My new Wi-Fi remote & Bacpac arrived in the mail today and from my first use it looks to be a good addition to any GoPro. It's still not officially available in Australia as it's still pending operational approval from the suits in telecommunication, I guess they just want to make sure planes don't drop out of the sky while it's being used. Since that has not happened anywhere it has been used so far.....I assumed it would be safe to import one myself.
At an RRP of about $100 in the US I'm assuming it will retail in Oz for about $130-$150, Just my guess. For that you get 1 BacPac and 1 Wi-Fi remote and all the normal bits, Charging cables and spare back doors to suit. This is all you need for 1 camera but if you happen to own more then 1 you'll need to purchase additional Wi-Fi BacPacs if you want to control all your cameras with the 1 remote, The additional BacPacs retail in the US for about $60.
What does it do I here you ask, Well at this stage It's not much more then a fancy way to turn on and off your GoPro cameras. The full potential will not be know until the Smart phone/Tablet App is released later this month???(date pending) When you get access to live video streaming/sharing to a device or the web.
With that said it's still functional as it is, It fits nicely on your wrist which give you access to all the functions you get on the main camera. It's easy to operate while sailing as the buttons are man sized and the LCD screen is clear and big enough to read at arms length. It's easy to change to any mode on the fly as well as stopping and starting recording to save the precious space on your memory card. There is a bright LED that flashes while recording so that you know for sure that you've pushed the right button, You don't need to rely on the beep from the camera to confirm that you are recording. You can also power on and off the GoPro from the remote which will save your battery life.
Out of the box mine needed to be charge fully before use, The BacPac itself was charged but the remote was flat. I'm not sure if it was just mine or if all will need to be charged before use. It's not as simple as just charging and taking it out on the water, You must first update your GoPro firmware before it can be used. This is easy for the GoPro 2 but the original GoPro requires a little effort. Even after this it still won't work, As soon as you get the Wi-Fi BacPac and remote out of the box they both require firmware updates as well. After all this you still need to register your BacPac with GoPro before it will work, Thankfully this is all pretty easily done through the device updater found in the Cineform software that you download from the GoPro website.
Now after an hour or so you can take your new toy out and play, Beware if you own the original Gopro you'll only be able to use it as a remote as this model won't support the live streaming. To take full advantage of what this add-on can do you'll need a GoPro 2.
Worth the money??? That's your call, I like what it can do and I think the benefits that it offers makes it a must have. I don't know how many times I thought I was recording to find out that I didn't push the record button hard enough or that the memory card was full or the battery was flat...No longer as all the info is there right on the remote.
I think It's worth it.
jh2703
> 9 months ago, 4 Jul 2012
