Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

The Session is the latest camera from GoPro. It is a great little camera with a good resolution overall. It's not the same level of detail as seen with the Hero Silver, however for people like me who find themselves in the woods for days at a time, it's awesome to be able to have a lightweight and compact form factor to pack in. Function -The Hero Session features a one-click operation. Click the main button once, video recording starts at the specified default resolution. You can set this with the camera itself via the buttons or in the remote control app on your phone/pad. If you hold the main button for 3 seconds, it will start a time lapse. Easy peasy. Here's what resolutions it's capable of via the GoPro website: I1440p 30, 25 Ultra Wide 1920 x 1440 1080p 60, 50, 30, 25 Ultra Wide, Medium 1920 x 1080 1080p SuperView 48, 30, 25 Ultra Wide 1920 x 1080 960p 60, 50, 30, 25 Ultra Wide 1280 x 960 720p 100, 60, 50, 30, 25 Ultra Wide, Medium 1280 x 720 720p SuperView 60, 50, 30, 25 Ultra Wide 1280 x 720 Superview is basically expanding the field of view horizontally and vertically a bit more, perhaps 3-5mm. You do end up getting that 'fisheye' effect when using it, but that's sort of nice sometimes. There are a few videos explaining how to apply the 4:3 crop to the video in post and eliminating the 4:3 aspect ratio when using this ultra-wide view and preserving the 16x9 ratio, but I won't go into that here. Anyways, after you have your fun mounting your GoPro on your horse/cat/bike/helmet/walking stick/ferret, you can import these motion pictures into your editor of choice, or just use the free GoPro Studio application found on the GoPro website under 'support' to convert, edit and export your killer clip footage dude! I personally just stick with the GoPro Studio software as I like the simplicity. I'm out there taking pictures of bears, landscapes and whatever else my assignments call for. I also use it for trail documentation on the AT and surrounding vistas in various states that I like to hike. Videography isn't my primary hobby so I'm alright with a lower resolution and a more simplified workflow, not to mention the smaller files taking up space on the card and ease of post work at the end. Accessories used: - I paired the Session with the suction cup mount for use inside/outside my car, a Peak Designs P.O.V. harness for my pack, a 64GB Sandisk MicroSD and an Anker Astro 6700 mAh battery pack for when I'm on the go and need to shoot more footage of trails and sunsets and junk. The GoPro Session been rained on, fallen on, attacked by my kitten, tossed in the mud, had food spilled on it, dropped and even found it's way into a campfire once (briefly, VERY briefly!).. It keeps chugging right along. It's not totally indestructible, but it's as close as I've felt like I can dish out, honestly. And for $200, it's a no-brainer. You're not going to feel like you lost a child or a full-frame camera or anything if something drastic were to happen to it. On the other hand, a $400 purchase might, depending on your financial status, give you heart palpitations if destroyed. Negatives: -The major complaints for me anyway, seem to stem around how the WiFi won't turn off when the camera does. If you have it remotely connected to your device and you stop recording, the camera will keep blinking blue, indicating that the WiFi is still active. This obviously eats up some of the battery and I really wish that there was an option to either keep this feature on or be able to turn off the wifi upon stopping a recording to help conserve some more of that precious battery. It's not a deal-breaker, but it's something to note and hopefully something they can change via another FW update. -There seems to be a delay when attempting to enter the settings menu while the device is turned off. If you have the camera off and press the (We're just going to call it the 'menu' button for lack of a better term) menu button, it takes a few seconds for it to register and get you into the menu system. Sometimes it seems it doesn't want to even do that. A small annoyance, but one I found nonetheless. -Battery life seems to be holding up to around what GoPro claims, which is about 1 Hr and 45 mins or so at 1080p 60fps. That's pretty respectable considering the size of the camera and how lightweight it is. Just great. Again, the external battery pack might be a good thing to have as a backup if you're concerned about that becoming an issue. ===Final thoughts: For those who don't need 4k resolution and want a more compact package, or for those who wish to play around with videography, the GoPro Session is where to start looking. It's the entry level option, however you do get quite a lot for the money. I recommend it.