As the name suggests, the Hero 11 Black Mini is a smaller version of GoPro’s latest top-end action camera. Right now it’s seeing a 42 percent discount at GoPro’s website when you bundle it with a GoPro subscription. By itself, the camera goes for $400, but when you add the $50 yearly subscription, GoPro will knock $150 off the price. As part of GoPro’s holiday sale, when you add the camera to your cart, you’ll see an additional 15 percent discount. That brings the total for the camera plus the subscription down to $262.50. Not bad considering the Hero 11 Mini by itself is going for $400 right now at Amazon.
We did a hands-on with the Mini when it came out this November and were impressed by what it can do. True, it only has a small status-only display instead of a touchscreen, there’s no photo mode and the unit did get a bit hot shooting in 5.3K at 60fps indoors. That said, you can control the Mini via the app on your phone, you can pull stills from video to get around the no-photo-mode limitation and the overheating disappears when shooting at lower definitions.
Limitations aside, where the camera excels is as a helmet- or body-mounted action cam, or as a secondary shot-getter. It has a second pair of mounting fingers that make it easier to face the camera forward and it includes many of the features — like horizon lock and Hyperview mode — that make its larger sibling so capable. Battery-wise, we got about a hour of continuous recording at the highest quality and almost two hours recording at lower definitions.
It’s worth noting that the larger camera, the Hero 11 Black is also $150 off with a GoPro subscription and is also getting that extra 15 percent off at checkout. If you decide you do want a screen, this is a good time to grab the bigger version.
As for the subscription, it’s a $50-per-year service that gets you unlimited cloud storage and automatic uploads when the camera is plugged in. It also grants you a camera replacement should you smash yours in service of getting a particularly good shot. The subscription also gets you up to 50 percent off at GoPro.com, and could theoretically pay for itself if you plan on buying a lot of accessories.
You can always cancel the service before you’re charged again next year, so there’s little reason not to go for the $150 off. The extra 15 percent discount means it’s the lowest price we’ve seen the Mini yet, making today a good one to add another GoPro camera to your collection — or get that collection started in the first place.
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