A Look at the GoPro Blackout Housing

Anyone who knows me knows that I love my GoPro. Actually I enjoy both of mine. I have been wanting something like this blackout housing for a while now. When I have the GoPro mounted somewhere for a time lapse or just video I want something that is discreet. I don’t want to worry about someone seeing the lights or the color and coming over and messing with it. This seemed like the perfect solution for that. I bought one a couple of weeks ago, and it is everything that I thought that it would be except for one thing. It does not have a side access door for my power cable. They have made it a waterproof housing down to 131′. That is fine, but when I am making a derby time-lapse I need more than the hour the battery they supply will give me. For some reason I think that they have taken a wrong step here. If you are in the water you really don’t need to conceal your GoPro. The one function that it could have been great for it will now fail at. This black housing would have been great for behind a backboard or on the glass behind a goal. The lack of power really seems to stunt this here. I bought one to try it with the intention of buying another if I liked it. I think that at the $49.99 price point I will hold off until they come up with one that will let me use it.

Pros and Cons

Pros

• New housing latch
• Build quality
• Eliminates all of the lights of the GoPro, and with a sticker will eliminate the distracting elements of the GoPro
• Will fit the Hero 3 or the Hero 3+
• Comes with a waterproof backdoor or a skeleton backdoor

Cons

• $49.99 Price
• No opening for outside power
• No backdoor for the battery backpack

Final Verdict

I think that you can achieve a lot of what this does without paying the $49.99 for it. If you are photographing for less than the hour that the battery will last then this will work for you. If it had the backdoor for the battery backpack I think that it could be a little more useful for a short period of time. In a situation where you must setup a few hours before a game it will not work for you. Maybe in a future version they will account for this use. Until then I think the $50 is better used to buy something else for your GoPro.

Photo Sale!

This image and all of my others on my website here are now 50% off until Labor Day. I thought that after the long winter that we endured a photo sale was in order. If you like the photo above just click on it, and you will be taken directly to the image on SmugMug. If you just want to browse my online portfolio you can click on the link below. Just enter the code ‘summer’ at the checkout for your savings.

50% Off