I鈥檝e owned half a dozen GoPros in my day, ranging from the Hero 2 to the Hero 10 Black. Despite packing them along for plenty of backpacking trips and snowboard sessions, I rarely get good听 clips to prove it. The experience usually goes like this: see something film-worthy, pull GoPro out, realize the battery is dead. Or the SD card is full. Or the settings are off. By the time I get it sorted, the moment passed.

Yes, you can chalk that up to operator error, but as an entry-level filmer I鈥檝e always hoped that GoPro would eventually produce a Hero to save me from myself. With last week鈥檚 release of the ($550)鈥攆eaturing extended runtime battery, auto-upload capabilities, and two user interface options鈥擥oPro might have actually done just that. The Hero 11 Black introduces a few capabilities that drastically improve my chances of getting the shot, and other features that ensure the shot will be superior to anything my intermediate skill-level typically affords. Let鈥檚 talk about why.

Bigger, Better Battery

GoPro鈥檚 extended runtime battery, Enduro, which was an accessory for the Hero 10 Black, now comes stock. GoPro claims the Enduro lasts up to 38 percent longer than their traditional battery, and after a few filming sessions that appears true. In its highest resolution video (5.3K), the new GoPro can shoot for up to 80 minutes on a charge, and at 1080P it鈥檒l run more than two hours. And it juices up quickly: I was able to charge it from one to 100 percent in under an hour. It also automatically shuts off after five听 minutes when not in use, which keeps me from killing the battery accidentally.

More importantly for snow sport enthusiasts, the Enduro is GoPro鈥檚 first battery that holds a charge in freezing temperatures. Gone are the days of wrapping my camera in a hand warmer for the slopes.

Automatic Uploads and Highlights

Automatic uploads to the cloud are a new feature of GoPro鈥檚 subscription service ($50 annually). Once connected to wifi, the 11 automatically transfers new content to GoPro鈥檚 cloud storage platform, negating the need to download it onto a phone or computer. Now I can keep the SD card clear without taking up space on my phone.

Along with auto-uploads, the new subscription offers an auto-highlight feature that uses AI to pull the best footage from a shoot, pieces together an edit, and sends it to the user’s phone automatically. GoPro鈥檚 leaning heavily into this feature Hero 11 Black marketing, and for good reason. It puts together a surprisingly good reel鈥攚ith music鈥攖hat you can then tweak to your liking. It makes going from the shoot to Instagram almost brainless.

If you鈥檙e considering buying a Hero 11 Black, the subscription is probably worth it right now. Buying the Hero 11 Black packaged with a year subscription is $400 (the regular price is $550, and the subscription is $50 a year). The package comes with unlimited cloud auto uploads, use of the editing app, discounts on GoPro.com, and most importantly, no-questions-asked camera replacement (for a fee between $69 and $99).

User Friendly Shooting Modes

The 11 supports two user interfaces鈥擡asy and Pro. The former automates settings to present a clean, unfussy menu听 where you simply choose a medium (timelapse, video or photo), press record, and capture. Pro Mode opens up the hood and lets the user manually control every setting. Despite that usability, Pro Mode is surprisingly intuitive. I鈥檓 decidedly not pro, but it didn鈥檛 take long for me to abandon Easy Mode altogether for better control.

Improved Field of View

GoPro introduced a new 1/1.9 sensor with the Hero 11 Black, which opens up an 8:7 field of view option. Pair that with the 11鈥檚 capacity for shooting 5.3K video at 30 frames per second, and that translates to 40 percent more resolution compared to GoPro鈥檚 previous 5.3K resolution, which maxed out on a 16:9 digital lens. In other words, you can now shoot a wide, almost-square frame at high resolution, then crop into any ratio after the fact. It鈥檚 a convenient asset for content creators posting to multiple mediums, as they鈥檒l no longer need to shoot different fields of view for varying use-cases, be it TikTok or Youtube.

This raises another point鈥攚ith how great the video quality is, shooting photos on a GoPro could be obsolete. It鈥檚 far easier to shoot video and pull a still frame after the fact鈥攅ven GoPro suggests using this method now.

Millions More Pixels

If you do insist on shooting photos with the Hero 11 Black, it鈥檒l produce 27 megapixel photos, up from 23MP on the Hero 10 Black. Again, paired with the new 8:7 sensor, that equates to millions more pixels to work with. The 11 also introduces four new photo burst modes, in addition to six the Hero had already.

Ten-bit color comes built-in to the Hero 11 Black, as opposed to eight-bit on the last rendition, which seems a trivial difference. But considering the Hero 10 was capable of seeing around 16 million shades of color, and the Hero 11 sees upwards of a billion, it鈥檚 a substantial upgrade. For advanced editors, more shades means more to work with in color grading. For everyone else, it means less apparent 鈥渟tripiness鈥� to the image, solving an issue that plagued GoPro in the past.

Light Trail Modes

The most novel and visually impactful features in the Hero 11 Black are, in my opinion, the night modes embedded within the camera鈥檚 Timelapse function. There are three of them鈥擲tar Trails, Light Painting, and Vehicle Light Trails鈥攁nd each is appropriately oriented toward capturing those subjects with a trailing effect, automating a photography technique that is difficult to get right with a traditional camera. This video effect yields a timelapse of the light trails forming, which makes for some pretty radical footage, but as with any Hero 11 Black recordings, you can also pull high-resolution still frame.

These coveted night effects will, in and of themselves, undoubtedly attract hordes of TikTok influencers and other entry-level shooters to the Hero 11 Black, if solely to be able to capture these pro-looking night shots.

Horizon Lock and Image Stabilization

360-degree horizon lock was an available feature with the Hero 10, but only with the addition of Max Lens Mod accessory, which was an additional $100 and added bulk to the system. Now, Max Lens Mod is built into the camera lens. The result is enhanced stabilization and the option of 360-degree horizon lock, which essentially allows you to turn the camera completely upside down, while听 the horizon stays perfectly level and upright. Hypersmooth 5.0, the latest iteration GoPro鈥檚 stabilization layer, is negligibly better than the last version in my opinion, because Hypersmooth 4.0 was already pretty dialed. It adds gimbal-like smoothness to footage without the need for any extra accessories, so you can literally be bounding down a rocky trail while filming, and the footage comes out perfectly stable.

The Best POV Yet

GoPro鈥檚 new Hyperview, is the brand鈥檚听 widest field of view ever and an asset to any athlete with a penchant for POV shots. It听 essentially takes the new 8:7 view and stretches it into a 16:9 frame, resulting in a broader periphery and more immersive, close-feeling footage when paired with, say, a chest or helmet mount. Coupled with all the other enhancements of the new Hero, Hyperview only increases my odds of capturing something epic, and making it look even cooler. Now all I have to do is remember to hit record.

Coming Soon: Hero 11 Black Mini

On October 25 GoPro is also releasing the Hero 11 Black Mini, a more compact, simplified version with all the same functionality packed into a one-touch capture system. We鈥檒l be testing that out soon, and we鈥檒l let you know what we think.

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Yosemite National Park hosts an annual average of 4 million visitors, who flock year-round to experience the hulking granite,听tumbling waterfalls, and iconic trails of the High Sierra. As a , I often see people who are ill-prepared for their trip. There are a few items we recommend beyond staples like a听backpack, headlamp, sun protection, and a pair of broken-in boots that will greatly enhance your experience in the granite gem of the West, no matter the season.

Binoculars

Thousands of Free Solo鈥搃nspired visitors come to admire the climbers on El Capitan. But without a decent pair of binoculars, they look like ants on the half-mile-high, mile-wide wall. Beyond El Cap, sights like the 2,425-foot-high听Yosemite Falls; Half Dome, which towers 4,800 feet above the Valley floor; and the 750,000-acre view of the wilderness from 10,850-foot Mount Hoffman merit detailed attention unachievable with the naked eye. A pair of waterproof, fogproof听 binoculars packs into your pocket and does the behemoths justice.

Map

Cell service is poor amid the granite domes of Yosemite, so it鈥檚 best to听 before entering the park to help keep you on the desired trail. Even still, a paper version and a compass is always a good idea. Plus, it gives you more reason to put down your damn phone. The park鈥檚 top guides rely on听 of the area, which is waterproof and听tear-resistant听and features reliable topographic info covering nearly 800 trails.

Water Filter

Yosemite is home to plenty of natural springs spouting delicious water, and a filtration system means you can carry less weight on longer day hikes. In the pristine high country (elevation of about 9,000 feet or higher), odds are fair that you won鈥檛 get sick by dipping your Nalgene directly into an alpine lake, but we highly recommend a filter anyway. Stick a lightweight听 in any Yosemite stream and save yourself the headache of dehydration.

Trekking Poles

Of the park鈥檚 750 miles of trails, the only relatively flat ones are the tourist-littered footpaths of Yosemite Valley, which access just 5 percent of the park. The other 95 percent is accessed via that ascend from the valley floor with an average gain of around 1,000 feet per mile. The best tools for hiking that steep terrain? Trekking poles, which distribute weight across all four limbs to save your knees and conserve energy. For an ultralight, easy setup that can fold into a backpack, I like听.

Raincoat

A stout rain layer comes in handy even on bluebird days in Yosemite. During spring and into summer, a trek up the Mist Trail鈥攐ne of the park鈥檚 most popular hikes and the portal to Half Dome鈥攍eaves unprotected visitors soaked through with the spray that plumes from the basin of Vernal Falls. In the backcountry, rain jackets are often the only upper-body coverage that scourges of determined Sierra mosquitoes can鈥檛 penetrate. And late-summer thunderstorms often appear suddenly in the afternoons, dropping Tic-Tac-sized raindrops. We always carry rain jackets听in our packs. Outdoor Research鈥檚听 is a simple, 6.4-ounce solution that packs into its own pocket听and is a minor addition to your load with major dividends for peace of mind.

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