# GoPro 3+ Black edition announced



## Jed (May 11, 2011)

So the new GoPro 3+ Black edition was just announced (available right now).

HERO3+ Black Edition | Wi-Fi enabled | Most Advanced HD GoPro Ever

Basically it's the old GoPro 3, but lighter, smaller and with longer battery life (30% longer) along with the typical upgrades such as better sound and picture quality.

It seems they accomplished the size/weight changes by fitting a smaller waterproof case around the same sized GoPro while updating the internals.

Looks interesting, I'll definitely be picking one up, but I just hope their software isn't buggy like last year's GoPro release.


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## xIceHoundx (May 12, 2013)

Yea honestly they havent even bothered to fix all the bugs and problems with the Hero3 Black Edition that they sold for 400$ and now they are already releasing this thing for 400$, some bullshit. This whole release a new came every year nonsense is stupid, unfortunately I just bought a H3 black a few months ago but if I end up looking to get another cam i'll go with something like the Drift HD ghost as it seems to get the job done and have a much better battery life.


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## Jed (May 11, 2011)

xIceHoundx said:


> Yea honestly they havent even bothered to fix all the bugs and problems with the Hero3 Black Edition that they sold for 400$ and now they are already releasing this thing for 400$, some bullshit. This whole release a new came every year nonsense is stupid, unfortunately I just bought a H3 black a few months ago but if I end up looking to get another cam i'll go with something like the Drift HD ghost as it seems to get the job done and have a much better battery life.


I get the battery life thing (needing 3+ batteries to get through a day of filming is annoying), and their bugs were indeed stupid and annoying, but I never understand why people get mad when technology is updated yearly.

Updating technology every year is pretty standard in many fields because technology moves so fast and the features you can offer inside a certain size/weight changes greatly within 12 months.

GoPro already offers a 30 day money back guarantee if you buy direct from them, you can't really ask for more since they won't delay technology just because people bought the old model recently (and they've been discounting the GoPro 3 Blacks down to $329 for the last month+ as well).


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## xIceHoundx (May 12, 2013)

The matter at hand is that GoPro is more concerned with putting out model after model, in which they charge a hefty 400$, and that shows their concern is in selling product after new product instead of fixing the product theyve already got released and giving the customers that fix. I shouldve honestly done better research between all the different cameras as I didnt even know about the Drift Innovations line of cameras until after I had already purchased a H3 black, or how extensive some of the problems people are having with the H3 series cameras.

All in all, one would expect if anything else, that you should be able to expect a reasonable amount of battery life to get a decent amount of footage recorded, its a bitch to have to buy (these battery pacs arent cheap either) a ton of batteries just to be able to get a reasonable amount of recording time in, and GoPro should be more focused on finding a fix for their customers whove purchased their product.


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## Jed (May 11, 2011)

I'd agree that they should have fixed the bugs, but I also say there's no way GoPro can stop developing their new product either and thinking they should not release new tech is silly.

Falling behind the competition in tech specs is very, very bad for most tech companies.

If anything they should have hired more people to work on fixing bugs on the GoPro 3 while continuing the 3+ development at the same time. You can't fall behind in a technology based company and delaying the GoPro 3+ will have hurt their company a lot while all their competitors were releasing upgrades.

With regards to battery, GoPro's battery sucks, but it's one of the prices you pay for the higher image quality and power inside the small chasis. You'll also find the drift isn't as sharp as the GoPro with video recording, which is one of the drawbacks (it's not sunshine and rainbows for the competitors).

More power = crummier battery life unless you want to make the package bigger and bulkier to fit a bigger battery, which would annoy a whole different set of customers.

Funny enough the yearly updates you're against are one of the ways for them to offer better battery life as the power consumption of the chips they use goes down.

I'm not trying to say GoPro's an angel (they screwed up with their buggy software), but I think you have to be realistic about complaints. And I'm saying this as someone with a slightly buggy GoPro 3 Black that I've had since last year.

Them releasing new hardware and the existing problems are two separate complaints. They can't and shouldn't stop updating their hardware, but at the same time I do agree that they really should pay more attention to the current bugs and problems customers are having, but I'm just trying to be realistic in separating the 2 things as different issues.


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## xIceHoundx (May 12, 2013)

Looking at the GoPro facebook page post about the H3+ release shows a massive amount of posts of people thinking the same exact way, people are pissed off that the 400$ product they invested their money into with all of its bugs isnt being fixed and instead the company is pushing out another product with very little concern about fixing existing products that are still quite new in product age.


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## Jed (May 11, 2011)

xIceHoundx said:


> Looking at the GoPro facebook page post about the H3+ release shows a massive amount of posts of people thinking the same exact way, people are pissed off that the 400$ product they invested their money into with all of its bugs isnt being fixed and instead the company is pushing out another product with very little concern about fixing existing products that are still quite new in product age.


By and large those are people complaining about buying the GoPro just before a new came out, it's not really about the bugs for a lot of those people.

Look back to last year when they released the GoPro 3. Same complaining from people on their facebook even though the GoPro 2 worked great and didn't have the same bugs. People just don't like to have old technology when the new one comes out.

*2 things you may be forgetting:*

1) GoPro already discounted the price of their GoPro 3 to $329 for the month (and more) leading up to the GoPro 3+ so people weren't paying $400 as you mention.

2) They offer a 30 day money back guarantee so people who bought in the last 30 days can return their GoPro 3 and buy a GoPro 3+ if they want.

Stop trying to link all the complaining to the bugs. I know the bugs suck. I own a GoPro 3. It has bugs too, but that's a separate issue to them trying to keep their technology updated.


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## Argo (Feb 25, 2010)

Shit I got my black edition free and still don't like it. I prefer my drift hd ghost. I am still going to try to use the gopro for our heli but it probably won't work in 1080 mode so that most likely won't happen. Gopro Camera gets super staticky when there is any vibration.....


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## Jed (May 11, 2011)

Argo said:


> Shit I got my black edition free and still don't like it. I prefer my drift hd ghost. I am still going to try to use the gopro for our heli but it probably won't work in 1080 mode so that most likely won't happen. Gopro Camera gets super staticky when there is any vibration.....


Yeah honestly I think GoPro dropped the ball a lot with the 3. Way too many problems for a release product and it wouldn't surprise me if they rushed it too quickly just to pressure Contour out of business.

Hopefully they learnt from their mistakes with the 3+, but I guess we'll have to wait for reviews to find out.


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## Argo (Feb 25, 2010)

It would be nice if they at least put out a software upgrade that fixed the problems. Drift has no problem doing this and they do it for their old cameras still. I think contour used to also.


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## Jed (May 11, 2011)

Argo said:


> It would be nice if they at least put out a software upgrade that fixed the problems. Drift has no problem doing this and they do it for their old cameras still. I think contour used to also.


I have a feeling it may be a hardware issue as much as a software issue, which is why their updates so far fixed some problems, but not all the problems for everyone (even though they claim all the problems have been fixed with the last software update).

I have friends with GoPros 3 blacks that work flawlessly and others with the same random freezes as me. It's very bizarre that some GoPros work perfectly fine while others have the freezing issue despite running the same software.


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## judoant (Jan 18, 2010)

I have had 0 problems with my GoPro 3 silver.


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## Casper (May 22, 2011)

I saw they had the Hero 3 blacks on sale and figured they were preparing to release a new model is why.

I was hoping the new release would be the rumored Hero 4. 

From what I was able to find, seems like it takes 2 years for a release after a new chip has been decided. If so, then looks like maybe Fall of 2014 since the announcement of A9 came January 2013.



_The leak comes by way of Ambarella, the company that makes the SoC’s that have powered the GoPro line for the last several generations.

The GoPro HD Hero 4 will be powered by the Ambarella A9 camera SoC, which, besides being able to film in 4K resolution at 30fps, will be able to record in ultra high framerate modes for HD and fullHD, namely 1080p at 120fps, and 720p at 240fps.

Also included in the A9 specifications is 700Mpixels/s oversampling performance, multi-exposure HDR and WDR tone mapping, and electronic image stabilization (EIS). There’s also WiFi capabilities with remote viewfinder and playback functions.

On the more speculative side, there are rumors floating around that the Hero 4 will sport two lenses side-by-side for filming in 3D, but that has not been confirmed._


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## KansasNoob (Feb 24, 2013)

judoant said:


> I have had 0 problems with my GoPro 3 silver.


Same here.


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## neutralmlkhotel (Sep 5, 2011)

Since the last firmware update where they added the ability to view pics and video on your smartphone or tablet, I have had ZERO issues. I was having a TON of problems with it freezing up or draining the battery on the mountain but I haven't had a single problem in 5 months or so. I'm pretty stoked to see how it will be working this winter. 

KillingSpring (Killington, VT March 29-30, 2013 ) - YouTube


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