Even Hero 7 Black owners might consider it an unnecessary upgrade, unless they need a front LCD for vlogging. Unless you need all of the latest features, you'll find its two predecessors offer better bang for the buck. Whether you’re big wave surfing or photographing wild animals, your camera has to be as tough as you without weighing you down. This doesn't make it the perfect vlogging camera, and alternatives like the Sony ZV-1 offer better quality, but if you need one that can survive outdoor adventures and sea dunkings, it's the best around.

Another important thing to note would be that the predecessor HERO8's battery is not compatible with the HERO9 Black. Even the 1080p recording has been improved with a boost to 240fps - excellent for maximizing those slow-motion shots. Naturally, the new color display comes with greater battery demands, which is partly why GoPro has inflated the Hero 9 Black's body size to squeeze in a new 1,720mAh battery. But if you tend to shoot most of your video away from action sports, there are better pocketable vlogging options, including the DJI Osmo Pocket and Sony ZV-1. This means if you want to shoot something motion-heavy, the 4K resolution option at 60 FPS should be more ideal for increased fluidity and clarity.While this does deliver a slight increase in detail over its predecessors, there isn't a major step up in the Hero 9 Black's stills photography. The Hero 9 Black's new features aren't collectively a big upgrade on its predecessor, which is compatible with most of the same Mod accessories and is a very solid performer. With mixed, intermittent use (shooting video, stills and time-lapses), our Hero 9 Black lasted around 4-5 hours. effectively just gives you Boost stabilization in those two higher resolutions and frame-rates, plus some handy horizon leveling that's previously only been available in the GoPro app. If you want to film your latest adventures in full 360-degree vision then the new GoPro Max is the action camera you've been looking for.

Finally, there's the Display Mod (available for both Hero 9 Black and Hero 8 Black) for those who want a larger front-facing screen the Hero 9 Black's 1.I've purchase two GoPros and stuff from John Lewis in the past but they seem to have dropped the brand. HyperSmooth stabilization remains the best you can get from an action camera, and the in-camera horizon leveling is a useful (if not entirely flawless) addition. Whether you're a newbie to the world of GoPro cameras or a seasoned pro, you'll find everything you need in our collection here at Very. Still, the latter is apparently going to be fixed by a November firmware update, and if GoPro can iron some of the Hero 9 Black's other minor kinks, it could yet become our number one action camera pick.

For even cheaper still (sometimes), you can sometimes pick up the Hero 7 Black - an older device, but one that still shoots 4K 60fps video, and was the first to feature GoPro's 'HyperSmooth' image stabilization.With the holidays rapidly approaching, December is one of the best times of year to score great offers on tech, so we’ve scoured the web for UK’s best GoPro deals. While the Hero 9 Black has lots of new features, it doesn't bring many major performance enhancements over the Hero 8 Black – or ones that will be hugely noticeable in your videos, anyway. You get all the same options as before – the option to shoot in Linear mode to correct wide-angle distortion, plus SuperPhoto for regaining some highlight detail.