Keeping in mind I purchased a second-hand GoPro 3. The packaging was fine, came with a new battery (not genuine I don't think) and a few attachments. Usually, I purchase the ApeMan series of cameras. Far cheaper at £30 each and excellent quality. However, I also record cockpit radio chatter. Having been using direct to dictaphone for several years it was becoming a complete pain to align the sound and video in editing. I knew there were several series of GoPro that allows you to record radio via an adapter straight to the camera. So I purchased a second hand one to give it a bash.

Pros
+ Fantastic quality video, even with dark cockpit lighting and very bright outside lighting.
+ Not too complicated to operate.
+ Sound works excellent with a non-genuine adapter cable (solved my problem).
+ Small and light.

Cons
- It froze the first time I used it which was ... awkward. Not what I expected of this make.
- Battery life is terrible compared to ApeMan. Lasted just under 60 minutes, whereas ApeMan has lasted me over 150 mins in the past at the same quality settings.
- Attachments can be a pain - they don't fit the same as the ApeMan ones.
- Has a lot of features I don't need!

I bought the Go Pro Hero 3 Black Edition 3 years ago. I've always loved the design and it's brilliant for someone like me who does a lot of outdoor activities (swimming, skiing etc) with moments you never want to forget.

You need to consider what you actually will use the camera for, how often and what you'll do with the videos after as to what camera will suit you. The reviews were brilliant and I have not been disappointed, it records perfect quality and I have not had a single issue in three years. I'd recommend this camera, plus, you can just keep buying add-on extras each birthday/Christmas as a little present to yourself.

The quality is perfect, at 4Kp fps, 2.7 kp 30 fps, 1440p48/ 1080p60/ 720p120 fps it's brilliant. It's realistically future proof for the long term, for the photos the 12mp 30FPS burst is brilliant to ensure you get the picture you want.... especially when doing something crazy!

The wifi and wifi remote (built in on the black edition) are brilliant and have never let me down. The battery is amazing, for something recording in 4k to last 1.5-2 hours is insane.

If this ever breaks, which I doubt it will, I'd definitely buy from GoPro again.

Best little sports camera I've had. The casing means I can use it underwater for my scuba diving and its protected from knocks and bumps when skiing and cycling. So many accessories too which means whatever sport you're doing there will be a connector for you.Many recording options too, I mainly use the video mode so that once I've hit record that's it. I have found the photo every so many seconds is very handy. Pretty easy to use as there are only 3 buttons. One to turn the wifi on and off, one to scroll through the menu and one to select of take pictures/record.

Another great feature of this camera is that you can download the gopro app for free and use your phone as a controller. This can be useful if you are on your own and you need to check the angle of the camera on your head or regularly press stop and record.Pretty good battery life but would recommend getting some spare batteries if you intend on filming all day long. Batteries don't last as long in cold weather but I have still managed 5 hours straight video while skiing. Only downside I can really see is the lack of screen, so you can't know if the camera is in the right place for the shot you want. On the plus the GoPro app can act as this and the wide camera angle means you are probably covered. And if you have the money a screen back can be purchased. Finally the wide camera angle means the camera can be quite close yet still get your whole body in the shot. Can be used for photos, timed photos, lapse shots, video and can be wifi controlled. I have been using mine quite often for a couple of years now. Still very happy and am not looking at upgrading as this camera has all my needs covered.

Bought it for snorkeling/diving in the Philippines. Works amazingly! Image quality is simply stunning for such a small camera. Both pics and videos have incredible quality, although have in mind that being a gopro the lens is very fish eye-like thus if you want to use it for another purpose than the fish eye effect, this might not be your best choice.

I really enjoyed it and it was really useful in the Philippines. The only thing i was slightly annoyed was that when i dived down to 24m with the gopro, i did not know i'd need a filter in order for the colours to be kept as the original colours being seen. So, when i looked at my videos, all of them came with a dull blue :/ but that was me not knowing :) so for diving, definitely advise to buy a red filter!

I bought this for an upcoming trip to Botswana, I have had it three days now and all I keep saying is "wow"

Its unbelievebley compact, sturdy and powerful. The battery sucks, but it can be charged while in use although not while in its plastic shell. You MUST buy a decent micro SD card - the recommended cards are about 25quid for a 32GB card - or you wont be able to record at high resolutions, the one I tried first was a stock samsung card which said it was class ten but clearly not up to the job.

All the little bits. remote and clamps/pivots/sticky bases are all exceptional build quality, so when I read one of these things was dropped from 12500ft and was still recording when they found it, I wasnt surprised.

I love this little thing.
So happy that I got it at a reasonable (Never say cheap) price. About £40 quid less than other stores.
Happy with the footage. As other people pointed out the microphone is a little odd. It doesn't pic up voices that well, but yet sounds like the surf, a bike on track etc, it picks up perfectly. So far have taken the little beauty Surfing / Golfing / Mountainbiking. All great.
I didnt particularly care about the photo function / how many megapixels it had compared to the silver, as I have HD footage and a pause button. I can easily take a still of whatever I like.

Footage is just great. Cant believe I waited this long to buy one, messing around with hand held cams (whilst Snowboarding) etc for years and years.
Just got to work on my actual skill level, to make my footage captured, look anywhere near how the pros does. (Makes you appreciate how good they really are!)

Super happy.

I have been using this little camera for a while now and I am becoming more and more impressed with the things I can do with it! I don't use it is a B camera or as my main camera but as something to get those quirky shots that really give a video a little bit of life. I have chucked it in the canal and thrown it off of bridges and got some weird shots that my DSLR would never get!

It is well built and the water proof casing has not yet broken meaning my camera is still all good!

The one downside is that you may need a little bit of video editing and colour grading knowledge in order to get as good a picture as you see in the GoPro adverts. As their videos have been graded and processed to look the way that they do. Maybe just a little bit or testing before official use can get you on the right track to getting good looking footage. I am sure there are YouTube tutorials one can watch to get ahead of all of this!

Its two stars for the camera its faultless.

BUT the battery life is appalling, about an hour on 1080 30fps. If its cold, its less. The wifi button is in the wrong place its too easy to accidentally turn on - if you do you battery will be empty in about twenty mins. You'll always need to carry spare batteries and / or a charger. If your battery is low and goes off while you are riding it may not save the files! The mounts are not great, they move forward and back too easily, you cant tighten it too tight either for fear of snapping the plastic.

Whatever you do steer clear of the handlebar mount i have already had one sheer off, lucky the camera was ok. So use the Roll bar mount instead. Or by the K - edge on instead. I have to say the GoPro customer service is excellent if you have problems.

I wouldn't recommend this camera for cycling/motorcycling. if your making movies and have a laptop available to re charge go for it. Ohh remember the price of memory cards, if you want to film in 4K your going to get 20 mins on 64g your looking at 80 to 100 for the card GoPro recommend.

Ive used this camera every day for about 4 months so above is from experience.

It is a nice gadget which comes with many accesoires. I used it to film my daughter. Because of the head strap I couldmfollow her easily.

Also I tried it on a bike trip of 1,5 hours. The cam stopped after app. 40 minutes due to an empty battery. This is too fast if you want to record any interesting trip.

I found out the battery lasts longer if you switch off wifi.

Also I found the unboxing and setting up not very intuitive.

It works well and gives great quality footage.

Conclusion: fine gadget, but not as good as expected.

I bought the Go Pro Hero 3 Silver Edition for my boyfriend for Christmas. He's always liked the look of them but never used one. He has a DSLR camera and is good with cameras.

I did a lot of research into these and did comparisons with other similar makes of camera. You need to consider what you actually will use the camera for, how often and what you'll do with the videos after as to what camera will suit you. Go Pros seem to come out best in reviews so I went for a Go Pro. As for whether I was going to choose white, silver or black I weighed up what he'd use it for etc. He's into bikes and cycling, airsoft and cars so I wanted a decent one as it'll have a fair amount of use but didn't need everything the black had to offer (you can get the screen attachment/remote and any extras if you feel you want them, rather than getting the Hero 3 Black and paying more for these things).

Needless to say he was thrilled with this present and has since used it a couple of times, testing it out in different situations. We took it to a gig and we were both stunned by its sound recording quality. In the dark and with the bright lights it wasn't up to its usual standard but that's to be expected. In daylight the quality was excellent. The camera itself is easy to use and the phone app is handy and a great extra. Works perfectly well as a remote and as a way of viewing what the camera is seeing. I'd recommend this camera, plus, it's like a Pandora bracelet! You can just keep buying add-on extras each birthday/Christmas - Perfect!