GoPro battery life?

I have all the bits and pieces for mounting a GoPro to my kayak, but I don't have a GoPro - not since my Granddaughter absconded with them.

I'm wondering how long a battery holds its charge in the newer Hero7 and Hero8 cameras?  Some reviewers say "an hour, at most" others say a couple of hours.  Assuming I'm just taking video, not plotting GPS or live-streaming, I'd like to know so I know how many batteries I should buy.

And there's a lot of conflicting information about the memory cards, too.  Shooting plain old videos in 1080p, how much time do I have on a 128Gb or 256Gb card?

I struggled with battery life with the hero3 and the hero4. It was so frustrating I just stopped bringing them out. I have been using a 5 for the last year or two and have had no issues at all with battery life, because when you press the button to record the camera turns on, and when you press it again it turns off. That being said I only take short clips, most of the time when there is a fish on. The card I use is only 64GB. It fills up after a couple fishing trips if the fishing is hot.

Thanks, Casey.  Mine were HERO4's and I understand about their battery life - it's annoying.

I don't think I'll be taking long videos - most of what I do is that boring getting-there and getting-back stuff - so the information about your card is handy, too.  Appreciate it!

I bought a used 6 because it had the voice commands to turn on and off so that way it drains only a little power until I tell it to turn on lasting a lot longer.  Every once and awhile it will turn itself on when I'm talking to a buddy which is annoying as I'm not saying anything like "GoPro turn on" but that doesn't happen too often.

Kevin

That was another question, Kevin: "Does the voice command system really work?"  Apparently it does, if sometimes it works too good.

Now I have visions of that guy I fish with silently gliding up behind me while I'm releasing a tree and telling the camera to turn on...  I really do hook a lot of trees - I admit it.  We don't need videos to prove it.

It does work pretty well, sometimes you have to yell at it if there is a wind blowing and it is a little noisy.  I've also used it while fly fishing in rivers and it has a hard time hearing the commands when I'm in noisy riffles but I am happy with it.  There is also a remote control that you can get for it, I got one cheap but haven't used it yet.

Kevin

I have a Hero 5 too, no battery issues. Voice commands work pretty well, but I got the remote for Xmas so I will be trying that route...

One thing about I do not like, is the amount of noise transmitted thru any mounting stick or device to the built in microphones.  A lot of my video is unusable without just turning the sound off. Bought a floating selfie/extension pole for snorkeling in Maui, and every little movement of the extension joint goes right thru the mount to the mics.  Reading the inter webs, this seems to be very common complaint with at least the 5...

Yeah, I forgot to mention that.  I do get a lot of "kayak" noise transmitted through the holder I have it mounted to.  Was wondering if there was some way to pad that to reduce the noise.

Well, Mr Google says that some people have tried putting a neoprene pad between the GoPro mounting base and the surface/stick it’s going on. Haven’t tried that myself yet.

Oh, no!  My understanding is the HERO7 and HERO8 microphones are even more sensitive, but no one talks about noise transmitted through the mounts or how they're mounted.  Maybe because they have built-in mounts and don't use the frame?

We should ask Captain Redbeard or Uplandsandpiper what they're doing since it was their fishing videos that got me started on this quest and I don't notice the kind of noises you're talking about.  Captain? 
uplandsandpiper?

https://www.northwestkayakanglers.com/index.php?topic=21787.msg227801#msg227801

https://www.northwestkayakanglers.com/index.php?topic=21767.0

danr set his to turn on whenever he said “Oh Shit!”  That works pretty well.

danr set his to turn on whenever he said “Oh Shit!”  That works pretty well.

Really?  Are you trying to punk me?  If I can set a secret word to turn it on then I won't have to worry about someone turning it on during one of my embarrassing incidents.  Cool!

I have been using a hero 7 black for over a year now and I love it. The battery lasts about 1.5-1.75 hours of straight filming, not connected to my phone. I carry extra batteries and when it runs out I just pop in a fresh one. Note that the silver version does not have a removable battery so stay away from that if you want to change batteries.

Excellent, since 1.5 to 1.75 hours of fishing is about all the time it takes me to limit out (and anyone who wants to call "bullpoopy" on that may do so at their own peril).

Thank you.  That's what I needed to know.

Last time I drained my Hero5 from a full charge it lasted ~1.5 hours. I bought some generic brand backup batteries for it, but I don't expect them to last for more than 20-30 mins. The GoPro batteries are much better. Also, this camera Bluetooth links to a phone to be operated remotely and I find that if I let it sit powered off with or without my phone nearby the battery will drain. I usually end up taking the battery out of the camera until I know I want to use it. Would love to hear what other guys have experienced with this and if they have a workaround as I wasn't able to find any after searching around.