Top critical review
3.0 out of 5 starsNot designed for continuous use
Reviewed in the United States on October 19, 2020
I've used this camera to record long drives for 7 months now.
Pros: good image quality (although resolution of linear/non-wide angle video is noticeably lower at 4K), great stereo audio filtering and processing
Cons:
image stabilization - doesn't work with panning (driving around a curve), and often the camera cannot figure out which way is down and "stabilizes" the video tilted all the way to one side on level pavement. I use the camera with internal stabilization turned off.
Charging - the charge port is sealed in the battery door for waterproof purposes. If you want to record longer than the battery life allows, you will have to keep the battery door open/detached, thus exposing the inside and risking the battery disconnecting if the camera is jolted.
Cooling - like all passively cooled cameras, this camera will overheat if there is no airflow around it. Not normally a problem for externally mounted action cameras but if you plan on using it in an enclosed environment such as inside a vehicle, you will need to make sure there is cooling.
Boneheaded software design:
100 files - The camera is incapable of recording more than 100 continuous files (about 8 hours of video at 4K60), even if you have the storage space for it. Once you reach 100 files, recording will automatically stop, and you will have to press the shutter again to resume recording. GoPro doesn't seem to plan to do anything to change this since they only officially support 256gb, even though 512gb cards work just fine.
Naming scheme - instead of a normal big-little naming scheme (Video 1 Part 1), videos are named by little-big (Part 1 of Video 1). If you record multiple sessions and sort by file name, the files will be arranged by part number first, effectively scrambling it. The only way to sort them chronologically is by last modified metadata, and if the software you're using doesn't support it or if you do something that changes the last modified date, sorting videos will be very difficult.
A note about sd card support: I've successfully used Sandisk ultra 400gb & 512 gb microsd cards as well as a hyundai technologies 512gb card with this camera and many other cameras. 400gb-512gb card sizes offer the best value and capacity right now. Don't let manufacturers limit you to small card sizes if you plan on recording lots of video. There is no technical reason that a camera cannot work with a high capacity card. Any manufacturer who locks out larger card sizes that you can now buy for less than $50 is doing so because they are anti-consumer.
