What kind of GoPro should I get?

"stuttgartobsessed" (grantharmsen)
06/16/2014 at 14:24 • Filed to: Road Trip, Filming

Oppoland! I need some GoPro advice! I've never had one before and am thinking about getting one to film an epic roadtrip down the Pacific Coast, from Seattle to LA. I did some preliminary research and it looks like there are three versions, ranging form 200-400 bucks.

Now I'm not a video person so I'm not sure what all of the numbers mean and if I really needs more fps for shooting video or not. I'm somewhat on a budget but want to get the best one for the job. I'll just be mounting it on the dash to film out the window/maybe mounting it in some other "fun" ways. Basically I want 720p or 1080p quality to make a nice video to share with you lot.

Also, for those of you with more car filming experience, what kinds of mounts should I be looking at acquiring?

This 917 thanks you:

P.S.~Does anyone have any experience with or opinions on the Autodromo driving gloves?

DISCUSSION (17)

Chris_K_F drives an FR-Slow > stuttgartobsessed
06/16/2014 at 14:26

I have the Hero3 Black Edition and love it. I haven't been using it as much as I'd like to, but the times I have it was awesome.

KusabiSensei - Captain of the Toronto Maple Leafs > stuttgartobsessed
06/16/2014 at 14:27

Make sure you get a quality suction cup mount. That's going to make more of a difference than just about anything.

I have a Hero3 Black. Works well enough, but you are going to want more batteries and a car charger.

BKRM3 > stuttgartobsessed
06/16/2014 at 14:30

I do in-car video during my track days (using a headrest mount) and I found that the Hero 3+ Silver was more than adequate for my needs. I have only recorded in 720p because I knew I was going to upload to YT in 720p anyway and wanted to keep file size relatively reasonable. I love the wifi controls through the iPhone app. Very convenient. The silver also does 960 and 1080 resolution. The main difference between the Silver and Black is that the latter does 4k video, which I absolutely would not personally use in any event.

One thing - you're gonna need plenty o'batteries. There's a Wasabi 3rd party battery kit on Amazon for like 40 bucks or less that has 2 batteries, a cigarette lighter USB charger (with USB 2.0 power!) and a dual wall charger. It's like 40 bucks maybe? I bought it and everything included worked great.

No experience with driving gloves other than racing gloves though, sorry =)

Jayhawk Jake > stuttgartobsessed
06/16/2014 at 14:30

Just get a Hero 3 white edition, the base one. That'll be more than sufficient and get some extra batteries. Get the official suction cup mount, it's good.

Racescort666 > stuttgartobsessed
06/16/2014 at 14:30

The Hero 3+ silver (mid model I think) is pretty good. You can record 1080p at 30fps, which is a pretty good frame rate, or 720p at 60fps. You might want to film at the higher frame rate for car stuff depending on what you're doing. Both resolutions look good on YouTube. Way better than any cellphone can get.

BKRM3 > stuttgartobsessed
06/16/2014 at 14:32

Furthermore - I wouldn't mount the camera on the dash, it's a pretty limited/boring angle usually. Get a headrest mount if your car allows, which will show the driver/full dash/gear shift, etc. Also, make sure the spot meter is "on" in the video settings so the camera doesn't adjust the lighting for the interior of the car only (otherwise everything outside of the car's windows will be super bright and washed out). Test all your camera locations ahead of time!

ddavidn > BKRM3
06/16/2014 at 14:37

This is the correct answer. It's the one I'm aiming for too.

MPA > BKRM3
06/16/2014 at 16:44

The Wasabi w/ 2 batteries is about $24 on amazon.

It's the Wifi that kills the battery so fast, but it's nice for short videos. I have a black hero 3

BKRM3 > MPA
06/16/2014 at 17:03

http://www.amazon.com/Wasabi-Power-A…

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MPA > BKRM3
06/16/2014 at 17:13

Ahhh - I don't have that version that does 2 at a time. but now I wish I did. I just got the one with 2 batteries with the single car/home charger

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00…

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BKRM3 > MPA
06/16/2014 at 18:15

The dual charger really comes in handy. Don't have to worry so much about it blasting through batteries (which it definitely does!)

stuttgartobsessed > BKRM3
06/16/2014 at 19:13

I don't think the car will allow a headrest mount... I'll have to look into it though.

stuttgartobsessed > BKRM3
06/16/2014 at 19:13

Thanks!

stuttgartobsessed > KusabiSensei - Captain of the Toronto Maple Leafs
06/16/2014 at 19:15

Yah...about the car charger. I don't have a regular 12v plug as it's an older style (circa 1976) cigarette lighter. I was just planning on charging a few batteries each night and swapping them out. Any recommendations on "quality" suction cup mounts?

stuttgartobsessed > stuttgartobsessed
06/16/2014 at 19:18

Mostly because the car is a 1976 Alfa Spider so pretty limited mounting points on the seats/interior. I was planning on doing a dash mount, plus some mounting on the quarter panels or on the rear deck-lid, as the top will be down as much as possible.

KusabiSensei - Captain of the Toronto Maple Leafs > stuttgartobsessed
06/16/2014 at 20:10

You could wire up a 12V circuit, it wouldn't be that difficult to do. :)

I have the GoPro suction cup mount. It's good product, but there are definitely ways to spend more money on a mount.

If you have a headrest (my 1 piece backrest M seats in my BMW don't have one), get a pole mount, since it shows more of the car. The one time I did that with my windblocker, it shook so bad the video is almost unwatchable.

MPA > BKRM3
06/16/2014 at 22:51

I just ordered one - if I can't return the other one, I'll just keep the batteries