 GoPro stands up to its brothers

"Battery Tender Unnecessary" (carac)
10/07/2014 at 17:51 • Filed to: None

Got one coming tomorrow. Haven't seen any reviews about the cheaper one. I love my 3+ Black but don't see the point getting a Hero4 Black if I never use most of the features and mostly record 1080p/30 anyway. You can get almost 4 of these for the price of the top dog. Plus (in theory) the battery life will be better since it doesn't have wifi controls, streaming, etc. !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!!

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DISCUSSION (18)

SnapUndersteer, Italian Spiderman > Battery Tender Unnecessary
10/07/2014 at 17:55

Not having wi-fi is actually a dealbreaker for me

SubiSanchez > Battery Tender Unnecessary
10/07/2014 at 17:56

I actually just ordered a Hero 3+ Black. I looked into getting a Hero 4 but the fact that the Hero 3+ comes with the wifi remote won me over. I'm wondering about the new entry level GoPro too.

Yowen - not necessarily not spaghetti and meatballs > SnapUndersteer, Italian Spiderman
10/07/2014 at 17:58

What's the big + for having wifi?

SnapUndersteer, Italian Spiderman > Yowen - not necessarily not spaghetti and meatballs
10/07/2014 at 18:00

being able to turn on/off, start/end video from a distance... this is especially useful for racers, for example, for starting video while already strapped into their car if the camera is out of reach

HammerheadFistpunch > Battery Tender Unnecessary
10/07/2014 at 18:09

My guess is that it will be pretty good. Better than a Hero HD and less than a Hero 2 in ProTune.

E92M3 > SnapUndersteer, Italian Spiderman
10/07/2014 at 18:17

Yep! I every extra minute of footage adds time when it comes to loading the video to edit. I usually have 5mins of video sitting on the grid before each session starts. It wastes SD card space too. I don't see the point in getting the 4 since I don't have a TV that can playback in 4k resolution.

NaturallyAspirated > Battery Tender Unnecessary
10/07/2014 at 18:19

Awesome, I look forward to your thoughts. I would not expect to use a GoPro often enough to justify a $300+ purchase, but a $130 purchase is much more reasonable.

Battery Tender Unnecessary > HammerheadFistpunch
10/07/2014 at 18:20

Someone should do a teardown soon to see how the sensor compares to the other models. The profit margin on the top models is apparently ridiculous with most of them sharing a majority of components, so I wonder which way they went with the "bargain" model. Speculation is that it's just a Hero3 Sensor with all the special features stripped out.

Z32 - Just Boost It > Battery Tender Unnecessary
10/07/2014 at 18:28

I'm curious how it compares. I still use the 3 Black, my buddy has a 3+ black and there is some difference in image quality.

I'm waiting on this though http://www.centrcam.com/ .

macanamera > Battery Tender Unnecessary
10/07/2014 at 18:32

That's pretty cool, I'm interested to know. Is there a difference between 1080/60 and 1080/30?

Also, off topic, what "World" is your i8? Is there really any difference between trims? My pops wants to order one.

Battery Tender Unnecessary > macanamera
10/07/2014 at 18:44

1080/60 captures more motion but also uses twice the space and looks like a soap opera. 30 (or going down to 24) is more cinematic and more what you're used to seeing on the internet anyway.

The only one's they are currently building are Pure Impulse (mine) which comes with grey leather, blue stitching and a lot up upgraded trim things, like laser etched door sills, "i8" in the headrests, black porcelain gear stick, leather engine cover, etc. Basically their "launch edition." The other is "Tera" world which is dark brown interior. The difference is like $7k and some trim extras. The Pure Impulse was basically the "I don't want brown interior, early adopter tax." They've said they aren't offering the base cloth/leather interior, the full black, and the full white interiors until 2016 MY.

macanamera > Battery Tender Unnecessary
10/07/2014 at 19:28

Ohh I see, that makes sense. So the one I saw was Pure Impulse then. Looks great, I liked the interior color combo.

KusabiSensei - Captain of the Toronto Maple Leafs > Battery Tender Unnecessary
10/08/2014 at 12:28

I'm considering getting an old Hero3+ black for $350 (I already have a Hero3 Black), as opposed to the 4 (because I don't have a 4K TV).

But the Hero would be great for a bumper-cam, or something, mainly because it's only $130 if it takes a spill.

The No-Wi-Fi could get annoying though.

bob and john > Battery Tender Unnecessary
10/08/2014 at 15:40

could you answer something for me?
the battery....can it be taken out and replaced? because I dont want to get a cam that after 30 min of record, i have to sit with it connected to a laptop for an hour before its good to go again

Battery Tender Unnecessary > bob and john
10/08/2014 at 16:00

Battery is not removable, but it appears to be at least twice as large as a standard GoPro removable battery, the case IS the camera. It does come with sealed and open backs. Going to test the quality later on. I've got a Hero 2, Hero 3, and Hero 3+ to test it against. Oh, and you only get super wide capture, no medium or narrow.

bob and john > Battery Tender Unnecessary
10/08/2014 at 16:09

hmm. intresting. does it have a mic jack as well? my old 960 didnt, and I had to mcguiver it and pulled the mic out to tuck inside my helmet

Battery Tender Unnecessary > bob and john
10/08/2014 at 17:30

The gopro usb-to-mic adapter I had for my 3+ works with it.

JGrabowMSt > macanamera
10/14/2014 at 23:19

There's also a plugin for Adobe After Effects called Twixtor. Twixter relies on footage shot at 60fps, and as the ability to use special frame duplication techniques to make the footage literally look like it's 1000fps if you wanted to slow things significantly. The software does not work on anything but 60fps footage.

Dumping the money into a camera that can shoot 60fps and that plugin is a whole hell of a lot cheaper than a true slow motion camera that can output the same resolution.