GoPro HERO11 Rolling Review

As is typical this time of year (early Fall), GoPro announced and released their latest flagship action camera, the HERO11 Black, on 9/14/2022.  We have one in our hands and will be performing our typical assessment.  This includes checking things over for compatibility with our product, reviewing updates and new features, heated torture test, etc.  This can be a long process before we reach our final recommendation.  So until that time, we will live update this blog post to reflect our findings.  Check back often as we release our findings.

Torture Test Results:

4K/30, External Power, 100F (TEST ID 093022230509)

• Test Started: 9/30/2022 11:05 PM
• Result: Success.  Manually stopped.
• Run time: 10 hours, 31 minutes, 45 Seconds
• Max camera temp: 133.3° F

4K/60, External Power, 100F (TEST ID 100122142922)

• Test Started: 10/1/2022 2:29 PM
• Result: Success.  Manually stopped.
• Run time: 4 hours, 9 minutes, 46 Seconds
• Max camera temp: 139.4° F

4K/30, External Power, 110F (TEST ID 100122192837)

• Test Started: 10/1/2022 7:28:37 PM
• Result: Success.  Manually stopped.
• Run time: 2 hours, 18 minutes, 36 Seconds
• Max camera temp: 142.1° F

4K/30, External Power, 120F (TEST ID 100222173806)

• Test Started: 10/2/2022 5:38 PM
• Result: Failure. Overheat shutdown.
• Run time: 35 minutes, 57 Seconds
• Max camera temp: 152.9° F 6:14 PM

Rolling updates:

10/2/2022 @ 7:00 PM (Torture testing)

We've recently begun heat testing the camera in our famous LynkSpyder Torture Chamber.  The results are still coming in, but here is some information that we feel comfortable sharing:

1.) 4K/30 (turning off all things you don't need: wifi, hypersmooth, GPS, etc) and the camera will run well into an ambient temperature of 110°F.  Add some airflow and it will be even better

2.) 4K/60 can work, but has an increased chance of failure.

3.) Turn all features on and max out the camera on resolution, FPS, and settings (high bit rate, 10 bit color) and the camera will overheat at room temperature in about 15 minutes.  Not usable at the ballfield for anything other than short clips.

4.) Running our tester at 120°F (4K/30) overheated in 35 minutes.  Max camera temperature was 152.9°F.  That is as hot as we have seen a GoPro get.  So clearly GoPro has done some things to handle the heat since their previous versions.

We've added a section above to each of the HERO11 torture tests.

9/23/2022 @ 11:16 PM (UNCONTROLLED HEAT TEST)

Certainly not a controlled torture test.  But we did the most basic test tonight: max the camera out, indoor ambient temps, and just let it run. So 5K/30 (30 is going to be our max FPS for the time being), Auto Boost, 10 bit color, high bit rate, and internal battery. Ran 15 minutes 13 seconds before shutting down to heat failure. Certainly, you will want it to run longer, and most certainly summer heat will kill it at these settings. But this still tells us there is more to the 11 than the 10. Can't wait to run it at 110F in the torture chamber. We are hoping for stable 4K/30 video this year. To do that, it has to run for 2 hours at that temp to pass our test. More to come.

9/19/2022 @ 8:00 PM (SIGNIFICANT FINDING!)

The HERO10 suffered from a power problem (we call it a software bug) several firmware versions into its release.  When running without the internal battery, a "NOT ENOUGH POWER" warning would display when running most external power sources.  The message claims that you must have a power supply that pushes 2A at 5V (10 watts)  However, it was discovered that if you ran a USB-C to USB-C cable and using a power source that could push 3A at 5V (15 watts).  We tested several batteries and were consistently able to power the device with these batteries.  However, few of these batteries will now power the HERO11.  In fact, the only batteries that we are finding that will power the HERO11 are 20 watt devices.  Luckily, the battery that we have on our recommended setup page for the HERO10 is one of the 20 watt batteries.  But it certainly does complicate things a bit.  We will continue to test 10 and 15 watt devices but do not have much hope at this point.  Here is the link to the setup we have been recommending for the HERO10.  The battery suggested in this link is the one we were able to make work with the HERO11:

Recommended setup for the GoPro HERO10

We were at the test field when we discovered this power issues.  But we were able to get off a few video captures to compare video quality.  Very promising results at this point.  As we have come to expect, the HERO11 produces very clean video.  The new FOV, HV, is ridiculously wide.  I'm not sure who asked for this, but I'm pretty sure we wouldn't be friends.

4K 30fps, Linear FOV

5.3K 30fps, Linear FOV

5.3K 30fps HV FOV (Super wide....super tall)

9/18/2022 @ 10:00 PM

Just like the HERO10, when using external power and no battery, you MUST use a USB-C to USB-C cable and a power source capable of pushing 3A at 5V.  The USB-A to USB-C cable that GoPro provides with the camera, will not provide enough power, even if you have a power source capable of pushing more.  USB-A is limited to 2A at 5V.  Even though the screen says that is what it needs, it for some reason is not enough to get past this screen, and the GoPro will shut down once you click OK.  Again, with the proper cable and power source, it is easily resolved.  But it is frustrating that GoPro does not provide the proper cable with the camera.

9/15/2022 @ 7:00 AM

As was previously understood, this camera is the exact same frame size and fit as the HERO9/10.  So all of your previous accessories will fit, including our Standard LynkSpyder with the Tripod Mount adapter addon:

https://lynkspyder.com/collections/brackets/products/lynkspyder-standard-model

As has been the case since GoPro updated the fold-able "finger thingies" under the camera a couple versions ago, since the mounting is metal on metal from the camera to the tripod mount, a large amount of force is required to tighten the thumb screw to ensure the fit does not slip in the aforementioned finger thingies.

As has been the case since the HERO5, GoPro includes a USB-A to USB-C cable in their box.  And while we will certainly be testing this, a USB-C to USB-C cable was required on the HERO10 to run on external power and no internal battery.

One new thing that is included is the newer Enduro battery.  This battery won't help you much in the heat, but does last longer in the cold.

More to come...