Save your first Hands-On look at the new GoPro Hero 11 black mini, which is effectively just a combo of the GoPro Hero 11 black and the old session recall these little things from way back when now this is simply an initial glance at the new GoPro Hero 11 black mini Hands-on look at things all my full in-depth review later in October once it starts shipping including all the usual comparison footage that you would expect still I've got a huge slate of things I want to dive into comparison wise to the hero 11 black in terms of features and spec as well as other cameras like the action 2 from DJI or the insta360 go to kind of those smaller form factor cameras now
Without a doubt, the first thing you'll notice is that it is smaller than the hero 11 black. It is smaller and lighter, weighing 133 grams vs 154 grams for the here 11 black, but it is neither as small as the insta360 go to nor as little as the DJI action 2. but neither is it attempting to be These cameras have their place in the world, but they are not as feature-rich as others.
In terms of battery life, the DJI action 2 and the insta360 go 2 both have a main module that has less than 30 minutes of battery life, which is like a best case scenario by the way. Storage is also very limited, and while you can add a separate module to the action 2 to increase either the battery life or the storage, those modules are not waterproof in any way. The SD card is fully exposed.
it has this tiny little LCD screen just like the old GoPro session did at the top that basically shows you like which mode it's in and you can use the two buttons on the unit to go and change between the modes so basically you have these custom modes you'll set up ahead of time using the go Pro app whatever resolutions and frame rates and digital lenses that you want I nee I nee I nee I nee I nee I nee I nee
Next, one of the most interesting things about this camera that you might not have noticed at first glance is that it has two sets of GoPro mounting fingers on it. A standard GoPro has mounting fingers in the bottom of it, which people love because it works great, but this also has mounting fingers on the back of it, so if you wanted to mount it like on a chesty Mount, you don't have to do the whole thing where you have a separate like Mount that kind of brings it up a notch
You may or may not have noticed that it does not have a battery that can be removed, which means that it has what is known as an entirely internal battery. GoPro claims that they have taken the Enduro Battery Technology and simply stuffed it inside of this, so the Enduro batteries that are now standard on the Here 11, but you can also buy for the Hero 9 and 10, has you know, like better cold air performance and all that kind of stuff that's stuffed inside of it not quite a bigger battery though, so it's a 1500 milliamp battery as opposed to a 1720 milliamp battery that's a standard Enduro battery. However, one of the terms they used a lot was perceived battery time that you're going to get longer perceived battery time and that's because on the mini when you press the record button, it starts recording of course, and then when you stop it, it stops recording but there's a delay between when you press the record button and when the camera actually stops recording. According to GoPro, you'll get about 10 to 15 percent less battery time out of the mini than you would out of a hero black 11 simply because
is significantly longer because you're not wasting battery life on the displays in between your various activities; this may sound like marketing jargon, but it's borne out by experience; for example, when I use my GoPro Hero 11 Black, the display is on and idle for long stretches of time, even when I'm not recording.
Next, and most importantly, it's just a hero 11 black inside, meaning it has the same gp2 chipset, Imaging pipeline, and processing as the hero 11 black. This means that all video resolutions are supported up to 5.3K. 60 frames per second and 240 frames per second, you name it, it's the same, and this is something GoPro emphasized a lot. They wanted a "no compromises" camera, and maybe that's why it's chunkier than some of the smaller cameras.
Let's discuss what's missing, which is photo mode. There are no direct photo modes in this camera, so if you want to shoot photos, this is not the camera for you, at least not right now. Maybe in the future it will get an update, but I wouldn't count on it. I kind of get it in a way. I'm disappointed, don't get me wrong, but I also kind of get it. The reality is that the vast majority of people are moving towards just taking video and then extracting the still from the video.
However, it is fully compatible with the GoPro Max lens mod, but it is not compatible with the GoPro medium. This is because the GoPro medium mod has a completely different form factor, and it wraps around the camera in a way that the GoPro Max lens mod cannot. If you want to, you can still use a light mod with it, but there is no way to like mount it on top. I'm sure Amazon will solve that in due time with like a variety of little cases if you really need hence,
The cost is discussed at last. The price is $299 if you sign up for a GoPro membership, or $399 if you don't. The subscription is included in the price, as usual, because GoPro is betting that you won't cancel it after a year and will continue to pay $50 every year for the service.
