I thought there might have been a thread on this already but a quick search brought up nothing.
Any reason why not to? I’ve resisted temptation up till now but this seems like very good value.

http://shop.gopro.com/EMEA/cameras/hero/CHDHA-301.html

looks like a rebadged gopro3 white edition. good camera

glad I sold mine a few months back as this has just killed the s/h market…

Looks v interesting. But, for an image capturing company, the photos of the devices on their site are shocking quality!

The Hero doesn’t have W-Fi and it doesn’t come out of the waterproof case. But other than that it’s pretty much a renamed White.

Use the “Compare” page to check the specs against the other GoPros to see if it is missing anything you need.

http://shop.gopro.com/EMEA/compare?category=cameras

Deal breakers may be the fixed field of view, the lack of wifi/bluetooth which means it can’t be used with the Remote or GoPro app, and lack of video out which means you have to download from the card to watch the videos.

If they don’t bother you then it seems like a good deal.

(It’s NOT a rebadged White – check the comparison!)

They’ve had to respond to the cheaper cameras, particularly the Sony I think (which I have). Granted the sony RRP is higher but with the prices it’s been available for with GPS and wifi it still wins on features. But people will buy the well known brand just because of the name partly as they know it will (or hopefully will) be decent and because they are buying into the image.

Good move though and much needed as their cameras are expensive.

I reckon they’re responding to the influx of super cheap far eastern action cams as well as the increased competition from “proper” brands. A lot of the cheap ones are rubbish, but some are surprisingly decent – I picked up an SJ4000 to go on holiday with, and I’ve been pleasantly surprised with it. Only 30fps in 1080 and 720p (it claims 60fps in 720 but apparently isn’t really, I’ve not checked yet) and no WiFi or Bluetooth, but it does have a wee screen on the back as standard.

If it’d been out I may have gone for the Hero, but for the money I’m quite chuffed.

I bought an sj4000 the day the hero was announced. No chance to view what you’ve taken without connecting to a pc was the deal breaker for me.

I’m sure it would be a decent (probably better than the sj4000) camera and the battery life looks immense, I just didn’t think it was worth more. The SJ is pretty bloody good. Cost less than £50 too.

I like the way they have it looking a woman’s butt on the website!!

Yeah, I bought the SJ and a bunch of bits (extra batteries, chest mount) for less than £60 – can’t really argue with that. Not had a proper play with the footage yet, but it looks pretty good played raw on my Mac. The screen (as well as the good reviews) swung it for me, it’s very handy being able to check stuff.

Those SJ4000 ones look great value. Wanted to get something like this to dip my toes with rather than lump out big bucks to sit on the shelf.

How do you know which ones are genuine SJ4000?

any recommended ebay sellers?

It’s mad how many copy SJ4000s there seem to be out there. Mine came from Neostore (clicky) – not the cheapest, but they were offering free next day delivery. Seems to be a real one, it passes all the tests I could find online.

Biking with it this weekend, so we’ll see how it fares there – used it on a trip to Iceland, so cold, wet and hot sometimes all at the same time.

Oh, ignore the battery indicator; it lies. You should comfortably get a couple of hours recording out of it.

Andy L, what’s your thoughts on the Sony? I fancied it based on the steady shot stuff, need it to run with and GoPro looked too shaky.

If anyone’s interested, I took the SJ4000 out for a play on the bike for the first time today; quick unedited clip below.

[video]http://youtu.be/nU-Q7e7frBc[/video]

I wish there were more ‘bullet’ shaped cameras available, I am not keen on the go-pro shape.

I’ve dug out my HD Hero Naked. I was going to ebay it but I bet I can’t get a thing for it now. £300 that cost me. Used it about twenty times. Bummer.

I’ve dug out my HD Hero Naked

dear God, I hope that’s a model name !
(don’t feel obliged to post any footage, samuri)

I’ve been inspired by all the these cheap far east cameras (and now the cheap Hero) to buy a camera, and pay around. Let’s say you could get both for the same price, which would you go for?

Pros for SJ4000: (questionable, but working-ish) wifi, an LCD and almost all the accessories.

Pro for Hero: Quality presumably, warranty, brand recognition?

But then that’s ignoring the plethora of other choices!? AS100V, then the Hero with built in wifi.

Then DC Rainmaker obviously has a few compared on a review of the half decent shimano… here

And once again i’m thoroughly confused :p

There is too much choice, and all the camera’s are differentiating pretty well from each other in terms of features and price. Which should be a good thing but I hate choice!

Pretty sure the SJ4000 doesn’t do WiFi, but with the screen tbh I’m not really fussed.

Personally – I like the form factor of the GoPro, so I wouldn’t go for the Sony, Garmin, Drift etc unless it was a really good deal – for me that leaves the GoPro and the SJ4000.

The SJ is £40-50, not sure what the cheap Hero is going for – looks to be £100, so it’s still twice as much, but let’s assume you can get one for the same price.

I’d still go for the SJ, I think. I find the screen really useful, comes with a ton of mounts and you can take it out the waterproof case, should you ever need to. Quality seems surprisingly close (I’d like to see a back to back comparison down the same trail at the same time) with the SJ colours being a bit more washed out compared to the oversaturated look of the GoPro. I quite like that though, to be honest.

colours on the SJ look crap when compared directly,
but if you had not seen the HD version then perhaps they are OK

Pretty sure the SJ4000 doesn’t do WiFi

There’s a new version which does
http://www.techmoan.com/blog/2014/9/22/at-last-its-the-real-sj4000-wifi-review.html

There’s a new version which does
http://www.techmoan.com/blog/2014/9/22/at-last-its-the-real-sj4000-wifi-review.html

I stand corrected.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9W9AXu2uxGo

colours on the SJ look crap when compared directly,
but if you had not seen the HD version then perhaps they are OK

I actually prefer the more natural colours of the SJ in that comparison; much easier to tweak a little bit in post than the supersaturated GoPro.

Yeah rear LCD is a plus, setting up your gopro getting home and realising you’ve been pointing it wrong all day wouldn’t be fun… Which is why the wifi gopro version would be nice. Grrrr i’m still torn…

I’ve pulled the recent GoPro spec list and have added a few of the older cameras for a comparison. For my money I’d go for the white or 3+ silver rather than the new £100 Hero. There are a fair few bargains to be had online.

Image of table in the gallery at bottom of post – http://www.unsponsored.co.uk/press/?p=14132

Does anyone know of these £100 goPros still record with timecode?

but for snapping up the argos/hitachi gopro copy for £45, I would have probaly purchased the liquid image ego.
That ticked a lot of boxes for me.
60fps/wifi/standard ish mountings/small size/direct playback/app viewfinder.
worth a look IMO