While the GoPro is one of the best action cams out on the market right now, the battery life leaves something to be desired. However, here are some settings that you can optimize to squeeze out as much battery life as possible from your GoPro.
On average, GoPro batteries only last for about an hour and a half–even less if you’re recording in 4K with the Wi-Fi and LCD screen on. This makes it difficult if you’ll be out and about for more than a couple of hours and need to stretch the battery life.
Update the Firmware
While you likely have the latest firmware running on your GoPro, there’s always the chance that it’s not actually updated. Updating the firmware can not only fix any lingering issues you may have been having with your GoPro, but it can also increase the battery life, thanks to any small fixes that the company might have implemented.
You can update your GoPro by connecting the camera to your phone over Wi-Fi and using the GoPro app to update it. If you have an older GoPro model, you can download the firmware from GoPro’s website, transfer it to the memory card on your GoPro and run the firmware update from the camera.
Keep It Turned Off When Not Recording
This may seem pretty obvious, but when you have your GoPro turned on but not recording, it’s slowly eating down the battery and you could be using that juice to record awesome footage instead.
With that said, keep your GoPro turned off whenever you’re not recording in order to conserve battery life. You can even enable QuickCapture, which is a feature that enables the camera to automatically start recording when you power it on. It’s a feature that’s not only convenient, but can be a battery saver as well.
Turn Off Wi-Fi
Just like with your other gadgets, turning off the Wi-Fi to your GoPro can seriously boost the battery life and make it last longer. Granted, it won’t be a whole lot longer since the battery is already pretty small, but an extra 10-15 minutes is a nice chunk.
Again, this may seem like an obvious one, but there are times when you might not know that Wi-Fi is actually turned on. You can tell by the blue LED light on the front of the camera, but if you use a blackout housing, that light is completely blocked. Plus, the Wi-Fi button on the side is really easy to accidentally press.
Reduce the Recording Resolution or Frame Rate
The fewer pixels and frames that your GoPro has to record, the less energy it uses. So, try recording at a lower resolution or frame rate.
1080p at 60 frames per second is the gold standard for most GoPro action footage, but kick it down to 720p, or leave it at 1080p and set it to 30 frames per second (which is a more typical frame rate for video anyway) instead.
Obviously, if you’re recording something for a professional video or the like, you’ll want it at the best resolution possible, but if you’re just going to post it up on YouTube for friends to see, 720p is just fine in most cases–especially if it means you get more video in the end.
Keep the LCD Screen Turned Off
Newer GoPros that have a built-in LCD screen are great, as it makes it more convenient to not only see what you’re recording, but to also change around settings more quickly.
However, those screens use up a lot of juice, and if you need to conserve battery life, it’s probably best to keep the screen turned off and stick to the old-fashioned way of using the camera.
Get An Extended Battery Pack or Extra Batteries
If you really don’t want to compromise these features, but still want to get better battery life, your best option is to buy an extended battery pack that give you more juice. Unfortunately, these also add a little bit of bulk and weight to your setup.
If that’s not an option, then you can simply buy extra regular batteries that you can swap in and out whenever the battery runs low. You can also buy an external battery charger and charge up your extra batteries while you continue to record footage.
