HERO3 White Edition

I've had * Hero 3 White * Hero 4 Silver * Hero 7 Black * Max (1) * Hero 12 Black and I still have all but the 3 white. The 3 white was the only 'bad' one I think, one where the camera really didn't live up to the hype for me and hence I upgraded quite quickly. As for my favourite? In the context of when they came out the 7 felt the most incredible, it really was a big jump with the stabilisation. But I probably shot most of my coolest footage on either the 4 Silver or the Max, just because of the time in my life I was using them and the novelty of 360 footage at the time.

Agreed with your first point (but I think, since the Hero 3, I have used my cams once in the dark) Agree with the second point but I like to use the best options available to me, no matter what brand it may be. If that means using insta’s software to edit my GoPro footage then so be it. But then, you went full Tropic Thunder…

Plus one for the action cams. I don't know about the knockoffs, but there's plenty of GoPro knockoffs with durable cases. And you can find a used GoPro Session in the $60 range. Even a Hero 3 is still a decent option over a toy camera.

I still have a 4k GoPro hero 3 from like 15 years ago and it works very well.  Crazy that it regressed.

Exactly this. I bought my first GoPro (a Hero 3 I think) as a cheap way to get into underwater photography. It was okay, but the footage was not that exciting, so after a couple of trips I upgraded to a 7. This was a total disaster, since the camera would glitch and stop recording video after just a few seconds. This fall I decided it was time to give it another try since they had made the 13 body waterproof, the housing sturdier, and added interchangeable lenses. Well the lenses make it not waterproof anymore so fortunately I didn't invest in those, and the footage I got doesn't look much better than what I shot with my 3. Suffice it to say that the GoPro is not an acceptable camera for scuba diving.