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**UPDATE** – You can remotely power off the GoPro with the new remote. This is done via holding down the mode button. I’ve put out an update video that demonstrates this along with a time test. https://youtu.be/cJEzmtJ3j7E

In this tech talk I unbox, review, and compare the new GoPro “The Remote” remote against the GoPro Smart Remote and the GoPro iOS Mobile App. From the start of the video to the end, I was surprised on the results and will be taking a few days to decided which remote to keep and which remote to send back.

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[Music] Hey everyone and welcome to the channel Now we normally don’t do tech reviews But i was out there searching and Couldn’t find anything on the new gopro Remote I kind of just stumbled across the new Remote i had to order the smart remote About a week ago I was then checking reviews as i was Waiting for it to arrive Now i normally don’t research that way But i really kind of just pulled the Trigger on the remote anyway because i Was ordering other items from gopro at The time Some of the reviews i saw complained of Connectivity issues Remote inconsistencies so i decided just To go check the gopro site I was looking to see if i could match up Reviews from these other sites with what Gopro was mentioning That’s when i saw the brand new remote Literally it was released the day after I ordered the smart remote Since i was still within the return Policy of the smart remote I just quickly looked at some of the Tech specs and decided yeah let’s go Ahead and order this new remote I really wanted to check both out and Kind of do a self comparison I didn’t really have any intent to do an

Unboxing review Comparison video but nevertheless here i Am Today again i searched youtube and only Found a couple videos but nothing in Depth So bear with me during this review it’s Pretty out of the norm for this Channel’s content Having said that the new remote only Supports the hero 8 Hero 9 and the max you’ll also need to Be on firmware revision 2.5 That’s the latest firmware released for The hero8 while it addresses a few other Items the remote support is called out Directly I simply upgraded the firmware while the Remote was shipping not a big deal Now the smart remote supports all gopros Except for the hero9 So if you’re rocking the 9 your only Option from gopro is the new remote Now you can still leverage the free Gopro phone app Which is honestly pretty amazing i’m Questioning how much usage i’ll actually Get from a standalone remote But there are definite use cases and Reasons why a standalone remote is valid With the phone app you can power on and Off a gopro change a ton of settings You can also cycle modes and profiles Which is really primarily what the

Remotes Offer the stand out of the phone app Though is live preview That’s why i’m comparing the remotes and Decided to just include the app as well The new remote was just delivered an Hour ago i haven’t even opened the box You know i’ve been waiting for the kids To get in bed And now i’m doing an ad hoc tech review So i want to get into the technical spec Differences the new remote runs and Connects via bluetooth Low energy or ble compared to the smart Remote which connects via wi-fi The bluetooth connection is supposed to Offer better battery life for both the Remote as well as the camera that it’s Connected to Just knowing bluetooth and wi-fi Technologies There’s going to be apparent differences And that’s certainly the case with the Remotes If we look at the range we can see a Difference of almost 400 feet now does That matter for my intended usage Not likely but i can see some scenarios Where it would Waterproofing though kind of surprised Me the depth is almost cut in half I’m only left to assume that that’s due To shrinkage see what i did there All right jokes aside it’s most likely

Due to the change in the connector for Charging Gopro ditched a special domino connector For a generic usbc this is in line with How gopros themselves charge They both come with the wrist strap and We’ll compare those another callout is The larger high-res screen I’m curious to see these side-by-side as A lot of the smart reviews They commonly complain at the screen Being very hard to read when outdoors Jumping back into the water with flowing Puns okay i’m going to stop for real The gopro website calls out the new Remote will not function when submerged That could be a pretty big deal breaker For some of those remote users That’s a big difference in my opinion Especially for an action camera Now i’m making an assumption the smart Remote works fine when submerged Let me know or beat me up in the Comments gopro doesn’t call it out on Their website To be thorough i should call out the Amount of cameras that can be controlled The smart remote can do up to 50 and the New remote can only do five If you’re needing to control 25 or more Gopros at once Can only assume you’re trying to make a Youtube video about whether or not it’s Even possible

I read 50 immediately thought of a gopro Employee talking to their boss saying Well if we list 50 cameras supported Someone’s going to test it And the result is we sell 50 plus Cameras so we’ll list 50. I’m genuinely curious if anyone has used More than five Now please let me know in the comments And with all that said Let’s actually get our hands on and take A look at the new remote We’ll take a look at the box for the Smart remote again this is the older Model Clearly i’ve already opened this but Let’s look at the box anyway for you People that like that sort of thing Since this isn’t the first time i’m Opening i’m going to take the liberty to Just go over cost right now As of the publish date for this video The new remote is 79.99 If you’re a gopro subscriber take 20 off That and you can order for 59.99 That of course is without tax or Shipping costs now the smart remote is The exact same price and personally i Don’t see that dropping in price anytime Soon Same logic applies and gopro subscribers Can get the smart remote at 59.99 So in the smart remote box you can get a Remote a proprietary charge cable

As well as a wrist strap which i do show Later because i forgot to grab it before I started this video As well as a knife to open the new Remote So you’ll see that here in a minute yeah Keep in mind this is my First tech review so taking a look here You see the proprietary cable Now there’s little silver metal clip Here That kind of i guess just helps from Waterproofing for the housing as well as Like a lanyard so that just kind of pops Out you got to slide that slider up And then this clips in you’ll see it Just kind of snaps in right there And then you can charge standard usb so In order to get this out You could forcefully pull on it but Really the best recommended way is to Move that slider on the back and it’ll Pop right out And again here the little attachment Slides right back into the remote All right let’s go ahead and power the Smart remote on so Not new to me but maybe new to you is The screen It’s really not that great it’s really Dim Contrast just seems off i can only Imagine what this thing would be like in Direct sunlight

I’m gonna test that but just going off Of the reviews i’ve read so far Which just looking at this indoors is Seems to be fairly accurate I can’t imagine this thing is a pleasure To look at outdoors in sunlight That’s you’re going to be squinting eyes Or trying to cover the display just to Be able to make out what’s on there Pretty simple as far as buttons go you Have a record start and record stop Of course you have your mode button down There which is also functions as a power On off button and then your wrench Button that just simply cycles through Your selection settings as you’re Looking through menus So you can see here go ahead and press Record camera responds Really quickly display changes gives you Recording time Also still kind of lists the settings Stop recording here Maybe a second or two delay and then it Stops on the camera so It’s a remote it functions as expected All right we’re going to attempt to open This box and fail because i didn’t have A knife So you’ll see we kind of shift gears Here Okay we grab that but before we jump Into the remote this is that strap Which i mentioned earlier that i want to

Show you so this comes with the smart Remote It’s not not a terrible strap you’ll see Here in a minute in comparison to the One that comes with the new remote It doesn’t hold weight but um all things Considered it’s a strap My use case i don’t really intend to to Wear my wrist i’m hoping this thing will Attach to the roll cage on the jeep and I can quickly just go up you know press My buttons from there Keep it attached that way so here’s kind Of a closer view of it you can see it’s Really just kind of fabric woven Together Pretty standard in terms of strap and it Pulls through and velcros So yeah very standard all right so i’m Going to drop the voice over here and We’ll just go to kind of the live feed Um that way you kind of get the reaction Of me unboxing the remote my first Impressions Let’s see what’s in the box and assume It’s going to be the same content But we’ll see Instructions yep right Okay the dust off of it That’s kind of nice a little bit of a Difference there Back has a good more rubbery feel versus This being plastic So it kind of keeps the same same fill

All the way around Um as this front surface looks like only The sides are plastic I do like the button placement on these Though Naturally you can get it with your Fingers and then hit record on this one Whereas on this remote yeah all buttons Are located on the front so there’s kind Of your difference there These two buttons on the side as you can See oh Power button on top too and i guess Gopro logo there on the side So this thing gopro front and center you Don’t really see that immediately i can Tell the screen is much bigger We’ll see what the resolution looks like Once we get this thing powered on So it comes with a charge cable ah and They did go with Usbc here so instead of this funky Looking Connector you have to snap this out snap That In you just go usbc looks like you do That on the bottom Yeah so there’s your waterproofing right There Pull that back yeah all right cool So it’s nice Aside plus we have in here little strap Is all included i like the strap It’s got different velcro points so

That’s kind of cool if you can see that Or not Yeah i’ll highlight that so that’s Pretty Cool That’s just one long strap i like the Feel of that one though Versus this one which is This one feels a little bit it feels a Little bit thicker this is way nicer Strap and just in feel but um In design now i see you can actually Pull that through Let’s see i’m assuming link’s probably Going to be equal Yeah they’re both the same length i Can’t imagine there’s any reason to Change that Maybe this one by half an inch Maybe the old one by about half an inch It looks like So let’s see for the most part those are All the same If you like the feeling of that though It’s a little bit more uh kind of a Velvety feel Looks like that’s everything that’s in The box nothing is hiding in here In case i have to ship this back too Much all right so pretty much the same Um it’s got a little screen protector on The side even if i Am i’m probably end up keeping this one So i’m gonna go ahead and peel that off

Cool all right let’s get this thing Powered on and see Support button here at the top See the led lighting up here yeah Immediately i can tell that screen’s a Lot easier to see indoors So looks like pair new you can set Orientation a language reset I’m going to assume you step through Yeah and this button on the front is Going to have it so Let’s see how this pairs all right so Back to paren It’s real life right there wife and kids So we have a little break in the action And we’ll go ahead and turn this thing Back on I notice this case is difficult playing That power button I like that case for the lanyard but I have to relearn where buttons are okay Cool so prepare new i’m gonna set up one Here My gopro and go to preferences We will go to connections and connect The device Yep looks like it and then remote So we’ll click pair new it’s showing Connecting here And like that connection successful At least according to the gopro up and That’s updated now so i gave gopro name Um shows the same thing so I’ll do some other shots of this so you

Guys can see it um There’s home 4k60 Video one it’s got time battery life Looks like i can go to mode here yep Changes the mode on the camera as you Can see So we’re in video here and the tool Button So there’s mode button to go ahead and Change that tool button up here I assume it’s going to change yeah so Video there So i have my indoor outdoor my trail I have a water pov selfie Uh so all my modes there so you can just Go through and Set your mode so i’m on indoor right now So if i went to outdoor Hit the record button on the top it Switches the outdoor so it’s just the Same as the old remote In the old remote as you’re going Through you’re cycling through your Modes The wrench icon scrolls through the Different options and then your record Button is what makes that Makes the selection so exact same Connectivity um the only kind of Difference here is Mode and power are now separate buttons As far as connectivity i mean yeah that That was bluetooth that connected up Pretty quick

But honestly the smart remote via wi-fi Did the same thing I mean less than 10 seconds total time Whenever i connected this thing so i Really can’t can’t complain Um so this one’s connected via bluetooth And what happens if i turn this on comes Up wi-fi remote It’s battery so it’s searching wi-fi Right now All right so go into speed 4 here you Can only have one remote connected at a Time and gopro does call this out in the Instructions All right i’m back due to the power of Editing um so yeah i guess reading the Instructions is sometimes helpful maybe I should have done this before i started The review but it is what it is So it does say in the instructions um Yeah right there at the top Um control up to five cameras at any Time up to 196 feet earlier i said Somewhere between 30 to 60 Apparently not apparently bluetooth ble Bluetooth low energy i could go up to 196 feet so sweet we will probably test That out because i doubt it That’s personal opinion it also says Your camera recognizes only one remote At a time So definitely as i just demonstrated two Remotes at the same time does not work Another thing is i don’t see anything in

Here Your camera cannot be connected to the Remote and the gopro app at the same Time So if it’s connected to your phone if You’re trying to watch the shot And then maybe use the app to stop start Recording i don’t know why you would You’re right there on your phone Apparently the phone app can be Connected at the same time The other thing is i don’t see it say Anything about Power on and power all all right another Quick voice over i determine with the New remote You have to first turn it on and then Push the record button in order to power On the camera And this takes a bit in doing that there Doesn’t seem to be a way to power off The gopro with the new remote Also gopro doesn’t list power on or Power off capabilities For the new remote and either the Instructions or the website Not extremely intuitive there it did Power it on though Definitely not as nice as the smart Remote maybe that’s why it’s called Smart Um this one’s just called the remote That’s a dad joke Anyway um so i powered it on

Uh what about man I’m sure there’s a way to power it off Nope there’s not as mentioned So really the only reliance you have is The timeout setting on your gopro Eventually with the camera not doing Anything It’s gonna auto you know shut off right Based on your time settings but I mean that’s the point of kind of a Remote right is to be able to control Those things [Music] In my opinion all right so with that one Disconnected Let’s connect this one back I think immediately booted up so it’s Pretty fast So it’s searching for wi-fi now The other one definitely [Music] Initially appears to connect quicker Finding the camera and just connecting Yeah actually i was gonna touch the Button but i’m not going to Okay this screen is lit this one of Course is off which is fine If i hit record here it’s good to go I can stop but again if i if i hold down This power button It powers off the camera too So with this still paired um if i hit This power button Wi-fi it’s coming up looking for the

Connection It powered on my camera all right so Curiosity crept in and i had to do a Speed test So we’re gonna start the timer and at The five second mark that’s when we’re Going to push the power Button so we’re using the smart remote Here We pushed it at five seconds and yeah About nine seconds we powered on so Somewhere between three to four seconds For startup so we’re going to reset our Timer here Hit start again and at the five second Mark we’re going to hold the power Button to shut the camera off See the camera responded there so yeah Almost about three to four seconds again And we shut the camera off so here’s the New remote Started our timer at the five second Mark we’re gonna push the power button All right and don’t expect anything to Happen until That boots up and then we hit the record Button So that was done roughly between 14 to 15 seconds Let’s see about how long it takes there We saw a little acknowledgement on the Remote All right And around 34 so roughly

20 seconds or so yeah about 20 seconds And just to show we’ll go ahead and Restart the timer Five seconds we’ll power off the remote But Nothing’s gonna happen on the gopro Again the remote doesn’t seem to power Off That’s going to be a timeout setting on Your gopro And so we test all ways we’re going to Use the mobile app here So here we are powering on the gopro Again three to four seconds there so Let’s see how long it takes to power off They’re shut down pretty much Instant the way it received the command Um then it took the extra you know three Seconds to actually power off So here we are connecting and powering On Yeah about four three four five seconds And power off Yep same result Yeah after pushing that power button it Seems about 15 seconds And we gotta we got a visitor um That it goes through and tries to Connect and then eventually we’ll power On the camera so yeah you have to push That button it looks like Um kitty you’re gonna be on the internet So That way you’re here

Okay um i’ll do some more testing on That and probably do a part two like i Said final thoughts but that’s a big Bummer Kind of again this thing will eventually Power off but i’d like to have that full Control that was kind of nice about the Smart remote so i guess final thoughts Um This is definitely lighter um a little Bit thinner You can see it ever so slightly And depending on where and how you hold It they’re relatively the same Size the fact that this one has a Special charger you know if you lose That cable um You’re probably buying a new one or Searching for that cable this uses usbc So you know you’re not too stressed About the cable And uh i guess you get an extra gopro Cable here Yeah this thing is branded it says gopro On it so You can probably use that for your Camera too um I like the feel of it um it doesn’t seem As thick it feels a little bit more Natural in hand that has a bigger button I like the buttons on the side but i Think we’re just so accustomed to that Nowadays with phones and whatnot How much you you’d expect buttons to

Kind of be around the edges of things Right This has this protective edge too As you kind of see around it where it Bubbles up kind of protects the buttons Is my assumption as well as the screen There but And the screen is a lot nicer it is a Lot bigger Whereas when the camera’s not on Probably will be whenever i push that Button because Hey it works like you would think you Can tell I mean he may not be able to Like the way i have to work you can see How much Dimmer that display is on the right and Yeah size matters Yeah initial impressions uh it’s not as Easy as i thought it Was going to be not as far as stats on Paper you know five cameras versus 50. not a big deal to me distance is What it is this seems to be The camera seems to respond a little bit Quicker to this remote just in the way It functions Um but trade off for battery life You know i this how much is this remote Gonna wear down the battery That may be something i test in the next Uh i think i have like seven days for Have to make a determination

I may just turn it on have the remote Connected and just let it sit Idle see how much battery drains see how Long it takes to get to fifty percent Then i’ll do the same with this remote Um Run the same amount of time see what my Percentages are maybe just leave them on For 10 minutes i’ll do a test like that And then come back so I think i’m gonna end the video here Guys well there you go hope you enjoyed It guys We’ll see you on the next one um i would Say Comment let me know if there’s anything You want me to test well i have this Thing More than happy to to do that for you um But yeah if you’re if you’re around here Check out the jeep videos on the channel As well as our family Vlogs those are the normal content that We’re starting to do a lot more often I’ve been doing the gps for a while but Check that stuff out like You