Is the go pro sessions model good buy for it price over the silver/black models? Needing help choosing best camera for my needs.

It would help to know what are your needs.

DC Rainmaker has an excellent review of the Hero4 Session. It's what convinced me to purchase one. For my simple needs, the Session fit the bill perfectly.

GoPro Hero4 Session In-Depth Review | DC Rainmaker

i plan to video my gravel/road riding. I would like shoot and play camera.

You may want to consider that maybe some camera made by someone other than GoPro is the right choice for you. There are dozens of good cameras made by other companies, many fulfill some needs better than any GoPro model. I had a GoPro at one time and it was far from the best camera I've ever had for my needs.

I recommend the Sony HDR-AZ1. its smaller than the go pro, splash proof without the case and it comes with the remote viewer for less than a GoPro. I have one and I love it. Builtin image stabilizer. the remote can control up to five (5) cameras at the same time.

HD Action Cam Mini With Splash-Proof Body | HDR-AZ1 | Sony US

I have the GoPro Session and love it! I use an external USB battery pack because my rides are generally 3 hours or longer. The battery pack sits in my saddle bag and I run a USB cord from there to the camera.

I have it set to 720p and 100FPS and the video is crystal clear!

I've previously had and used the Fly6, the Shimano CM1000 and a Garmin Virb..

I highly recommend the GoPro Session!

Can you compare the video quality and features of the Session and the Shimano camera?

When I was first thinking about buying a Session, I was told that the camera wouldn't record while being charged. Then I came upon a couple of reviews that said that it would record via external battery pack, but not if attached to a computer. That pretty much convinced me to buy mine. Once I got it home, I powered it via a 10,000 mah battery pack and it recorded for almost five hours. I knew right then I made the right choice.

It's been over a year since I had the CM 1000 but from what I remember the battery life was very, very short (about 1 hours and 20 minute) and the video quality was just okay.. I use the camera on the rear because I ride in medium to heavy traffic and figure if I get hit from behind I want the camera to capture the plate # of the car..

I was not happy with the CM 1000 and only had it a short amount of time before I scrapped it..

Sony makes better GoPros than GoPro, if image and sound quality matters to you.

Which camera can do overlay of Strava metrics?

I've been very impressed with the video quality from both the Hero4 Silver and the Session. The Session is easily the best deal in for action cameras, compact, light, excellent quality. The only downside is the battery life (~1hr).

I use an SJCAM 4000.

Here's a video, I shot with it recently:
https://youtu.be/TC2qOYP-HBE

I find it to be easy to use and quality is is good.

Cheers,
Larry

If by "Strava metrics" you mean your ride data, it's the Garmin Virb that does that quite easily, but there are tools available to merge other units' video with that as well, it just takes more work than with Virb.

There are other things to consider beyond image and sound quality. For example, the new GoPros, Session excluded, can be used to live stream on Periscope, which is pretty darn neat.

Which other cameras have you owned to compare it to?

i've been looking at cameras for a few days/weeks now. I want both a front and rear facing camera. I've read a few of the DC Rainmaker reviews along with others online and I'm having a hard time making up my mind. I like the sound of the Rideye but after reading some negative reviews I'm not sure I want to risk that much money on something that's gonna be a headache after a few months. I also like the Cycliq Fly6 and Fly12. I had actually ordered a Fly6 on amazon but then ran across some of the same type of negative reviews as the Rideye and canceled my order. I was waiting to see how well I like the 6 before I ordered the 12.

I read a bit about the Yi and thought about trying it but by the time you add in mounts and waterproofing it's not as inexpensive as it first seems. Plus I thought I'd do a little more reading to see if I can find more reviews of it. I also like the GoPros. and since I have over $500 in best buy gift cards (thanks mil) I'm well along to having the two cameras that I want. I'm just not sure the GoPros fit my bill.

I would like good video quality but battery life is one of my top priorities. Most of my rides are at least 2 hours long and many are 3 to 4. I was thinking I'd have to go with the Hero4 silver or black to be able to have additional batteries. And for two cameras for a bike I'm not sure I want to go there. The posts above about using an external battery pack with the session has given me some other options tho.

In another thread JohnnyCyclist told me:

I will be giving the Rideye a closer look.

Anybody else have experience with the Rideye that you'd share? the Cycliqs?

I've considered the TomTom, the sonys and several others. The only camera I've ruled out is the Garmin. I've got an Edge 500. After the issues that I and others have had with Garmin I have bought my last Garmin product. I may be saying the same thing about a camera manufacturer in the near future but it won't be Garmin.

Had one and absolute garbage! The company will never respond to service or contact if you have an issue..

Avoid the RidEye like it has the plague..

Just google it and read all the horror stories. Broken mounts = camera bouncing down the road. Water ingress = Ruined camera.

Cedric, the owner and creator does not respond to customer support inquiries. Plenty of people sent back damaged, non working and broken units and have never heard back from him.. They are out their money and don't even have the broken camera anymore since it was mailed back..

My .02

I've been riding with a Fly6 for close to a year. I don't know that I could ask more from a camera. It does what it says, hasn't failed in any way yet. What are the reviews saying it fails at?

Most of these comments come from amazon customers. I don't remember if that's where I read most of the negatives at or not. Their customer support seems to be quite responsive but they are in Australia and the customer has to pay the shipping to get a defective unit back to them. I'm not yet willing to risk the cost of this unit.

from comments at DC rainmaker

(V1) Firstly the battery lasts less than 2 hours now – after maybe 80 charge/discharge cycles.

(also about V1) After a year or so of use the battery life is less than 2 hrs, occasionally less than 1.5hrs.

The other issue is that after about eight months of use – about six hours per week, battery life has reduced considerably...The battery is sealed in and cycliq said that they would be unable to provide me with a replacement for that reason.

from amazon customer comments

* I agree with many of the negative posts about this product. The battery went from 4 hours (never 6) down to less than two. And that was without running any of the lights. I got the full runaround from their customer support as wel. They wanted me to do all these different things basically be a the technical support for their product. Then they wanted me to send it to them, to Australia, so they could take a look at it. A total waste of my time. I would agree with most people....great idea, but first to market with something like this just didn't work for them. I would check out some other products out there that actually stand behind the batteries. I have 1 that won't turn on or respond and another that lasts for less than 2 hours.

* Now I do have to take off one star because of reliability. The unit doesn't turn on and when I plug it in to charge, I'm greeted by a single flash of red light and then everything is off at that point. About the only thing it'll do is let you view your files on your computer but the camera itself doesn't work nor do the lights.

This seems to be a very common problem and I see people are having problems with the unit within a year of purchase. The problem is junk battery they put in these things. It's a "YG" battery with a claimed capacity of 2600mah. Never heard of YG before. I pulled mine out and replaced it with a reputable brand (18650 cell, 3000mah). All is good now and the runtime is even better due to the higher capacity. Cycliq will tell you not to open it up because of safety reasons (understandable), but I'm not going to pay $40 to have it shipped over to Australia just so I can be out of a light for a month. The replacement unit will probably end up suffering the same fate anyways.

I've changed batteries out for 3 other units and they now work fine. If you have any soldering skill, you can fix it yourself for less than $10.

* I have ordered 2 of these, one from Amazon and one directly from Cycliq. I have had major battery problems with both of them. The first one worked fine for a few months and then the battery life rapidly diminished to less than 2 hours. It was under warranty but I had to ship it back to Australia and it got lost somewhere in the postal system, never to be seen again. There went $170. I had ordered the second one for my wife prior to the problems with the first one and she gave hers to me. Yesterday I went for a ride and when I got back the unit, which had been fully charged, was off - no warning or anything. It had recorded for 10 minutes and now it will not power on. I followed all of the troubleshooting steps on cycliq.com but the unit is still non-functional. It is really irksome to spend close to $400 and have not one functional unit to show for it. This is a great product when it is functioning but I'm 2 for 2 in getting defective ones. Either I'm extremely unlucky or there is a serious design/production flaw here.

UPDATE: I have to give kudos to Cycliq customer service as they responded quickly to my complaint and sent me a new unit. I do have to send back the old one - to Australia - so I am curious to see what they determine to be the problem.

* Well, had I wrote this review earlier I would have given it high marks...easy to use, does what it says BUT since it's been less than a year and the camera no longer works I don't know that it does what it says. $160 down the drain cause it no longer works.

* I would have given the fly6 five stars except for the failure rate. I have had 2 fail at around 9 months usage, exhibiting symptoms that suggest the failure is related to the battery. Perhaps a quality control issue in the manufacturing process or an aspect of the design that impacts the reliability? Fortunately, Cycliq has an outstanding track record for customer support and honoring their warranty.

* I am an original purchaser of the Fly6 from Kickstarter. After using it for about 6 months the battery life was notably shorter - about an hour before getting the loud "beep" indicating it was going out of the recording mode into the "flash mode only". I complained to Cycliq (company that manufactures the Fly6). They offered a replacement at not cost and sent me out a new one. This one eventually developed the same problem but after a far shorter period of time (3 months). This time they said they came out with a new model and would allow me a discount to purchase that ($150 - actually not much of a discount considering you can get one new here on amazon for 20 bucks more).

NOW, just a year after getting this, this newest model has stopped working. The battery will not hold a charge and the light/camera will not start up at all. I contacted the Support (they are fairly responsive given they are in Australia) and they had a list of things for me to try. I did all those things and it remained dead (this included upgrading the firmware, reformatting the SD card and letting it charge on a separate outlet overnight).

I sent the unit back to Australia ($26 - They have asked me to send it back). They dispatched a new one and I have received it recently. After some time passes I will report back.

from REI customer

I've since ordered a 3rd party (3d printed) mount that works w/ a gopro mount. It will be more secure, stable and won't have the horrific engineering of the cycliq mount. Until that stuff arrives, I can't use the camera. I'm also on my 2nd camera, the first one stopped working after several hours on the bike, their formatting, firmware upgrades and other suggestions did not solve the problem, so I returned it and purchased another one later on.

So mainly battery issues. I can't argue, it's going to be individual issues, but it hasn't been a problem for me. I have no idea how many hours I've used it. probably not 80 charge/discharge cycles. I also don't let it run totally down before charging, when it's been on 2 beeps for 2 or 3 days (at about 100 minutes use a day) I just go ahead and charge it up again. On average I guess I charge it once a week, but I haven't ridden consistently all that time and I never came up with a good mount for my winter bike so I've probably only charged it 20 or 30 times so far.

I've got no qualms about splitting it open to replace the battery if I have to, and when I reseal it, I'll use something easier to take apart (probably silicone that can be knifed open again and a durable tape wrap (3M clear repair tape) rather than cyanoacrylate or RF welding, whatever they do).

sorry i haven't replied before now. I've been having terrible issues navigating around the forum. I couldn't even see your response in Firefox but can now.

I agree somewhat with your postion. I'm not afraid to try to replace the battery. I done my wife's iphone. I fixin to have to do my garmin edge 500. But both of those devices only needed new batteries after a few years of use (the edge i started using in 2010.) But battery issues within/around the 1 year mark is unacceptable in my opinion. Maybe it's not as big a problem as it seems but that is a lot of negative reviews it seems to me. Plus there seems to be some issues with the device just outright dying which may or may not be related to the battery issue. I'm not yet ready to risk my money and time on it. Plus I am short and have a short seat post and would have to either rig a different mount or go to a frame bag instead of a seat bag (which I was willing to do, but not now.)

I agree, 80 charge/discharge cycles, if true, is abysmal performance. LiIon cells should get at least 500 charge/discharge cycles. For the average smartphone that wouldn't even be 2 years use. Really it should approach 1000.

I use a 3D printed rack mount for the Fly6. I use a rack trunk bag almost every time I go out so seatpost mount is completely useless.