Editors' Choice 2014: GoPro Hero3+ Black Edition

Every rube with a camera fancies himself the next Warren Miller. Too bad enthusiasm alone doesn’t make for watchable video. Well, a little zeal goes a long way with this new camera. “Shooting with the GoPro is so easy,” says our staff photographer, “if you don’t come home with killer footage, it’s because you didn’t do anything cool.”

The Hero3+ is small and tough enough to bring on any trip, but with the features and image quality that serious—even pro—moviemakers need. This latest version is 20 percent smaller than earlier models, but has a better battery life (up to two hours of run time, a 30 percent increase over previous versions), which has long been GoPro’s Achilles heel. New bells and whistles include a wide-angle video mode that captures larger, more immersive images and an auto-adjust light mode that improves low-light performance. 

With resolution options from 848×480 to 4K, you’ll bring home razor-sharp action, and it shoots up to 240 frames per second (depending on resolution), so you can wind that action down for dreamy slo-mo. But the sweetest part of all is GoPro’s unrivaled set of mounting options. Cool for backpackers: the VuVantage, an articulated, carbon-fiber arm (see page 112) we strapped to our packs for sweet over-the-shoulder shots in Jordan. See the footage yourself, online or on your iPad (below). $399; 5.3 oz. (with housing and bracket); gopro.com