GoPro - HERO11 Black Creator Edition Action Camera - Black

First, I am not paid or incentivized for this review at all. I usually don't write reviews. I am a Content Creator who believed all the hype about buying a GoPro and specifically the Creator Edition to start my YT Channel. I am writing this review because the dangers of this camera are real, it came very close to starting a fire on Thanksgiving on the Carnival Celebration, while it was in my bag and off! TLDR - Lots of issues CAMERA & BATTERY RUNS HOT - overheats, even with official GoPro batteries, and using their guidelines to turn almost everything off, which makes the camera almost unusable. HORRIBLE CUSTOMER SERVICE - Good luck getting to even file a claim - or even answer an email. Don't believe me? Try calling their 1-800 numbers listed on their site. Where to start? I was looking for a good camera to start filming for my YT channel. Something that wasn't my phone, because I didn't want to be interrupted by texts and calls while filming. I saw an ad for the Creator Edition Go Pro camera and read all these 5 star reviews (that are "incentivized" ) and bought into they hype. The ability to plug in my Rode Wireless Go Mics, light, the Volta, all sounded great! So I ordered it from Best Buy and picked it up! I watched the videos on the best accessories and bought them. I bought the Enduro Battery Charger with 2 Batteries when I bought the camera. I was good to go! And all was right in the world.. well, except, I couldn't figure out how to get the battery in, or the creator mod on, but some quick YT videos, I was up and running. I started having issues about 2 months in, which is also when I finally started using it a lot. Way past the Best Buy return date. It would start getting really hot while recording, and shut down. When I would start it back up, it would have a warning to only use "official GoPro Batteries" which I did. In fact, the one that almost started the fire is the one that came with the camera! This is well documented in my videos prior to the Thanksgiving incident. Many times the video cuts out and switches to my phone, because I was in the middle of filming and the camera overheated. For reference: I film in casinos, so always air conditioned, actually on the cool side, with my camera on my Volta, not sitting on a table or anything. I film short videos, typically 5-8 mins, longest is around 20 mins. I do film at 4k, but only 30 frames. Google GoPro Overheating - even on their official support forums, they give guidelines about turning off all screens, filming at lower resolution, turn off voice activation, basically anything you paid the extra money for to get a GoPro. Even as far as keeping it plugged in and not using the battery (so much for portability), putting a fan on it (try getting that sound out in post!). One poster said it best, "It's like spending the money on a Mercedes, only to be told you can't drive it for more than 10 mins at a time, and can't use the head lights and the windshield washers at the same time!" So fast forward to Thanksgiving 2023 day. My family and friends are on the Carnival Celebration for a Friendsgiving cruise, which I am also using to create content for my channel. We head out to the beach for the day, I take just my GoPro, no creator mod, volta, etc.. in case I want to get some video. I pull it out, use it for a couple short videos, turn it off, put it back in the case in my bag. We make our way back to the ship, we were on St Johns, so it's a ferry ride, cab ride, and then a walk back to the ship, eat some late lunch, hang out for a bit, then head back to our rooms to get ready for dinner. This is hours later, it has been in my bag, off, in the air conditioning. On a whim, I pull my camera out, instead of just leaving it in there for filming later. It's hot! Like REALLY Hot! I yank open the door, grab the little tab of the battery, and fling it on the floor and pull the memory card out. Oh, I forgot to mention that. When it overheats, sometimes when it restarts, it likes to reformat the battery and you can't stop it, so you lose all the footage you have. I know the drill, it's overheating, again. But, it was off this time. I put in one of the other batteries, I want to make sure the camera still works (at this point, I hadn't seen the bottom of the first battery or inside the camera). Doesn't work, try the other battery, doesn't work. It's at this point my husband smells the burning and we check the bottom of the first battery (see picture). Had I not pulled the camera out and left it in my bag for later filming, there is a quite real possibility that Thanksgiving would have been ruined for a lot of people. Fire is bad in general, but it's extra bad on a ship at sea. So, not only had this piece of equipment I brought with me almost caused a fire, I am also left without my main tool for work for the rest of the week. I have to wait until we get off the ship on Sunday to contact GoPro about this. Sunday, long travel day home, I try to use GoPro's customer support chat, but it just keeps telling me there are no agents available. Monday I have no chance to stop long enough to deal with it, so it's Tuesday morning when, first thing when they open, I contact the chat. I explain what happened, I get the usual "have you tried", etc.. I send pictures, get more "have you tried"... Finally get a "I am sending the information to our safety department, you should hear from them in 1-3 days." I ask if these is anything sooner, as I am a Content Creator and this camera is my main tool for my job, and I have another trip in less than 2 weeks. "Yes ma'am, I understand..." Automated message - Would you like a transcript of the chat emailed to you? - Yes - receive email, no transcript attached. I have it, because I downloaded it during the chat myself, I have delt with these kind of companies with off shore customer service too many times. But there is no service or case number anywhere, and is a "noreply" email. 2 days later, "Hello??" Any update? <crickets> On Friday, the 3rd day, I yet again contact chat first thing. Oh, safety just approved for them to contact me, magically, just them, when I contacted them. What incredible timing! I explain everything again, and the urgency. It's now 1 week until my next trip, I need this camera to do my job, and the response is, "well, you should have a back up." I kid you not, I bought a new top of the line camera and the company is telling me I should have bought a back up? Going back to the previous analogy, "So I should have bought a Toyota or Honda as a back up for my New Mercedes?" He's emailing me the shipping label so I can send back the camera and volta, when they receive it, their safety team will look it over (can take up to 5 business days) and then they will ship a new one out to me. I ask to speak to a supervisor. He assures me there is nothing more a supervisor can do for me than he has already outlined, but will have one contact me. 3 hours later I do get contacted by Alex by phone. He assures me that if I get it shipped out, and email him the UPS receipt showing it has shipped, they should be able to ship one back out to me sooner, so I can get it before I leave for my next work trip. Alex verifies with me several times that I need it by next Friday and the address I will be at until then. I pack everything up, and high tail it to the UPS store, where I get my receipt and email it back within an hour. This is Friday afternoon at this point, speed is of the essence, so I can receive my new one by next Friday. I never get a confirmation that he received me email, and it does just go to "support@gopro.com" I don't hear anything or receive any emails on Monday, so Tuesday I email Alex back asking for any update. Again, no response. Fast forward to Thursday, 5pm. I receive a response from Alex that they received my camera back the day before, and the team is checking it and he will let me know when they are done and ship my new one. Umm.. So Thursday night, the day before I leave, I find out that I won't have a camera for my work trip. Had he just emailed me even Monday or Tuesday and let me know this, I could have figured something else out. I am really unsatisfied with the performance and customer service. The camera has some great features, you just can't use them for very long.

Got to record video during trips and vlogging. Good choice for both use cases. Not sure how much better the new "enduro" batteries work compared to old ones as this is my first GoPro but feel like I will need to buy more to have on standby just to be safe. I got the content creator bundle with the media mod, a light, and a volta selfie stick. If you use the Volta when recording you exponentially increase your recoring time. But the Volta doesn't work in all cases so that was a limitation. I would highly recommend the camera though for its recorging quality, picture quality and portability.

Its nice and easy to use i like the quality of the go pro