I am just really disappointed with the amount of money I have spent on gopro products and lack of quality and support that I have gotten from the company
Don't expect to get the kind of videos you see on youtube out of the box. Most of those have been run through multiple editing processes. It seems they spend a lot more on marketing and their mounts than on the actual the camera. Here are the frustrations with my Hero 2- PLEASE NOTE- Some or all of these may not apply to the new Hero 3
1. Slightest temperature change causes housing (case) to fog over including the lens. Like from taking it out of the shade in your bag to putting it on. I've had this happen on a 12,000 ft mountain in below freezing temps with almost zero humidity and also in the tropics at sea level in the heat and many times right here in North Texas.
2. It's terrible in bright light, like on the water. Reflections and sparkle wash out the picture
3. It's even worse in low light, the aperture is tiny and let's in very little light
4. The housing is easily scratched especially the the lens cover which will throw off the auto-focus
5. Battery meter is non-linear- when you think you have 1/2 left it's more like 1/10.
6. The audio is worthless
7. The Audible beeps signifying start/stop recording are very hard to hear with any background noise
8. They do not work well underwater with the standard lens
9. The stills will make your iPhone look like and SLR
With all that being said, they do have their use for certain special applications. All of the mounts I've bought seem very solid and well thought out. The battery life is excellent. Mine has been down to 75 ft scuba diving and the housing held up just fine.
After my experience with the Hero 2, my guess is most of us would be far better served with a ruggedized point and shoot camera like an Olympus Tough or Pentax Optio. They are just about as water resistant, far more versatile and will shoot great looking stills and excellent video.