When GoPro introduced the brand new Hero 11 Black earlier this 12 months, it additionally introduced a model new digicam as effectively: the GoPro Hero 11 Mini. Its launch was barely delayed nevertheless it’s now lastly transport. Sadly, its existence makes shopping for a GoPro extra sophisticated than it was.
The GoPro Hero 11 Mini is actually a set of compromises to avoid wasting dimension and weight over the full-size GoPro. For the correct of person, these compromises will probably be effectively definitely worth the financial savings in weight, dimension, and value. For many of us although, the Hero 11 Black stays the GoPro to get.
GoPro Shrinkage
The Hero 11 Mini is 13 % smaller than the Hero 11 Black. That doesn’t sound like an entire lot, and in some methods, it isn’t, however for conditions the place wind resistance and drag are elements—in your motorbike helmet, for instance—it’s a large enough deal that any dimension discount helps.
The Mini is technically about 4 mm thicker however the identical peak because the full-size Hero 11. The place it is smaller is the width, which is 20 mm lower than the full-size digicam. To save lots of that house, GoPro removed all of the screens on the Mini. This has the distinct benefit of creating the Mini extra rugged. The massive screens on the Hero 11 Black are essentially the most weak factors, and many of the destroyed GoPros I’ve seen normally have cracked screens or lenses. The Mini eliminates no less than the opportunity of this occurring. There’s technically a tiny LCD on high of the digicam to point out you issues like the present capturing mode, however to border your pictures and delve into settings, the Mini requires the GoPro Quik app.
{Photograph}: GoPro
Till the Mini arrived, I’ll confess I had by no means actually used the Quik app to arrange my GoPro. Even the pictures the place I’m not going to be monitoring them continuously—like after I’ve strapped the Hero 11 to the entrance of my paddleboard or surfboard—I nonetheless arrange every little thing utilizing the rear display.
The app works superb, and the transition from display to app is simple—the app is generally the identical menus as you get with the display interface, with one notable exception. At first, I assumed the Mini didn’t help Timelapse mode as a result of it’s not a menu merchandise within the Quik app. Within the interface for the Black, there are three capturing modes: Video, Timelapse, and Picture. However within the Quik interface for the Mini, there is just one button: Video. It’s whenever you click on to alter your video settings that you just’ll additionally discover Timelapse, together with all different particular modes like Star Trails, Mild Portray, and so forth.
Transferring Timelapse mode didn’t hassle me that a lot as soon as I figured it out, however what it means is you can’t save presets right here in the primary menu like you’ll be able to within the Black. That makes switching video modes troublesome. You both need to do it on the digicam, which is a tedious course of with the single-line LCD display, or you need to pull out the app, which truthfully, can be tedious. The message right here is that if incessantly altering capturing modes is part of your workflow, the Mini is just not for you. That mentioned, this looks like a flaw that would simply be solved by a software program or firmware replace.
Discussion about this post