Going to keep this as short as possible but will try to get the message across. Don’t, I repeat don’t buy a Go Pro 3 Black without first reading the 37 negative reviews on Amazon which I wish I had of seen.

My missus saved up and got me this for my birthday yesterday and I was over the moon. Looks amazing, small, robust. My first ever bike camera and well happy, until…..

Put it on charge, came back a few hours later to a barely charged unit that had froze with all lights on and would not allow me to turn it on or off. Left with no other option but to take it apart and releasing the battery. Once back in battery saying nearly dead after full charge!!

Tried again, same again. Took it up on Borrowdale Bash today and got about 8 mins of footage before it died. Even though it started with 3 bars of battery. An absolute joke and I find it hard that Go Pro can sell something that they know has major issues and take people’s hard earned.

If you are a fan of throwing money away then this is the product for you, if not and your like me then please read the reviews below:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/cr/B009TCD8V8/f=1/ref=aw_cr_f_photo

Go Pro, modern day highway men.

I’m going to assume that’s supposed to say “Going to keep this short”- in which case, huge success!

😆

Going to keep thieving them?

Beware…..that they are awesome to use and film with?

Genuinely curious question – are you going to return it? Sounds faulty.

This was a better thread before the edit 🙂

But thanks for the heads up.

Yes,

Because at present it is an expensive paperweight, if you read the reviews though on my link you will see that the faulty ones outnumber the good ones almost 2 to 1. Have you ever seen a launch with such negative reviews?

I just wish we would have seen this beforehand, however they should be off the shelves as we, the customers will be the ones shelling out for return recorded delivery when it’s happening to everyone. Total joke.

the faulty ones outnumber the good ones almost 2 to 1

Folk tend not to make a song and dance if there’s nowt wrong with what they’ve bought.

I have had a Black edition for over a month. No issue with charging.

Mate of mine has one and is getting on well… FWIW Gopro are a good company to deal with customer service wise so I’m confident they’ll sort it but it’s not good is it. (the launch of the black was delayed because of production problems, wonder if it’s connected?)

You shouldn’t be left out of pocket on post, btw. Especially not if you bought from Amazon, free returns.

37 1 star reviews in a few months since release all stating exactly the same problem? That’s a lot of folk.

Glad yours is working well mate.

you updated the firmware?

I agree Northwind, I don’t think there will be any dramas but the company my missus bought it from expects you to pay for returns. That would not usually be a problem if its a one off but this isn’t, everybody is saying the same fault and they continue to ship them. I heard about the production problems but was assured they had been sorted out.

I agree Northwind, I don’t think there will be any dramas but the company my missus bought it from expects you to pay for returns.

I could be wrong, but under distance selling regs I’m not too sure they have a say in the matter…

Firmware updated, same either side of doing it. If you take a look everyone is saying the firmware update has made no difference or actually made it worse.

Cheers njee ill look into it mate,

I appreciate that at times a pair of shorts may turn up with a rip in it or a frame with a slight dent, isolated cases. However this is of mental proportions. Looks like Go Pro rushed it out for the to catch the festive season.

well i got one too, and have not had any problems charging it, or with battery holding charge.
I did have problems with it freezing up a lot and needed to take out battery, until the firmware update, which cured that problem.

Sort of similar issues with the first hd gopro it wouldnt write to a lot of memory cards and they promised a firmware update to fix it
we had to wait nearly a year for the update mine was nearly out of warranty so it went back for a refund which took some getting .

Not sure if it’s the same thing as you had Trout, but Gopro and Contour had tons of trouble with SDHC cards… I got a beta update that fixed mine but it was a card-specific fix, so took them ages to get something that worked for most cards. Contour ended up putting a card size limit on the hardware and a restricted list of supported cards.

Mind you my Ixus never did work with those cards either, Canon more or less told me to bugger off and to only use expensive cards.

The explanation was supposed to be that lots of cards were off the industry spec but I’ve no idea if that’s true or not. It was what made me switch to cheapo Transcend cards though, they all worked.

Log it as a warranty? I did this for a mount which broke, my gopro fell and the surround chipped. Yesterday I got order confirmation of a brand new mount and surround, shipped to me, free of charge.

Don’t pay to send it back, let them pay.

I’ve had no problems with mine. Brought it locally so if I did have any problems it’s easy to send it back. Thing is with Amazon is people are quick enough to complain when things go wrong because “it’s their right” to do so. Generally people keep quite when everything works well. Paying for returns is an Internet hazard pay your money and take your chances, some do and some don’t. I love my Black and can’t wait to take it to the Alps this summer.

i am also quite pleased with mine.
Mostly been using it on my RC planes.
But cant wait to take it diving in 2 weeks.

Pugwash, I am happy that you have a gudden! Its a lot of dollar to splash out on something if its doesn’t work. However put yourself in my shoes and imagine how you would feel if when you looked into it you saw that loads of people were having exactly the same problem that deemed their unit useless. Its highly frustrating.

Just one of many people saying exactly the same thing:
GoPro HD HERO3: Black EditionGot the Hero3 Black for Christmas. Updated the firmware and took it skiing with my wife and kids and my brother and his kids. We’ve been trying to get his group together for years. It took about 2 minutes of video before freezing up. Difficult to figure it out on the mountain. That night I charged it, got it working and took a video at the condo that looked good. I charged it overnight. Took it to the slopes the next day, turned on the remote, battery dead. That’s OK because I can still video without the remote. Turned it on, pushed record, nothing happened. Pushed the mode button, no response. The camera locked up. Not even 2 minutes of video on the second day. I took it back. I can see getting a bad unit, but both the remote and the camera failed. I don’t have time to deal with expensive garbage. I’ll keep using my handheld Kodak playsport. I’ve had it skiing, snorkeling, river rafting, ziplining etc. It’s worked everytime.

I use a class 10 micro sd and charge with a 1 amp charger and have had no issues at all on the latest firmware.

Northwind
Sounds similar Gopro recommended the Kingston class 6 at the time so I stumped up for one and it would not work goe a cheap noname card with no class on it and it worked fine .

the kingston worked fine in my cannon camera at the time .

went on to get the new Sony cam just as the Gopro 3 came out
love the sony hate the mounting system

Battery will need a few charge cycles before it holds a charge properly…

Saying that, does sound like it has a fault.

Mine is working fine 🙂

Generallevi; so you wouldn’t say its…… INCREDIBLE!

I’ll get my coat. 🙂

Battery will need a few charge cycles before it holds a charge properly.

Thats rubbish for Lithium Ion Batteries

My silver one does crash and freeze fairly often when in USB mode to be fair, more than I would expect. Bloody awesome though.

Trout – didn’t know that, thanks…saying that, my mobile phones and headcams have both lasted much longer on a full charge after they have been cycled twice…however, given that you tend to be playing with this stuff on a daily basis and I’m not, I’m more than happy to stand corrected.

Actually thinking about my thinking, would hat explain why a few Dreamliner’s have had battery issues? Not cycled enough charges and then failing?

Generallevi I agree I may have been lucky but what I’m saying is people are quick enough to complain. GoPro have sold loads of the Blacks, I had wait ages for mine so the failure rate is probably very low but when it goes wrong people complain. They will sort out your unit, the issue is that it went wrong out of the box which is crap when that happens and it’s made worse that the company it comes from want to charge you for the return which to me is bad customer service but more Internet companies are starting to do this because the net prices are low. Maybe I’m old school I like buy something and walk out of the shop with it rather than save a few quid wait a few days and should it go wrong it’s a right ball ache to get it sorted.

Its faulty
Send it back
Get a refund
Sorted.

Or is that a bit too simple.

PS: the SOGA states they have to pay the postage. They can’t get out if it.

Faulty Goods:
Where the goods are returned due to being faulty the consumer is entitled, under the Sale of Goods Act 1979 (as amended), to return the goods within a reasonable time after purchase and claim a full refund plus any other losses that have been incurred as a direct result of faulty goods being supplied, such as the costs of postage. Where faulty goods are returned the refurbishment charge, and/or delivery charges cannot be deducted from the consumers’ refund.

My black is working fine too, seems to be one person here with problems and lots with good units. Send it back and get another, its a great camera.

My White edition was great for a week or so after I got it at Christmas, but started freezing/ stopping recording at random, even after the firmware update. Good customer service from GoPro and quickly got a replacement – not had chance to play with it yet, but I’m hoping it will be fine…

Nealglover,

I came on to try and help people who are thinking of buying one based on the many people having the same
problems of freezing and battery life.

I know what to do if something doesn’t work.

If other ones are working then that’s great, it was not intended for them.

Hear many people coming on here talking about cracking their Alpine 160 swing arms, however I don’t post on saying how great mine is because its fine. I just have a bit of sympathy with their situation.

If other ones are working then that’s great, it was not intended for them.

Hear many people coming on here talking about cracking their Alpine 160 swing arms, however I don’t post on saying how great mine is because its fine. I just have a bit of sympathy with their situation.

You came onto warm people about your problem figuring everyone had the same problem. As you just stated yourself most people don’t broadcast how happy they are. The problems were small and the people that have them are quite vocal as they are understandably frustrated. There are lots of videos showing how good this thing is, get another one and have fun with it, its miles ahead of the competition and is just having a few teething problems.

Gopro founder and CEO has released a statement on their Facebook page apologising for issues so your not on your own OP.

Sniff,

Thankyou for letting me know that the big cheese has addressed what’s going on with the particular batch of Hero Blacks.

Some people on here have questioned what I have said and some have gone as far as making a massive joke out of it. Certain individuals must be on a little more coin than me because when something refuses to work point blank it effects not only the enjoyment but also the pocket.

Reckon there may be just a little bit of egg on face come the morning