The best action camera is somebody else's barely used GoPro, because you almost certainly know someone who's got one sitting useless in a desk drawer, and can probably buy it off them for half price.

I'm a moderator on reddit.com/r/motorcycles, which means I'm one of the people keeping an eye on the stream of posts there. Yeah, loads of people take the time to edit together their GoPro footage. Sometimes you get genuinely great travelogue videos, equal in enthusiasm if maybe not in production value to anything from the likes of MotoGeo. Mostly though, it's vanity stuff like motovlogging, or using them as dashcams for proof in the event of an accident.

This is true. Getting into a good workflow helps; if someone happens to be a competent video editor & director, and also a moto enthusiast, they can make the process much more efficient. For example, I am a big fan of the Canadian internet comedy troupe Loading Ready Run, and one of their people has now started doing rapid-fire vlogs about his day. But he's been a video director and editor for years, so he knows how to be fast with it.

Again, true, but action cams have gotten a lot cheaper. I spent about $400 on my GoPro 3, but that was many years ago, and overall I think I've gotten enough value out of it (but not enough to invest in a new model). A GoPro Session or a Chinese knockoff that's Good Enough(c) is a hundred bucks. That's within toy range.

Yup, battery longevity is the main problem (especially for people using their GoPros as dashcams - there is a loop recording mode that makes SD card space a non-issue in that usage). One option is to use an external powerbank, requires some fidgeting to run a cable into a waterproof housing, but can be done. Hell, I have the same problem with my helmet Bluetooth system, so on long rides I have a powerbank in my pocket with a wire running up into my helmet for my Sena 3S's charging port!

And this is the greatest wisdom of all. I've been looking at mirrorless cameras or even intro-level DSLRs to replace my old beloved Olympus XZ-1, but haven't been able to bring myself to drop the cash, because at any event where I would get the benefit of a really good camera, there will already be friends who have much better gear and much better skills than me!