GoPro Hero 11 Black Review: The Action Camera to Beat

This product was reviewed in 2022

The GoPro Hero 11 Black is the latest flagship from the world’s most recognizable action camera firm. While its predecessor the Hero 10 Black brought blistering new frame rates, courtesy of a new processor, the Hero 11’s headline update is a new sensor.

Rather than using GoPro’s classic 4:3 native aspect ratio, the Hero 11 comes with a nearly square 8:7 chip. Combined with the camera’s high-resolution 5.3K recording options, this should allow creators to cut landscape and vertical videos from the same take.

The Hero 11 also includes GoPro’s latest video stabilization technology, with HyperSmooth 5.0 promising to deliver GoPro’s smoothest stabilizer to date. The camera also introduces 360-degree leveling through a new Horizon Lock feature.

These updates, combined with an excellent price that no longer requires you to buy a GoPro subscription bundle, are enough to push the Hero 11 Black to the top of our Best GoPro recommendations (now superseded by the Hero 12 Black). However, with rival flagships from Insta360 and DJI offering stunning quality and innovative features, there’s certainly plenty of competition.

GoPro Hero 11 Black review: What you need to know

Front and center, the Hero 11 Black’s major update is its all-new sensor. Breaking a 4:3 sensor tradition that GoPro has stuck with for many generations, the Hero 11 has a 1/1.19in, 27-megapixel, 8:7 aspect ratio chip. This essentially means the Hero 11 can natively record near-square video clips.

The upshot of this new aspect ratio is that creators who produce content for multiple platforms can record a single 8:7 video and then crop out both landscape and vertical orientation 16:9 clips during editing. If, for example, you publish videos to both YouTube and TikTok, this could be a potential game changer.

There’s also a new HyperView mode, designed to take full advantage of the Hero 11’s taller sensor. HyperView takes the full 8:7 image and squeezes it down into a standard 16:9 frame in-camera. The result is a super-distorted, super-wide view that GoPro markets as “ultra-immersive” with an “epic feel”.
Additionally, the new sensor supports 10-bit color. Up from the 8-bit color depth offered by previous GoPros, this should deliver greater flexibility for advanced users who might be color grading their footage in post production.

Resolution and frame rate options remain unchanged from the Hero 10 Black. You can record 5.3K video at up to 60fps, 4K recordings can be made at up to 120fps, and there’s also the option to capture 2.7K and Full HD clips at up to 240fps for 8x slow motion.
GoPro’s HyperSmooth video stabilization has also received some improvements. The Hero 11 uses

HyperSmooth 5.0, the successor to the GoPro Hero 10‘s HyperSmooth 4.0 and the firm’s most effective stabilization prior to the launch of new GoPro Hero 12.

Most notable, however, is that the Hero 11 adds full 360-degree Horizon Leveling. A significant improvement over the Hero 10’s 45-degrees of correction, this “Horizon Lock” function can maintain a perfectly level horizon even with the camera fully inverted.

The Hero 11 Black ships as standard with GoPro’s latest Enduro Battery, which is said to offer improved performance in colder conditions and in high-performance recording modes.

GoPro Hero 11 Black review: Price and competition

The GoPro Hero 11 Black launched with a list price of $500, or $400 with a one-year subscription to GoPro.

Update: GoPro stopped offering a discount on subscribers’ products in 2023, a year after this review was written. All GoPro Hero cameras are now available at the same price to subscribers and non-subscribers. At the time of writing this update in 2024, the Hero 11 costs just $250 from Amazon, and $250 from retailers including Target and Best Buy, as well as from GoPro.

The Hero 11’s closest rivals are found within GoPro’s own lineup. The older Hero 10 Black action cam is a powerful model with excellent stabilization, and while its list price is identical to the Hero 11, you’re more likely to find it heavily discounted, with Amazon recently cutting its price to as low as $199.

The new Hero 12 Black has a higher list price of $400 but it can regularly be found on Amazon for around $300. It offers superb image quality and stabilization tech, a more accessible user interface, improved audio options, and better battery life.

Outside of GoPro’s stable, Insta360’s current lineup is also well worth a look. The Insta360 X4 is an incredibly versatile action camera that captures 8K 360-degree footage, slow-motion video, with superb battery life to boot. This tiny, high-end camera retails for around $500.

The $300 Insta360 One X2, meanwhile, is an ultra-compact, stabilized action camera with live streaming and AI editing. It’s great for casual shooters, retailing for $300.

DJI’s Action 4 camera offers superb image quality and is quicker and more convenient to mount than the GoPro. It has a list price of $299.

GoPro Hero 11 Black review: Features and design

On the surface, the Hero 11 Black is near-identical to its predecessor; in fact, on more than one occasion, I’ve managed to get the two mixed up. Both models measure 2.8 x 2 x 1.3in, both weigh around 5.5oz, and both offer 33ft of native water-resistance. Indeed, the only sure-fire way to tell them apart is by the “10” or “11” details emblazoned down one side.

The face of the camera houses the lens, which is compatible with GoPro’s ultra wide-angle Max Lens Mod; you’ll also find a microphone and a 1 x 1in front-facing, non-touch color LCD. A second microphone sits adjacent to the shutter button atop the device, while a third is built inside a special water-draining inlet beneath the side power/mode button.

The primary color touchscreen is built into the back of the device and at 2 x 1.3in, it takes up the majority of the available space. While the touchscreen is used for the majority of camera control, there are rubberized physical buttons for the shutter and power/mode selection built into the top and side.

On the opposite side, there’s a water-tight door, behind which you’ll find the battery, microSD card slot, and a USB-C charging port that can be used to deliver constant power or to recharge the battery.

As you’d expect, the Hero 11 offers multiple modes for photo, video, and time-lapse recordings, and there are built-in presets to get you up and running with each. New for the Hero 11, GoPro has introduced some new star-trail and light-painting presets. Plus, there’s a choice of different view modes, ranging from the new ultra-wide-angle HyperView to the more conventional Linear and Narrow views.

The camera is also compatible with GoPro’s smartphone app. In fact, you’ll need to first pair it with your smartphone before you can complete the initial setup process. Available for Android and iOS devices, the app allows you to control the camera remotely, edit your footage on-the-go, and upload your clips directly to social media.

GoPro Hero 11 Black review: Performance

Right off the bat, the Hero 11 Black is a breeze to use. GoPro’s user interface is refined, intuitively laid out, and snappy to navigate. Switching between the camera’s dedicated Video, Time-lapse, and Stills modes is as simple as tapping the mode button, and GoPro’s included presets let you cut straight to the action.

In good lighting conditions, the video quality offered by the Hero 11 is the best we’ve seen from an action camera. Although, it’s fair to say that when viewed side-by-side with Hero 10 footage, the differences are minor. The Hero 11’s video clips are punchy, vibrant, and richly detailed. The camera also does an excellent job of balancing exposures and maintaining a natural-looking white balance using the automatic settings.

The sensor’s near-square native aspect ratio enables horizontal and vertical clips to be easily cropped out of the same shot. While we’d still recommend shooting a little wide to maximize your framing options, the camera’s super-high resolution 5.3K recordings give you plenty to work with.

However, it would be nice to have some in-camera 16:9 grid lines to overlay while filming in 8:7. As it is, GoPro only offers some basic rule-of-thirds guides, which leaves you guessing how to frame your shots.

The new HyperView view mode is also very interesting. Squashing the full 8:7 sensor image into a standard 16:9 frame, you’re able to create videos with an ultra-wide feel, compressing the vertical plane and giving the impression that the horizontal plane has been stretched. While this won’t work for every shot – the distortion is quite noticeable on people and faces – it does add to the intensity of fast-paced action.

GoPro’s HyperSmooth stabilization continues to impress, with the Hero 11’s HyperSmooth 5.0 able to smooth out even the jerkiest of camera movements. Cycling across rough terrain, the camera was able to tame all but the most violent vibrations and, while vlogging, the footage positively floated along. Again, viewed side-by-side with last year’s GoPro the differences are subtle, but this is still the best we’ve seen yet.

The biggest update over the previous model is the full 360-degree Horizon Lock. While the Hero 10 could correct up to 45-degrees, jarringly reorienting itself if you exceeded that limit, the Hero 11 can maintain a perfectly level horizon even while fully inverted.

The Hero 11 brings several valuable improvements, then; but it isn’t without its faults. Indeed, to a certain extent, it feels like the Hero 11 Black bolsters many of the Hero’s existing strengths while glossing over its weaker points.

In particular, low-light performance continues to be the action camera’s Achilles heel. While the Hero 11 produces punchy, detailed footage in good light, the quality quickly muddies when the light levels dip. This means it will be great for those bright shots on the beach or ski slopes, but it simply won’t deliver the same results in shaded areas or indoors.

And, despite the new Enduro Battery, not much appears to have changed on the stamina front, either. During battery testing, we were able to squeeze around 50 minutes of 5K60 recording out of a single charge, or a little over an hour’s worth of recording at 4K60 – both results near-identical to those recorded with last year’s Hero 10 Black.

The battery test also had to be completed piecemeal, as the automatic overheating protection would kick in after around 25 minutes of 5K60 recording. Again, these results are nearly the same as those I encountered with the Hero 10. Tests were recorded with the camera sitting on a desk with rather limited airflow, so the battery is likely to perform much better while out and about.

GoPro Hero 11 Black review: Verdict

Compared with the Hero 9’s complete design overhaul and the Hero 10’s supercharged specs bump, the Hero 11 Black’s update feels comparatively subtle. Nevertheless, the refinements are welcome.

While GoPro’s overall image quality remains as solid as ever, the Hero 11’s new sensor presents video makers with even greater creative freedom, both through cropping flexibility and the new super-wide HyperView mode. The introduction of full 360-degree Horizon Lock leveling, meanwhile, reaffirms GoPro’s HyperSmooth stabilization as the best around.

It would have been nice to see some low-light and battery life performance improvements and, for the price, current Hero 9 and Hero 10 owners may struggle to justify an upgrade. Those looking to invest in the best, however, can end their search here.