Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

New Update!!! (11/27/13) DO NOT PURCHASE THIS CAMERA. I know that there are a lot of black friday deals out there, many of which make this camera seem attractive. Do not be lulled into thinking you're getting a good deal. This camera is faulty on almost every inch, and will give the person you're potentially buying this for more headaches than it is worth. The Hero3+ is out now, and this camera has addressed almost all of the issues that this camera suffered from; I know you are going to be paying more for it, but, PLEASE, do NOT buy this camera unless you get it for under $150. Spend more money and be happy with your purchase. UPDATE AT BOTTOM! WITH VIDEO!! (6/30/13) I know this is long, but if you're considering buying a GoPro product, this is worth the read. I'm writing this not as a review of the Hero3, but of the GoPro company itself. I purchased the Hero2 back in the summer of 2012, with the intent of capturing footage from a tough mudder event that I was participating in. Arriving a few days before the event, I had ample time to set up, charge, and play with the camera prior to giving it the full run on the day of the event. I observed no big flaws/problems at this time. Taking it to the event however, and running on a full battery, the camera only produced 10 minutes of footage. Additionally, the camera bricked 5 minutes into the race when I attempted to turn it on; this being a big problem since by this time I was already caked in mud and water, and was loathe to take the camera out of the case with muddy hands. At the conclusion of the race I also noted that the housing case had sustained some scratches and scuffs to the part covering the lens, also concerning. Due to these failures and frustrations, I contacted GoPro and informed them of the failures of their product. While I was within my 30 day full refund window, I was promptly contacted by the GoPro customer service department and assured that these failures were an anomaly and that they would remedy the situation asap. They sent me a new battery, a new housing, and offered their apologies. The new battery and case arrived a week or two later, right around the time that I was directing another mud run, and was charged with providing footage of the event. Again I didn't have time to thoroughly test the camera prior to the event, however the bricking issue had been resolved, and battery length seemed better. This did not hold up day of the event. Again, I was only able to capture 15 minutes of footage before the battery croaked, and the camera bricked again many times. Thoroughly frustrated, I contacted GoPro again, and was told that this was perhaps a firmware issue. So I went through, updated the firmware, with no measurable increase in function. They then said perhaps the old battery would be better with it, so I went through and updated the firmware, rolled back the firmware many time with different battery combinations. Nothing was any better. Finally, GoPro accepted to return the camera, and replace it with another one. Had to pay for shipping myself, and was told that I could expect a new camera back in 1-1.5 weeks. Heard nothing about my camera for 4 weeks. My emails were not returned, so I called their customer service line and had to be on hold for 2 hours. Finally talking to a customer service rep, I vented my frustrations, anger, and resentment towards purchasing a GoPro product. They informed me that my replacement was arriving that day (ironically enough), and was certified, tested, and approved by their own staff personally. I told them that I didn't trust their camera, that I didn't trust the company anymore, but was assured that this camera was certified, and 100% sure nothing would be wrong. Sure enough, when I tested the camera, the battery length was significantly better, and did not brick. Confident, I took this camera on a trip to phoenix for a wedding. It was only after I watched footage of the groom's bachelor party at a pistol firing range did I discover that the sound on this camera was abysmal (could BARELY hear any gunshots, all voices/talking was undecipherable). Returning from this trip I called GoPro and told them that I wanted my money back, that I was sick of dealing with them and their crappy products. I was informed that I was outside of the 30 day return window and that all they could do was have me pay for shipping AGAIN to mail the camera to them and they'd repair it. Understandably, this sent me into a rage, demanding to talk to the highest manager I could. After many emails, I was informed the only thing that they could do was to repair it, and if that was not enough, mail it back to them and they'd give me a 20% off coupon towards another GoPro purchase. Let me say that again. I mail my camera back, the one I paid $300 for, and they give me a 20% off coupon towards the purchase of a new camera. I ended up contacting amazon, told them this tale, and they gladly let me return it to them for a full refund. BEWARE when dealing with GoPro. If your camera EVER breaks or does not work well, RETURN it. Beware in dealing with them! UPDATE (6/30/13)! Since Amazon was so great in dealing with my last GoPro disaster, I decided to try the Hero 3. A few brief notes: 1.) The video is incredible. SO incredible, that your computer will not be able to process it correctly (most likely). I have a home built, recently new computer that had a hard time processing the HD video. The choppiness you see when you play it on your computer is not a result of the camera but of the high quality 2.) Battery life is still awful. I came prepared for this, with 2 spare batteries and a wall charger and I'm very glad I did. Each battery will only last you a GOOD hour of recording. Plan on 40 minutes at most, bring extra batteries. 3.) If you're going to shoot underwater, get a color correction filter. They are $5 on amazon and made this video so much better. If you don't, it'll look green and disgusting. 4.) Do not charge the batteries via USB. Buy the extra pack and wall charger from Wasabi Power, and charge exclusively on that. 5.) I followed a ton of suggestions on how to make sure my camera didn't brick, and thankfully it never did. My suggestions: Upgrade firmware manually (you'll need a card reader for this), never use wifi remote, charge batteries with outlet charger, upload files via card reader. I don't know what's going on with the USB port, but from what I've read this is a huge source of failure on the device. 6.) THE CAMERA GETS REALLY HOT. Even after scuba diving, I'd come up and the camera was warm/hot to the touch. Beware! Considering all of this, but primarily for the battery life, heating, and problems with wifi, I returned it to amazon. I'll hopefully be purchasing it again in the future whenever GoPro re-releases the black model. Hope this helps!