James and I bought a Go Pro Hero 5 Black for Christmas last year, and let me tell you, we love it. We were first introduced to the Go Pro when my sister and her boyfriend came to visit us in New Zealand. At the time, they had a small Go Pro 4 without a screen and it was in a waterproof case. They took it everywhere – skiing, swimming, biking, hiking – and they documented the trip so well! We loved the easy video settings, and the fish eye photos form the top of Treble Cone.

We have owned our Go Pro Hero 5 for about 5 months at the time of writing this, and like I said, we’re obsessed. BUT it didn’t come without a few headaches at first. If you’re thinking about buying a Go Pro, I’m here for you. I’m going to share the pros and cons of the Go Pro Hero 5 Black.

*This post contains affiliate links. That means, I may receive a commission for some of the links in this post- at no cost to you. See our Disclaimer page for details*

A little background: I have been wanting a real camera for several months. However, they are expensive! My photographer friend (an actual photographer) advised me, “Brooke, unless you want to pay over $1000 for a nice camera, your Go Pro and iPhone are pretty comparable to other cameras under that price”. When she said that, it clicked. I’m no photographer – nor do I desire to be! Sure I like to take pretty photos, but at this point I don’t really see myself learning about lenses or lighting. I like to write and create. That’s what I want to spend my time doing. I need a camera that is easy to use, takes a good photo – and quickly. I need an all terrain camera that goes anywhere. The Go Pro Hero 5 is that camera for me.

Pros:

Let’s start with the positives, shall we?

1. Lightweight and Portable.

SO portable. Fits in your jacket pocket or easily slips into your purse. I love that this thing is small and discrete.

2. Water Proof. This camera is all terrain.

I think this is my favorite part. I lovvve the underwater shots that this thing takes. Plus, James and I are all weather people. We are outside in the rain, snow wind and sleet. Swimming in the ocean? Fine. Cross country skiing in the snow? Easy. Got caught hiking in the rain? No problem. The Go Pro and accessories are covered.

3. High quality camera

Like I said before, the Go Pro Hero 5 probably can’t compete to higher quality cameras but for such a small thing it certainly packs a punch.

Related: 15-Day North Island Itinerary New Zealand

4. Screen on the back

The Go Pro Hero 5 Black has a touch screen, so I can easily see what’s in the shot. The fish eye lens takes some adjusting to but the screen definitely helps us get the shot we want. Plus, you can review the photos on the camera and re-watch videos from the screen so we can always retake the picture if we need to.

5. Epic selfies

We rarely ask others to take our photo, unless we are with close friends or family. I love that the Go Pro takes a good selfie shot while still getting what’s in the background.

6. Easy video recording

James’ favorite feature. The video camera has pretty decent sound, it is also voice activated but we haven’t set up that feature yet. The Go Pro Hero 5 also does other settings like time delay or bursts, all with just a few clicks.

7. Mounts to helmets, surfboards, skis, etc.

Basically hands free recording or picture taking. Mount it to your bike or wake-board helmet, surfboard, whatever with a plastic attachment. I think the Go Pro is the ultimate adventure camera for this reason. Set it and forget it. Use your hands to paddle out, ride your bike or hang on to the water ski rope.

8. All the accessories – endless possibilities

We bought the “handler” grip or “floating hand grip”. It attaches to our Go Pro for easy handling and – as it says in its name – it even floats. But there are so many other options too! Like, a harness to mount the Go Pro on your dog. I would love to see the world through River’s eyes!

9. Lots of lens options and functions

I almost listed this as a con, but it’s not really. I just don’t really know what types of lenses are for what. The Go Pro Hero 5 has linear, wide and narrow lenses. I just need to explore the lenses more and read up on the different purposes of each. Once I get the hang of what lenses are best used for, I’m guessing the versatility of the camera will be a big pro.

10. Apps

Oh, did I mention there are apps for this camera? Once linked to your iphone, you can upload, watch, and edit photos on your iPhone quickly.

Related: 15-Day North Island Itinerary New Zealand

Cons:

Time for the honest truth.

1. Touch screen is a little sensitive.

On our recent trip to New Zealand, I was swimming taking pictures and videos of James surfing from the water. Now, maybe I accidently hit the screen with my finger or hand but I feel like the waves lapping on the screen pressed buttons the screen! I remember going to look at the shot and I was on this screen asking me to select the pixels, or frames per second for videos. It happened a few times during the trip. So anyway, not knowing what pixels would be good or how many frames per second would be appropriate, I figured “higher is better right?” So, that’s what I did. I think I chose something crazy like 60 or 80 frames per second! So this leads me to my next point…

2. Easy to accidently up the pixels making videos too pixel-ated for average software.

Without realizing it, I had put the Go Pro into a mode that was not compatible with my typical-grade Mac Book software. My computer couldn’t handle all those frames per second. Unfortunately this took us a few days to work out and we lost about two days worth of video. The videos play normally on the Go-Pro, but not on the computer. This also DRAINED our memory on our storage card, of course. I little bit of researching I figured out what the problem was and know we know what settings to use.

Related: Frequently Asked Questions About New Zealand

2. Video mode is first

This isn’t a “con” for everybody, maybe just me. I am one to typically take a photo rather than video. When you turn on the Go Pro Hero 5, its automatically in video setting first, then with one extra click it goes to camera mode. There are several videos from our trip with me holding the camera steady for a few seconds at a scene or image, then it’s just swinging at the ground…. I thought I was taking a picture not a video! This kept happening to me! James on the other hand prefers a video, so this isn’t really a problem for him.

3. Battery – average life, slow to charge by computer.

Battery life is, eh, average. We found that it lasted about 1-2 days depending on how much we were using it. If we were going off the grid for a few days, we might invest in an extra battery. Despite an average battery life, the camera displays remaining battery life very clearly so we were never surprised when it needed to be charged.

On the same note, the battery charges verrrrrry slowly through a computer but plugged directly into the wall definitely sped up the process.

Overall, we think there are way more Pros than Cons. The Go Pro Hero 5 is a versatile, portable, all-terrain camera that fits our adventurous lifestyle. We love loading all the videos and pictures to our computer at the end of the day and reliving our adventures. It’s such a fun way to remember a trip, or share stories with friends and family.

We like to evaluate things by pros and cons around here. I hope you found our pros and cons list helpful! If you did, can you share it? Thanks!

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*This post contains affiliate links. That means, I may receive a commission for some of the links in this post- at no cost to you. See our Disclaimer page for details*