GoPro 10 Overheating Disaster

Welcome to the GoPro 10 Overheating Disaster Review. I’ve been a long time GoPro fanboy. In fact, I’ve had nearly every revision of GoPro since they were first released many years ago. These little action cameras have become an integral part of my fishing adventures TV show, Youtube channel and more. In November 2021 I invested significant money to upgrade to GoPros latest wizbang revision the GoPro 10 Blacks. Buying 3 GoPro 10 Blacks, 6 batteries for each camera, New SD Cards, 2 media mods, extended selfie tripod, 1 lighting mod and a stack of accessories. Thinking this would be a great investment as my Fishing adventures now get shown on TV and a massive growing online audience. How wrong I was.

On the surface, these cameras look magnificent, with specs that have a serious wow factor. New GP2 processor which would make it more responsive than the GoPro 9. The ability to record in HD, 4K or 5.3K. Hyper smooth 4.0, Record in 30fps, 60 fps and even 120fps. 23-megapixel camera, Waterproof to 10 meters or 33 feet. Improved low light recording, and improved level horizons.

Let’s face it some of the advertised improvements and new features for a fishing show immediately jump out as the reason why you should upgrade ASAP. Taken by the improved video quality, improved stability, improved performance on the surface it just sounds so good.

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GoPro 10 Problems

However, that’s when things all come to a crashing reality. I ordered my cameras online and noticed the pricing had gone up significantly unless I agreed to a GoPro cloud subscription. That’s another matter altogether. My cameras arrived within 2 weeks and my excitement levels were really high getting to align my new TV series with improved video performance and capability.

I fitted the new GoPro 10 Black cameras and ventured out on my kayak and boat for multiple sessions of testing. Wow was I disappointed the results were nothing short of a disaster. The video quality was exceptional however on my first sessions testing, all 3 cameras would consistently freeze after 20 minutes. All cameras getting an error on the screen to say the device was overheating. When you touched the camera it was scorching hot. I could feel the heat radiating from the camera that was mounted to my headmount. The fact that all 3 cameras would consistently overheat and freeze meant it couldn’t be one camera with an isolated fault but perhaps an inferior product lineup.

I took the cameras out for several sessions afterwards in all sorts of weather conditions, cool days, windy days, warm days, and hot days. The results were no different all 3 cameras consistently overheated and froze after 20 minutes of use. The results were much worse when using the media mod.

Now let me make something very clear I was recording in 4K 60 fps and even dropped the frame rate to 30fps. So the overheating and freezing was not caused by using crazy high specs such as 5.3K 120fps.

I was now very upset and disappointed that my significant investment was nothing short of a lemon. My time on the water was now plagued by so many problems that I had many sessions on the water with no recordings or spent the majority of time troubleshooting the cameras as opposed to fishing and filming. It was a disaster.

GoPro 10 overheating support enquiries

I started doing countless research posting results and questions on forums, chatting with other bloggers, and working with support. I wasn’t alone. In fact, the overheating and freezing issues was a global issue for this new product line.

It’s almost an impossible task to contact GoPro support in Australia. They have no support hotline number that you can ring and no support email address you can message. This is a major problem when you are now buying the cameras direct from GoPro as opposed to buying from your typical in-store retail shop. GoPro has a very tedious online ticket process that is difficult to find and understand. Looking online countless other Australians had complained about the lack of local support. I eventually raised an online ticket and requested a callback. To GoPro’s credit they did eventually call me back.

On the call, the GoPro support agent admitted that overheating and freezing had been a massive problem with the product and that a firmware update would soon be released to address the issue. So I waited and finally, the firmware was released. However, the results were shocking. 1 of my cameras go bricked during the firmware which said successful, rebooted and never came online again. The other 2 the firmware was successful but the overheating and freezing issues were exactly the same.

I requested further callbacks from GoPro who said they are working on further software updates for stability improvements and further firmware updates to address the overheating issue and that I would need to wait patiently for those.

GoPro 10 software updates

I waited 2 months and finally, the software updates arrived. In fact, 2 updates within days of each other. The major software update introduced was supposed to address the overheating issues, increased stability, improve battery life and new features such as battery extender mode which is supposed to increase the battery life by 40%+ and stop the overheating issues. Notes from GoPro release notes included.

5.3Kp60 – 47% more runtime than previous for an average of 29 minute-long clips
5.3Kp30 – 11% more runtime than previous for an average of 44 minute-long clips
4Kp120 – 52% more runtime than previous for an average of 26 minute-long clips
4Kp60 – 154% more runtime than previous for an average of 63 minute-long clips
4Kp30 – 35% more runtime than previous for an average of 50 minute-long clips

I enabled these modes and set out on the water again for more testing. There was an improvement although the cameras did freeze and overheat every now and again. However, when I finally got around to viewing the footage, I realised to stop the cameras from overheating GoPro had very sneakily dropped the video performance down to HD and 30 fps. Which is lower spec video recording settings that I already use on my GoPro 8’s. So basically, I’ve spent thousands of dollars to only use the camera to settings compatible with a unit that’s 2 generations older.

I’m very frustrated at this point, months of wasted testing, support calls and no footage recorded. Feeling as if I have wasted much time and so much money on these devices. Finding myself using my older generation GoPro 8s because of the issues. I spoke with GoPro support once again and countless people online. GoPro came out and said they won’t address the issue as their market research has shown that the vast majority of their audience only record individual clips for just over a minute. Now they are insinuating that it’s actually a user problem and not a product fault which is insulting. In fact, even the GoPro gurus who are no doubt paid by GoPro are popping up online left right and centre now releasing webpages and videos saying that it’s a user issue and the cameras were never built for continuous recording. Wow how out of touch they have become. Turning their back on so many long users of their products.

According to GoPro, the issue is expected and won’t impact the creativity of GoPro 10 owners. Why, Because their market research suggests that 75% of the videos captured on a GoPro are less than a minute and 10 seconds. To that end, being able to record 5.3K at 60fps for 20 minutes shouldn’t present a problem for the average user. Recording for longer is possible where there’s greater airflow to improve the camera’s thermal performance beyond the 20 minutes.

I thought I would go and chat with countless video bloggers I know across a whole range of different recording shows including travel, howto’s, cycling, skiing etc. 9 out of 10 who I spoke to said that continuous recording was a key part of what they do and the new cameras had too crippled there ability to do this. So how can all the people I know locally be so different to GoPros high-end research?

GoPro 10 review and problems

So, in summary, the problems have been

Constant overheating in such short timeframes
Constant freezing
The camera periodically turns itself off
GoPrseems out of touch with users of the product. Continuous recording is a critical element to many. And we shouldn’t have to do this an HD 30fps
Broken firmware updates that occasionally brick the device
Camera naming videos out of order makes the editing process more challenging
Overheating during any type of stream
Poor GoPro support in Australia. No number or email address you can contact
I never received my credentials for the cloud subscription I was forced to buy. No welcome email that told me a URL to login to or credentials to log on with, and no way to log on and cancel this subscription service.
The terrible design of the media mod requires you to completely disassemble just to change the battery
Lack of external power options.
Genuine lack of product testing and software update testing
The subscription entitles you to buy products at a discounted rate however many of the items are not available in Australia meaning you need to buy them at the full price from a local retailer. The batteries are a perfect example, especially when you’re buying them in bulk.
GoPro app doesn’t always connect with the camera unless you change the wireless band

GoPro 10 summary

In summary, I have been a very long-time user and fan of the GoPro product line-up. The GoPro 10 specs are magnificent fast processors, amazing recording capability and smooth but its practical use and need for long recording or continuous recording are inferior.

No one should be spending great money on a product for it to overheat and freeze in less than 25 minutes. Any other product and other manufacturers would recall the product and properly address the issues then rerelease it to market. Trying to address a hardware overheating issue with software updates is wrong. And dropping the camera’s settings to HD 30fps as a fix is just insulting to the loyal users of your product who have spent a lot with you over many years.

Beware before buying. GoPro at first refused to entertain any sort of refund saying it was outside the 30 day grace period. However, they were the ones who said sit and wait as we have some software updates on the way. GoPro has since contacted me and finally offered me a refund, but the refund process is too flawed. Requiring me to send the cameras back first and then wait patiently for them to provide the refund. With no timeframe given and no number to call should I not get a refund in a timely manner. This means I take on the risk of chasing thousands of dollars without any hardware on me to record with. It pains me to say but the whole GoPro 10 experience has been a disaster.

Additions or corrections

Thanks for reading the GoPro 10 Overheating Disaster Review. If you have any questions, corrections or additions then please direct them to enquiries@fishingmad.com.au and we will get back to you as soon as we can.

GoPro 10 Overheating Disaster