We have decided to take a closer look at GoPro Hero 3 Micro SD Recording Times I have had a GoPro Hero 3 Silver and Black editions for almost a year. Over that time I have been keeping a log and have recorded the approximate recording time achieved from full battery charges and with particular SD cards.

GoPro Hero 3 Micro SD Recording Times

Recording time will vary according to the resolution setting used and the card capacity. Here are the average recording storage times for a 32GB SD card:

1080p (30 fps): 4h 21m
960p (30 fps): 5h 26m
720p (60 fps): 4h 21
720p (30 fps): 8h 09m
WVGA (60 fps): 8h 09m

I have a number of other settings to try out and will report the results. However GoPro appear to be pretty accurate with the figures. I was only a minute or two out in all cases.

On a day to day basis I am now carrying a couple of batteries and a few 16gb or 32gb class 10 cards with the highest read/write possible. Most of my current cards have read/write speeds at 30MB/s. However if I were shooting at 2.7k or 4k then I would need cards with a much higher transfer rate such as the Sandisk Extreme Pro range or the new 633x Lexar cards.

Lexar 633x Class 10 32gb micro SD

Lexar 633x Class 10 64gb micro SD

The GoPro Hero 3 Black edition will chew through its battery faster than the silver edition with the same settings. I have ran two cameras under the same conditions on a number of occasions have always found this to be the case.