3 defective GoPro 3+ Black Editions in a row!!!

nzvideoguys · Jul 29, 2014

On my way back from India to NZ in April 2014 I stopped over in Singapore. I bought a GoPro Black Edition 3+ from one of the stores at the airport. It was working fine on my Phantom 2 with H3-3D gimbal, for about a week, until I updated the firmware. Then it died. I posted it back to Singapore, after a lengthy process with GoPro support, and a few weeks later another 3+ arrived. It worked for a short time, then died. Absolutely dead. Once again, go through the drama with GoPro support, ship it back to Singapore, and after a few weeks another one arrives. Unpack it, insert a battery, push power.... nothing. Dead. WTF is this? Some sort of sick joke? How are others experiencing the GoPro BE 3+ in terms of reliability?
It's now the end of July and I'm looking at getting a fourth GoPro camera. Madness.

honcho · Jul 29, 2014

Hi, I also thought mine was dead, no reaction to any buttons, just blank.
but then I noticed that you can reset it by pressing the top button and the front button at the same time.. I don't really remember how but keep pressing those two for a few seconds and It should reboot with standard settings.

Buk · Jul 30, 2014

http://gopro.com/support/articles/how-to-reset-the-camera-to-factory-defaults

http://gopro.com/support/articles/software-update-release

Just curious, have you used the same memory card in each one? Do the cameras react the same without a memory card? Another common denominator would be the battery. Same one in each camera?

nzvideoguys · Jul 30, 2014

honcho said:
Hi, I also thought mine was dead, no reaction to any buttons, just blank.
but then I noticed that you can reset it by pressing the top button and the front button at the same time.. I don't really remember how but keep pressing those two for a few seconds and It should reboot with standard settings.

Yes that's called a "hard reset". It produced zero results.

nzvideoguys · Jul 30, 2014

Buk said:
http://gopro.com/support/articles/how-to-reset-the-camera-to-factory-defaults

http://gopro.com/support/articles/software-update-release

Just curious, have you used the same memory card in each one? Do the cameras react the same without a memory card? Another common denominator would be the battery. Same one in each camera?

I've tried different memory cards, and they're all the recommended type as per GoPro link. Sandisk and Lexar High Speed.
I know for a fact that the battery that came with this latest replacement camera is dead. It won't power the camera, and it won't charge when connected to USB.

It just seems to me that GoPro cameras in general are very buggy, as I know a number of people who say they have to take the battery out and reinsert it whenever the camera freezes up.
Basically cheap **** masquerading as quality.

adanac · Jul 30, 2014

Sounds like terrible bad luck. Mine work fine. Well, I have had some minor bugs in that I've had it freeze and have had to take the battery out. This happens occasionally, but I've never had a dead one, much less three in a row.