Educate me on Go Pros..
 

I'm likely going to be doing a roadtrip from LA to Portland in the next week or two and thought it would be neat to do a time lapse video.

I'm not up on what to look for in a Go Pro. They seem a little pricey as well. It would be cool to do some unique video stuff too (friend of mine is into those quad rotor RC things).

Is this something that is a must have or are there cheaper alternatives?

We went to Jackson Wy on vacation and had my son wear a GoPro during the snowshoeing and dog sledding. We set the camera to take a still shot every 60 seconds. Got some great shots from his POV. It is a great feature.

I bought my kid the black edition hero 3 a year ago and he loves it. But he has time to fiddle with all the editing software and stuff. I don't even use it by myself because Im too lazy to learn all the thing to make it work. When you put it in pro tune mode for sport video it washes out the color so you have to go into the editing software to enhance the color. I will say it does make some cool vids especially under water. The new ones can do 4k video and super high frames per sec for better slow motion.

Go pro have 2 things that differentiate them somewhat: Decent stabilization ( I guess) and cool mount options (without power wires). Other than that, I recently bought a regular dash cam that cost $60 (with a memory card) and takes just as good if not better video, but it's wired !!! So depends on what you do... Camera on top of your helmet while skiing: go pro.
I have a go pro, $350 or so one.... For what you plan to do, that $60 deal dash cam might be enough (and you get to keep it as a dash cam too)...
Just a thought...

I love my GoPro. GoPro works great of such a wide variety of applications. The wireless mounting options are endless. I use mine on the race track suction cup'd to the window and roof (sometimes facing backward at screaming passengers :D ). I have a mount on the nose of my surfboards and a waist band mount for snowboarding, mountain bike helmet, etc, etc.

The software is very easy to use for basic movie editing. It does take some time to learn the more advanced editing options. You can't go wrong with a GoPro for what you're using it for.

Any suggestions for better editing s/w? The GoPro editing app is "ok" but it only seems to work properly with GoPro videos; it won't work properly with MP4 files from my phone or any I capture off of YouTube.

you'll find your ideas on what is cool to film will be tested. watching some videos i made, kinda made me realized i'm not that exciting. mtb bike vids, hiking vids, etc. they all get kinda mundane without something cool, like a horrific crash. i use my single camera very little. i attach it to my archery gear, but in the heat of the moment and excitement, i am 100% at forgetting to hit the GO button. 100%..

i tried hooking it to my cat, but she had none of it.

i'll get better and try to get more creative using it..i promised myself.

oh..the accessories. they get you with the accessorie$.

i just loaned mine to my boss. he bought a Focus ST and is doing the free trackday in a few days. i figured his first track outing should be documented. now, i bet all sorts of exciting stuff happens to me..now that my camera i loaned out for a few weeks :)

I have the Hero 4 black. It was kind of a waste of money (for me) as I don't use it that often, mostly because I don't want to spend the time to edit together videos after.

It makes really cool 4k video at 30fps, or you can shoot 1080 at I think 120fps (or maybe 240?)

At the higher data rates (either high fps, or high resolution) it drains the battery quickly, so be prepared for that. Figure 20min of vid time and 2hr standby (or less). So get the dual charger and 2 spare batteries.

I got a Wasabi add-on battery and a matching skeleton case, since I don't use mine anywhere it's exposed. Much better battery life, and the case has slots for the cables, so I can keep it powered while in use.

My GoPro comments are in this recent thread:
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/off-topic-discussions/885264-does-gopro-app-work-well.html

Groupon has the Hero 4 for $359 Hero 4 black for $419... $80 less than BH photo...

Go Pro Hero 4