Horrible GoPro Hero 3 battery life - Page 2 - Snowboarding Forum

Steelkeeper · 02-14-2013, 05:26 PM

I removed red led lights and beep sound to save battery

BigmountainVMD · 02-15-2013, 10:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by poutanen

I'd be bent if I paid $300 plus for a camera and the battery was as useless as tits on a bull!

It was a gift... but I can think of plenty of other things I could use for $400.

I found these "Wasabi" batteries on Amazon that are 1200 mAh instead of 1050... super cheap and should add at least 5 or 10 minutes on to record time.

http://www.amazon.com/Wasabi-Power-B...=wasabi+Hero+3

poutanen · 02-15-2013, 10:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BigmountainVMD

It was a gift... but I can think of plenty of other things I could use for $400.

Fair enough! Methinks kijiji or craiglist is in order! Unfortunately I don't have an answer to your original question...

BigmountainVMD · 02-15-2013, 10:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by poutanen

Fair enough! Methinks kijiji or craiglist is in order! Unfortunately I don't have an answer to your original question...

I just really liked the functionality... 1080p at 60 fps and moreso 720p at 120 fps... that makes for an actually decent slow motion shot and is unavailable on most other cameras.

terprider · 02-15-2013, 10:42 AM

have you tried to run your camera on record in a neutral setting and just letting it run until the battery dies? if you're getting less than an hour worth of record time in, I would call up GoPro and let them know.

frombrooklyn22 · 02-15-2013, 03:49 PM

Good thing I did tons of research before pulling the trigger on my Contour Roam got it for $120 around black friday.

Have been using it for the past 10 trips. At least 5 of the trips were under 20 degrees, plus windchill factor. The most usage in one day was two 10 min clips, probably twenty 2-3 min clips. Battery didn't die that day. In fact, it never out of those 10 trips.

BigmountainVMD · 02-15-2013, 04:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by terprider

have you tried to run your camera on record in a neutral setting and just letting it run until the battery dies? if you're getting less than an hour worth of record time in, I would call up GoPro and let them know.

Yeah.. it is a good call but wtf can they even do about it? I feel like I would just be wasting my time at that point. It has a more hardcore processor and a smaller battery than the Hero 2. That = an hour of battery life.

terprider · 02-15-2013, 04:32 PM

they say youre supposed to get about 90 mins on 1080p/30fps... if its drastically lower than that then its worth giving them a call. i had a buddy who had something messed up with his hero 2, and they said it may have been a firmware issue and he had to send it back and they gave him a new one. it cost him like $25 to express ship it to them (cause he wanted it back in time before a trip) and he kept bugging them about that and they gave him some free stuff (headstraps and chest straps). if nothing else, its worth a shot...

poutanen · 02-15-2013, 04:44 PM

One other thought, are you alwas shooting in 60 or 120 fps modes? I get good battery life with the contour in 720p60 but if you're shooting at 1080p60 then that's going to chew more battery.

BigmountainVMD · 02-16-2013, 11:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by poutanen

One other thought, are you alwas shooting in 60 or 120 fps modes? I get good battery life with the contour in 720p60 but if you're shooting at 1080p60 then that's going to chew more battery.

Almost all shooting I do is 720p at 60 fps. The day that it died SUPER quick I was using 120fps... but I still figured I'd get more than 40 minutes.

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02-14-2013, 05:26 PM	#11 (permalink)
Steelkeeper Member Join Date: Apr 2012 Location: Novara - Italy Posts: 53	I removed red led lights and beep sound to save battery

02-15-2013, 10:42 AM	#15 (permalink)
terprider Junior Member Join Date: Feb 2013 Location: Maryland Posts: 9	have you tried to run your camera on record in a neutral setting and just letting it run until the battery dies? if you're getting less than an hour worth of record time in, I would call up GoPro and let them know.

02-15-2013, 03:49 PM	#16 (permalink)
frombrooklyn22 Junior Member Join Date: Aug 2012 Posts: 19	Good thing I did tons of research before pulling the trigger on my Contour Roam got it for $120 around black friday. Have been using it for the past 10 trips. At least 5 of the trips were under 20 degrees, plus windchill factor. The most usage in one day was two 10 min clips, probably twenty 2-3 min clips. Battery didn't die that day. In fact, it never out of those 10 trips.

02-15-2013, 04:32 PM	#18 (permalink)
terprider Junior Member Join Date: Feb 2013 Location: Maryland Posts: 9	they say youre supposed to get about 90 mins on 1080p/30fps... if its drastically lower than that then its worth giving them a call. i had a buddy who had something messed up with his hero 2, and they said it may have been a firmware issue and he had to send it back and they gave him a new one. it cost him like $25 to express ship it to them (cause he wanted it back in time before a trip) and he kept bugging them about that and they gave him some free stuff (headstraps and chest straps). if nothing else, its worth a shot...

02-15-2013, 04:44 PM	#19 (permalink)
poutanen Resident Creep-o-saurus Join Date: Dec 2011 Location: Calgary, AB Posts: 3,558	One other thought, are you alwas shooting in 60 or 120 fps modes? I get good battery life with the contour in 720p60 but if you're shooting at 1080p60 then that's going to chew more battery.