Decided to update from my Hero 4 and this camera does some fun things, however it's a bit disappointing when you discover this after a low fall onto a rug! Go Pro will replace it but for an action camera I must say it's a little frustrating,

Been looking at the adverts - I have a couple of Hero 5's that do everything I want that I know of.
What is specvial about this, and what does the heavily promoted Subscription get you?

Hey Noz, there are a few things apparently that are better than the Hero 8 I just you tube some reviews to get the low down. The subscription gets me unlimited iCloud storage for all videos etc and guarantees camera replacement as long as I subscribe so after warranty if I smash it they replace it, it's in writing?
my Hero 4 had very few lens options and its small and I need glasses now but I can read this one at a push and can eliminate the fish eye lens effect to a narrow one for portraits and I can video in 5,4,2.7,1080K resolution.

As I said, I'm back on Hero 5.
Horizon levelling looks like the main big reason to upgrade, but with the 5 lots of stuff that looks good on the camera doesn't download well.
I like narrow mode to get rid of the fish eye, but that's there on the 5 as well.
The subscription thing sends off warning bells to me.
When I first got the 5, I installed GoPro studio, and it instantly wanted to take over all photo and video stuff on my computer. I got rid of it quickly. I do lots of non Gopro photo stuff.
Automatic upload to cloud storage might sound good, but I deliberatly keep all my videos outside folders that are cloud stored until the final edit is finished.
If I tried to send 2 hours of unedited video straight off the camera to the cloud, it would disable my internet connection for days.
Sending the edited 3 hopefully minute version to Vimeo takes ages as it is.
Video resolution, and 20 mp sensors I can't see mattering unless you are a video professional.
But I did find myself on the GoPro site, Hero 9, hovering over "Add to cart"......

All good points Nozza, upload direct from the camera takes about 15min and the software on the app is for short clips and editing, can't edit on the cloud. No other software unless you go looking for it so it's really quick and very simple. I save edited vid to my iPad then to iMovie and play from there and that is also very easy to use as the iPad version is smaller than for a Mac.

Ive still got one of the 1st models ... What gopro model onwards didnt need a waterproof housing ?... Sick of housing fogging up ... any of the newer models withstand windsurf / sup crashes without housing ?

This one is good to 33ft under water, no housing.

I threw money away on the Hero8 Black
Got scammed by GoPro in the ordering which took 5 weeks to get the camera, cost more and got less.

Then it sucked. Totally
Big and clunky on my Hat Mount.
Buttons are hard to use, view was less than I like.

Touch screen kept changing modes when water ran over it.... until I learned how to lock it.
I got one 14 secs bit of usable video from the 8 Black. Junk IMO
Put it in the bin in my van in July.... it hasn't moved since.

Does some nice things for walking around.... but not as an action cam on my mounts.

I still use the Hero Sessions 4 and 5 for all my on-board video.
Simple, easy, does all I need
Tiny

Why did they stop making the Sessions??????

I have just sent off the Hero 9 for replacement due to the crack, and still have my 4 if I go for a paddle once restrictions ease., Creek your right the 4 is simple and easy but sometimes you want a bit more flexibility. Hopefully the next one will be stronger, if not I will agree that it is crap and have waisted my money. Fingers crossed.

Select to expand quote

supthecreek said..
I threw money away on the Hero8 Black
Got scammed by GoPro in the ordering which took 5 weeks to get the camera, cost more and got less.

Then it sucked. Totally
Big and clunky on my Hat Mount.
Buttons are hard to use, view was less than I like.

Touch screen kept changing modes when water ran over it.... until I learned how to lock it.
I got one 14 secs bit of usable video from the 8 Black. Junk IMO
Put it in the bin in my van in July.... it hasn't moved since.

Does some nice things for walking around.... but not as an action cam on my mounts.

I still use the Hero Sessions 4 and 5 for all my on-board video.
Simple, easy, does all I need
Tiny

Why did they stop making the Sessions??????

I tried to do some reading today on why they discontinued the Session .
Not easy to find any info that might have been correct, but from what I could gather it was probably expensive to make, and hence started off being a high end camera.
People did not like the lack of a screen, and a lack of compatability with other mounts, and found it awkward to use, so it didn't sell well, and got re positioned as a cheap, entry level camera Gopro were making a loss on, so from that point on its days were numbered.
Batterys were not user replacable, so the perception was battery life was limited, another draw back.
The form factor of the Hero 7 or whater was the current camera when it was discontunued was considered small enough for head mounts etc. You might have to start supping in a bike helmet to get a rigid enough mount. My Hero 5 has the one push on and start recording feature, so I assume this has been maintained in the 8 and 9 they are now up to.
Interesting if they had left it as a low volume high end camera, with reduced production, would there be a market?
I thought the Max 360 camera might have beena viable replacement, but it is relatively huge compared to a session.

Select to expand quote

Nozza said..

supthecreek said..
I threw money away on the Hero8 Black
Got scammed by GoPro in the ordering which took 5 weeks to get the camera, cost more and got less.

Then it sucked. Totally
Big and clunky on my Hat Mount.
Buttons are hard to use, view was less than I like.

Touch screen kept changing modes when water ran over it.... until I learned how to lock it.
I got one 14 secs bit of usable video from the 8 Black. Junk IMO
Put it in the bin in my van in July.... it hasn't moved since.

Does some nice things for walking around.... but not as an action cam on my mounts.

I still use the Hero Sessions 4 and 5 for all my on-board video.
Simple, easy, does all I need
Tiny

Why did they stop making the Sessions??????

I tried to do some reading today on why they discontinued the Session .
Not easy to find any info that might have been correct, but from what I could gather it was probably expensive to make, and hence started off being a high end camera.
People did not like the lack of a screen, and a lack of compatability with other mounts, and found it awkward to use, so it didn't sell well, and got re positioned as a cheap, entry level camera Gopro were making a loss on, so from that point on its days were numbered.
Batterys were not user replacable, so the perception was battery life was limited, another draw back.
The form factor of the Hero 7 or whater was the current camera when it was discontunued was considered small enough for head mounts etc. You might have to start supping in a bike helmet to get a rigid enough mount. My Hero 5 has the one push on and start recording feature, so I assume this has been maintained in the 8 and 9 they are now up to.
Interesting if they had left it as a low volume high end camera, with reduced production, would there be a market?
I thought the Max 360 camera might have beena viable replacement, but it is relatively huge compared to a session.

Oddly enough, my Sessions4, which died in Thailand, somehow was resurrected by sitting on my desk for 18 months.
Battery power on both Sessions 4 and 5 are still perfect.... they last as long as I do. They usually die as I walk out of the water

The 8 stayed o the whole time... sleeping after set amount of time.
The on button was on the top right, not the center
This matters to me because my left arm is easier to lift over my head and it's harder to find the top right button when I am spinning for a wave.
ha ha... if you only knew how many times I fall over, just turning my cams on, as I position for a wave.
So, most of my issues with cam usage are age related.... but I still found it very hard to get a watchable video from my 8 Black.

I did like the slo-mo and some video was amazingly clear with great color, but somehow never really showed the wave like the Sessions does in SuperView.... even when set on SuperView

I think they should make a few more Sessions... for when my batteries finally die. Wait... that sounded ominus

the remote control is good if using a head mount and you can just run the camera when something is happening to save battery and trawling through heaps of footage when downloading.

Hey Creek, have you tried the voice control?
I dismissed it as a gimic, but it might be your answer.
There are commands to start and stop recording