Today I got an email notice from one of the forum sponsors, B&H Photo, that the Hero 3 is "still" unavailable. Anybody know the reason why, months after its supposed release? Are their standards different from other retailers?

I realize that B&H is a sponsor, but I was able to walk into BestBuy and purchase one.

Wonder why this, the GH3 and BMCC are slow? Manufacturers should not showcase any product unless they are going to be available with a certain reasonable timeframe. Not good enough.

But the GoPro3 is available. I can understand if you want to buy from a certain retailer but let's be a little bit more balanced in your outrage. Admit you want to buy a certain product from a certain retailer before you wholesale suggest a product isn't available when I bought one on an impulse by at BestBuy.

The GH3 isn't supposed to be available until mid December, again let's be a bit more honest about your outrage.

Ghost and limited releases of products ranging from CPU's, motherboards, etc are not at all uncommon in any semiconductor industry.

I'm not trying to start any discord esp since I'm "new" but I felt this is something that should be out in the open.

Could not agree more John, HD3 blacks have been available for weeks in limited batches and for those with preorder, USA, Australia, UK,, mostly from the large " box" retailers, but also some smaller ones.

Our forum has videos and tests done by ordinary members with macro attachments, underwater filters, battery life tests, the lists go on.

Google search "GoPro HD3 in stock" and you will find them.

My guess (and I'm surprised nobody floated this hypothesis yet) is that retailers like B&H, who have a generous return-policy (30 days or even longer during the holiday season), don't want the headache of dealing with an admittedly "buggy" camera.
They're probably waiting for GP to get their act together. Other retailers have different (some would say lower) standards.

I wouldn't agree with that at all. Best Buy has a return policy equal to or even more generous than B&H, and they've had the GP3 in stock for weeks. I bought two from my local BB (which is not even one of the larger ones) almost two weeks ago. They're also in stock at at least one local non-chain camera store. As for being buggy, that remains to be seen... but so far (fingers crossed) I have had no problems with the cameras or the wifi's.

I was checking stores daily and when the hero3's turned up they we're selling out almost instantly. One shop had 11 pre-ordered and we're expecting 25 in a shipment but only received 9 so they couldn't even cover the pre-orders. The next day a store 500 metres away had 2 which turned up unexpectedly and I rushed off to get my wallet. Should've asked for them to be put aside as they sold in the 10 minutes I was away.
I finally got one online which shops in a week or so. But when I told a friend he went to order half an hour later and they we're sold out. These things go like hotcakes.

Something odd is going on here.
I've talked to two different B&H sales people. (Unfortunately I haven't been able to get through to the main buyer.) I've learned that they have at least 1000 backorders. But the one guy thought the bottleneck is on GP's end. The other guy didn't seem to be aware of buggy issues with protune (and was grateful for the information I provided).
I still believe that B&H is insisting GP get their Protune act together before they start selling such a product.

Personally don't think there are any problems with Protune though it seems to be being repeated a lot. I went through the whole freezing issue with my first unit, spent a lot of time tinkering to get it working and a good amount of time on the phone with their tech support. Eventually returned it for a new one and though I haven't played with it for hours on end the difference is night and day. It's my impression that there were some units that had a hardware defect.

- Ray

I got yet another product update from B&H today saying the Hero 3 "still remains unavailable." The latest sales person I talked to suggested the issue was that, when they do get Heroes they arrive in limited amounts, they get shipped out right away to those on back-order lists.
That sounds strange to me because their web site only says it's a "pre-order" item.
I don't know, is it just me? Is GoPro so overwhelmed or disorganized they can't muster up 1000 cameras to send to B&H and be done with it?
It reminds me of the situation with viruses getting into corporate systems. The corporations rarely if ever admit it was their fault. Someone here isn't "fessing up" to what's really going on!

Have you tried ordering directly fro GoPro? When I drop the Black Hero3 in the cart it says that it will ship tomorrow. As others have said, Best Buy may have them in stock. I walked into one over the weekend and there was a display with white, silver and black Hero3's. I'm selling my Hero2 before buying a Black myself.

Thought I had one but got an email today stating that due to a worldwide shortage they couldn't fulfil the order and we're refunding my money :(

Thought I had one but got an email today stating that due to a worldwide shortage they couldn't fulfil the order and we're refunding my money :(

That would be because the Aussie Master Wholesaler has now just received large stocks into their warehouse and distribution to retailers will be done over the next 2 weeks. Accessories have already been dispatched, except spare batteries.

Just got an email in-stock notice for the Hero 3 Black from Amazon US. If you're persistent, they do pop up.

That would be because the Aussie Master Wholesaler has now just received large stocks into their warehouse and distribution to retailers will be done over the next 2 weeks. Accessories have already been dispatched, except spare batteries.

Asked a to be notified in November by supplier when stock in, on their site stock December. Got email last week at 10.00am got onto their site payed for camera at 10.30am got another email back reply order being processed then received another email 20 minutes later that my order was on back order supply January. I rang supplier in Victoria ( I'm in Newcastle) to see why I got email saying have stock and click here to buy, the person informed me supply hopefully January, he only received 2 only to supply back orders so first in got supplied. This is a large supplier should have tried smaller shops one of my friends walked into a local jb hi fi and got it with in a week. Just hope order filled by mid January.

Guess it must be different around the world.

I just walked out of Best Buy in Alabama USA and they had 2 Hero 3 Blacks and 5 Hero 3 Silvers.

They've had them in stock for several weeks now... since the first of December.

Just to update...I did get another email from B&H a few days ago where they announced the Hero 3 Black was now in stock. Seemed to suggest it could disappear again but for now, they've got it.

In the week leading up to Xmas jb hifi had stock come and go. My last Friday at work I wandered down and they had 5 on the stand (none the previous day). While I watched they sold 3. I hung about and watched and they let the stock sell out, then brought out 4 more. Last thing that afternoon I saw them take the stand out the back again as they'd sold out. With the way the stock kept mysteriously coming and going in the two weeks up to Xmas it almost felt like a deliberate strategy to increase demand (and hype). Maybe I'm looking for a conspiracy but it just felt fishy.

I went ahead and ordered a Hero 3 from B&H even tho' their web site says it's a 7-14 delay before shipping can be expected. There was a similar delay on some of the accessories (like the Chest Harness).

I have recently decided to buy a GoPro 3 Black, but when I checked out Amazon half of the reviews (recent) were terrible. Sounds like firmware issues (camera freezing and such).

Is this discouraging anyone from purchasing right now? Or is there some simple solution?

Dave, it's a very small percentage, as usual people post mainly negative stuff when things don't go right and most of it is user related. With the hysteria surrounding these new hi tech cameras, many first time wearable camera owners are buying on impulse from box Retailers and expecting easy street. Many don't read the manual, buy cheap non recommended recording media and expect to playback and edit on net books and 3 year old computer hardware.

The Black is an extremely feature rich camera crammed into a tiny package, there is a certain level of research to do before the average person can be comfortable with the camera. Most should probably stick with their smartphone video. Sure GoPro could have done more to explain the use of the Black, but there are other much simpler POV cameras to pick from.

The latest FW is stable, no issues, fixes an occasional freezing bug and the first batch of batteries were faulty ( very small number of first preorder units)

This post is my experience as the ADMIN of the largest GoPro user forum on the net (established 2008)

BTW, our forum has had a restructure and is now mostly focused on Creative Use which was the reason the forum was started. Support/Troubleshooting is still available ( and easier to find answers) for those that prefer info before contacting GoPro Support.
R

Thanks Ian. That's really helpful to know.

From what I've seen on youtube/vimeo/etc it's a really powerful little camera, and capable of some very nice images.

How well do you think it cuts with say GH2 1080 footage (if the GoPro were used for time-lapse/slowed down footage, as well as POV stuff)?

I saw the GoPro 3 Black available in B&H. I have been buying from them for a long long time and hence I would like to order from there. I saw there are some extra accessories in Go Pro site which is not there in B&H. Any idea which accessories work well, so that I can order?

I got their LCD touch screen, altho' it's not as touch-sensitive as I'd like. (Try getting the volume controls to work, for example.)
I wish they would have put a 1/4" thread mount on the bottom of the camera itself. But they didn't. Which means you then have no choice but to buy the frame and all the extra do-dads that come along with that. It could have been so much simpler.

Lynne I purchased a 3 mtr HDMI to HDMI D cable from eBay which connects to my 7" lilliput monitor $5.88 including freight and also managed to get tripod adaptor for $10.00 including freight and its aluminium not plastic both good quality, mounted the gopro on 2.9mtr light stand connected cable to lilliput monitor and can see exactly what I am shooting over.