GoPro Hero7

Useless – Nothing but trouble. Technology ought to make life easy, this camera is one big continual fault. Constant errors, unreliable wireless connection, unreliable app, difficult to get photos/videos from. In summary unreliable and unproductive.

Great little camera – Have bought the GoPro Hero 7 Black for a trip overseas for underwater shots. I have my phone and a DSLR so adding a GoPro was a decision I did not make lightly. So far though, I am liking this decision. It is easy to use and takes great underwater shots. However, the water on the screen often changed the settings to video and time lapse and it got… Read more

tricky to try and dry it off enough to get it back to the photos. Other than that, so far it has been easy to use, to change options and to view photos or video taken. It has been good for the kids to use and to practice taking videos without fear of them damaging it too much as it is water proof and pretty sturdy so far. It is easy to upload to the phone, however I find there is not much to do on the app other than make short videos with limited editing. To edit correctly, I have found it best to plug it into the computer or insert the SD card in and remove the photos. Overall, I am pleased with the purchase and the quality of the videos and photos, especially for such a compact, little camera.

Nice video but buggy – I use this mostly for taking videos of kids in the water, swimming and snorkelling. I don’t carry an SLR anymore, only compacts, phones and Go-Pro. Pros - Wide angle view - Takes nice wide angles stills when my iPhone cant. - App seems to work well - I connect to an iPad Pro NOT iphone. I only use the wire for charging. -… Read more

generally quite intuitive to use. - I love the go pro Quik app - can quickly do a recap of your day or trip from your photo gallery (not necessarily photos from the GoPro) and turn it into a video and imports it back into your photo gallery. Quick and Easy which is what I need. Cons- Freezes and there is no way to reset without taking the battery out - this is problematic when you are already in the water or in action on a bike or snow. There have been many occasions where I didn’t get the photos or videos I wanted and just gave up because it was too much hassle to stop what I’m doing to take the battery out. This happens probably every second day when I’m on holidays (when I plan to use it a few times a day everyday). If I was a high volume user this would definitely be a deal breaker. Never had this happen with Sony, Canon, Nikon, IPhone.

Great, but a serious learning curve lies in store for you – 8 months of use update: Still 5 stars. The more i use it, the more i love it. Just shot a whole wedding handheld in Sri Lanka with stunning results thanks to the inbuilt stabilisation. Need to improve sound though, and am adding a plug in gun microphone. I have never had a freeze or a problem of any sort, in 8 months. My batterys last an average… Read more

of 25 minutes before i swap them. ( i have 3 batterys and a fast charger.)

I know why some users have problems and there are 2 main reasons.

1 The memory card they use is not up to the job. ( you must buy the fastest card you can afford for hd or uhd video, or the camera will choke. You need a record rate of at least 40mb/sec, and 80mb/sec for 4k video. NOTE: Talking about the record rate, not the read rate. So dont blame the camera for that.) Trying to save money on a cheap memory card is a bad choice.

2 They set the camera to record 4k video, and leave it on that permanently and unnecessarily. Trying to record continuously at 4k resolution is a massive load for this camera and it will overheat, run out of battery fast, or choke. Save 4k for shots of no more than a few minutes. I shoot mainly 1080p 50fps H264 (not H265) for good reason. Takes up less space on 1080, doesnt stress the camera at 50fps, and is easy to edit H264 even on old software programs. (Though 264 compression is bulkier than the new 265.) And i get gorgeous videos every time, and never a problem. Now read on, if i havent bored you enough:

Original review: This is my 2nd GoPro camera, and a vast leap forward from my first one. There is a lot to love, and some frustration getting to know how to use this tiny beast to maximise it's unique capabilities.

I bought it specially to use on boats in bad weather, or when we do Marine Rescue helicopter training. It is perfect for this application, where a conventional camera would become water logged or miss the action.

Pros:

Brilliant range of resolutions, now has great manual controls for exposure etc, and vast flexibility with frame rates, and mounts

Superb touch screen you can actually read , with shortcuts to swipe up down etc.

Form factor is still amazing. Tiny. And you can mount it on a boat rail under a helicopter hovering 20 feet above you and it wont blow away. I use their excellent "Jaws" mount for this.

Remote controls via ipad or smartphone vastly improved.

Huge range of well made accessories for any use you can imagine.

No longer needs a separate waterproof case for depths to 10 metres, because it is built in.

Stabilisation (built in) is brilliant. I can get hand held trucking shots across the deck ( no i don't mean "tracking"), that you would swear were only possible on a professional jib. So smooth and forgiving as the deck heaves and sways.

It now has a zoom control on screen, but it is of course a digital zoom, not an optical one ( because the lens is fixed), so it is a fake zoom that simply crops pixels round the edge of frame to simulate a zoom, which means your picture quality/resolution, , be it video or photo, decreases as you zoom in. I dont use the zoom for that reason, but if you were shooting at a very high resolution , it wouldnt matter so much. Except that the 4k resolution mode doesnt allow zooming ( as then they couldnt call it 4k, it might become 2k or even 1k).

Comes with software for handling and editing media on your tablet , phone, or laptop, only useful for really simple edits.

Highly configurable and customisable.

Have just discovered a new free GoPro app for my Samsung Galaxy Watch that does pretty well everything you need to control the camera remotely, except stream the picture. This is a real bonus for me, as i can have the camera mounted outside the boat cabin, copping a hiding from heavy seas and rain outside, while i sit inside, dry and warm, and control it remotely, from my watch. Cons:

Battery life is still a downside. You must buy extra batteries. $35 Australian each? I have 3, as well as their rapid charger. I rarely shoot at resolutions above full HD (1080p) to conserve battery, but lovely to know i could, and the video vision is awesome at most resolutions anyway.

Can take a few minutes to change mounts or plug in to charge as none of this is very quick and needs to be done with care to avoid damaging the case, camera, or mounts.

Photo quality is still really just average. This is a brilliant video camera, and that is it. Really its sole purpose. But if you want to shoot stills...Now shoots RAW as well as jpg, and you extract stills from video that look quite good.

Huge range of accessories will double your initial outlay to close to $1000 if you count extra batteries, power supplies and 3 or 4 specialised mounting poles or harnesses.

Free software provided is at best buggy, at worst a real pain. Case in point is the Windows desktop version you can download, which i reckon has huge issues with connectivity and functionality. The Ios and Anddroid versions are much better but still problematic. Who wants to edit on a phone anyway?

- In short, dont buy this to replace an existing camera. Buy it to augment your camera kit. Buy it to do what it does brilliantly...action video and time lapse. But not stills. Your phone camera may take better stills.8

Most impressive results – Wow, what an enormous toy. Absolutely brilliant. My first gopro, I expected a steep learning curve, but it is a lot simpler than I had imagined and the results much better. A huge bonus is the software that is available online for editing etc. Still learning to use them properly. But 2 weeks into having the hero 7 I'm getting super footage to work with. Love the hyperlapse and hypersmooth features, people think im a professional anyway!! Show details

Hypersmooth Hero – Always wanted to grab one hero which is smooth, topnotch build, waterproof, awesome video quality. You gonna love it. Picture quality is okay. Hypersmooth functionality and slomo function is the fun to use. Very good Show details

Dusk White colour with the extra front screen like the Hero 7 Black – - aesthetically it's very clean with the dusk white but may look a little greyish white rather than powdery white as u see on the internet - ultra smooth recording - compatible accessories with older models so don't have to buy new ones - Battery life seems to be less than hero 5 (my last gopro) Show details

GoPro have the name, but the camera and after sales service don't live up to it – From day one, issues with the camera getting extremely hot, freezing and draining battery when off. Eventually got camera replaced (by my retailer), exactly the same issue. In addition, have never been able to get Quick to work on any of my PCs - customer support have never responded to any of my issues. Gopro has a good name, that's why I… Read more

bought it, but sadly, these cameras are anything but reliable and the company behind them just don't give a stuff. Do not waste your money - go for another brand.

Constantly freezing up no matter what card, settings, firmware you use! – GoPro? More like a NO GO!!! The Hero Black 7 is the biggest failure in the company's history. Can't get a refund so am stuck with this paperweight. No matter the settings, brands new Sandisk Extreme card, updated firmware etc and it just freezes up after 2 to 60sec on every video shoot. The files come back partially recorded, the back screen goes… Read more

black, it has been plagued with this since it was brand new. GoPro should give everyone a replacement Hero 8 or 9 after this massive rip off of a failure. Seems that 99% of the Hero 7s do this. So frustrating to miss so many shots. Not worth a single dollar.

Whilst great when it works, seldom does – This is my second Go Pro, 4 and now 7. My first seven refused to charge after about 2 months (frustratingly failing when I wanted to record my daughter's first ever scuba dive), replaced with same. Constantly losing connectivity with my phone app, buttons freezing, transfer from camera to phone is never easy. Show details

Ok but won't last long – It's a good product but not perfect. Battery life is an issue. Good thing this was only a present from my parents since I travel a lot. I used it for a good 3 months until I start having issues with the camera and now I can't use it for more than an hour.

Absolute Garbage – This camera is the biggest piece of joke iv ever owned. Always has one of 5 problems every time i go to download the data from it. Constantly freezing and buttons unresponsive.  Show details

REFUND MY MONEY YOU SCAM ARTISTS – I bought the new hero9 a month ago, its faulty and this dodgy company gopro refuse to accept my return request, make it damn near impossible to contact them, and have ignored countless emails, posts and call back requests. I want my money back, its ILLEGAL to sell faulty products and not refund them Show details

Great unit but software Is crap – I love the GoPro, it's just a shame the app software on your phone or computer that talks to your GoPro is crap, I've had many a frustrated moments connecting and disconnecting via Bluetooth, it's trash. Otherwise the unit itself does what it was advertised to do. Show details

Useless thing – Keeps turning on after I've turned off, gets hot and battery discharges on its own. Malfunctions often, battery only lasts short time .buttons hard to press, photos are good when it's working. It's going in the bin . I've wasted enough time on it. Show details

Room for Improvement – I use this camera mounted on a motorbike. The video quality and stabilisation is very good but it has a number of shortfalls: 1) For the $400 or so you pay these cameras should come with more mounting options instead of making them additional cost "accessories" 2) Wind noise is atrocious and the user has to go to extra expense for foam covers etc… Read more

to ameliorate it 3) Although GPS is always "on" on the camera, when the recordings are downloaded to GoPro Quik (which is hopeless editing software, it inevitably reports that no GPS data was captured. Not good enough as a package.

Gopro no more – I had a gopro 3black for years, was great till it stopped charging, replaced it with a hero7 black which stopped after about a month, it was replaced and stopped working soon after. Then JBHiFi upgraded it to the 8 for a few dollars more. I am now on my 3rd hero 8. All this has happened within about 14 months. They run that hot now when using… Read more

them, even sitting on the front of my motorbike with the air cooling it down. This latest one is just starting to not turn on but it hasn't locked up yet. When it died which I'm expecting soon I will be getting a refund and looking at another brand. Gopro is no more for me.

Go Pro accessories/company fail big time – I bought my 9 year old a go pro with floatie accessory. After putting camera in the go pro housing and attaching the floatie my son went into the surf to film his cousins surfing.... he went under a wave and came up just holding the floatie. GO PRO which have NO direct contact numbers in Australia, no way of returning emails-nothing but an… Read more

international website which you have to ask to be contacted have told me they can do nothing as the camera only has warranty. I NEED to show the camera to get anything- which is somewhere in the ocean probably still in working condition. Their response to their accessories failing is disgraceful. I am so mad I would have been better off buying a cheap rip off camera and cheap accessories, My son is devastated of course. I would not buy anything again from a company that operates off shore taking our money with no recourse. Just disgraceful

Flaky – Bought in October 2019. Have managed to capture some great moments. The interface is quite good too, allowing for astrophotography, as well as long exposure shots when paired with ND filters. Stabilisation is superb. However, battery life and software glitches have let this model down (as a long time GoPro user, same story, different model).… Read more

Sometimes it freezes, other times the battery runs low for no reason. Don't even bother with the app / Bluetooth connections.

Poor quality - Unreliable – After one year of light use, this camera cannot record properly. For a full charge, it records for about 5-10 minutes and then stop. On restart, it shows a message saying the file is repairing and turn off again. Restart again, the battery is down to 3%. I plugged it to the PC for the whole night and the battery is still 3%. On viewing the… Read more

recorded clips, the image quality is terrible and frozen, only sound available. I would not recommend this product.

Great when it works, but far too unreliable – I've had the GoPro Hero7 for nearly a year now and it's been a frustrating experience. It fails more often than it works. It's extremely disappointing to take it out, if you're lucky you'll be able to actually shoot some footage without the camera locking up (only fix is to pull the battery), but there's an even chance you'll get back home and most of the footage will be gone. I've had a few GoPro cameras over the years, this is my last. Show details

Keeps freezing, battery tab came off and App keeps disconnecting from camera - after only 2 weeks and a software update! – Worst camera I have ever purchased and I regret buying it. I have only had it 2 weeks and done 2 very shallow scuba dives with it in the GoPro Super Suite Dive Housing (neither dive was more than 8 meters anyway). The camera kept freezing and the only way to fix it is to take the battery out and put it back in. It has done this MULTIPLE times… Read more

consistently. I rang GoPro and they suggested a software update (which I did). STILL does it, but more frequently now. Utterly useless! I have since met multiple people with the same issue!! The connection between the camera and the phone app constantly drops out as well, and I have pretty much given up using it. I wish I never bought it. Hoping for a complete refund. Also the battery tab came off and I had to google how to get it out of the camera without the tab. YI4K was a far better camera for far less money!

Cannot connect via Wifi on a laptop – We are writing the year 2019 A.D. The Roman Empire has fallen, kingdoms have come and gone, revolutions have happened, the internet came... but the only way to connect the GoPro Hero 7 Black (top of line) via wifi is ... via a phone. Not a laptop. No... that's way too much to ask. This in and of itself makes it an impractical tool for prolonged… Read more

time lapses because any slight movement to the camera in order to get the data off the card would make the time lapse jump. You have to download data on your phone and that means constantly struggling with enough space to do so. Also for inconceivable reasons it also stops recording after a number of shots or days (I'm not sure which was the cause) even if the card still has space, its plugged into an external power source and was set to "unlimited". I'm not the only person complaining about this issue so it seems to be common or maybe its human error but then the settings are not intuitive enough for someone as dumb as me to grasp it.

Best camera, with a terrible design problem – It's the best action camera out there. But to get it into a diving enclosure, you need to remove the lens cover, which is so incredibly tight that I ended up damaging the camera in an attempt to open it, even though I'd read the sites, watched the videos and read the 100's of forum posts asking about this problem. It's crippling and honestly shameful for a product with a history this long and a price this high. Show details

Cheap build, dreadful recording quality, glitchy mobile app and a slow "30 day money back guarantee" – On receiving the product the unpacking it seemed great, but on using for longer periods the build is really cheap and plastic, why was it not built in an aluminium or magnesium alloy casing? It has very few functions that aren't in fisheye and the connectivity issues with the App dropping in and out as seen with previous models still persist with… Read more

an overall generally glitchy and infuriating user interface. To finish it off both the image and video footage are heavily compressed that they are completely unusable, I'm perplexed at how people are giving rave reviews.

Go Pro offer a 30 day money back guarantee but on returning I have been fobbed off with different responses from their support team and provided with a false reference / transaction ID that is not even close to that issued by PayPal and told it takes up to 15-20 days to a month to process. On asking why it takes so long, the response was "can I help with anything else?".

I have a horrible feeling this is going to be ongoing fight to get my money back, don't make the same mistake I made.

Crashes in cold, heat and anywhere in between – Purchased in Jan 2019. Latest firmware installed (1.70). The Hero 7 Black is extremely temperamental. It crashes often and you're forced to pull the battery. This is particularly frustrating when filming in the cold. The camera does not work in the cold (below 0'C/32F) without an after market case, which isn't included. In the cold the battery… Read more

life is half of advertised. Around 40 minutes, max. The hypersmooth automatically disables when the camera becomes too cold. The camera also does not handle the heat (> 20'C/68F), overheats, and turns itself off. Hypersmooth also does not work in low light. In fact any footage taken in low light with hypersmooth is unusable. Previous versions of the Hero turned stabilization off when low light mode was enabled, but the 7 does not and the results are garbage. The positive thing to say about it is that the footage it takes, in the right conditions, is exceptional. The hypersmooth is also exceptional, when it works. Buy only if you can live with the constant crashing and bad battery life. Personally I think it's completely unacceptable considering the price. Upgraded to the Hero 7 Black from a GoPro Hero 3+ Black.

Worth the wait – We waited until we got closer to our UK trip before buying this. The inbuilt gimble action is amazing. Took it for a drive in the ute on a corrugated dirt road, holding it and the picture was steady as a rock. So good. The only let down is the inbuilt mic so we will be buying an external mic. Also, to attach a mic you need to buy an adaptor which… Read more

in the end could make it look like a messy setup with the extra plug in wires etc. Apparently there is a casing that is relatively cheap to buy which will encase the extra adaptor and wires so that's the next purchase. Not through gopro unfortunately. But we love it still.

Good camera but not a mostly focused on video – Initially we bought this camera for our trips to travel and take some selfies out and about. But the selfie functions are a little clunky and the hand held tripod isnt the best either, unless doing video. None the less a good product, but the battery life could also be far better. Show details

Great Camera, Expensive but Unmatched – Well featured action cam that produces awesome video. Since losing our Hero 4 Silver in the surf, my girlfriend and I have been very impressed with the video quality and stabilisation features on the Hero 7 Black. It’s a huge upgrade, and the black edition is the only one in the hero 7 line that has a replaceable battery (our one essential feature as battery life is still limited).  Show details

Fantastic Camera! – Great little camera! Don't have a 4K TV so no need for the 4K options of higher end models. Super clear footage. LCD screen is really good quality as well! For a sub $300 GoPro, I am stoked with the quality and ease of use. App is fantastic and simple to use and edit videos. No vibrations, even when tackling rock gardens on downhill MTB trails. I'm not sure how the Hero 7 black can be any smoother than the white. Very very very happy!  Show details ·  1

Worth buying! – Pros: Hyper-smooth stabilised footage straight out of the camera is a huge win. Lots of prosumer video settings and decent 4k, 2.7k footages, but you need a powerful computer and software to edit and render the 4k footages to final product. Well thought-out design and layout. Rugged. Camera is modestly priced. Accessories, mounts, spare battery… Read more

are inexpensive. The GoPro system is a delight to own.

Cons: The app's live preview drains battery fast. GoPro 7 Black's GPS dont get a lock-on as efficient as smartphones, you end up getting non-GPS shots (no GPS overlays available on footages) unless you make sure the GPS signal is locked on before hitting the record button or leave the camera on. Couldn't get the Facebook live feature to work yet in the app. Battery life is a concern but probability is the key here for an action camera, a $30 spare battery will cover this.

Connection problems, drains battery fast, get too Hot – I always thought GoPro is a great product until I purchased the GoPro Black 7 two weeks ago, I noticed that I could not connected to the app, the battery drains so quick and it gets too hot to touch even when every single feature is turned off and the camera sitting on the table on standby. , so I am getting rid of it and not buying GoPro… Read more

anymore even my brother bought a GoPro 6 lasted three months with him and then he got rid of it because of issues.

Loving the Hyper Smooth stabilisation on this one – Using their own processor allows GoPro to offer some pretty incredible options like internal stabilisation of normally shaky footage. Using their protune setting also allows you to capture incredible color detail and then do post processing to achieve the look you want. It also has a great slow motion ability to capture 1080 Full HD at 240 frames per second - which I use to achieve "drama" for childrens actions. Highly recommended product.  Show details