Review of GoPro's new Hero5 Black and Hero5 Session cameras, which bring overdue improvements, and GoPro Plus, the $5/month cloud storage service
Recently, GoPro unveiled an entirely new product lineup. Not just the new Hero5 Black ($399) and Hero5 Session ($299), but also the Karma drone …
Context & Ripple Effects
This review lands two weeks after GoPro's September announcement of the foldable $799 Karma quadcopter and the October 2 debut of GoPro Plus, its $5/month sharing service — the Hero5 Black ($399) and Hero5 Session ($299) are the capture layer of that lineup. The verdict in the fuller Hero5 review coverage is that these are overdue improvements: voice controls, a touchscreen, and waterproofing on the Black, 4K on the smaller Session.
The catch reviewers flag is battery life, which matters more now that GoPro is selling a cloud subscription built around continuous footage upload.
First-order effects
- Buyers choosing between the $399 Hero5 Black and $299 Session get a real feature split — touchscreen and waterproofing versus size and 4K — but both models carry a battery-life penalty reviewers call out immediately.
- GoPro Plus gives new Hero5 owners a $5/month destination for their footage from day one, attaching a recurring fee to every camera sold.
Second-order effects
- With the Karma drone shipping October 23, GoPro can bundle camera, drone, and cloud into one ecosystem purchase, raising switching costs against any rival competing on camera specs alone.
- A subscription layer changes the sales math: each Hero5 unit is worth more over time if Plus attaches, giving GoPro room to hold hardware prices while competitors race on price.
Third-order effects
- The pattern holds across later generations — by the Hero7 Black review, native live streaming had arrived while battery life was still flagged as unimproved — suggesting GoPro's roadmap prioritizes connectivity and services features over raw endurance.
- If hardware-plus-subscription keeps working, action cameras consolidate around ecosystems where the camera is the entry point and cloud storage and sharing are the margin.
The trend: Action-camera competition is shifting from one-time hardware sales to hardware-plus-subscription ecosystems, with GoPro Plus as the template and the annual Hero refresh as the delivery vehicle.