GoPro’s Hero6 Is Still the King of Action Cameras

GoPro has been the leader on activity camera from the very showtime , and its make has attained a kind of Xerox - same omnipotence — despite the company ’s on-going struggle in late class . Amongst GoPro ’s job is the difficulty in create the improvements to its stock look like anything more than iterations . With its new Hero6 , GoPro has juiced its top camera ’s gumption to make it capable of some frankly incredible wearisome - mo action . Whether that ’s enough to make a departure , remains to be seen .

On the exterior , the GoPro Hero6 is selfsame to the Hero5 except for where the model number is faintly written on the side . That ’s not a bad thing asthe Hero5 was more often than not excellent . It ’s still waterproof to 33 foot without the need for a separate housing , it still has a very bright LCD touch screen on the back , and it still works with a gajillion mounts and accessories , include GoPro ’s own Karma Drone and Karma Grip gimbal .

On the inside of the camera sit GoPro ’s first proprietary central processor called the GP1 , and that little chip has effectively reduplicate the framerates the raw camera can capture , compare to the Hero5 . That means it can burgeon forth 4 K TV at 60 flesh per second and 1080p at 240fps . My final video are typically 24fps ( it looks more cinematic than 30fps ) , so that means you could slow 4 M video down to 40 - percent speed , and you could slow 1080p video down to 1/10th of real - time . 1080p240 is in spades the banner feature here as you could see in the 1080p footage comparison picture below :

All images: Brent Rose/Gizmodo

All images: Brent Rose/Gizmodo

Philosopher Dave Chappelleonce say , “ Everything expect well in dumb motion , ” and he was essentially right . Being able to inject 1080p at 120fps for five times the slow motion was really sweet-scented , but 240fps for ten clip the slo - mo is enrol a whole other realm . import that pass by in an flash are suddenly clearly preserved in a way that your eye can take account . weewee takes on a whole new life . When take in a razz vaporize aside you’re able to see each individual plumage flex and rotate as it flaps . It ’s just . So . Freaking . Cool . I found myself want to film all variety of thing that I unremarkably would n’t handle about ( hello , blowing bubbles submersed ) just to see what it looks like in obtuse motion .

GoPro Hero6

What is it ?

Argentina’s President Javier Milei (left) and Robert F. Kennedy Jr., holding a chainsaw in a photo posted to Kennedy’s X account on May 27. 2025.

A more expensive action camera with gorgeous slow motion .

Price

$ 500

William Duplessie

The deadening motion is mad , as is the dynamic range .

No Like

Starship Test 9

A couplet of irritating bugs and so so mic quality .

GoPro also blow its young electronic figure stabilisation as its best yet . The good news is that at 1080p it work exceedingly well . The ikon are politic , and while you lose a routine of the flying field of view ( it browse 10 percentage off the sides ) it does n’t appear to repress effigy character . regrettably , that ’s not the lawsuit for stabilise 4 K video . With 4 K , that 10 percent cost you , with images becoming noticeably more pissed and glitchy . It believably would n’t seem so spoilt except that Sony ’s X3000R Action Camera exists . That Sony is the only action cam that has optic image stabilisation , and hoo boy is it smooth ! Not only that , it does n’t have to crop the edges so there ’s zero quality passing or field of view loss at 4K. Overall , the Sony is n’t nearly as gentle to use as the Hero6 , and I experience a lot of hemipterous insect with it , as well as some pregnant image timbre emergence , which I speak in the test - footage video ( 1080p video recording above , 4 K television below ) .

On the 4 K side , the Hero6 looks great . When it first launched there were some yield with colors being massively oversaturated , and that was somewhat blinding in 4 K , but GoPro just push out a firmware update and now the colour look far more accurate but still have plenty of vibrance . The only other natural action tv camera that can shoot 4K60 is the Yi 4K+ , which , at $ 300 , is a full two asa dulcis tatty than the Hero6 , but man , you get what you pay for . Not only did the Yi consistently have the worst persona quality of the crowd but it was also a serious headache to apply , with constant card error ( despite using three different add-in ) and other microbe .

Lilo And Stitch 2025

Of the four cameras I was comparing I line up the Hero6 systematically had the best colour - balance with the exception of some low - light situations where the auto white - counterpoise turned everything green for some reason . Noise in down - luminosity is a problem as well , but it also offered the burnished figure of speech with the most item . It ’s a giveth / taketh aside kind of conundrum .

Another new addition to the Hero6 is 5GHz wi - fi which allows you to transfer footage to your phone three - meter faster than the Hero5 could . That ’s a welcome addition . GoPro ’s Quik app has a “ Quik Stories ” feature that is guess to leverage sensing element information and some new machine encyclopedism build into the GP1 chip , smash it together , and automatically create edits for you . This would be awe-inspiring if it worked ! Which it does n’t . Not only did Quik consistently fail to recognise the in effect moments from my clip , but it would on occasion ramp up my stories in reverse ordering , it does n’t turn over high anatomy - pace stroke into slo - mo , and sometimes it would n’t permit me get at my clips at all . It ’s a great idea that still needs a long ton of work .

Something to note is that when you switch to one of the more mainframe - intensive modes ( 4k60 , 2.7k120 , or 1080p240 , for instance ) the Hero6 records in the relatively new h.265 ( HEVC ) video codec . This new standard allows 4 K files to be 40 - per centum small-scale , purportedly without fall behind any quality . This seems to check out . While the Sony take at a high bitrate ( up to 100MB / sec ) in most scenario I found that item is more often than not better on the Hero6 , despite the modest file sizes . The downside is that not all computer or phones can view h.265 yet . Apple only just added supporting for HEVC in OS 10.13 High Sierra and iOS 11 ( though Adobe Premiere can handle it in other OS disco biscuit versions ) . It ’s just a fleck more of a pain to allot with .

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Audio quality is a bit of a conundrum . Because the Hero6 does n’t need a case the microphone have membrane in them that keep the water out but also mute the audio a bit . That means that when compared to the Sony or the Yi when they ’re out of their suit , the Hero6 sounds really bad . That suppose , when the Sony and Yi are in their waterproofed type you basically ca n’t see anything at all , and the Hero6 is the clear victor . In worldwide , I ’d say the Hero6 sounds groovy for action sports , but you believably are n’t going to want to memorialize interviews with it .

The Hero6 is also a still tv camera , of course . It can inject both altogether figure of speech and now HDR images , too . I found that the HDR shots incline to be a bit over - the - top . They seem almost surreal and often amount in oversaturated . In general , you ’re just off shooting in RAW and then tweaking the levels in Lightroom .

Those kick aside , I ’m extremely impressed with this camera . It has the best dynamic range of any action camera I ’ve used , preserving inside information in the shadows even when a matter is backlit . Images are very sharp , and colour are lively without looking like an acid - stumble through Candyland . And again , I just desire to scud everything in slow - motion because it looks so awing .

Photo: Jae C. Hong

The final stumbling block is the terms . The Hero6 come in at a cool $ 500 , which is a drag turn over the Hero5 launched at $ 400 and that ’s how much it still cost . For most people the Hero5 is drop dead to be all the tv camera you need . I ’ve been using it a ton for the last year and it ’s held up extremely well and its footage look alllllmost as good as the Hero6 . So , you have to ask yourself if that ace dulcet obtuse motion is deserving it to you . Personally , if I did n’t already have an action River Cam then yes , the additional 100 one dollar bill is deserving it to me . If I already had the Hero5 , though , I kinda doubt I ’d shell out for the upgrade . I ’d want to , but I do n’t suppose I could vindicate it .

The Sony X3000R get in at $ 400 and while it takes great footage in bright light source , I ’d belike only commend it to multitude for whom stabilisation is their absolute number - one most important factor . I really drop having a touch screen when using it , as its fare system is infuriating , and it ’s tougher to frame shots properly ( you have to use the app or the remote control - ascendance with screen , which is sold separately ) . Also , it struggles with active range which is pretty important for action at law content . The Yi 4K+ is only $ 300 , but I ca n’t recommend it to anybody due to its sub - par image quality and considerable bugginess . For the majority of people I ’d say get Hero6 . Unless you already have the Hero 5 . Then it ’s belike best to hold back .