I have to say that GoPro USA are a most unhelpful bunch of people.
I wanted to buy a GoPro HD2 to review and to use in the filming of the "FPV made easy" series of videos so I went to their website and threw the camera in my shopping cart -- only to find, when I got to the checkout, that they wanted to charge me another US$80 for shipping -- and that FedEx was the only option.
There are two problems with that...
Firstly, $80 is a hell of a lot of money for shipping!
Secondly FedEx are totally useless in this part of the world. More often than not, they don't even deliver the product, preferring instead to simply advise me to "come and collect" my package by doing a "driveby" that involves just tossing a card in my mailbox without even coming to knock on the door and attempt the delivery.
They also report every consignment of taxable value to Customs -- then charge an inordinate fee for the Customs clearance -- which adds an extra week or so to delivery times and and (in this case) would likely add another $75-$100 to the price.
So I contacted GoPro and asked if they could perhaps send the item by mail -- even a tracked service such as USPS Gobal Express.
No -- won't do it, don't care.
They suggested I contact a local retailer -- but with their prices being not much short of $500 -- and my review money already in US dollars in my PayPal account -- there's no way I'm going to suffer the decidedly adverse effects of Paypal's exchange rates and then pay through the nose for this camera.
So -- look out for reviews of a number of HD cameras over the coming weeks -- but the GoPro won't be amongst them I'm afraid. It seems that there are other manufacturers who are more than willing to be flexible with their shipping policies so as to make my review-budget stretch a little further -- so they'll get reviewed instead.