It seems everyone these days is strapping on a point-of-view camera to capture their adventures, and now that Sony, Garmin and even the Japanese bike manufacturer Shimano have entered the market, the choices in action cameras are many.
It was GoPro, though, that started the whole action cam craze, and the company’s products are still the most widespread on the market.
This snowmobiling season, my riding partner and I finally got the chance to test one of their cameras; it was the Hero 3 Black Edition, which is touted as the top-of-the-line GoPro camera—or the most expensive.
Out of the box, the camera came with a waterproof housing, assorted mounts and hardware, a Wi-Fi remote and a rechargeable Li-ion battery. Not included was the class 10 microSD card that is required to record videos and photos. This tiny piece of technology costs anywhere from $50 to $100 so you may want to factor that in when buying a camera.
The Hero 3 Black Edition is equipped with a 12-megapixel image sensor and an ultra-wide angle aspherical glass lens. Photos we took weren’t as clear as those taken with our 12.1-megapixel point-and-shoot camera but still were impressive.
High-definition video
The Hero 3 Black is capable of capturing video of up to 4K resolution, which is about four times the resolution of standard 1080 HD. The camera offers the standard 1080p, 960p and 720p modes as well, and we found that 720p was adequate for most of our videos.
Unlike some action cams on the market, the GoPro doesn’t come with an LCD viewing screen but it does have a free GoPro app, which allows you to pair the camera with your smartphone to play videos that you’ve just recorded or see them while you are recording. The live record is slightly delayed though, and there were several instances where we wished the Hero 3 Black had its own screen. That being said, GoPro does offer an LCD touch screen as an optional accessory.
Other GoPro accessories
A variety of accessories are available for GoPro cameras. We purchased the Chest Mount Harness but found that the camera captured the most stable videos when it was mounted on our helmets.
Included with the camera was a quick release anti-vibration plug that prevents the camera from rattling out of the mounts. It is important to always use this plug, especially if you have it mounted on your sled or dirt bike. Without the anti-vibration plug, the camera can easily fall off, and losing precious hours of ride time searching for it can result in much frustration. Trust me on this.
We also discovered that our four-year-old laptop does not have enough RAM to play the videos properly. The result is a chopping playback. According to GoPro, at least four megabytes of RAM are required to play back low-resolution GoPro videos.
The bottom line
Overall, we were impressed with the camera’s recording capabilities, and what we like most about it is the ability to relive and share our sledding experiences.
The Hero 3 Black Edition has now been upgraded to the Hero 3+ Black Edition and GoPro says this version is smaller, lighter and more advanced than its predecessor. For more information, see the website.
