GoPro - HERO5 Black 4K Action Camera - black

Let me just say that I've never been disappointed enough to write a review on a product, but this had me rather upset. I'm not mad while writing this, but think it would be helpful to capture my opinion for other people looking to purchase this product. First of all, I have owned a GoPro Hero 4 Silver for awhile now, and it works fantastic. My "beef" is not with GoPro in general, just this specific piece of GARBAGE that they've released. I bought this camera online a few days ago so that I could capture additional HD footage alongside my Hero 4 Silver. I had read some negative reviews and didn't really find the added features (voice control, GPS, built-in waterproofing, etc.) useful, but decided to give this product a chance anyways. I got the camera in the mail along with a 128gb memory card and an additional battery. I was pretty excited and upon opening the package, the camera seemed pretty solid. After a few seconds of checking out the camera, I put the memory card and battery in the cHero 5 Black and turned it on. Instantly, I noticed that the touchscreen was much different and, for lack of better terms, "clumsier" than the touchscreen on my Hero 4 Silver. It simply was not very responsive and I actually got a bit annoyed setting the time and date on it. Once that was finished, the camera was automatically set to begin regarding video, so I took a few "test" clips, where I held the camera out in front of me and walked around my apartment. Upon reviewing the playback footage on the built-in touchscreen, I noticed the sound was terrible and there was this strange scratching noise that could be heard over every single clip that I recorded. Aside from that, the video was jumpy and didn't always play back very smoothly. I uploaded the clips on to my computer and they were present there as well. I researched these problems online and figured I should just charge the camera all the way and update the software. So I plugged the camera in to my computer that night and let the camera charge. I was filming my buddy who rides motocross the next day so I got up early that morning and sat down at my computer. I pulled up Quik (the GoPro software) on my MacBook and hit "update" software on my computer. Instantly, the camera just shut off and started blinking. I looked at it and saw that the front display had this "camera unavailable" screen (see picture) and I couldn't do anything with it! I couldn't hard-restart it, I couldn't turn it off, I couldn't do anything with it. I was bummed. I figured I would let it sit and see if it would restart itself. I came back later that day and put the other battery in the Hero 5 Black and the same thing happened. The camera is useless. On top of the camera not working, the touchscreen being irritating, the sound being terrible, and the new features being useless, the batteries are also different from all previous cameras and the USB cable is different (have to carry ANOTHER cable around). To make a long story short, I would not recommend this product. I'm worried about GoPro, not only because this camera sucks but because I keep reading about their newly released drones falling out of the sky and keep seeing their Karma Grip stabilizer system release date being postponed. I took the Hero 5 Black back to BestBuy and traded it in for a Hero 4 Black, and the Hero 4 Black works fantastic. I would highly recommend a Hero 4 camera instead of this Hero 5 Black. I just hope GoPro gets their stuff together.

f you think this is a good camera for the money, this is either your first action camera, or you are a very casual shooter. Here is the bottomline it's not a bad camera per-se but it is not a good camera for the price. I use action cameras as supplemental cameras professionally for commercial projects. There are a lot of great reviews on here but here are the key points IMO. Cons: - Short Battery Life (to be expected with a small camera so I didn't really dock it for this but still wish it were better) - Unresponsive Touch Screen. Half the time I'm trying to scroll up or down it either goes too fast, too slow or it thinks I "tapped" very frustrating and reminds me of my first touch screen phone from 2008. - Light Leak on the rear screen. Again, if you are paying top dollar for a cam, this shouldn't be happening. - Has serious connectivity issues. About once every 2-3 weeks I had to do a complete factory reset to get it to connect to my phone. This takes about 20 minutes when all said and done. - Go pro updated the firmware which made aftermarket batteries incompatible. - Low Light Performance is ATROCIOUS. This was prob the biggest deal breaker for me. We were filming inside of a car with tinted windows during the daytime and there was TONS of noise in the image from the "low light" situation, at first I thought something definitely had to be set wrong on the camera - it couldn't be THAT bad. Come to find out, it really is that bad. - Microphone isn't an improvement - I think it's actually worse than last generation, the noise is inconsistent and artificial sounding. Pros: - In broad daylight it makes amazing images! We have switched to Sony X3000 and we are glad that it ended up this way because the X3000 is superior in basically every way except for the aftermarket accessory support which can be mostly mitigated by just buying an adapter. We really thought this would be an amazing product given how long gopro had to develop it since the last gen but it's not so. This camera would be acceptable at the $200 price point from a value perspective.

This is my first GoPro camera I normally use the Sony action cams mainly because it has similar color grading to my main Sonys I use for filming and image stabilization. I ride downhill mountain bikes and mx so IS was very important but for a helmet cam the Sony just wasn't cutting it. My main concern was there was no way to angle the camera so it wasn't pointed either at my visor or directly in down in front of me. I decided to give the GoPro a shot after seeing it finally came with IS and man I'm glad I did! From out of box setup the menu navigation is extemely easy, I can mount the cam underneath my visor and get a great angle of the course, IS works great, I can choose real slow motion at 1080 120fps vs the Sony only did 120fps in 720. Battery life is good so far not as good as my Sony but from what I've heard a huge improvement from previous GoPro's I just bought the dual charger that came with an extra battery so I have 2 and both seem to be more than enough for a few hours of footage I'm capturing. The GPS is a pretty rad feature my only compliant is they need to make it useable with their GoPro phone app you can only use with their desktop version. Overall I'm super pumped on the decision I made to switch to the GoPro I even bought a session 5 as a B roll camera. My only complaints really are the lack of GPS options in mobile app, and the pairing process to the app my Sony is a lot more simple maybe just something I need to get use to. Other than that extrmely happy with the camera and would recommend over any other brand hands down.

I had been debating whether to buy this camera for couple weeks before I clicked the place order button. I have a DSLR, a premium point & shoot, a waterproof camera and, of course, from iPhone 4 to iPhone 7 Plus somewhere in the house. I even left it in the box for three days after it was delivered to let myself cool down. But then at the forth day, I talked to my wife, hey, why not just try it out, we can still return it if we don't like it. Fast forward... Two days later, my 7 year old daughter was wearing it with head strap to record the build of the gingerbread house with her 4 & 2 year old brothers. I sat back relax knowing they won't do harm to the camera, or even they intend to do it, the camera can still survive. Well, the beautiful gingerbread house was built and the camera was full of sugar and cream, no worries, let's take it to a bath, and this is talking about another fun time for the kids! Now I'm looking forward to our Aspen Christmas trip with GoPro and the DSLR, expecting a lot of fun and memories to bring home. This is my first GoPro, I know it won't be the last. Yes it's picture quality is not as good as the DSLR, and there're other water and shock proof cameras out there with only half of the price, but they're not wearable. GoPro just hit the sweet spot of the combination of price, 'kid' proof and versatile. I can't be happier. Oh, I don't do extreme sports btw.

GoPro has finally made a powerful camera that is easy and convenient to use. The touch screen interface makes it very easy to change settings and it works really well. I love how you can start recording immediately just by pushing the record button. However if you would like to turn it on without recording you can push the button on the side. The voice command works extremely well and its very fast. By the time you get done saying your command it is already doing whatever you asked. The only negative things I would have to say about it are that the doors (battery compartment and charging ports) on it can be hard to open because they have to be sealed water tight. Sometimes when you close the doors it is hard to tell if they are completely closed or not. The other negative aspect which I am not 100% sure about yet is how hard it will be to change setting with the touch screen wet. The touch screen will not work in water and might not work as well if its even slightly wet or in the snow. There should be a way to change the settings via the buttons but I have not figured this out yet. The quality and versatilty of this camera makes it a great bargin and worth every penny. I would highly recoomend this camera to anyone for almost any type of use.

I have owned all of the GoPros since the HERO 3+. For this generation of the their latest camera, GoPro broke their yearly release cycle and instead made us all wait two years before we got a successor to the HERO 4. Because I mainly use the GoPros as a B-cam on film shoots, many of the new features which GoPro added to the HERO 5 (GPS, voice control, electronic image stabilization, wide dynamic range photo mode, and auto cloud upload) are not really helpful to me. The occasional freezing is certainly not worth these features, but hopefully GoPro will fix that with a software updat down the road. The only new features which I've actually found helpful is the new LCD screen, the advanced ProTune options, and the RAW photo mode. I've yet to decide if the waterproofing is worth it (considering that if you scratch your lens you'll have to replace the lens rather than the housing the camera is in) but it seems like a nice feature overall. In summary, I'd recommend this camera to anyone looking to get an action cam as it is one of the best on the market despite the high price. However those who already have the GoPro 4 Black might not find the slightly gimmicky new features quite worth the upgrade.

Reasons I returned and would never buy another... 1. The software included with camera would not run on my Windows 7 computer. Go Pro said I should check with computer manufacturer because their software was "fine." After they told me this I checked user forums and found many users with exact same issue. Go Pro wrote bad software and blames their customers for their problem. I have written software and can tell the difference between bad software and drivers that need updating. Go Pro blamed ME for their poorly written code. 2. The second time (aside from short tests) I used the Camera "for real" the camera stopped mid-recording and I could never get the camera to turn back on. D.O.A. after less than 1 hour of real use. 3. The camera did not come with an SD card. This would not be a big deal BUT, for the camera to operate properly it requires only "Special" SD cards that are not readily available where SD cards are sold. If they are going to be so finicky about the SD card required they should include a starter card. 4. The product design architecture and internal function has changed so much that legacy products are no longer supported. I am in aviation and I needed a prop filter. My old prop filter will not fit the new camera. Same with their Audio cable. Go Pro completely changed the audio set up and my old audio cable does not work on new camera. GoPro was back ordered on new audio cable and would not tell me when and audio cable would be avaialble. Everything has to be purchased new with this camera. There is ZERO legacy procut support. Go Pro was extremely arrogant and uncooperative in helping me resolve the issues. I ended up going with a competing product and will never purchase a GoPro product again. Point 2 (above) was the worst...I would assume maybe I got a bum camera that could have been replaced. But product failure with all of the other issues added up to poor product with extremely poor customer service. Never again. Steve

PROS: -I loved the video quality (4k but still needs faster refresh) -The camera seems well-built and insulated to be more rugged than many competitors -The size (dimensions) is not too big or too small (Goldilocks size) -There are lots of options for how to use this camera (versatility) due to a host of settings and config options CONS: -It is relatively heavy for such a small device -Getting the built-in camera cage/mount off the camera itself is quite difficult -I mostly hated the head rig accessory kit for this camera -I disliked the need to purchase a bunch of one-off kits to accessorize this camera for a slew of life scenarios (can't design a universal-style mount already??) -Battery life sucks if taking to a long show or trip without extra batteries or plug-in/outlets to recharge (continuous 4k video killed mine in easily under an hour) -Some venues (if using for a concert/show) treat GoPro cameras differently than cell phone cameras/video devices and will not allow you to use at events (e.g. Wrigley Field in Chicago) -The price could be better, especially considering all the accessories are standalone purchase items (i.e. dash mounts, body mounts, head clips, etc.) -The interface could be more intuitive. It took forever to figure out how to change styles easily and quickly, which is still a pain and could be designed better as well Conclusion: the GoPro HERO 5 is certainly and undeniably a heavyweight contender in the HD video cam market but for the price, it could put on a better show with more bells and whistles that are pragmatic and user-friendly. I returned in hopes for a price drop or increased functionality at some point, at which point I then may buy again. NOTE: I would not recommend to a friend in all cases but in some cases, I would with caveats and caution.