GoPro Hero 8 Review & Samples

TechTronic9000

TechTronic9000

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The new GoPro Hero 8 like all the previous ones was released with great hype such as: "best go pro ever", "best stabilization", "or best camera"...until now and more marketing like this. While there is some truth in those statements there are also a lot of CONS that no one is telling you about. So here is a real, honest review that also includes image samples.

 
I have pretty much decided to get the 8 instead of the Max as I can work around the downsides in this fantastic review and am grateful that TechTronic9000 has highlighted things that I would have never considered.

I am looking at cards for it and the Delkin Devices DDMSDB19001H 128 GB Prime MicroSDXC UHS-II U3/V60 Memory Card seems to be agood option. It has a second row of data contacts on it, does the 8 use these? This card is nearly three times the price of cards such as the Sandisc Extreme, is the Delkin nearly three times better?
 
One of the most "elusive" and hyped accesories for the GoPro 8, the media mod, usually only "in stock" for "influencers" but never for real users, still maged to hunt one and buy it. So here is a quick review about it:

 
Quick review of the new dual battery charger for the GoPro 8 that comes as bundle with an extra "blue battery"

 
The newer GoPro Sports KIT comes with an updated chesty mount that has additional padding is a bit more compact and has softer plastic plate making it safer for extreme sports.
Here is a quick overview of the set.

 
I have not looked much, but seem like that media mod are a flop.
 
kamkar1 said:
I have not looked much, but seem like that media mod are a flop.
Click to expand...
For my usage it is OK, i shoot a lot of outdoor reviews and the camera is chest mounted, i can use the "rear" mic or an external mic now so that I no longer get wind noise / wind noise suppressed sound.
 
Dashcammad said:
I am looking at cards for it and the Delkin Devices DDMSDB19001H 128 GB Prime MicroSDXC UHS-II U3/V60 Memory Card seems to be agood option. It has a second row of data contacts on it, does the 8 use these? This card is nearly three times the price of cards such as the Sandisc Extreme, is the Delkin nearly three times better?
Click to expand...

I'm using 128GB Samsung micro SDXC EVO Plus, UHS-3, it works ok in all resolutions (including 4K@60fps) and it was very cheap, bought locally for ~ 24$ (USD). The same card type also works perfectly with the Parrot ANAFI which shoots 4K@100Mbit/s.
 
this guy posted some reviews and modded it.
 
400$ GoPro8 vs a 100$ Apeman camera, both doing 4K stabilized video, the ThiEye T5 Pro was with EIS disabled just for reference

 
The mediamod was way over hyped and not worth the money. I am probably going to get the GoPro 8 because of the great software and firmware support that I feel other action cameras lack. The quality of the video, hardware etc is pretty much the same as other brands but it is hard to beat the GoPro eco system. If I was to buy another starter action camera which brands should I look at ?
 
DJi Osmo or Insta360 one R.
Xiaomi/Yi sort of abandoned the action camera after their Yi4k+, same for Garmin, Sony.
I am rather partial for Insta360 (I have both the One X and the GO), their software and feature are being improved constantly.

Having said that, as of now I'd probably get the Hero 8.. or wait for the Hero 9 in September/October.
 
Yeah, that is the dilemma. GoPro might be expensive but you can get them cheaper. But what I dislike
the most about the cheap brands is they have almost no firmware support etc. Some did copy the GoPro
so they work with that ecosystem. At the moment I am still waiting so I do not expect I will get the
GoPro 8 because when it is time to buy I suspect the GoPro 9 might be out ?
 
So has anyone figured out how to use GoPros as dashcams? or anything with similar quality?

4K @ 60FPS with wide FOV
 
I dont think the gopro 8 have dashcam functionality, so you would have to use it as a regular camera, so that mean.

1: have to start / stop recordings yourself
2: memory card fill up
3: remove camera after each drive or risk getting it stolen ( people know a lot more about expensive action cameras than dashcams )
4: possible overheating issues.

I am guessing here dont own a GP8
 
kamkar1 said:
I dont think the gopro 8 have dashcam functionality, so you would have to use it as a regular camera, so that mean.

1: have to start / stop recordings yourself
2: memory card fill up
3: remove camera after each drive or risk getting it stolen ( people know a lot more about expensive action cameras than dashcams )
4: possible overheating issues.

I am guessing here dont own a GP8
Click to expand...

oh yea man, I've been trying to get the go pro working as a dashcam since Gorpro hero 4 lol. I bought a little attachment for Hero 4, that enabled it to turn on with USB power and start recording right away, and turn off when the vehicle powered off. I got it working pretty close to a dashcam but the looping is where it fell apart.

It looped after 20mins and it would keep doing it over and over until the vehicle shut off and restarted again, then it would keep the loops of the previous session and only loop over the new session, eventually it would fill up the card and it wouldn't loop anymore.

I was hoping in 4-5years there was some advancement in this, but I don't think so. It looks like there isn't a huge demand for high quality dashcams. And if there is any, its fulfilled by the Asian market. Nothing on the level of a gopro but good enough I guess.

I had a skin on it, so there wasn't a huge security risk. And It didn't really overheat either. So only #2 was the issue.
 
It's something of a 'family' thing, like brother and sister, where each has the same roots but differs greatly. SOC video recorders both, but with different purposes and capabilities ;)

I think we're seeing the advancement you speak of with today's 4K dashcams but they're not quite ready for prime-time ATM, maybe another year or two. There's still some really good dashcams today with vid quality as good or better than most really need but dashcams will always lag the action cams in this regard for that very reason :rolleyes: The market demographic matters too; dashcams need to be affordable for the average driver whereas action cams will have a larger top-tier market segment from those wanting more professional-grade video and willing to pay what it takes to get it :cool:

Still quite remarkable when you consider that 50 years ago portable video recording never even imagined what we've got now!

Phil
 
The 20 min you saw are probably the file size limitation ( around 4 GB ) it is not really looping, just a thing cameras used to do / still do i assume.

Some action cameras do have a dashcam mode, i think all 3 cameras SJ cam sent to me back in the day had ( SJ 6 air - SJ6 legend and SJ7 star ) though one of the guys made the SJ7 star melt using it as a dashcam.
My dji Osmo Action have loop recording, but i am not able to change the segment size, actually dont even know what size they are as i have never used it, also dont know if this mean it also boot with power on.

Just tried to set that mode, and then plug my camera into a charger but nothing happned, so loop mode i assume are just looping then the memory car fill up, starting recording are still a manual thing.
 
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