Overheating GoPros?

[Adam Smith]

Dear BRUVers,

My team has been using GoPro Hero 5 and 6 in our BRUVs, and it's time for an upgrade. 

I've heard various reports of Hero 10s and 11s overheating, and potential problems with image distortion/stabilisation. Does anyone have any direct experience of this, or any other advice?

Cheers,

Adam

--

Adam N. H. Smith

Senior Lecturer in Statistics

School of Mathematical and Computational Sciences

Room 3.09, Mathematical Sciences Building

Gate 1, Albany Expressway (SH17)

Massey University East Precinct

Private Bag 102 904

Auckland 0745

New Zealand

Email: a.n.h...@massey.ac.nz

[Adam Smith]

Dear BRUVers,

Thank you very much for all the responses! I thought I'd post a summary of them here.

Overheating

• I've heard from people using Heros 9, 10, and 11. All have experienced cameras unexpectedly shutting down due to overheating, particularly at high resolution and frame rate settings. 
• The problem seems to largely be resolved by using 1080p and 30 fps. Many people indicated that this is sufficient for most applications, and there is little to gain from higher settings (also, much more data storage is required).
• The overheating problem can also be resolved by removing internal batteries and using larger external batteries, though they require larger, custom housings.
• Others are experimenting with putting a heat sink into the housing.

Image distortion

• The image quality of new models is a lot better than previous ones. There is sometimes colour fluctuation between blue and green but this isn't a major problem.
  
• 'Hypersmooth' image stabilisation should be turned off (Hero 9).
• What used to be called "medium FOV" is now called "linear" (Hero 10).
• With later GoPro models, you can use QR codes to quickly adjust settings.

A couple of other points, FYI

• When we upgrade to new GoPro models, we'll need to update the seats in our housings. We plan to do this by 3D printing them. If anyone has any experience with this, I'd love to hear from you.
• We're considering purchasing these depth gadgets for attaching to our BRUVs: https://www.divegearexpress.com/sensus-ultra-data-recorder-only. If anyone has used these or similar, any warnings or assurances would be welcome.

Thanks again,

Adam