GoPro The Remote - Accessory (Open Box)

I was very unimpressed with the remote. Its not nearly as sophisticated at the $80 price tag suggests. GoPro continually dissapoints with their lack of attention to good engineering and especially human interfaces. Its as if they never tested this unit before releasing it. Read on for our impressions. The Bad: -- EXPENSIVE: $80! You have to really want this remote as there are others at 60% of the cost that will turn on and off the camera remotely. -- NO AUDIO FEEDBACK FOR PAIRING: When the units are powered up after initial pairing, there is no audio feedback beeps from the camera. -- LOSES PAIRING: Apparently the remote will automatically turn off when not used for a while. When turned back on, it is no longer paired with the camera and a repair has to be performed. Our cameras is in a housing and the screen is not accessible making a re-paring every time the remote not viable. -- TINY DISPLAY: I cannot read most of the display. Its either so small or the icons are next to the edge and in a shadow and difficult to see unless you put it under a bright light and then tilt and twist the remote and put your eyes close to it. -- POOR RANGE: We were out recording a trip and set up the camera 25 ft away for an outside shot around a hairpin turn. Between the camera and the remote was a small 6 ft high hill, blocking the line of sight between remote and camera. The remote would not connect to the camera. -- ORIENTED INCORRECTLY ON WRIST: When strapped on a write like a watch, but unlike a wristwach, you have to hold your arm are straight up to view the screen properly vs just angle your arm in front of your eyes, like a wristwatch. If they simply added another strap slot with a 90 degree orientation from the current strap slot, it would have solved this. Another example of GoPros innatention to proper human interfaces. -- BAD GLARE: The display glass reflects like a mirror and you have to tilt it just right to see the display. A simple anti-glare coating would have been nice. -- NO BACKLITE: The display has no backlit making it impossible to see in the dark. -- NO DISPLAY READOUT INSTRUCTIONS: The manual states nothing about whats on the display. Is the battery indicator for the remote or the camera? There is a number shown when the camera is off....what does that mean. This info is as basic as it can be and GoPro failed to provide it in the ridiculously inadequate Users Manual. -- BAND NOT FLEXIBLE: The provided wrist band is not flexible. You have to awkwardly using one hand to attach it rather then just a flexible band one can slip over the wrist as the aforementioned after market remote does. -- BAND WONT TIGHTEN: For my wife's smaller wrist, the strap when pulled tight does not does not extend the hook and loop far enough along the band so that it will grab hence the strap cannot be tightened. The Good: -- PAIRED QUICKLY: The one thing described in the manual is how to pair and it paired quickly. -- OPERATOR FEEDBACK: The remote for recording provides a display showing the time recorded and with a flashing red light. Only a single beep from the camera to record and 3 beeps to stop. I wish it was consistent the the beep patterns when using the camera manually but it is not. -- LONG BATTERY LIFE: GoPro responded to a question about battery life stating it will operate for 50 hours. That would be great if it didn't have all the problems stated above. Conclusion: Ive had better and more reliable success with a much cheaper aftermarket wrist mounted remote then this horribly expensive and ineffective GoPro remote. If you found this review helpful, please vote "Helpful" using the button below. Thank you!