GoPro HERO10 Black – Review – A Better Investment Than The HERO11?

We’ve spent the last year using the GoPro HERO10 on all kinds of adventures. Surfing, snorkelling, backcountry skiing and mountain biking. We wanted to put in the hours to know with certainty that it’s the best action camera out there. And, it was. At least, until last week…

When GoPro announced the HERO11.

However, that’s not to say this isn’t worth buying. Far from it. The HERO10 is now cheaper and remains an exceptional camera.

Can you believe 10 GoPro’s have already come and gone? Well actually, there’s been even more than that — 21 by my count, if you include all the silver editions, the max’s, the +’s, the fusions and all the sessions. Sheeesh!

But, there’s no question which one is best. The newest* GoPro HERO10 is the best action camera I’ve ever used.

*Editor’s Note: Or at least it was until last week… when GoPro announced the HERO11.

Honestly, I thought my GoPro days were behind me. I went pro, or at least, I thought I did when I bought an Aquatech water housing for a Canon 5d mark iv.

So why is there a GoPro stuck to the top of it?

Well, it is compatible with over 30 mounts — so the answer could well be, why not? But truthfully, the answer is, this camera can still capture things that a professional-level DSLR simply can’t.

GoPro HERO10 Tech Specs

• Video 5.3K60, 4K120 + 2.7K240 wide FOV and more
• Photo: 23MP (3 more megapixels than the GoPro 9)
• HyperSmooth 4.0 video stabilization
• GP2 Chip (the first camera to feature this new processor)
• Uploads automatically to the Cloud with GoPro subscription + Wi-Fi + Bluetooth® + GPS enabled
• Intuitive touch screen + touch zoom
• Digital lenses (SuperView, Wide, Linear + Horizon Leveling, Linear, Narrow)
• Night lapse video
• Waterproof to 10m (33ft) (without additional housing)
• Voice Control
• Live streaming in 1080p + Webcam mode
• SuperPhoto + HDR
• TimeWarp 3.0 Video + 8x Slo-Mo (in 2.7k and 1080p)
• Built-in mounting with unfolding ‘fingers’
• 100Mbps bit rate

This is just the tip of the iceberg, you can find the full list on the GoPro product page.

Design

Like the HERO9, the HERO10 comes with a 3.5cm (1.4″) Colour LCD screen with Live Preview. Long gone are the days of pointing the lens in the general direction of the subject and giving it the old ‘spray and pray’.

It’s also the same size as the HERO9, at 71.8mm wide, 50.8mm high and 33.6mm deep. Oddly enough though it weighs 5g less than its predecessor at just 153g including the battery. 

The HERO9 and HERO10 also share the same rechargeable battery for once, meaning if you were to upgrade, you’re not on the hook for a bunch of new batteries.

Performance

As noted in my review of the GoPro HERO9, ‘My gripe with GoPro’s has always been their performance underwater.’

This won’t be a problem for a lot of people who keep their adventuring to terra firma and to be fair, they’ve come a long way since that gripe which was probably around the HERO5 era.

They’re also a lot easier to freedive with and use in the surf than a 5kg DSLR and housing.

Photo Modes

It seems as though photo quality has always been something of an afterthought for the Hero cameras. However, there was a phenomenal jump in performance when the Hero 8’s 12mp camera was replaced with the HERO9’s 20mp capabilities. 

The Hero 10 builds on this, albeit smaller, with a 23mp camera and the same burst rates as the HERO9 of — Auto, 30/10, 30/6, 30/3, 10/3, 25/1, 10/1, 5/1, 3/1. 

Where it drops the ball, is the discontinuation of ‘Continuous Photo Capture’. This was a feature in both preceding models and involved photos being captured at a rate of 3 or 30 photos per second, depending on the lighting conditions. 

It was a useful feature if you were unsure when the action was coming, but you can make up for it somewhat with the use of burst modes and a little extra planning. 

GoPro has also justified it with the fact that you can pull ridiculously high-quality stills out of the videos — 19.6-megapixel stills to be exact. 

A still image that I took from a video recording in 2.7k.

This brings me to video…

Video Modes

Video has always been GoPro’s tour de force and the HERO10 is no exception. 

It’s the first camera to offer 5.3k video — that’s 91% more than 4k and it’ll shoot it in 60fps. 

It’ll also shoot 4k video — once the crown jewel of videography — at 120fps (double the HERO9) and 2.7k video at 240fps. It also shoots 1080p at 240fps, but that’s basically an afterthought at this point.

Long gone are the days of purely fish-eye video recording, now you can cycle between fields of view with the digital lens — SuperView, Wide, Linear + Horizon Leveling, Linear and Narrow — meaning you can get as natural or experimental as you like.

Other Notable Improvements

All of these new film and photo possibilities are enabled with GoPro’s new GP2 processor. 

Admittedly processors aren’t as glamorous as adding more k’s or extra digits to frame rates, but they’re stupidly important. 

In all of its cameras since 2017, GoPro has been using the GP1 processor, so it’s welcome news to finally get an upgrade on this front. Not only does the video output improve, but the faster processor also massively improves the performance of the touch screen, speeds up the front screen and allows footage to be transferred 30% faster over WiFi and 50% faster when plugged in. 

A better processor also means better performance in low light, however, this probably remains an area we can expect bigger improvement in future. 

The in-built stabilisation has also had an upgrade to HyperSmooth 4.0 video stabilisation in all modes (up from the HERO9’s 3.0)

It’s so good it actually won an Emmy award and will make it look like you’ve got crazy flow on a mountain bike or bumpy ski hill.

I took some follow-cam footage in the backcountry this season over pretty severe bumps and ice and it wasn’t jittery in the slightest. 

What (maybe) could be improved?

Not much to be honest. If there’s one thing I’d like to see take some leaps forward, it would be battery life. *Check out the Hero 11’s updated battery life. 

The downside of keeping the same battery as the HERO9, is that you’ve got the same battery as the HERO9. That is to say, no improvements. While that battery has a 30% longer life than the one found in the HERO8, it’s still far from perfect and runs into the most trouble in cold weather. 

The nature of the sports you do with a GoPro also mean that changing the battery isn’t often the easiest exercise — in the water or on a chairlift or bike. 

Nonetheless, it’s hard to complain when it weighs so little and is practically indestructible. 

Price & Extras

You can purchase the HERO10 outright for $749.95 (or for $715.35 here) or save $290 with a 1-year GoPro subscription making it $529.95. 

GoPro will also throw in a 32gb micro sd card, so you can get to work right away and package it up nicely in a hard-shell travel case — a big improvement from their old plastic packaging.

Final Thoughts

If you’ve been holding out on going pro all these years, now’s the time to do it. This camera remains an exceptional piece of equipment — notwithstanding the fact GoPro have just gone a fraction more pro with the numero 11. 

GoPro Hero 11 First Look – GoPro Go Again With Three New Cameras