Something awesome arrived in the mail today:
Yep, my GoPro HD Hero 3 Black finally arrived.
It was a 2-3 week wait by buying directly from GoPro.com, but it was the only option since none of the stores in Whistler have received stock of the Black editions.
Unlike the US, the GoPro HD Hero 3 Blacks are still non-existant in Canada. Futureshop and Bestbuy received their first stock last week and those sold out fast. Every other store is still waiting for their first batch of Black editions to arrive.
I had to pay custom duties, but it still worked out cheaper because the GoPro Black editions are $50 more expensive in Canada (and no stores even have them anyway).
Accessories I picked up for the GoPro HD Hero 3:
Besides the GoPro HD Hero 3 Black, I also picked up a spare replacement battery (GoPros are known to have a short battery life, you’ll need 2-3 batteries to get through a day) and the GoPro anti-fog inserts.
In my opinion, the anti-fog inserts are a must buy if you’re snowboarding or skiing with your GoPro:
You stick them into your GoPro waterproof casing and they’re reusable, so you only have to buy the inserts once and you can keep using them over and over. I’ve had friends struggle with GoPro fogging in the past and $15 is a really small price to pay for fog free filming when you snowboard.
Besides the GoPro accessories, I also picked up a couple 1 TB hard drives and a 64GB micro sd card, so I’m basically set for filming this whole season.
Here’s the total haul:
First impressions of the GoPro HD Hero 3 Black:
GoPro doesn’t make it all that easy to get up and running quickly. Instead of including a manual in the box, they give you a card that says you need to download the manual from their website.
I spent 5-10 min fiddling around with the GoPro and remote before I gave in and downloaded the manual. The GoPro menu system hasn’t changed much from the GoPro HD Hero 2, so it’s still bit of a pain to navigate and figure out, especially if you’re not sure what the icons and letters mean.
Besides the slight pain of figuring out the menu system, I’m pretty impressed by the small size of the GoPro HD Hero 3 Black. This thing is TINY and very lightweight without the waterproof mount.
Pity they haven’t been able to streamline the waterproof mount more, but I’m still really impressed with the weight and size of the new Hero 3.
I haven’t been able to try out the wi-fi or iPhone app yet because the Hero 3 Black edition still isn’t compatible with the app. Supposedly they’re releasing the update to enable compatibility within the next day or two, so I’ll cover that in more detail later when I do a full review.
How I mounted the GoPro to my snowboard helmet:
Honestly, this was the part that took the longest time to figure out. It was tricky mainly because the front of my sandbox helmet isn’t as curved as other helmets and I didn’t want to top mount the GoPro because the viewing angle isn’t as good (plus you look like a teletubby).
In my opinion, front mounting is the way to go, especially if you intend to do flips and cork spins because your head can get pretty close to the ground during the upside down rotation.
Ended up using the curved sticky helmet mount on the front of my helmet and combining it with the slightly longer quick release mount:
What I’m planning to snowboard and film using the GoPro:
Basically I’ll be wearing this GoPro every day on the slopes. Not the entire day, but for a couple hours while I cruise around and hit jumps/rails. Whistler has a pretty nice park setup already, so you’ll get to see what it’s like.
The first few videos will be testing things and trying to get the settings/editing dialled in, then I’ll be aiming to upload at least 1 video per week to the Snomie YouTube channel.
My current idea is the videos will be a lot of point of view advanced park riding with a mix of talking through snowboard tips with some random commentary on Whistler and snowboarding in general.
I’ll also do some walk arounds in Whistler and show you guys my favourite spots in the village and maybe pop into the Snowboard Addiction office as well and say hi to their crew.
If you have requests of things you want me to film in Whistler, let me know.
This is going to be a fun project 
- Jed
ps – Will do a more in-depth review of the GoPro HD Hero 3 Black edition once I’ve used it more and tested out the features.
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I didn’t know GoPro3 wasn’t in Canada yet, you should of told me and I would of brought you one when I visited Whistler and saved you that duty fee.
Ah, oh well. At least I managed to get a free spare battery when I ordered thanks to the cyber monday sales.
I have the GoPro 1, and it took me an hour to decide where to mount the camera.
The teletubies position is impossible because I have vents in my helmet on top. The front mount is also difficult if you use goggles (outside of helmet) and want to put them on your helmet once in a while. I sort of went half way and also use the extended mount. When I take off my goggles they rest on the lip of the helmet.
Jed, did you use the chest mount? I am off to Whistler myself next week with my Go Pro, first time use!
I use a helmet mount. Chest mount doesn’t work too great for snowboarding since we’re facing sideways.
Thanks for photos of the “haul”… this is exactly what I plan to be buying as my first GoPRO rig for snowboarding in Park City next week.
I agree chest mount doesn’t work for snowboarding. Helmet mount is great for shooting other boarders. I took my Hero3 for a snowboard ride at Heavenly Mountain Resort in Lake Tahoe, CA and use a basic tripod ($12). My first video I compiled using this camera. Works great! http://youtu.be/v_B17ej-dwU The video was taken with the GoPro Hero3 Black Edition using 1080p @ 60fps, wide angle, protune off and wifi off (to save battery). I was also using the battery bacpac, tripod mount and skeleton casing (for sound).