Looking for a fun birthday, graduation or even Christmas gift for this year? If so, stay away from GoPros.

These cameras are $400 that you could have better spent elsewhere. GoPros have been advertised to make people believe that anyone can easily create a professional, quality video, when in reality, it is not quite that simple. GoPros require extra equipment for your many different excursions, and in my experience, multiple SD cards.

I received a GoPro Hero4 last Christmas, and I thought it was the coolest thing ever. I was super excited to try it out and make fun videos, but I realized around March that I still hadn’t used it yet. Living in Kansas City, there isn’t much you can do with a GoPro during the winter months, unless you’d like a time lapse video of the camera sitting in your closet.

I brought mine with me on my spring break trip to Disney World hoping to get footage of some roller coasters but was disappointed by the quality of the final products. Disney World now has restricted the use of GoPros on their roller coasters.

Although I really enjoyed using my GoPro over the summer and made some cute videos from the beach and pool, I tried to take pictures and videos at some school functions. Everything I had was lost due to an SD error. I bought a brand new card hoping it would fix the problem, but when I brought my GoPro to Mexico and tried to upload my videos, the same error occurred. A device that costs hundreds of dollars ($399.99 to be exact) should not be malfunctioning so frequently.

I’ve come to discover two things while making movies and videos for school: that the iPhone 6 produces excellent quality videos, and the GoPro studio is nowhere near user friendly. There’s no need to buy a $400 camera when you can just use your iPhone and iMovie. The individual GoPro video and photo files take up a lot of space on your computer, and longer GoPro videos also become blurry or fuzzy when you try to send them or watch them on smaller devices. GoPros are fun for underwater activities, but you can always just get a LifeProof case.

Your DSLR cameras or iPhones are able to create just as high quality of a product as a Hero4 and at least they have flash and zoom features. So if you are looking for something to add to your Christmas or birthday list, it’s safe to say you can ex a GoPro out.

Rating: 1.5 out of 5 stars // Disappointing