GoPro Hero 5 Black review: The Hero5 now only £249

best buy

1 / 10

From the outset, GoPros Hero 5 Black is quite a radical departure from last years Hero 4. Its still rectangular like its older brothers, but this time around its slightly less box-like thanks to its curved edges and semi-rubberised body. Its a little easier to hold, especially with gloves on, and it should withstand a few more drops and bumps than its predecessors.

Thanks to the redesign, it renders any older GoPro cases or accessories all but useless. The Hero 5 Black is a couple millimetres thicker at all angles, and my efforts to cram it into a waterproof Hero 4 case proved unsuccessful.

Not that youll be needing a waterproof case anyway, as the Hero 5 is waterproof all on its own, without the need for a special housing. If youre the adventurous type to take your GoPro for a dip, you can now take it to a maximum depth of 10m without damaging the camera inside. And because it doesnt need a case, underwater sound quality is much better, and no longer sounds like youre stuck in a vacuum.

To keep its internals nice and air-tight, the Hero 5 does have some reinforced covers over its ports, which are far more tightly sealed than its predecessors. Admittedly, it does mean the battery, microSD slot, USB Type-C and Micro HDMI ports are all a little trickier to access now, so you cant really open them in a pinch, but at least theyre much safer from the perils of water damage and should survive multiple openings and closings.

GoPro Hero 5 Black review: Touchscreen

Gone are the days of having to remember each GoPro buttons action for navigating the menus. The physical shutter and mode buttons are still here, but the old triple button scheme is officially dead and buried thanks to the Hero 5s shiny new 2in touchscreen.

Using the touchscreen feels very similar to using a camera on a smartphone. You can swipe to navigate menus and toggle features on and off, and swiping to the right will bring up your gallery. Here, you can take a quick look at all of your captured footage in a grid-based menu. Swipe left, and you can toggle additional settings, such as video stabilisation and the option to capture images in RAW format for easier editing. Dragging down exits these menus and brings you back to the live-view.

Being able to look through the lens without the need of a smartphone app makes the shooting experience far easier. Sure, its touch gestures are a little finicky to begin with, especially when youre so used to the old GoPro way of doing things, but it isnt too long before it feels perfectly natural. You can also still use your phone for some fine tuning after youve finished shooting.

The only real issue is that touchscreen navigation was just a little too sluggish for my liking, especially during fast-paced shooting. Theres a brief, yet noticeable delay when switching between modes and swiping to access special settings, and theres an annoying delay between each image capture. Its not terrible by any means, but it nevertheless feels like your swipes and touches arent always being registered correctly.

Luckily, you can still use the physical buttons to switch between modes and capture footage if you prefer, so its laggy touchscreen doesnt render the Hero 5 totally unusable. If youre feeling particularly confident, you can also take advantage of the Hero 5s fancy new voice controls. Whether its GoPro turn on or GoPro start video, the Hero 5 picked up my orders with minimal fuss, even in noisy environments, allowing me to go hands-free whenever I pleased.

GoPro HERO5 Action Camera – Black, 4K

£134.99

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GoPro Hero 5 Black review: Image and video quality

On the inside, there isnt all that much that distinguishes the Hero 5 from its predecessor. It still has a 1/2.3in CMOS sensor, and it can still only record 4K video at 30fps. Higher frame rates are available at lower resolutions, and here you get 2.7K, 1,440p, 1,080p, 960p, 720p and 480p options. Dropping the resolution down can increase the framerate up to a max of 240fps, too, allowing for some super slow-motion footage.

Its newest feature, and something that stands out from the rest of the GoPro range, is its electronic image stabilisation (EIS). This digitally stabilises your footage once it hits the Hero 5 Blacks image processing chip, helping to smooth out any unwanted camera shake. The EIS functions reasonably well for the most part, and you can see the benefits in my test footage below. Just bear in mind that it crops 10% of the image to help combat camera movement when EIS is turned on, though.

Video quality at 4K resolution is wonderful, with fantastic levels of detail keeping noise levels to a minimum. As was the case with last years Hero 4, colour saturation is a tad muted, but this was admittedly during some pretty cloudy weather conditions. Its still a decent performer in low-light conditions, too, even if noise levels are a tad more commonplace.

In terms of stills, its 12-megapixel lens does a great job of producing clear and crisp images with wonderfully vibrant colours and very little noise. Again, some of the low-light shots of our still life arrangement are a little fuzzy, especially around the bear, for instance, but the overall shots arent glaringly bad and auto exposure levels are on point. Now that we can finally capture images in RAW, image editing is made so much easier, too.

On the audio front, weve got three in-built microphones this time around, compared to last years mono mic. Sound quality has never really been GoPros strong suit, especially with a waterproof case surrounding it, but the Hero 5 Black really raises the bar. A wider soundscape is picked up, which coupled with the in-built wind reduction makes for far clearer sound than the action camera it supersedes.

The only mildly disappointing thing about the Hero 5 Black is that its battery life is nigh on identical to its predecessors. Heavy stop/start use netted me around 1hr 45min on a single charge. More conservative use and whacking the screen brightness down to a minimum might see you squeeze a bit more juice out of it, of course, but I was hoping for more of an improvement. The battery is replaceable, though, so you can always carry around spares if youre planning to embark on a long adventure.

GoPro HERO5 Action Camera – Black, 4K

£134.99

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GoPro Hero5 Action Camera 12 Megapixel Black/Grey

£182.00

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GoPro Hero 5 Black review: Verdict

Its not quite perfect, but when the GoPro Hero 5 Black takes all the fancy features from its other models and crams it into a single device, its by far the most well-rounded action camera money can buy right now. Its also a Brexit-beater, too. Weve seen a lot of 2016 pieces of tech fall foul of price hikes thanks to Brexit, but GoPro hasnt followed suit, with the Hero 5 Black costing £339 – £20 less than what last years model went for at launch.

That said, when you can now pick up a new Hero 4 for around £300 these days, the biggest question is whether you think the added waterproofing, electronic image stabilisation, RAW capture and touchscreen features are really worth the added £50.

If youve already got a Hero 4, Id stick with it for the time being, but if youre looking for your first action camera crammed with all the bells and whistles youll need for your travels, the GoPro Hero 5 Black is a must buy.

Written by

Tom Bruce

After joining Expert Reviews back in 2018, Tom Bruce has been on a quest to review increasingly larger products ever since. It began with smartphones, then it was laptops and it ended with TVs. Prior to joining the Expert Reviews team, Tom was a manager at the independent movie house, the Lexi Cinema in Kensal Rise.

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Reviewed By

Nathan Spendelow

Deputy editor at Expert Reviews, Nathan joined the website back in 2016. Kicking off his journalism career as a laptop reviewer, he swiftly became Expert Reviews' smartphone expert, testing and reviewing hundreds of handsets over the years. Nathan is an NCTJ-accredited journalist and regularly attends key industry events and product launches around the world, including the MWC and IFA trade shows.

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