By Yadira B. Arnold 
GoPro’s annual Hero Black update has brought a little surprise this year. Instead of the usual single flagship camera, a “Mini” version was also presented. Unfortunately, only the regular Hero Black was available when they were announced, so if the tiny Version caught your eye, you had to wait until October 25th. And then you just had to wait a little longer. But finally, it’s here and it’s an interesting proposal.
Of course, the height is simple: a Hero 11 Black, but smaller. The Mini is about 3/4 inch narrower than the regular Hero 11 Black when viewed directly. But it is also a little larger and about 5 mm deeper. It is obviously smaller overall, but there is a much smaller difference than the session cameras and the flagship of the time. However, as with this camera, the main drawback is the lack of a viewfinder/display. This is a big problem, so downsizing really needs to fit your use matter. And I can say at the very top here, for most people, this is probably not the matter.
To put things in perspective, at the time of writing this article, the Mini costs 299.98 with a GoPro Subscription, while the regular Hero 11 Black is listed with the same offer for 349.98 (449.98 / 549.98 if, for some reason, you cannot accept the Offer). It’s either a 50 or 100 difference, depending on the overall trade-offs and the relatively small size difference. And there are additional differences beyond the not found screen that you should consider. For example, there is no photo mode this time.
To be clear, yes, you can get photos from the camera (there is one right above this set), but you will be striking images from the video. And although it is quite simple, it is certainly not as simple as selecting the photo mode and pressing a catch (your photos could also give 16:9 If that is the source material). Photography is definitely something that you might assume that you can do natively, and therefore I am forced to tell you that you cannot.
Of course, as mentioned earlier, there is no touch screen that affects access to the menu. You can navigate through the settings via a small screen at the top that returns GoPro settings directly to Hero 4 (and before) days. The options here are somewhat limited, with only the striking mode, mode settings and some (but not all) general settings. You do everything else through the app.
Personally, I prefer to do most things with the camera itself, then use the app when the camera is set uped out of range, but I had no difficulty switching to almost everything in Quik. It only really becomes a problem if you are doing something where your phone is not nearby. Surfing, for example, may require a bit of pre-planning to make sure you’re set up before you take to the water.
In this regard, I noticed that the camera goes into standby mode very quickly. After only eight seconds of inactivity, the Mini turns off by itself (15 if you are in the settings menu). Of course, this is to extend the battery life, but it also means that you will have to turn the camera back on and possibly reconnect to the camera via Wi-Fi, then pick up where you left off. It seems like a simple solution to add an Option to change the duration, but for now it is.
If you are used to using GoPro’s video presets, know that there is only one here on the Mini. Unlike the regular Hero 11, which offers a lot of them with the possibility of creating your own for different striking scenarios, the Mini has the essentials and not much else. It just means that you have to change your Video settings per strike (as in life before GoPro introduced presets), but I was not found that.
When it comes to battery life, there is good news and bad news. The bad news is that the sealed design means you can’t replace a new cell if you run out of juice. The best news is that the Mini uses the new longer-lasting Enduro Battery. GoPro claims that you should get about an hour of continuous recording of the highest quality, or closer to two hours are less demanding settings. This seems about right due to the short time we spent with the camera and also online with the Hero 11 Black, which uses the same battery.
Since the last redesign and the addition of 5.3K video modes, some people have had problems with the camera overheating when recording indoors, as the camera is in a fixed position. The company then released a software update that includes a new “stationary/tripod” mode.
When we tested our Hero 9, 10 and 11, we didn’t have this problem, but with the Mini it happened quite quickly (in less than 10 minutes) when recording at 5.3 K/ 60 fps. In the less power-intensive modes, the problem disappeared, so everything was fine with 1080p, for example. GoPro’s message here is that the Mini is an outdoor camera designed to be set uped on you or your equipment. So if you are looking for this for a possible static/indoor application, this is not the camera you want, even after GoPro.
If that seemed like a lot of words about things that you can’t or shouldn’t do, then the good news is that from now on it all depends on what the Mini can do. The short version of this is, most of the time, all that his big brother can do. But it’s worth mentioning a few special features and even some elements unique to the smallest camera.
The first thing I wanted to confirm was that the Mini had a full 360-degree horizon lock. It was something new for the Hero 11 Black and it was one of the most outstanding features of this year. There was no reason why the Mini couldn’t do this, because it has the same sensor and everything, but keep this confirmation in mind anyway.
The same goes for the new Hyperview mode, which compresses each Pixel of the sensor into a 16:9 video. It’s incredibly immersive and makes even the most mundane activities surprisingly dynamic. And of course, there are also full-frame strikes here, so you can capture everything that the sensor sees, and then trim different mobile-friendly or desktop-friendly videos from the same source folder.
Where the Mini excels, it is not surprising that everything is set uped on the body. The smaller form factor and lighter weight make it a very nice experience for head or helmet set uping. In fact, I would go so far as to say that the Mini consists of being a helmet camera. In particular because of the second pair of set uping fingers at the rear, which facilitates link in a ahead-facing position.