GoPro’s new Hero is more Hawkeye than Thor and that’s OK

If you’re into sports, exciting things or just want a small durable camera that you can strap onto anything or throw anywhere, odds are you’ve heard of GoPro. This time, the king of action cameras has a new product for you but it’s not a high-end one with more features than ever.

No, it’s an entry level GoPro that’s designed for the masses called the HERO.

Yup, no numbers, no colours, just HERO. It’s designed to be the base-model GoPro so I suppose the name is fitting. Unfortunately, this HERO doesn’t have all the bells and whistles of its more expensive HERO6 sibling despite looking pretty much identical. It’s a lot more pedestrian — a lot more human than the otherwise super flagship camera.

But, that doesn’t mean it is basic to the point that you should ignore it because it’s still quite a capable little camera. For starters, it can shoot up to 1440p at 60fps video footage and take 10MP stills. Sure, that’s not 4K nor is that super slow-motion 240fps footage but it’s not quite potato quality either.

It can shoot a burst of 10fps and do time-lapses 0.5 second intervals, but there’s only one setting for each of these features. Inside, it isn’t powered by GoPro’s new GP1 chip, but it does use the normal Ambarella chip that’s been present in most of the GoPros before the HERO6.

Adding to that, the camera brings over some of the user-friendly features from the HERO6 including a 2-inch touchscreen, voice control and electronic image stabilisation. What’s more, it’s also waterproof up to 10 metres without a case.

Since it’s the same size and shape, it will also work with about all the same kind of accessories that you’d use for the HERO6 making this a viable B-cam for dangerous shots if you don’t want to sacrifice your HERO6.

GoPro’s new HERO will retail for USD199.99 (around RM772) which means it sits just below the USD299 (around RM1,160) HERO5 Black. While it has been reported that the new HERO won’t replace the HERO5 Session, I don’t see the tiny cube-shaped HERO5 Session on the GoPro webstore anymore.

I think this is a pretty solid move by GoPro especially considering the state of their company right now. They’ve been suffering lately, so much so that they even had to drop their drone division entirely. Making something affordable is definitely the right move because it lowers the bar of entry for people who’ve always been interested — and even those who are not — so they can try it out for themselves.

Once they’re hooked, odds are, at least some of them would want more and that’s when they move up the tiers to the HERO5 Black or HERO6 Black. This new affordable GoPro also means they can remain competitive in a market flooded with similar action cameras that are far more affordable.

The only question left is: Is it worth your money?

Let me know what you think in the comments below.

UPDATE: The GoPro HERO is officially priced at RM949 in Malaysia. It will be available starting from 3 April 2018.

[SOURCE, VIA]