GoPro Max: Price, specs, release date and more

GoPro Max price, specs and features: All the facts about GoPro’s next-gen, dual lens action camera

The GoPro Max is now official and available for pre-order right now – but what exactly can it do and why might you want one over the new GoPro Hero 8 Black?

Like a cross between a Hero action cam and the 360-degree GoPro Fusion, the dual-lens GoPro Max is an exciting camera that combines the benefits of 360 Capture – for example, choosing in the edit where the camera is pointing, after the fact – with some powerful stabilisation and audio features.

Interested? Here’s everything you need to know about the Max including price, specs and when you can expect to get hold of the camera.

Related: GoPro Hero 8 Black review

 

The GoPro Max at a glance

• The GoPro Max is available to preorder now, with shipments starting on October 24 2019
• It is priced at £479.99, which is £100 more than the new Hero 8 Black
• It’s the spiritual successor to 2017’s GoPro Fusion
• The camera comes with Hero features and 360-degree capture
• The GoPro Max has a built-in display and claims to have shotgun-mic audio performance

The GoPro Max is the most impressive (and priciest) of GoPro’s new 2019 lineup. It’s been released alongside the GoPro Hero 8 Black and three new Mods, although you won’t need these with the GoPro Max thanks to its built-in display and high quality audio.

Related: GoPro Max Review

GoPro Max price – How much does the new 360-degree GoPro cost?

The GoPro Max has been priced at £479.99 in the UK. While that’s £100 more than the GoPro Hero 8 Black, it does seem to represent decent value for money considering its features list and that the Fusion, which it effectively replaces, cost £699 when it first launched.

The Max effectively has two of GoPro’s new Mods – the Display Mod (£79.99) and Media Mod (£79.99) – built into its body. It also has superior versions of HyperSmooth stabilisation and TimeWarp, thanks to the added buffer two lenses gives you, plus the ruggedness of five-metre waterproofing.

GoPro Max release date – When is the GoPro Max available to buy?

The GoPro Max is available for pre-order right now, with shipping apparently starting on October 24 2019.

That’s a little earlier than we expected, given we haven’t yet seen one in the flesh and the fact that GoPro’s Mods have been delayed until late 2020.

If you’d rather meet it in person before splashing out the best part of £500, you’ll also be able to pick up a GoPro Max from select retailers from October 24 2019 internationally, or October 25 2019 in the US.

GoPro Max design and display – What physical features does it have?

The GoPro Max is rugged and waterproof, if not quite as hardy as the Hero 8 Black – it’ll be able to plunge down to five metres with its protective lenses snapped on, compared to its sibling’s ten-metres limit. Still, that should be more than enough for most situations.

The action camera is built with folding mounting fingers and four digital lenses, including Max SuperView – GoPro’s widest field of view yet. 

The Max also features a display, eliminating the need to splash out on the £79.99 Display Mod, while the shotgun-mic apparently gives the camera Media Mod-style audio quality without the need to grab external accessories.

GoPro Max specs and features – What video can it shoot and what modes does it have?

GoPro claims that the Max is like three cameras in one – a standard, single lens Hero, a dual-lens 360 camera and a vlogging cam, thanks to that front display.

It’s certainly got some pretty formidable shooting power, on paper. On 360 duty, it can capture 5.6K/30p footage – this then allows you to use the Reframe feature in the GoPro app to turn your 360-degree footage into a traditional video.

If you’d rather just capture standard, ‘flat’ videos, it can also shoot 1440/30p and 1080/60p, which means it falls short of the Hero 8 Black’s 4K/60p video.

Still, it does also bring super-powered versions of that camera’s main skills, including Max HyperSmooth (which is even smoother stabilisation, rather than a new Marvel character) and Max TimeWarp, which works in both 360 and Hero modes.

Talking of which, this GoPro Fusion successor shares that camera’s 360 Capture feature, letting you switch between two modes – Hero and 360. This means you can pick between immersive 360 footage and the more traditional Hero-style photo and video, depending on what mood you’re in or whether you really need those Reframe powers to change the camera’s view when you’re back home editing.

Audio settings differ from mode to mode. The 360 mode features six mics to capture realistic 360 audio and, apparently, the best stereo sound from any GoPro so far. In Hero mode, directional audio allows you to prioritise sound from one side of the camera or the other,  again making the camera a potentially valuable tool for vlogging.

In Hero mode, you can take advantage of in-camera horizon levelling (a feature that you can only get in the app when using the GoPro Hero 8 Black). The GoPro Max also features scene detection settings, 13 voice commands in 15 different languages and is GPS-enabled, meaning the camera can detect your location, altitude and speed and attach that info to your footage with stickers.

Finishing off its features list, the GoPro Max can also shoot 6.2MP PowerPano photos, which let you snap 270-degree panoramic photos without the need to physically follow the horizon, and livestream 1080p video.

GoPro Max – Early verdict

There’s no doubt that, on paper, the GoPro Max is the most exciting action camera of its 2019 lineup. In fact, it makes the GoPro Hero 8 Black look pretty stale and ancient by comparison.

That said, the problem with its predecessor, the GoPro Fusion, was more to do with its usability than any holes in its specs sheet. This is something that cameras like the slightly cheaper Insta360 One have addressed in the meantime, so the Max’s app experience – which is crucial for 360 cameras – will need to be a lot more polished than before.

If it can address that, it could potentially end up being our favourite new action camera, ahead of more traditional models like the Hero 8 Black and DJI Osmo Action. We’ll bring your our final verdict in our full review very soon before it hits the shelves on 24 October 2019.