GoPro Recommendation Anybody?

[Boatingmom]

Ok so we are thinking of uurchasing a go pro for vacation. We are not professionals but fear the basic model may be too basic. Has anybody who used one on a cruise vacation care to suggest?

[Amtrack Springfield]

We bought a GoPro Hero 4 Silver from Boolchands in St. Maarten in November when we were on the Regal Princess. (The ship only sold the Silver 3 at that time) We bought one for us and my son. They had just got them in the store by the pier. He could not discount the camera, but he gave us a good deal on accessories. Best Buy has offered some accessories with purchase of the camera and I have seen some kits on Amazon. We have been very happy with the pictures and videos. It works great underwater. We use our outdoors and at the beach.

[Lovetocruiseprincess]

It's not a recommendation but if you do decide to get one, price it out beforehand. I recently priced out many electronic items in St Martin & found their prices to be higher than in the US for a comparable item- even when figuring the US tax in.....and that was checking 12 or more stores. Same holds true about St Thomas. The days of the deals on electronic items seem to be long gone.

[cardqb]

You might also look into a Contour ROAM camera. Handy little HD quality waterproof cameras that do multiple things for a good price. Accessories are reasonable and you can get all sorts of mounts. They don't have a built in screen, but the plus model can be controlled with a smartphone.

 

It also has still photo capability and you can set it to take photos at a specific interval to build a time lapse video. (Again, plus version allows adjusting settings, etc.... but the regular requires connecting to a computer to adjust settings)

Edited March 16, 2015 by cardqb

[shellbeachjim]

I have a Go Pro Hero 4 Silver and love it. I bought it before our last cruise - I wanted to make sure I knew how to use it before I left home. Be forewarned that there are a lot of accessories you can buy, so your cost will be more than just the camera.

 

Some things you should consider purchasing:

• High speed memory cards - yes that's plural. You need to make sure the card can keep up with the amount of data the camera generates.
  
• Extra batteries. Many people swear by the Wasabi branded ones.
  
• An electrical charger. My camera didn't come with one. There is a USB cable to plug into a computer, but that isn't terribly useful on a cruise. The charger I bought is also made by Wasabi, and it also came as a set with a car charger.
  

 

If you are going to scuba or snorkel there are lots of accessories, but those are a bit more personal in the choices you make.

[Loonbeam]

A big question is what you want to use it for. It's much more suited to capture activity (either video or still) than as a camera.