A friend bought a basic GoPro Hero (he has more cash than I) and used it to video riding at Glentress last weekend. I was impressed by both the quality of the footage and the sub £100 price.

I would like to save up for one with my ‘pocket money’, but was wondering if anyone has any experiences with the basic Hero, GoPro 4, 3 white, 3+ and any other of the many recent models? I think the top end models at over £200 are probably more than I need/want to spend.

The basic model looks very good value, but I can’t help thinking if you scratched the lens, you would be stuffed. Not sure if the battery life would ever be an issue (as you can not add another battery)?

Check out the SJ4000 threads on here. I’ve been favouring one of those vs a GoPro recently.

What Spacemonkey said – for the money (that’s important!) I’ve been really impressed with my SJ4000. No, it’s not as good as a GoPro, but it cost £40 and for my use (pissing about and sticking the odd thing on Youtube) it’s plenty good enough.

I’ve got a Hero 2 that Santa got me a couple of years ago. It’s pretty good and with it in the housing you’d be hard pressed to scratch the camera lens itself. I don’t use it as much as I’d like but then that’s probably because I’d like to have the ability to view footage on the fly which I think the new Hero 4 White does as it has an integrated screen. The Black doesn’t but it allows you to shoot in 4k I think which is pretty much pro quality filming, hence why it’s the most expensive.

I think it’ll come down to budget but if I was changing mine it’d be for the one with the integrated screen or the alternative would be to look for a used Hero 3 as the price of those second hand should have dropped given the price of the new entry level one.

I recently got the new budget Hero camera. I can’t comment on anything else as it’s all I’ve ever used and I’ve only used it once but it seems pretty good to me. I managed to get for £83 from Wiggle when they had an offer on a couple of weeks ago.

I’m worried about the lens as well so have just got one of these and a couple of these for some protection.

If your interested on the video quality, here’s the only one I’ve made so far, you’ll have to ignore the mundane riding 😀
[video]http://vimeo.com/110803024[/video]

Looks good fathomer!

The basic GoPros are really good.

The top-end ones are like broadcast quality and work better in changing light conditions.

I’ve got a 3 black now and can’t imagine wanting anything better.

Fathomer – great footage and I don’t think it is mundane. Well edited too.

I think the quality of your film is impressive. I am sort of torn between the basic Hero 3 (removable case, wifi, ability to add spare battery) and the basic model (which looks cool and is a mega bargain it seems).

Not sure there is any difference in picture quality though and I think the basic model has some features the next one up does not have. Difference is £50 I think.

Will look into the SJ4000 too.

Had i not swagged an argos/hitachi gopro copy for £45, I would have probably bought the liquid image ego.
Might be worth a look?

..but that was before the £99 gopro hero was launched.

I’m really pleased with my basic GoPro. Some footage from some Nirvana Cycles rides here (although any super slomo is from an iPhone.

https://vimeo.com/110496566

Ive been wondering the same, Ive asked Santa for a Silver 3+, you can get them now for 170 quid in quite a few places, since the 4 has come out.

Liked the footage from the Nirvana ride danbo. Where was that?

The 3+ model does seem to have a better spec. Every time you look at one model, the next model up the range entices you to consider spending the extra cash…

The 3+ Silver does seem to have a better quality camera. I might well use it for non-biking stuff too, so need to consider if it worth me spending the additional cash from the basic model.

The wifi remote looks cool, but then again my work smartphone has a micro SD card input, so that may solve the issue of not being able to look at footage while traveling.

DC Rainmaker put up a review of the new GoPros today lots of geeky info

Check out the Sony, I prefer it because the image stabilisation and quality on the lower priced model.

I’ve got a 3 black now and can’t imagine wanting anything better.

+1 it’s definitely good enough for any casual filming. Possibly even overkill.

All on Leith Hill Gribble