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Offering impressive stabilization paired with vibrant, detailed 5.3K resolution video, the Hero9 delivers the best balance between cost and capability.

GoPro has long been the standard for action cameras, and the GoPro Hero9 Black is the best option for most people. It takes everything we liked about its predecessor, the Hero8 Black (our current budget pick), and improves on it, offering remarkably smooth, ultra-high-resolution videos, impressive image quality, and sharp photos, all in a rugged, easy-to-use body. The battery life is also improved over older models, and as usual there are endless accessories to help you fit the camera into any of your favorite activities. Ultimately, while it’s not the newest or flashiest GoPro, the Hero9 hits a sweet spot of price, performance, and features.

The Hero9 has a maximum video resolution of 5.3K at 30 fps. This is 5120×2880 pixels—well above the 4K resolution used by most action cameras and televisions, which is 3840×2160 pixels. There’s also 4K 60 Hz for smoother yet still high-res footage and 1080p240 for ultrasmooth slow motion. The Hero9’s maximum bit rate, an important factor that determines how good the video looks, is a healthy 100 Mbps even for 5.3K videos. This meets or exceeds what the vast majority of its competition can record. Still images are higher res than those you’d get out of the Hero8 Black as well, bumped up to 20 megapixels (or 5184×3888) from that camera’s 12 megapixels, and roughly matching the still resolution you’d get from our also-great pick.

What’s the point of 5.3K resolution? The first and most obvious reason to capture more pixels is to record extra detail, which you can benefit from even when viewing your video on 4K or lower-end TVs and smartphones. Simply put, videos of your adventures will look extra sharp. Second, it allows you to crop into the image during recording or editing—a mild zoom, if you will—to better frame the action. You could do this with earlier GoPros and other 4K cameras, of course, but the extra pixels of the Hero9 give you more room to zoom or crop without ruining the picture quality by making the image look soft or overly pixelated. Last, the extra pixels help with stabilization processing, one of the Hero9’s most impressive features.

The large touchscreen on the Hero9 offers easy access to all the camera's functions. Photo: Rozette Rago

GoPro calls the Hero9’s stabilization HyperSmooth 3.0, and it’s noticeably better than the already impressive 2.0 on the Hero8. Walking and running produce almost no camera shake. It’s not quite like the camera is on rails, but it’s very close. There’s even in-camera horizon leveling, which removes sway and rotation from video of more sprightly activities like snowboarding, surfing, extreme mountain biking, and so on. The optional Max Lens mod, which widens the already-wide 121-degree maximum horizontal field of view to a max of 140 degrees, goes one step further: You can actually rotate the camera fully, upside down and back again, and the horizon stays level. This is something 360 cameras have been able to do for a while, but it’s a new feature among traditional action cameras.

Hyperlapses—automatic, stabilized time-lapse movies—are a showcase feature for most action cameras. The Hero9 Black’s TimeWarp 3.0 adds a trick that should help you make even more interesting videos. With a tap on the screen, you can smoothly slow down the video to real time (that is, “normal” speed) and record audio, whenever you want. It’s very slick and professional looking. You could, for example, have a hyperlapse walking around a city, tap the screen to record in real time, talk to the camera for a moment, and then speed back up.

The Hero9 Black’s user interface is largely similar to that of previous GoPros, and that of the newer Hero10—you swipe from the edges of the screen to open different menus and tap the screen to bring up quick shooting settings. You can tweak these presets—switching the Cinematic 5K/30/Wide mode to 4K/60/Linear, for instance—or add your own. It’s a welcome addition for switching between shooting modes: Instead of requiring four or five taps of the screen, as on the Hero7 Black and earlier GoPros, it takes just two.

The Hero9 has a much larger battery than previous GoPros, offering longer recording times. Photo: Rozette Rago

The Hero9 also has a slightly different body compared with previous GoPros, and the same as the Hero10. While it looks similar, it’s slightly larger in all dimensions. The biggest change is a front-facing, full-color screen. This may seem minor, but it makes it much easier to line up your selfie shots. The lens cover is also removable, in case you scratch it or want to install the aforementioned Max Lens mod. The folding mounting bracket, one of our favorite features from the Hero8, is thankfully still here. Like other GoPros, the Hero9 is waterproof down to 33 feet (or 10 meters) without a housing.

Part of this larger size is to hold a larger battery—1,720 mAh, up from 1,220 mAh. GoPro claims this results in 30% longer recording times. During our battery tests, which involved recording video until the battery ran out, 30% seems about right compared with the Hero8. Performance was similar with the Hero10, which uses the same battery as the 9.

Though we assume most people are using action cameras primarily for video, these cameras also take photos. The quality of photos we shot with the Hero9 are roughly similar to what you’d get from a decent smartphone. The SuperPhoto mode, which blends multiple exposures, offers very good dynamic range. In most situations, the Hero9 will produce images that look great on social media, outdone by only a “real” camera, had you been able to bring one with you on your adventure. The images are higher resolution compared with previous GoPro pics, but in terms of color and contrast, there isn’t as much difference as there is with video. The Hero10’s still images have slightly higher resolution, though the difference isn’t as noticeable as that between the Hero8 and Hero9.

GoPro’s smartphone app, Quik (Android and iOS), does a good job of letting you control your camera and adjust your captured footage. It’s as good as or better than apps from other action cameras, though not as good as Insta360’s. Trimming for length and cropping for framing, while handy, are available on most apps. The ability to adjust exposure, contrast, color, and more is less common—and very welcome here. You can also speed up and slow down your footage and save individual frames as high-resolution still images. It’s far easier to connect to your camera than most other apps.

It’s not perfect, of course. The Insta360’s app has more editing options, for instance, and for some of Quik’s more esoteric features you need to create a free account. The app can even automatically edit together your footage by adding music, titles, fades, and filters. Not all devices will be able to output this edited video at more than 1080p. Some will be able to output at 4K, but none will be able to output these app-edited videos at 5.3K. See the Flaws but not dealbreakers section below for more info.

The built-in bracket makes it easy to connect to a selfie stick or other mount. Photo: Rozette Rago

The Hero9 Black features voice control with a wide range of commands. It works well, even in pretty noisy environments, and recognizes several languages (plus a few regional dialects). Although voice control might not be something you have to use often, if you find yourself hang gliding over the Alps or white-knuckling it down a mountain bike descent, you’ll appreciate the ability to start recording without taking your hands off the handlebars. The Hero9 Black responds to voice commands better than the Insta360, and about the same as our previous top pick, the Hero8 Black, and our upgrade pick, the Hero10.

You can use the Hero9 as a webcam, but since no action camera is really good in low-light situations (not even the Insta360 One R with the 1-inch sensor module), don’t expect it to work miracles if your home office isn’t well lit.

GoPro’s competitive advantage extends to its system of mounts and other accessories (both first- and third-party options). You can find famously tough mounts for handlebars, roll bars, surfboards, helmets, tripods, cars, your chest, your head, and even your dog. Some specific Hero9 standouts are the Media Mod, the Max Lens Mod, and the Light Mod.

If you want cloud storage for your clips (plus a discount on your camera), you can subscribe to GoPro, a service formerly called GoPro Plus. For $5 per month or $50 per year, you get unlimited cloud storage, no-questions-asked camera replacement (twice a year), and 50% off accessories at GoPro.com.