Review GoPro HERO13 Camera & Underwater Housing Review

GoPro HERO13 Camera & Underwater Housing Review​

The new GoPro HERO13 action camera has new features for both underwater and topside shooters. We put the GoPro HERO 13 to the test in our home kelp forests of Monterey, California and Goliath Grouper aggregations of Florida. In this article and the video below, we'll break down our results and thoughts on the new features and help determine if it's worth the upgrade for you.

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[Celt]

Not knowing the difference, I bought one of those cases I saw on amazon. I have bought 2 with the same result showing the frame on all the pictures. If I take the gopro 7 out of the case it is not an issue. These cases are cheap that might be my problem. I have bought 2 but willing to buy the proper one if I could be sure it would eliminate the framing issue

The GoPro 7 will not fit in the housing designed for it without removing the protective lens,

 

[gordonscuba]

Not knowing the difference, I bought one of those cases I saw on amazon. I have bought 2 with the same result showing the frame on all the pictures. If I take the gopro 7 out of the case it is not an issue. These cases are cheap that might be my problem. I have bought 2 but willing to buy the proper one if I could be sure it would eliminate the framing issue

I've always used the underwater housing made by the GoPro company. Never had any issues. Periodically clean and lubricate the white O-ring, just like all scuba o-rings.

 

[coldwaterglutton]

@BackscatterUW

Can you post some A/B comparison of your wide angle lens vs the stock gopro 13 setup. My interest is piqued but I'd like to see what the wide angle adds to the footage.

 

[Jai Bar]

I am so frustrated with my GoPro cameras that I now despise them and will never buy one again. Besides the low battery life (both my Gopro8 and Gopro12) the time it takes to download media from camera to phone's "Quik" app via Wi-Fi (what a misnomer, must be renamed to "Slow!") it also disconnects frequently, so need to restart again and again.

It could be possible to download much faster with a USB-c cable, I know I had the one usb-c cable that worked and some 100 usb-c cables that work for anything BUT the gopro cameras. I am not sure why I can use any of my cables with a zillion devices, phones, cameras etc. but only with gopro I get error messages and must download over slow Wi-Fi.

Support is zero.

Never again gopro. I already canceled their subscription plan out of frustration bashed one of my gopro8 cameras on the wall and broke it but felt good. The other I plan to drown in the Ocean. Really hate them crap and the idea that one cannot readily use other software but Quik aka Slow!. Next camera anything but gocrap.

 

[gordonscuba]

I am so frustrated with my GoPro cameras that I now despise them and will never buy one again. Besides the low battery life (both my Gopro8 and Gopro12) the time it takes to download media from camera to phone's "Quik" app via Wi-Fi (what a misnomer, must be renamed to "Slow!") it also disconnects frequently, so need to restart again and again.

It could be possible to download much faster with a USB-c cable, I know I had the one usb-c cable that worked and some 100 usb-c cables that work for anything BUT the gopro cameras. I am not sure why I can use any of my cables with a zillion devices, phones, cameras etc. but only with gopro I get error messages and must download over slow Wi-Fi.

Support is zero.

Never again gopro. I already canceled their subscription plan out of frustration bashed one of my gopro8 cameras on the wall and broke it but felt good. The other I plan to drown in the Ocean. Really hate them crap and the idea that one cannot readily use other software but Quik aka Slow!. Next camera anything but gocrap.

The speed probably has little to do with gopro itself, and is simply a function of the file size and the speed of your local wifi. If the files are shot in 4k or HD, they can indeed be quite large and some home wifi setups don't have the bandwidth to transfer that amount of data quickly. You would likely see the same transfer speeds if you copied the same raw video file to your phone using some other app (e.g. dropbox).

 

[Jai Bar]

The speed probably has little to do with gopro itself, and is simply a function of the file size and the speed of your local wifi. If the files are shot in 4k or HD, they can indeed be quite large and some home wifi setups don't have the bandwidth to transfer that amount of data quickly. You would likely see the same transfer speeds if you copied the same raw video file to your phone using some other app (e.g. dropbox).

Right.. I do not want to use wifi to transfer the footage- I would very much prefer to use a USB-c cable, like I do with any other device that I use.. Problem is, gopro cameras are the only ones that refuse to connect with usb cable. Gopro 8 had an option to set MTP, gocrap 12 there isn't any setting that can be chaged. So the only way to transfer footage to phone is wifi, or perhaps removing the sd card every time, inserting it into a sd card adapter, then to phone and download media, but I am not going that way, it is like going 20 years back in time. I'd expect a 2024 camera to readily transfer data to smartphone via a usb cable..