GoPro Mission 1 Pro

You don't need the Mission 1 Pro to make great videos. Go look at GoPro Creative Director Abe Kislevitz's YouTube channel, especially this video, which was shot years ago on a GoPro 9, and is leaps and bounds better than what most of us are going to make with a Mission 1 Pro. What you need to make better videos are skills that come from practice, not new cameras.

The GoPro Mission 1 Pro is designed, spec'd and priced at pros. It shoots beautiful footage, effortlessly stabilized. The internal audio is surprisingly good, and battery life is best-in-class by a strong margin. But what sets this camera apart is the flexibility it gives to professionals and hardcore content creators, letting them tailor shooting to their workflow and/or client needs. It's super pricey, but that won't be too much of an issue for its target market.

At the end of the MISSION 1 PRO test, this camera has impressed me. GoPro needed to do something significant. DJI and Insta360 have been pushing hard on quality, features and usability, and that competition for the top spot is now more real than ever. The DJI Action line is formidable, and while DJI is a technology company and GoPro is more focused on imaging, the pressure has clearly forced GoPro to rethink its next major step.

However, there are some tradeoffs with a large sensor. The biggest is size and weight as the Mission 1 Pro is thicker and heavier than the GoPro Hero 13. It's also $270 more than that model and its competition. After testing the Mission 1 Pro, though, I believe that the higher quality will easily be worth the extra cash for certain action shooters.

The GoPro Mission 1 Pro is a more premium action camera than previous GoPros, with 8K/60p recording capabilities and better low-light performance thanks to its new sensor. Those capabilities notwithstanding, I fell in love with it as an easy-to-use point-and-shoot video camera that feels perfect for taking on any excursion you want to capture — I just wish it was cheaper.