School me on GoPro cameras:

[speeder]

So I pulled the trigger on this one after watching a side-by-side shootout w the GP, (it was actually the previous Ion vs. GP Hero3), the GP had a slightly wider angle picture but the Ion was actually sharper w/o having to do any editing.

Should be far and away more than I need in video quality, I'm pretty excited. I'll post some results when it comes:

https://www.amazon.com/iON-Camera-Air-Pro-Wi-Fi/dp/B00H8H7MU4/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1499125414&sr=8-1&keywords=ion+air+pro+3

[cstreit]

Honestly given the number of good off-brand cameras out there for 1/5 the price of a GoPro - I would buy one or two of those. Same internals - less marketing.

I use my action cameras quite a bit for in-car track videos. I do 15+ track days per year, and like recording them with data overlays, so my requirements are perhaps more than yours.

I had an original Go Pro and found it to be pretty unreliable. I then got a Replay camera with a helmet mount, which was good optically, but kind of hard to use. Plus, I had to return two of them under warranty after they melted their electronics. I next used my iPhone 5 and then 6, but could not get good images in high-brightness conditions, plus the 6 was too big and heavy to mount securely with the suction cup mounts.

I just bought a Garmin VIRB Ultra 30, which is the competitor to the Go Pro 5 black. I have yet to try it out on track, but my initial impressions are highly favorable--it looks to be very well made, full of cool features, and easy to use. It should be--at $400, it ain't cheap. I'll post some video once I take it to the track.

[sugarwood]

Do all of these action cams have a fixed focal length?
Can any of them zoom in or out?

[wdfifteen]

Originally Posted by speeder

So I pulled the trigger on this one after watching a side-by-side shootout w the GP, (it was actually the previous Ion vs. GP Hero3), the GP had a slightly wider angle picture but the Ion was actually sharper w/o having to do any editing.

Should be far and away more than I need in video quality, I'm pretty excited. I'll post some results when it comes:

https://www.amazon.com/iON-Camera-Air-Pro-Wi-Fi/dp/B00H8H7MU4/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1499125414&sr=8-1&keywords=ion+air+pro+3

Looking forward to your review.

[JavaBrewer]

Originally Posted by djmcmath

I bought into the GoPro package years ago, for karting and racing. I found that even with the low res early units (which were significantly lower cost than The Coolest New Version), I had enough pixels to see where I was on the track and critique my driving after the fact.

I carry the GP on hikes for time lapse. You're sitting at the summit watching the clouds go past for half an hour, why not make some video of it? It's not great for that application, but it's definitely a workable solution.

Recently, I've started using a GoPro for diving. The weakness there is that it has no display, so you can't see what you're shooting. After taking a lot of video that *almost* includes my intended subject, I finally sprung for a Hero 5 Black, which has a display. I'll let you know in a week or so how that works out, if you're curious.

So how did the Hero 5 work out vs the 4? We are off to Grand Cayman for diving and snorkling this December holiday break. This might be our last family vacation (kids are 20 and 19) for a while and I would like to get some good underwater footage. We have a Fuji XP 90 camera but were very underwhelmed with the underwater footage (perhaps I don't have it set up right) and it max's out at 50 ft. There are a bunch of Hero 4 GP setups on Craigs List with the underwater housings and gear for ~ $200. I would prefer to not spend more than that if possible.

[Khal]

Go Pros are okay if you use them in water because that's one place they won't shut down from over heating. Otherwise they are POS garage that run maybe 10 minutes then auto shut down from too much heat. The accessories are nothing but cheap plastic snaps that break as soon as you touch them. If you mount it to a car with a suckson cup expect it to fly off. I'll never buy one of these over priced POS again. There are cheap knock offs on amazon for 1/5 the price that do the same and they probably suck too!.

TIP: If you record anything in 4k you'll notice that 90% of all computers can't play the video back worth a damn. So what you do is just transfer all videos to an external drive and then plug that into USB port 2.0 or higher on your smart TV for awesome playback.

[widebody911]

Originally Posted by Khal

Go Pros are okay if you use them in water because that's one place they won't shut down from over heating. Otherwise they are POS garage that run maybe 10 minutes then auto shut down from too much heat. The accessories are nothing but cheap plastic snaps that break as soon as you touch them. If you mount it to a car with a suckson cup expect it to fly off. I'll never buy one of these over priced POS again. There are cheap knock offs on amazon for 1/5 the price that do the same and they probably suck too!.[/i]

Don't hold back now; tell us how you really feel!

[quote[TIP: If you record anything in 4k you'll notice that 90% of all computers can't play the video back worth a damn. So what you do is just transfer all videos to an external drive and then plug that into USB port 2.0 or higher on your smart TV for awesome playback.

I ran into this: GoPro is doing something "proprietary" to their video stream such that only their app can process it; I doubt this on accident.