GoPro - HERO7 Black

I've had * Hero 3 White * Hero 4 Silver * Hero 7 Black * Max (1) * Hero 12 Black and I still have all but the 3 white. The 3 white was the only 'bad' one I think, one where the camera really didn't live up to the hype for me and hence I upgraded quite quickly. As for my favourite? In the context of when they came out the 7 felt the most incredible, it really was a big jump with the stabilisation. But I probably shot most of my coolest footage on either the 4 Silver or the Max, just because of the time in my life I was using them and the novelty of 360 footage at the time.

Reliability, price to performance proposition. At first when I got the Hero 7 Black, I thought the same. Great image, great stabilization, set your expectations correctly and it will do the job it was designed for. . .and then the over heating, cpuffy batteries, app connectivity problems, features missing from previous iterations, glitchy cameras turning off randomly, not recording or saving the file, freezing, very expensive and inferior two 35

I think the way to look at it, is that GoPro was so far ahead for so long, there was no real competition for them for over a decade. Even DJI had GoPro mounts built in when the Phantom 1 came along. Historically, GoPro perfected their 1080P then moved to 2.7k on the Hero 3 Black. They had the best 4k on the Hero 4 Black. Then they made the whole camera waterproof and added the built in touchscreen on the Hero 5 Black, then they went 4k 60 with moderate stabilization on the Hero 6 black, built a tiny camera on the Session 4 and 5. With the Hero 7 black, they finally got stabilization in camera that started to compete with 3 axis gimbals. On the 8 they had the mount built in so you didn't have to have a frame and changed to a larger form factor with the Hero 9 black and got resolution to 5.3k. They perfected features like Timewarp and Hyperlapse where all the work was done in camera instead of post. They made GoPro labs available for most of their cameras and gave amazing levels of customization that no other cameras have even to this day. Then they really started to stagnate and features were more incremental and evolutionary rather than revolutionary. Sure they had the 8:7 sensor and got video resolution up to 24.7 megapixels, but they still use a tiny sensor and low light performance is still very bad. They also had to deal with the rise of DJI and Insta360 who started to release competing products. Dji matched 10 bit the same year as GoPro, The Action 5 and Ace Pro 2 use much larger sensors and do much better in low light. GoPro was late to the party with magnetic mounting systems and Insta360 even put 8k into their Ace Pro versions. Insta360 has the Ace Pro Line, their Go series mini camera and even had the modular R series which could be an action cam or a 360 camera. In the time since GoPro released the Max, Insta360 has released 5 consumer grade 360 cameras that get better each year and now do 8k. We have no idea when the Max 2 will be released. GoPro stock is hovering around 50 cents a share and the market cap of the entire company is only 75 million dollars. It used to be almost 11 billion dollars, so it is 145 times smaller than it was shortly after the company went public. They have had to lay off staff and that has a huge impact on R&D. They are clearly falling behind competitors with no real path forward. Depending on which site you listen to, they rate the probability of bankruptcy at 33 to 62% in the next 24 months. That is not the sign of a healthy company. They botched the launch of their Karma drone and ceded that potential marketplace to DJI in the process. The reality is that the DJI and Insta360 cameras do a lot of things better and much easier. Low light is a real thing for a lot of people and the Action 5 and Ace Pro do a very good job in the space and GoPro isn't on the same playing field. I love the new GoPro lens system, but I am an advanced user and have been using ND filters, Anamorphic lenses, and macro lenses for years with the GoPro. The new anamorphic lens is great because it does the desqueeze of your footage automatically in camera. What is annoying is that they announced the lens in September of 2024 and I was finally able to get it 7 months later. GoPro is a great camera, but for many people who never touch labs, don't care about 10 bit or color grading, never do reframing 8:7, like to shoot in lower light conditions, or won't spend the $129 on an anamorphic lens, the GoPro is not really the camera for them. Insta360 are releasing much better cameras each year and GoPro is falling further behind. I really want GoPro to come back strong, but I fear they don't have the finances to compete unless they have an absolutely amazing technical breakthrough in the action camera space.

I wouldn't necessarily say hate. But I'd switch to DJI I think when I need a new one. My gopro's have always been buggy, the app sucks and never connects and I had a waterproof one die on me and somehow leak. So I don't trust them being waterproof. DJI seems better in low light and I kind of preffered the image. Though saying that I saw a blind test of gopro, dji and Insta360, and surprisingly I still liked the gopro image a tiny bit more. But for being consistently buggy (freezing up, randomly shutting down - always at the worst moments) I'd rather swap and try out a different brand at least for the next one. But Gopro's don't seem to have had any major upgrades in a while. I still have my 7 and 9.

Objectively the 7th gen gopro looks better. But that makes sense. Less distortion and the GoPro is able to utilize its full resolution for the image. I’m not sure if action mode means single lens mode, but by the images you provided I wouldn’t say the X5 is better. The edges of the X5 image is incredibly soft. A bit disappointing considering that GoPro is now up to the hero 13 and releasing the hero 14 this September (2025). I still think insta360 is the leader in consumer 360 products. But if you’re not interested in reframing a standard action camera will always perform better.

You are supposed to remove the front lens cover from the GoPro when you put it into the waterproof housing. It’s not going to fit if you don’t remove that. If you are looking at the GoPro from the front, twist the square lens cap cover hard to the left. It should unscrew off. Then it will fit inside of the housing. At least, that’s how it works on my hero seven black. Source: I’ve used a hero 7 black for many years

Please don't buy a cheap camera, if you can find a second hand GoPro for around 100 I'd recommend the Hero 7 Black, its still an awesome camera and you might find one within your budget.

I'm tired of gopro 7 freezing It's time for something new. What would you choose? I'm wondering about insta 360 x4/x5 or Dji action 5 pro

I really like the roughness of the video without stabilization. Gopro 7 black 👇 [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DqhUueecWwM](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DqhUueecWwM) It's quite a small thing that Insta360 go 3s. Hmm...

Gopro 7 black edition is the sweet spot, good stabilisation, 4k, and a screen built in. Nothing needed after that. They were bound to be doomed, unless free edit features , cloud etc.

Newer gopros have horizon stabilisation. A 360cam would fit your need, but kinda sacrifices the durability. What resolution/framerate are you running for it to overheat? I run my 7black in a diving case with some holes drilled for ventilation, and charge it with a usbc powerbank on a loooong cable. Also a good sd card would help with overheating a bit. And that thing never overheated, even outdoor in sun (for a while, when i overheat the cam would too).