GoPro HERO (2018) + GoPro Plus monthly subscription

2 years back I bought a GoPro Session. I didn't like it for a bunch of reasons (no touch screen, no mobile app to sync photos/videos, terrible editing software, issues transferring photos/videos off the camera, no removable battery, hard to add music, confusing super tiny interface for changing settings etc.) And it was $399! So definitely wasn't happy with the experience and didn't buy another GoPro. So then I see GoPro release this new $199 camera, GoPro 2018 and decide to give it a chance. And wow was I pleasantly surprised!! All the things that sucked in that original GoPro Session have been fixed and they even added voice commands that work really smoothly. It's literally like the exact opposite experience! So anyways, I'm not sure if the best option is to buy this one instead of their top of the line GoPro Hero 6 for $200 more but I do know that I am super happy with my purchase and loving the experience. Oh and I signed up for their GoPro Plus $4.99 a month service thing, that has been very useful. Oh and that auto video creating option as the files automatically transfer to the cloud when I plug it in is so cool. I just bought the 32 gb memory stick and that basic selfie/tripod stick thing to start. Ok you get the picture, I would DEFINITELY recommend buying a GoPro!Update: 4/28/18 - ok thought I would update my review since I've now had it for more than 3 weeks.So far everything is working out great! no changes to my review and I will update my review after say another month of using it.Update: 5/19/18 - have had it for about 2 months now and going good. I like to use the 1440 setting instead of the 1080 for video recording, both come out really nice but the 1440 is just so good. It takes up more space on the memory card but well worth it. The only I might do differently is buy a 64 gb card instead of the 32 gb. I might also buy an extra battery. The thing I like so much about this thing is how insanely portable and rugged it yet the video and picture quality is so awesome. In terms of accessories, I'm still good with the basic tripod, it fits nicely in my pocket and is a great holder for it. So yeah still working great. Video and picture quality is great, the interface is super easy to use (on the phone and the app) and it's never not worked and I've been using it almost every other day. Oh and yeah I've used it a lot more in water since my last update. lol it's definitely waterproof without any case. Also it is indeed very sturdy. I've dropped it, my kids have run over it, and it has been tossed all over. It kind of makes it more fun in a weird way. You can just hand it off to your kid and it won't break (and believe me kids break everything) or you can go running around with and not have to be extra careful. Ok I will try and update it in another month or two after so more use but i can thoughtfully say now that the GoPro Hero is well worth it and I have not used their other models like the GoPro Hero 5 or 6, so i can't speak to them. Sorry one last thing and this is meant for parents. Give the GoPro to your kids for the afternoon and say just go off and fill up the memory card with lots of different videos and photos. You will get some of the most precious and genuine moments you can possibly imagine. I don't know if it the portable size or how the tripod makes it look like a mini movie camera, but our daughter came back with heartwarming footage that we will show her years from now when she has her own kids. Ok lol sorry I know most of you don't care about all that, but hopefully I covered the quality part of it.Update: 6/8/18 - ok i don't know if i should keep providing updates or this is useful, but i have some more feedback. As you can read from above, I like to start slow with buying accessories for any device to make sure I am first happy with the device itself. So now that I am happy with the GoPro Hero, I have ventured out and found another useful accessory, besides the basic gopro tripod, that is inexpensive ($19.99). The accessory is basically just a sleeve with a lanyard in three different colors (i got the blue one because well i like the color blue and it looks fun especially in water). On Amazon it's called "Accessory Cover Gopro Sleeve plus Lanyard". Honestly though, i pretty much buy everything off of Amazon, but in this case (not sure Amazon likes me saying this part) but I bought this accessory and the tripod off the GoPro site because they give you 20% off if you have the GoPro Plus $4.99 membership. Anyways, it's a just a few bucks, so probably can do it off Amazon to make it easier, especially for returns. Ok enough about that sorry. So the "GoPro Sleeve Plus Lanyard" is such a basic accessory but man it's super duper useful. Combined with the tripod, it's the only accessories I think I need and they both are cheap (I know people buy the one that hooks to the chest and all but I don't use that). Anyways, it's perfect for when you're in the water because the lanyard can be secure around your neck or wrist. And since fun moments to capture kind of pop unexpectedly, I use it to keep it around my neck so I can quickly turn it on and capture what's happening (especially easy because if you hit tap the record button on stop it just starts recording without having to push anything else). And I know this part is subject, but there's something just fun about having it in the sleeve (especially in blue, but i'm partial to blue), you just look at it and you kind of want to grab it and start shooting something. I just recorded my daughter riding her bike for the first time (without training wheels) and it came out great. Again easy because of the sleeve+lanyard. Also, for traveling, you can pack the GoPro Hero + sleeve & lanyard + tripod literally in your coat pocket. Ok so sorry that was a lot of typing about a $20 accessory that is basically just a sleeve and lanyard, but I just found it super useful and thought I recommend that people first start with the tripod and sleeve+lanyard before spending too much on accessories. Oh and also, if you're wondering if you should buy the high end version instead, i'm not sure what the answer to that is. I am super happy with the quality of the video and pics on the Hero, especially because of the price being $199, but I have seen friends videos and pics off the Hero 6 and I won't lie it's pretty incredible and yeah it's better than the Hero quality, but it's also $399. If this is your first GoPro Hero (like me, well I had the Session like I mentioned earlier, but that one is sort of a different model and as I mentioned I didn't like that one), I would recommend starting with this one. The good thing is they are all the same size, so all the accessories will transfer over if I decide to upgrade in say 2 years. Ok so to finish off, I am still super happy with the GoPro Hero and I've been using it literally daily/every other day since I bought it.Update 7/5/18 - ok I've now had the GoPro Hero for 3 months. I'm still going strong with just the two basic accessories (the basic $29.99 tripod and the basic $19.99 sleeve + lanyard). We have started to bike around the local forest reserves so I've been thinking about getting a bike mount, but haven't pulled the trigger on that one. Ok so in terms of updates, I would definitely recommend getting an extra battery especially for trips. For day to day use I don't find the need for the extra battery. But vacation trips, it was definitly a mistake to not get an extra battery as we couldn't get back to the hotel or a charge point. Anyways the batteries are relatively cheap and super tiny so doesn't add to travel bulk. The picture and video quality continues to be just really awesome. The versatility of this thing in terms of going from a water enviorment to a more rugged one where it has to be able to take a fall and not break and do so in a manner of that is truly portable and easy and quick to operate is what makes this thing so insanely useful.On the negative side, I have noticed that once in a while I have to swipe one extra time on the touch screen to have it react. Minor and infrequent event, but worth looking into by GoPro. I'm not sure of th cause, maybe it happens if the screen is grimy or something, not sure.Anyways, overall, still loving it and with summer here it's use has gone up to every day usage. Oh and last thing, my daughter dropped it down a flight of stairs last week and literally nothing happened to it. They should make my car out of this stuff.Update 7/14/18 - oh forgot to mention, MAKE SURE you buy the memory card recommend by GoPro (SanDisk Extreme® 64GB microSDXC or the SanDisk Extreme® 32GB microSDHC. Here's the link to it on Amazon - SanDisk Extreme 64GB microSDXC UHS-3 Card - SDSQXAF-064G-GN6MA [Newest Version]). The reason I say to make sure to buy the right memory card is because I have two friends whose GoPro was freezing and it turns out it was because they didn't use the GoPro recommended memory card. Apparently it's a high speed card that the camera needs.)Update 7/22/18 - have a noticed a few times that the audio stops playing when replaying the video on the camera itself. i went to settings and hit the reset settings option and then it worked fine. it automatically restarted the camera and in like 20 seconds it all was fine. i have just recently started changing it from 1440 to 1080 so that i can change the field of view to narrow and medium as that can get better footage when you are up close to things. On 1440, the only option is wide. It's just that the video quality looks so good on 1440 that I usually end up leaving it on that setting. oh my son was running with the gopro on the little tripod accessory and ran into the wall and lol he was fine most importantly and the gopro was fine as well. if you get the chance, go down a water slide with it, you get some awesome footage. again would like to reiterate that to start one of the coolest things about the gopro is it's portability for when you go on trips, so i would highly recommend not going overboard on buying accessories to not only reduce cost but also to ensure you can easily pack everything without too much bulk. so pretty much the gopro hero + 64 gb memory card (specific one required, SanDisk Extreme 64GB microSDXC UHS-3 Card - SDSQXAF-064G-GN6MA [Newest Version] + 2 batteries + mini tripod thing + sleeve&lanyard thing.Update 7/25/18 - Ok I swear I am not trying to test if this thing will break lol. But I was chasing my 2 1/2 year old son down the street and I had the gopro hero in the mini tripod in my sweatpants pocket (it holds better in the back pocket of jeans btw) and it fell out and wam it slammed on the concrete. I was like oh @#$. I looked down and the edges around the square lens cover thing was dinged up pretty good but interestingly enough the lens cover didn't get scratched at all. So then I turned it on to check if something inside broke. But everything was fine. So yeah it's pretty tough. anyways so just a recommendation, if you are wearing more loose fitting clothes like sweats, the gopro hero might fall out of your pocket but if you have jeans on it's totally fine. My wife asked me why don't I just use the blue sleeve + lanyard thing because that can connect around my wrist. i just like alternating between the mini tripod handle thing and the sleeve + lanyard mostly because I find that the camera moves around less when i use the mini trip handle grip thing for obvious reasons. so now that I know this thing can take a serious hit with no damage, might hook it to the front of my daughter's bike wit this GoPro Handlebar/Seatpost/Pole Mount (GoPro Official Mount) but then i saw it was $56 for the mount and that seems kind of pricey although the reviews are good on it and it definitely fits the need. But as I have mentioned in my many comments above, i don't recommend buying tons of accessories right off the bat. Think about it for a while and see if you really think you need instead of just going out and spending too much on accessories. If you find yourself consistently riding your bike (two times doesn't count!) and holding the gopro with one hand as you ride, then yeah start looking into the mount for that purpose. After owning two basic accessories so far (the basic tripod and the basic sleeve + lanyard, i can tell you that while the gopro accessories are not cheap, they do feel really solid and good quality like the camera itself).Update 8/20/18 - Still going great! The app is really well designed. The automatic videos that the App creates after it auto-synchs with the GoPro are just great. You can even use your own music if you want. It automatically matches up the beats of the song with the video, so cool. I cannot stress how much of a different experience this GoPro was from the GoPro Session I bought over 2 years ago. Just flat out night and day. Luckily I haven't dropped the GoPro again since my last update but as I referenced before, it wouldn't matter even if I did as the thing is practically indestructible. It has frozen once since my last update but I just took out the battery and put it back in and all was fine. Btw, 2 points to the designer of the battery who put that little handle on it. It lets you slightly pull it out and push it back in. That way you don't have to completely remove the battery when it freezes. Again though, it's only frozen a few times since I bought it so not an issue.Update 9/3/18 - yesterday I forgot to bring my GoPro hero as we celebrated the last weekend of summer in the city and I got ugh got my iPhone wet and something happened to the mic. Luckily I dried out the phone and eventually hard reset the phone and everything is back to normal. But would have been much better if I remembered the GoPro because I would have got way better shots because I wouldn’t have to be so careful. With the GoPro, one of the continuing pluses is how tough and durable it is. You could hang out and have a good time and not have to worry about breaking anything. And it’s durable enough where you can just hand it off to your kid and say go run with it and not have to worry.

 It would be perfect with 4K but I like what I saw!Check out my video for more info

Was always looking to get a go pro just for fun and family vacations but they are expensive.. when I saw this one I jumped on it.. doesn't have all the extra unnecessary stuff an amateur will not use.. easy to work with.. fun..

I've used it several times as so far I love it. I don't need 4k for anything so its no loss. Charging the battery made it get hot so you may want to consider getting a dedicated charging station. I do love the USB-C cord. The instructions are a little simple so hit up YouTube reviews of the GoPro 5 or 6 to see the functions.No clear way to insert the battery. Of course I got it wrong the first time and spent 10 minutes trying to pull it back out without damaging anything. Now that its in its staying. For some reason I spent 20 minutes looking for where to stick the microSD card. Not sure if I'm duh or its just not clear.The quality is fantastic. Once I tinkered with photos and videos and saw them on my monitor they are fantastic.Only works with wifi on my iPhone 7 Plus. For some reason the bluetooth wouldn't connect at all.

11/28/18Please revise my opinion of this product, and it's company to be "STAY AWAY" Folks this camera has gone kaput, does nothing. Amazon says no return/replace because it's now mire than 30 days old. GoPro wants the serial number whic is hidden on the inside wall of the battery well. If you can do "Honey I shrunk the kids" you can shrink one, and have them go into that tiny well, and hopefully read the serial number. Without it you cannot download their update, to see if that will fix anything. Plus you have to use your cell phone to do that, and to tell the truth I don't want to use my cell phone for something to do with a camera, that isn't in my cell phone. They have an update for a PC, However my PC is Win 7, which is a fine OS, but theior update is for Win 10 only, so I would have to buy a new computer to do an update on a POS camera.Stay Away folks, not a good company, not a good product.12/13/18 Addition. Evidently I am going to have to take these people to court. I've contacted their very unhelpful customer service several times, and have asked that a supervisor, or someone who could recall my obviously defective unit so they could check it out, and all I'm hearing is crickets.As an amazon regular I have seen companies who care about their image contact customers who are less then satisfied with in the product right here in their review.. If anyone see this folks contacting me, send me a PM, cause I am not see it.Only wish the reviews allowed for negative numbers, because these folks are currently scoring a -10. Keep your money, and stay away from anything to do with GoPro.1/7/19 It's been quite a while, and my asking for these people to contact me to get a RMA for this POS, well if you guessed they haven't, you win the Kewpie doll. I am now writing a letter completely outlining my horrid experience with these "people." My hopes is if someone above the level of their Customer Service idiots reads this, maybe they will do something about it.