Top critical review
3.0 out of 5 starsGenerally good, a few limitations
Reviewed in Canada on September 2, 2022
I've used this for both cross-country skiing, and more frequently for a bow-mounted kayak camera. I edit my footage on a PC using the software supply. The system works well for both the skiing and kayaking with a few limitations you have to accept and expect:
1. Battery life is limited to about an hour's footage. So if you're hoping to capture a three-day kayak trip, forget it. On the plus side the voice command lets you stop and start recording so you don't waste battery life recording the boring bits.
2. When not in use, the battery charge declines noticeably day by day. Disappointing.
3. I dislike the GoPro three prong mount - quite fiddly to attach to the three-prong receiver wherever you mount that.
4. It's a wide angle-lens. Does a great job on capturing the landscape around you, but don't try to capture those swans or cygnets swimming in front of your kayak (or anything small). The image resolution is not good enough for that. You'll still need a "real" camera for those shots.
5. The GoPro Max comes with protective transparent domes to place over the fragile lenses. On occasion, I get condensation inside the domes which blurs the image. Possibly a result of a high-humidity day and then going out kayaking in cooler air on the lake? That aside, the waterproofing seems to work well. I've had the GoPro on the kayak while rolling the kayak and the GoPro survives that fine.
6. GoPro also supplies protective, non-transparent, lens caps to cover the fragile lenses when not in use. Getting these off is fiddly and difficult. I'm tired of risking my thumbnails and now carry a small tool to pry these off.