GoPro LCD Touch BacPac Review- Must have GoPro Accessory
The Review
The GoPro Hero 3 has caused the action men of real life who love recording their madness to fall in love again. With a camera that is capable of shooting 4K or 1080p at 60fs, whats not to love. However, the GoPro still has one major flaw. It doesn’t have a built-in screen. With the GoPro Hero 3 using such a wide-angle lens, some people may not have to worry about framing their shots. But I’m sure you will be pretty disappointed if your shot is 80% dashboard and 20% the road ahead of you.
But the guys over at GoPro have been listening to us and released a touch version of their original LCD BacPak – The LCD Touch BacPac. As it mentioned in the name, the biggest addition to this over its predecessor is the touch screen. This brings a whole new way of interacting with our GoPro. Rather than messing around with the two buttons on the camera to change settings, you now have a very simple menu system to play with. Tap the top left icon to bring up a choice of 6 options (video, photo, burst, time-lapse, playback and settings). Gone are the days of missing the option you wanted and having to scroll all the way back.
Below that you can easily change the resolution or frame rates. I was quite surprised on how well the touch screen actually works. It is a capacitive touch screen, meaning you don’t need to physically press hard on the screen to make a selection. It uses the heat of your finger. This makes it very easy to navigate through at speed. However, it will not work if you’re wearing gloves. Annoying, yes. But you can still use the two buttons on the camera itself.
The LCD Touch BacPac not only allows you to change settings much easier, but more importantly you get a live preview of what the camera sees. Framing your shots is much easier now by removing a lot of the guesswork that we previously got used to. More importantly you have the ability to playback your videos and photos in situ. So no more waiting to get home to see that all the footage you shot is bogus. There is also a small speaker on the side which is “sufficient” for reviewing footage. Another nice touch is a 3.5mm headphone jack.
Whats in the Box?
Besides the LCD itself, you do get a few extra accessories with it to sweeten the deal. You get three extra Backdoor that attach to your existing Waterproof housing. The first one is the Touch Backdoor. This allows you to use the touchscreen when it is fully enclosed in the housing. The housing with this backdoor is only waterproof to 3 m. Considerably shallower than 60m. Plus, touch inputs will not be recognized underwater. However, if you really need to go further than 3m underwater, GoPro provide you with a hard Backdoor that allows you to go as deep as you dare. However touch inputs are not available with this door. Also, for less extreme editions and when best audio quality is needed, a larger skeleton door has been provided. This allows you to use the touchscreen as there is nothing blocking the audio. Great if you want to capture some great engine sounds. However, you CANNOT use it underwater.
If you have ever owned a GoPro before, you know that the battery life isn’t exactly the best thing about the camera. You can shoot at 1080p at 60fps for around 1hr 52min. By using the display it does take a hit on your overall battery life of the Hero 3. I found that it was reduced by around 15-20%. Which if you are going to be shooting away from a power point, you ARE going to need some spare batteries to get you through the day. However, you can turn off the LCD Touch BacPac by holding the play button on the side. Unlike the previous model, there isn’t a way to adjust the brightness.
Conclusion
The GoPro LCD Touch BacPak certainly doesn’t disappoint as it does what it says on the tin. However paying an additional $135 for a screen that some believe should already be included may put some people off. However, how I felt after picking one up is that, I had no idea how I used the GoPro prior to this. The Touch BacPac is a great accessory to have.
http://www.extremsport.co.nz/gopro-lcd-touch.html
