I have owned every generation of the GoPro since the GoPro Hero 5 black and upgraded at each iteration. When I first saw the footage from the Hero 8 Black, I thought okay, what incremental quality increase am I going to get this time. Hypersmooth 2.0 That's what sold it to me. In many ways, GoPro has not listened to its consumers when it comes to software reliability and some of the design aspects of this new GoPro. However, it is still a worthwhile device and depending on how you use it, you might not need this upgrade. USEABILITY/INTERFACE In terms of ease of use, this GoPro's interface has changed for the better. Now you don't need to tap furiously over multiple screens and settings to change it to your recording settings. In the past you couldn't save presets to use, but now, you can access this with a couple of taps to get your usual setting. You can set multiple custom easy access settings. There are a couple of quick buttons nearby to provide more or less stabilisation now, which is much appreciate so you can pretty much get what you need to do from the camera screen. DESIGN This is where GoPro wins and loses at the same time. It looks very similar to the GoPro Hero 7 Black, but the lens is not detachable. Okay GoPro says its much stronger as a lens, but the reality is, it is not infallible. In the situation the glass breaks, you're expected to fork up for a new GoPro? I don't think so GoPro. The bottom pop out mount attachment is super convenient, but looks a bit brittle. Only time will tell how well it will hold up to regular use. However, it isn't that expensive to replace - so that's a huge plus (that it's replaceable with ease). The hinge for the battery compartment was not well designed. Its a bit fiddly to take off and its very easy to snap off the hinge completely (it's meat to come off, but it comes off a bit too easily for my taste). HYPERSMOOTH 2.0 This is basically the best feature about the Hero 8 Black. Hypersmooth 2.0 is a vast improvement to the first iteration on the GoPro Hero 7 Black Hypersmooth 1.0. I was completely blown away by the stabilisation. The Hero 7, was advertised as a Gimbal killer, but in my opinion was over advertised a bit. It was stellar, don't get me wrong when comparing to what was out there before. BUT Hypersmooth 2.0 absolutely kills it. I think it's as close to Gimbal killer as it can be on boost mode. Note that boost mode crops the image a bit more. VIDEO/IMAGE As per usual, the photos taken by GoPro are usually much more vibrant and crisp that some of the images taken with phones. The wide angle lens is beautiful and is great fun to take photos with. It has no focal point (infinite depth of field), so everything is sharp throughout the photos. I recommend anyone who is on the fence to go check out some photos in youtube reviews to decide whether this style of photo is to your taste. The GoPro hero 8 has a marked improvement when it comes to night mode. It's less noisy and the clarity is much much higher compared to the Hero 7. RELIABIILTY I have only been able to test this for a couple of hours, and i have had one issue with frozen GoPro. This I know has been quite common on the GoPro Hero devices, so it did not shock me too much. It's a shame that GoPro has not fixed this in each release. Hopefully with more firmware updates, we will see if this becomes more reliable. It is an annoyance more than anything as you can just take out the battery if it freezes. BUNDLE I would totally recommend this bundle - the shorty stand is super convenient to use and is an official GoPro accessory which makes it well built and reliable. Great value for black Friday - don't hesitate! BATTERY The battery life has not changed significantly since GoPro Hero 5. Its had incremental improvements but nothing ground breaking. The annoying thing is that these new blue tipped batteries are backwards compatible, but they have a larger output capacity. If you use your old GoPro batteries, you'll find that they don't output enough power to shoot in all of the modes that the new GoPro 8 offers. In summary, I can recommend the GoPro Hero 8 if you like taking smooth videos. On Hypersmooth 2.0 alone, it was worthwhile for the upgrade from 7 for me, but if you're just into photos and a much more infrequent user, then I'm not sure it's got enough new features to be a must upgrade as such. If you can grab it on black friday or prime sale, then even better!
