The GoPro Hero 13 Black is an incremental upgrade, with GoPro opting for refinement over revolution. It's very similar to its predecessors with the focus clearly being on improving performance and expanding creative possibilities, without drastically changing the tried-and-true action camera formula.
With features like the new HB-Series lenses, which offer Ultra-Wide, Macro, and Anamorphic options for greater flexibility, Burst Slo-Mo mode which allows for ultra-high frame rate capture, HLG HDR compatibility and a bigger, longer-lasting battery, the GoPro Hero 13 Black is more versatile. However, while these updates have improved the overall experience, they haven’t necessarily solved long-standing issues, and some changes have come with significant trade-offs.
Despite this, the Hero 13 Black is still a solid choice for capturing high-quality action footage in a reliable and durable package. But, if you already own a Hero 12 or even a Hero 11, there isn’t a lot here that makes this a must-have.
Competition
Over time, GoPro has started to face a lot more competition in the action camera market. It no longer sits in the category on its own, now that there are some very competitive alternatives like the DJI Osmo Action 5 Pro and the Insta360 Ace Pro 8K.
Design
If you’ve ever used a GoPro before, you’ll be very familiar with the Hero 13 Black. It boasts the same durable design as its predecessors. Measuring 71.0mm (W) x 55.0mm (H) x 33.6mm (D) and weighing just 157g, it’s compact, light and easily transported. There’s a 2.27-inch rear touch display and a 1.4-inch front display. It’s waterproof up to 10m, and there’s a housing on the right side for the battery. It’s a winning formula that didn’t need changing.
On the bottom there are fold-down mounting fingers that will allow you to screw in old and new GoPro accessories, there’s also a ¼-inch thread for third-party accessories, which although not new, is a nice touch.
The Hero 13 Black is also compatible with the new Magnetic Latch Mount, which you’ll have to buy separately. This allows you to magnetically place the camera on your chosen mount and then quickly remove it. It’s compatible with all GoPro mounts and it makes taking the camera on and off quicker and easier, but I'm not convinced it solves a problem. The mount doesn’t attach to the camera, it attaches to the accessory, so if you want to quickly switch between different tripods or handles, you’ll need a Magnetic Latch Mount on each of those components.


Display
The displays remain unchanged, they’re both LCD screens with the larger one on the back being a touch screen for changing options and settings. It works well enough, but it can be a bit frustrating as it requires quite a firm touch to register an input. Don’t expect the responsiveness of a premium phone here.
The front screen is simple and effective, it allows you to see yourself when you’re filming so you can position it to suit.


Camera/Filming
Like the Hero 12 Black, the 13 supports a wide range of filming modes, resolutions, aspect ratios and frame rates, which you can find here. It’s a huge range of options, and the footage looks amazing, especially at high resolutions.
You can opt for two different control modes, Easy and Pro. Easy gives you limited control over the settings, so you don’t get lost in all the different possibilities, while Pro allows you to set the camera up exactly how you want. Navigating the system isn’t the easiest, it's a tad cumbersome but the good news is you can save custom presets, so you don’t have to constantly change settings every time you want a different type of shot.
Frustratingly, it can be difficult to tell which settings work together. When you consider there are five ‘digital lenses’, HyperView, SuperView, Wide, Linear, Linear + Horizon Lock/Leveling, each limited to specific frame rates, aspect ratios and resolutions, it can get confusing quite quickly and you will need to do some research to figure out compatibility between settings.
There’s a new filming mode called Burst-Slo Mo which allows you to capture short clips at very high frames for ultra slow-motion footage. You can film in 720p at 400fps and 900p at 360fps for up to 15 seconds, and 5.3k at 120fps for up to 5 seconds. The results are excellent.
The 13 Black also supports Hybrid Log-Gamma High Dynamic Range (HLG HDR). This is a video standard that allows you to capture richer colours and improved dynamic range. Essentially it can capture a wider colour gamut resulting in more vivid colours and it can capture more details in dark and bright areas while avoiding overexposure. To be fair, it's a bit tricky to see the differences when comparing it to the Hero 12 Black, however photo and video enthusiasts should be able to notice the improvements.
Of course, all the old features are here as well like Horizon lock where the camera keeps the horizon level, HyperSmooth stabilisation which keeps bumpy footage steady and a lot more. It all works just as well as it always has, and as usual you can get some truly great footage with the Hero 13 Black.
Lenses
A new introduction with the Hero 13 Black is the HB-Series lenses. Much like the older Max Lens Mod, these boast a twist-on design that are easy to attach. These are essentially specialised lenses that allow you to use the GoPro in more diverse shooting scenarios.
There’s an Ultra-Wide Lens Mod that expands the field of view to 177 degrees, allowing for more immersive and expansive shots, a Macro Lens Mod with a minimum focus distance of 11 cm, enabling detailed macro photography for closeup photos and videos, and an Anamorphic Lens Mod, which provides a 21:9 aspect ratio, delivering a cinematic widescreen effect.
The 13 Black will automatically detect these mods and will adjust the camera settings accordingly. It’s simple and easy for someone who might not be completely au fait with cameras and how they work.
There’s also an ND Filter 4-Pack which allows you to control exposure and motion blur in various lighting conditions. This allows you to get some more creative control of the shot.
In typical GoPro fashion, these mods will need to be purchased separately and they’re not exactly cheap, but they’re welcome additions as it’s nice to have options to expand the capabilities of the Hero 13 Black.
Quik App
One of my biggest pain points with GoPros is how difficult it can be to get my footage where I want it to go. Now, to be fair, I’m not an extreme sportsman or a stuntman so I don’t have truly specific use cases for the GoPro, however, with its brilliant filming capabilities and the new Burst Slo-Mo, I’d like to use it more often in normal circumstances. The problem is I find getting my footage onto my phone to quickly share, quite frustrating.
On my PC it’s not a problem, I just take the MicroSD card out and plug it into my computer, however if I take a short clip and want to send it to my family on Whatsapp or Messenger it’s a pain.
You have to pair the GoPro with your phone via Bluetooth or WiFi and then upload the footage to the Quik app. All pretty straightforward, however in my experience, it takes a long time to upload the footage. The Hero 13 Black supports WiFi 6 to make these transfers faster, however it still took a good 20 minutes to get a short video onto my phone, and that’s with very good 600Mbps internet upload speeds.
It’s also important to know you need to pay for the Quik app. To be fair it's a very good deal. For $50/year you get an array of editing tools, unlimited GoPro cloud storage, and 25GB for non-GoPro content, but it's an expense that I don’t have when just using my phone.
The Quik app does have other features like being able to control the device with your phone and it now has AI Highlight Sync which will detect key moments in your footage and sync them to music beats. The editing tools aren’t bad either, they don’t compete with a dedicated app like Premier Pro or CapCut but for making short videos without much hassle it's pretty good.


Battery
The Hero 13 Black uses the new 1900mAh Enduro Battery. This is bigger than the 1720mAh Enduro for the Hero 12 Black and offers around two and a half hours of continuous recording at 1080p 30fps. If you raise the resolution and the FPS the battery won’t last quite as long.
This is a nice addition, more battery is definitely welcome, as it means you can film longer without worrying quite as much, however to accommodate the new battery, the compartment has a new design, and this means older batteries won’t work in the Hero 13 Black.
I have four batteries for the Hero 12 Black and none of them are compatible with the 13 Black. Which is annoying. To add to my frustration, the battery charging dock I purchased isn’t compatible with the new battery either. It means I need to buy batteries and accessories again. Not ideal. You can of course charge the battery with a USB-C cable, plugged directly into the GoPro, but it’s quite slow and still doesn’t solve the issue of my now unusable extras I purchased.
Verdict
The GoPro Hero 13 Black brings some meaningful improvements, but they come with compromises that might frustrate long-time users.
The new Burst Slo-Mo mode is a fantastic addition, offering impressive slow-motion capabilities, and the HB-Series lenses add versatility, making it easier to capture more creative shots. However, these lenses are expensive extras, and the added cost of upgrading accessories doesn’t stop there. The new 1900mAh battery offers longer recording time, but it’s incompatible with previous GoPro batteries and chargers, forcing users to invest in new gear.
The Quik app, designed to simplify sharing, still feels like a bottleneck. Despite WiFi 6 support, transferring footage is slow and frustrating, making it easier to rely on manual microSD transfers. On top of that, unlocking the app’s full potential requires a $50/year subscription, which adds another layer of expense for features that many users may expect as standard.
Despite these issues, the Hero 13 Black remains a top-tier action camera. It’s durable, compact, and delivers outstanding footage across a wide range of shooting modes and resolutions. However, with strong competition from DJI and Insta360 offering compelling alternatives, GoPro’s incremental improvements might not be enough to keep all users loyal, especially with the additional costs required to get the most out of the camera.