GoPro HERO 10 Black – Waterproof Action Camera

Our Verdict: The GoPro’s Hero 10 Black is the most capable Hero camera to date, combining the relaxed dual-display style of the Hero 9 with a ballistic set of features. Even the most discerning users should be satisfied by the unrivaled frame rates and resolution choices, and both professionals and casual users will value the stabilization and general usability enhancements.

It is not without flaws: pushing it to its limits for lengthy periods can result in overheating, and its battery performance leaves much to be desired, but these restrictions are likely workable for most users. Experienced GoPro users will understand the importance of having backup batteries on hand.

If you can live without the cutting-edge bells and whistles, the Hero 8 may be a better bargain, but the upgrade may be challenging to justify if you currently possess a Hero 9. For the rest of us, the GoPro Hero 10 Black is the most incredible action camera available right now.

GoPro Hero 10 Black Specs

Connectivity	Bluetooth, USB-C, Wi-Fi
Dimensions	2.8 by 2.2 by 1.3 inches
Display Size	2.3 inches
Flat Profile	Yes
HDMI Output	None
Maximum Waterproof Depth	33 feet
Memory Card Format	microSDXC
Memory Card Slots	1
Sensor Resolution	23 MP
Sensor Type	CMOS
Stabilization	Digital
Touch Screen	Yes
Type	Action Camera
Video Resolution	5.3K
Weight	5.4 oz

Every year, the world’s largest action camera firm releases its latest and greatest model, and we have personally purchased and tested one since 2010. We’re not your standard tech reviewers that burn and churn through whatever product is released just to move on to the next item a few days later.

We are obsessed with photography, filmmaking, and, most importantly, adventure. So, as this new camera reached the market, we had to dig into the specs and put it through its paces to offer you our professional GoPro HERO 10 Black review.

Our Honest GoPro HERO 10 Black Review

This year, the GoPro HERO 10 Black has two slogans. The first is ‘A New Era,’ a big boost for a brand that has been at the forefront of action sports cameras for over a decade.

The GP2, which is effectively the engine that drives the whole camera, has been improved (finally!) in A New Era.

The GP2 on the GoPro HERO10 delivers significant improvements in areas such as frame rates and overall performance, although standard functionality such as photo and video modes remains mostly the same as the previous generation.

The second motto is ‘Speed with Ease,’ which isn’t as memorable or motivating as ‘A New Era,’ but is appropriate given how much faster and smoother the new camera functions.

So, is the GP2 as good as it claims to be? In our GoPro HERO 10 black review, we’ll discover out!

Design

The Hero10 looks identical to the Hero9, which is a good thing since I don’t believe I — or anybody who would have to buy new accessories — could manage yet another radical makeover. GoPro offered the Hero9 a significant facelift, including a front-facing display, the return of the detachable lens cover, and a redesigned mount and accessory attachment mechanism.

The front-facing screen, invented by the DJI Osmo Action, is a tremendous aid when attempting to frame oneself in a photo.

The Hero10 has a shutter or record button on the top; I appreciate that you can push it even when the camera is turned off, and it will turn on and begin recording. The power button is on the left side, while the door on the right holds the battery, microSD card slot, and USB-C charging connector. I wish you didn’t have to open the battery compartment to reach the USB connector – it’s one extra thing to worry about if you intend to retain the camera connected to an external power source.

Two fold-up “fingers” on the bottom of the camera hook the camera to a GoPro mount.

The Hero10 Black has the company’s latest GP2 CPU (the Hero9 utilizes the GP1, which dates back to the Hero6), which enables quicker transfers, more robust picture stabilization, better low-light performance, and a more responsive camera in general.

Despite its comparable design, the Hero10 is 3% lighter than the Hero9, weighing 5.3 ounces rather than 5.6 ounces. It’s not much, but every ounce matters when you’re strapping something on your helmet. In addition, the Hero10’s lens cover has a hydrophobic coating, and the glass is more scratch-resistant. The Hero10, like most other GoPros, is waterproof to 33 feet.

The Hero10, like the Hero9, appears in plastic-free packaging; even better, the camera comes in a semi-rigid cloth casing with room for a couple of mounts and clips. Consider if your next iPhone would come with a recyclable case rather than a box.

Performance

The user interface of the Hero 10 should be comfortable for anyone who has purchased a GoPro in the previous several years. It’s well-designed, simple to use, and accessible to GoPro newcomers and veterans. Swipe left and right to choose between picture, video, and time-lapse modes, up to playback, and down to change settings.

Each mode comes packed with various tweakable presets, or you may construct your own from the start. You may customize the onscreen shortcuts preset by preset, allowing you to keep your most often-used functions close to hand.

One of my biggest complaints about the Hero 9 was that the touchscreen was often slow, with some swipes and movements having to be repeated before the camera responded. The Hero 10 seems considerably more responsive and pleasurable to use due to the upgraded GP2 CPU, savvy software tuning, or a combination of the two.

The Hero 10 operates admirably in video mode. The exposures are nicely balanced, the colours are realistic, and there is a wide dynamic range. Videos feature the traditional, saturated GoPro look right out of the box, but there’s lots of room for customizing inside the settings – or you can shoot to a flat profile and grade in post.

The recordings with the highest 5.3K settings on the Hero 10 are highly detailed. And while you’re unlikely to publish anything at 5.3K, it should considerably broaden your cropping and downsampling possibilities while editing. However, you might consider setting the high-performance 100Mbits/sec recording option for more complicated situations, as the normal 60Mbits/sec mode can become touch blocky at higher resolutions.

Effective video stabilization is critical for any action camera, and GoPro has maintained its place at the top of the stabilization heap with HyperSmooth 4.0. The footage from Hero 10 is smooth and jerk-free, and the actions appear natural and flowing. While it’s not nearly gimbal-smooth, it’s the best I’ve seen from an action camera.

Horizon Leveling is also really helpful. Horizon Leveling can correct up to 45 degrees of tilt (in any resolution and frame rate) when recording in linear view mode, so photos filmed off-axis from handlebars, helmets, or tripods should play back completely level. While this is a significant improvement over the Hero 9’s 27 degrees of correction, it still falls well short of DJI’s Action 2’s full 360 degrees. To get that kind of performance out of the Hero 10, you’ll need to couple it with GoPro’s Max Lens Mod attachment.

The inbuilt microphones are fantastic, as they have been in previous GoPro models. Voices come through clearly, and you may record two audio files, one with a user-defined amount of extra processing and one RAW.

The Hero 10’s battery performance is where things start to go wrong. GoPro may have increased the camera’s CPU, but the battery has not been changed to match. When recording in 4K60, I got just over an hour of footage on a single charge; however, at 5.3K60, I only got 45 minutes. GoPro appears to be aware of this issue, having just announced the high-performance Enduro battery, which the company claims would improve the battery performance of the Hero 10 by up to 40%. It’s a quick and straightforward upgrade; it’s a shame it doesn’t come standard with the Hero 10.

The Hero 10, like the majority of ultra-high-resolution, high-frame-rate action cameras I’ve examined, may overheat. I accomplished around 22 minutes of continuous filming at 5.3K60 while sitting at my desk before the camera stopped off due to overheating. It performed somewhat better at 4K60, lasting 30 minutes. Overheating is significantly less of a concern when filming outside with good ventilation or while recording shorter clips, but it is something to be mindful of, depending on how you want to use the camera.

Video and photo quality

The motion stabilization on the Hero10 is exceptionally excellent. I fastened the camera to the back of my friend’s dog and let him go around with another puppy to see how successful it was. The video was incredibly steady despite the camera aggressively flipping back and forth. I was amazed at the smoothness of the Hero10’s output as someone who feels queasy while watching rollercoasters.

The movement was near as fluid as if the camera were placed on a gimbal as I then recorded another video while following the dogs while holding the Hero10.

TimeWarp is another entertaining tool that records a sequence of still images and patches them into a movie. This video may also be motion-stabilized with the Hero10. It’s an excellent approach to capture what would otherwise be a lengthy and monotonous video.

Still, photographs captured with the Hero10 were excellent, although it has certain limitations. While the firm claims that its night-capture feature has improved, you should still use it with a tripod if you plan on doing any night photography. In a darkened room, I tried a couple handheld photographs of the Moon and one of my cats, but the images were hazy.

Stills benefit from HDR mode as well. I took a photo of lower Manhattan via an aperture while inside a railway station; the station’s interior was nicely exposed, but the background of New York was a little washed out.

App

While the firm provides desktop applications, you’ll need the GoPro Quik app for your phone (Android/iOS) to edit films or operate your Hero10.

The software promptly recognized the Hero10 and asked if I wanted to join its wireless network, so connecting my iPhone to the camera was a breeze. I could then get a live preview from the camera and alter its settings, set up a live stream, or review and edit my clips.

You don’t have to download anything to your phone straight immediately because the software creates a low-resolution preview of your video. You can scrub, cut, and save stills in this mode, which works swiftly and with no latency.

First, download it to your phone to make more comprehensive adjustments, where you may add themes, music, level the horizon, and other features.

GoPro’s Quik application will also analyze your footage and do some edits on its own, using different themes and music that you may customize. You may also change the pace of different areas of your clips, slowing down one section to showcase something intriguing. 

It requires practice to figure out where everything is. The program forces you to use its self-editing mode, which more experienced videographers may dislike but will undoubtedly be useful for newcomers. I wish there was a simple and advanced interface like Photoshop, where you could skip the tutorial and get directly to editing.

Battery life

The GoPro HERO 10 Black has the same 1720 mAh battery as the GoPro Hero9, which is unique among GoPro batteries. GoPro makes no new claims, so anticipate the Hero10 to last 1.5 to 2 hours on a single charge, depending on your settings. I discovered that the more you utilize HyperSmooth, the faster your battery drains.

GoPro has announced a software upgrade that will allow the Hero10 Black to shoot longer videos when there isn’t enough ventilation to keep the camera cool. According to the business, users can record up to 63-minute recordings at 4K/60 fps. The camera includes three new settings: Tripod/Stationary mode, Extended Battery, and Maximum Video Quality. According to GoPro, the Hero10 can record the following clip durations using the last preset in a 77°F room with no airflow:

Resolution	Clip length
5.3K/60 fps	29 minutes
5.3K/30 fps	44 minutes
4K/120 fps	26 minutes
4K/60 fps	63 minutes
4K/30 fps	50 minutes

Accessories

There is a whole cottage business established around creating GoPro accessories. Some excellent GoPro accessories include waterproof cases, hand grips floating to the surface, external lighting, microphones, and more.

GoPro sells a variety of Mods, among them a light ($34.99), a microphone ($55.99), and a flip-up display ($55.99). Furthermore, a Max Lens Mod ($69.99) will maintain the horizon level even if the camera is rotated 360 degrees. This Mod will not be compatible with the Hero10 at launch; a firmware upgrade somewhere this autumn will remedy that.

What We Don’t Like

As we stated, this is an HONEST GoPro HERO10 review. And being honest means telling you exactly what we don’t like about the latest camera.

Is it a perfect camera?

No. But it’s close.

The audio is first. Indeed, a world-class microphone isn’t likely to be put into a camera this compact. However, while vlogging with the front-facing microphone, the audio is slightly tinny and not ideal in high-wind or busy areas.

The Media Mod substantially improves this, but we still wish you didn’t have to buy an extra item to have functionality like being able to put in an external microphone.

It’s not a deal breaker, but it’s something we expect to see improved on future versions.

The second disadvantage is that the GoPro HERO 10 lacks optical zoom. You can use the digital zoom and choose between SuperView, Wide, Linear, and Narrow digital lenses, but there is no optical zoom.

We’d want to see at least 2x optical zoom built-in because sometimes you just want a different viewpoint for your images than the standard GoPro fish-eye appearance.

There is a Max Lens Mod that extends the field of vision, but we wonder whether GoPro will eventually produce an interchangeable lens that crops in. However, at this point, you are limited to digital possibilities. Aside from that, there isn’t much in our GoPro HERO 10 Black review that we don’t like. However, if we detect anything new, we will return to this post and update it.

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What is the Difference Between All of the GoPros?

The difference between all of the GoPros depends on each camera’s model, features, and specifications. Some of the main factors that distinguish the different GoPros are:

• The video resolution and frame rate: The latest GoPro models, such as the Hero 12 Black, Hero 11 Black, and Hero 9 Black, can record video in 5.3K resolution at up to 60 frames per second (fps), which is the highest among all the GoPros. The older models, such as the Hero 8 Black, Hero 7 Black, and Hero 6 Black, can record video in 4K resolution at up to 60 fps. The Hero 5 Black can record video in 4K resolution at up to 30 fps. The Session models can record video in 1440p resolution at up to 60 fps.
• The video stabilization and horizon levelling: The latest GoPro models, such as the Hero 12 Black, Hero 11 Black, and Hero 9 Black, use a new GP2 processor that enables HyperSmooth 4.0, which is a feature that reduces camera shake and produces smooth videos in any resolution and frame rate. They also have a horizon lock feature that can rotate the video 360 degrees and keep the horizon level in any orientation. The older models, such as the Hero 8 Black and Hero 7 Black, use HyperSmooth 3.0 and HyperSmooth 2.0, respectively, which are less advanced versions of the stabilization feature. They also have a horizon levelling feature that can tilt the video by up to 27 degrees and keep the horizon level in certain resolutions and frame rates. The Hero 6 Black and Hero 5 Black use electronic image stabilization (EIS), a less reliable and effective stabilisation method. The Session models do not have any stabilization feature.
• The photo resolution and quality: The latest GoPro models, such as the Hero 12 Black, Hero 11 Black, and Hero 9 Black, have a larger sensor size (1/1.9″) and a higher megapixel count (23MP) than the older models, which means they can capture more details and perform better in low light conditions. They also have a higher photo resolution (5568×4872 pixels) than the older models, which means they can produce sharper and clearer images. They also have some unique features that enhance the photo quality, such as HDR (high dynamic range), SuperPhoto (automatic scene optimization), RAW (uncompressed image format), and Night Photo (low light mode). The older models, such as the Hero 8 Black, Hero 7 Black, and Hero 6 Black, have a smaller sensor size (1/2.3″) and a lower megapixel count (12MP) than the latest models, which means they can capture fewer details and perform worse in low light conditions. They also have a lower photo resolution (4000×3000 pixels) than the latest models, which means they can produce less sharp and clearer images. They also have features that enhance the photo quality, such as HDR, SuperPhoto, RAW, and Night Photo. The Hero 5 Black has a similar sensor size (1/2.3″) and megapixel count (12MP) as the older models, but it does not have HDR or SuperPhoto features. The Session models have a smaller sensor size (1/3″) and a lower megapixel count (8MP) than the other models, which means they can capture even fewer details and perform even worse in low-light conditions. They also have a lower photo resolution (3264×2448 pixels) than the other models, which means they can produce even less sharp and clearer images. They do not have any of the features that enhance the photo quality.
• The design and display: The latest GoPro models, such as the Hero 12 Black, Hero 11 Black, and Hero 9 Black, have an iconic design that consists of a black rectangular body with rounded corners and edges. They also have two displays: a rear touch screen display that measures 2.27 inches diagonally and allows you to control the camera settings and preview your shots, and a front colour LCD display measures 1.4 inches diagonally and shows you your camera status and mode. The older models, such as the Hero 8 Black and Hero 7 Black, have a similar design as the latest models; they do not have a front colour LCD display; instead, they have a front monochrome LCD display that only shows you your camera status and mode. The Hero 6 Black and Hero 5 Black have a slightly different design from the other models; they have a black rectangular body with sharper corners and edges. They also do not have a front colour LCD display; instead, they have a front monochrome LCD display that only shows you your camera status and mode. The Session models have a very different design from the other models; they have a black cubic body with no display; instead, they have a small LED light that indicates the camera status and mode.
• The battery and waterproofing: The latest GoPro models, such as the Hero 12 Black, Hero 11 Black, and Hero 9 Black, use a removable 1720mAh Enduro battery that can last up to 2.5 hours of continuous recording in 1080p resolution at 60 fps. They are also waterproof down to 10 meters (33 feet) without additional housing. The older models, such as the Hero 8 Black, Hero 7 Black, and Hero 6 Black, use a removable 1220mAh battery that can last up to 1.5 hours of continuous recording in 1080p resolution at 60 fps. They are also waterproof down to 10 meters (33 feet) without additional housing. The Hero 5 Black uses a removable 1220mAh battery that can last up to 2 hours of continuous recording in 1080p resolution at 60 fps. It is also waterproof down to 10 meters (33 feet) without additional housing. The Session models use a non-removable 1000mAh battery that can last up to 2 hours of continuous recording in 1080p resolution at 60 fps. They are also waterproof down to 10 meters (33 feet) without additional housing.

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Best Go Pro Alternatives – Comparison Table

Model	Weight	Waterproof	4k Videos	1080	Still Resolution	Battery Life
GoPro Hero 11	12.6 oz	10m (33ft)	Up to 5.3K at 60fps	Yes, up to 240fps	27MP	Up to 1 hour and 15 minutes of continuous recording
Garmin VIRB Ultra	3.2 oz	10m (33ft)	Up to 30fps	Yes, up to 120fps	12 MP	Up to 1 hour and 15 minutes of continuous recording
OCLU Action Camera	3.56 oz	10m (33ft)	Up to 60fps	Yes, up to 60fps	12 MP	Up to 1 hour and 15 minutes of continuous recording
Sony FDR X3000	3.2 oz	60m (197ft) with included housing	Up to 30fps	Yes, up to 30fps	8.2 MP	Up to 1 hour and 5 minutes of continuous recording
Akaso Brave 7LE	2.9 oz	10m (33ft)	Up to 30fps	Yes, up to 30fps	20 MP	Up to 90 minutes of continuous recording
Sony RX0	110 g	10m (33ft)	Up to 30fps	Yes, up to 60fps	15.3 MP	Up to 1 hour of continuous recording

Verdict

You’ve made it to the conclusion of our GoPro HERO10 review, and we’ve chosen to award it a big 9/10 based on the features, quality, durability, size, design, ease of use, and, of course, the pricing.

It’s easy to dismiss their assertion that it was “A New Era” for the company as a simplistic marketing trick.

However, in this circumstance, we must agree with them. GoPro, you’ve taken things to a new level.

If you buy the GoPro HERO 10 Black, we recommend obtaining a GoPro membership to their cloud storage service.

Thank you for taking the time to read our GoPro HERO 10 Black review. If you have any questions, please post them in the comments section below, and we will respond as soon as possible.