The Go Pro Hero range look a bit different from other action cameras as they actually look like a small camera, rather than being more tube like, like most action cameras.

The Go Pro Hero is that start of a fantastic range of action cameras and it boasts many great features.  Firstly the camera’s protective casing allows the camera to go 100 feet under water, or about 30 meters.  This is quite staggering and should make the camera a great option for water sports and scuba diving enthusiasts.

The Go Pro Hero has a 3 Mega pixel camera and can take SD cards with up to 2GB of storage.  It does have 16MB of internal memory, but you will need a memory card to be able to capture anything of any great length.  You should be able to get just under an hour of video capture on a 2GB SD card.

The Go Pro Hero has four modes.  Firstly it can capture video at an impressive 30fps with a 512 x 384 resolution.  Secondly it can be set to take a photo every 5 seconds.  This mode is great for a time delay type video or to give flick book sort of effect.  You can use the 10 second auto timer to get a picture with yourself in and you can take single photos.  A lot of self contained action cameras like this do not have the ability just to take still photos, which is a great shame.  This means you can film and take photos when you’re there without the need to take another camera (which may well get damaged).

In a similar way to the ATC range of cameras, the Go Pro Hero does not have a viewing screen.  It does have an LCD display which outputs status information and details.  The camera has two buttons which make flicking between modes quite easy, though be sure to read the instructions (sorry blokes!), as it can be easy to delete footage by accident if you don’t.

The camera has a high and low audio recording setting.  The advantage of this is that you can you can select “LO” when the camera will pick up a lot of background noise, such as if you attach the camera to your handlebars/motorbike.  The LO setting should help reduce the amount of noise created from vibrations caused by the road, pot holes and so on.  The HI setting is suitable when the camera is mounted elsewhere.  When you use the camera within the waterproof container the audio quality will be lower.  If you want the unit to capture people talking, they would need to be very close to the unit.  Even when close to the unit it is likely that their voice won’t be as clear as with some action cameras.