Technologies

Best Road Trip Camera Gear

Want to document your next road trip? Here’s the gear we recommend.

Whether you’re planning a once-in-a-lifetime experience, an epic road trip across the United States, or just a quiet weekend getaway, you’ll want the best camera to document your adventure. The right camera can elevate your photos and videos with higher quality, amazing slow-motion footage and, most especially, rugged waterproofing so your phone stays safely in your pocket. You don’t need to spend a fortune on high-end cameras either. Often a GoPro can do the trick.

I travel a lot, and I’ll be the first to admit I bring more camera gear than I need to. However, there are only a few I used all the time, and those are what I recommend here. One of them will probably be all you need for your next road trip.

Óscar Gutiérrez/CNET

GoPro Hero 10 Black

Still the best action camera overall

You can’t go wrong with a GoPro. They have excellent image quality, are quite rugged and their app is pretty solid in letting you edit your photos and footage to look its best. The main reason I’m recommending the Hero 10 over one of the less expensive options is because of the Max Lens Mod. This lens swaps in and records an even wider angle of view. Plus, it improves the already excellent stabilization.

I’ve been using it not only to capture scenic vistas, but also as a dash camera, as you can see in the video below.

The newer GoPro Hero 11 has a few improvements, but for most people the Hero 10 will look pretty much the same and will save you some money.

Read our GoPro Hero 10 Black review.

$399 at Amazon

$379 at Walmart

$400 at Best Buy

You’re receiving price alerts for GoPro Hero10 Black

Insta360

Insta360 One X3

Best 360 camera

I’ve used 360 cameras for years. They’ve come a long way. This is the first I’d consider using without a backup action camera. 360 cameras capture everything in a sphere around the camera. Later, with the app, you can pick and choose what to show and how. So basically you record everything, and then crop to show just the interesting parts.

One of the coolest tricks a 360 camera can do is automatically remove the selfie stick, so it looks like you have a drone following you. For more, check out:

Insta360 X3 Action Cam Uses 5.7K 360 Video, AI Smarts to Get All the Social Shots.

$450 at Best Buy

$450 at Apple

$450 at Amazon

You’re receiving price alerts for Insta360 One X3

Insta360 Go 2

Best tiny camera

This is a unique and tiny action camera that I’ve been using a lot. It’s not really a main camera, but definitely an excellent secondary camera. It’s about the size of your thumb — and magnetic. You can hang it on your shirt while wearing an included magnetic pendant, or attach it to anything metal, or use one of the myriad clever mounts. The case that recharges and controls the camera even has a built-in tripod. The footage is wonderfully stabilized and looks far better than you’d expect for something so small.

Because of its size, it can record perspectives other cameras can’t, like the model train POV in the video below.

Read our Insta360 Go 2 review.

$300 at Apple

$289 at Amazon

Get Price Alerts

You’re receiving price alerts for Insta360 Go 2

Josh Goldman/CNET

GoPro Hero 11 Black

Ultimate action camera

For most people the GoPro Hero 10 Black is all the action camera they’ll need. If you don’t mind spending a bit more, the newer Hero 11 improves on the 10 in a few minor ways. For one, there’s a new image sensor. The primary difference is it’s more square. So if you often post vertical content for, say, TikTok or Instagram, but still want to be able to post standard horizontal content to YouTube, this allows you to more easily do both without a significant loss in quality.

You can read more about it here:

GoPro Hero 11 Black Hands-On: A Super-Sized Sensor Adds Value for Everyone.

$449 at Amazon

$423 at Walmart

$450 at Best Buy

You’re receiving price alerts for GoPro Hero 11 Black

DJI

DJI OM 5

Best gimbal

If you don’t want to invest in a new camera, or don’t want the bulk of one (fair), consider a gimbal. You can really improve the quality of your videos with a gimbal. They smooth out your hand’s movements while you’re walking around, and can do slick, professional-looking pans and tilts. They’re an absolute must-have if you’re primarily using your phone. I have the OM 3, but the 5 is the current model and is easier to connect to your phone.

Read our DJI OM 5 review.

$155 at Amazon

Get Price Alerts

You’re receiving price alerts for DJI OM 5

Sarah Tew/CNET

SanDisk 1TB Extreme Portable SSD

Portable hard drive

If you’re recording a lot of video, your camera and phone’s storage are going to fill up fast. Cloud storage is one option, but if you’re bringing a laptop, consider a tiny portable hard drive. I have one of these and they seem impossibly small for how much they can store. They’re also reasonably rugged.

Read our list of the best external hard drive and SSDs.

$130 at Amazon

$130 at Walmart

$130 at Best Buy

You’re receiving price alerts for SanDisk 1TB Extreme Portable SSD

Selfie stick

I don’t have a strong recommendation for this one, other than to say selfie sticks are great (when you’re not in crowds, that is) and you should find one you like. Even I, who has what one friend describes as «freakishly long arms,» find great use in a selfie stick. They let me capture photos and videos that would be impossible any other way, especially with a 360 camera that automatically deletes the stick from the final image or video.

I recommend getting one with tripod-mount screws on both ends, which gives you more options on what you can mount and how you can mount the stick itself. Similarly, make sure you get one that can hold all your cameras and phones.

See at Amazon

Camera remote

I find these to be super handy, though depending how you’re recording, it might not be. It’s a simple Bluetooth remote that lets you control when the camera starts and stops recording along with changing modes, settings, and so on. True, you can use the camera’s app on your phone instead, but I feel like I spend half my life trying to get cameras to connect to their apps, so sometimes a remote is easier. Sometimes the remote won’t connect either. It’s a hassle either way. Oh well.

See at Amazon

Tripods and other mounts

One last thing. Tripods and mounts. You probably don’t need a full-size tripod, few people do. A small bendable model can be super handy though, letting you mount the camera to just about anything and get a great shot with you in it. I’ve had good luck with Joby GorillaPods. I have an older version of this one.

Also check out suction-cup and dash mounts. I have a tiny dashboard and tiny windshield, so it was a lot harder to find something that worked. So what I’m using probably won’t work for you. Generally I’d recommend mounting the camera as high as possible, if you can, for a better view.

I’ll end with my favorite, an antenna mount. Unscrew your antenna and install this mount. When paired with a 360 camera, it lets you get an exciting and unique view of your adventure. I got one of these and put a selfie stick on top of it, plus a 360 camera, to get the drone-like footage of me and my car in Grand Teton National Park. How well this works is going to depend on your particular vehicle, however.

As well as covering TV and other display tech, Geoff does photo tours of cool museums and locations around the world, including nuclear submarines, massive aircraft carriers, medieval castles, epic 10,000-mile road trips, and more. Check out Tech Treks for all his tours and adventures.

He wrote a bestselling sci-fi novel about city-size submarines and a sequel. You can follow his adventures on Instagram and his YouTube channel.

Technologies

Apple Launches Creator Studio Package as $13 a Month Subscription

Mac users can still buy the apps individually, but subscribers get access to Final Cut Pro and other Studio tools.

Apple is bundling its pro filmmaking and audio tools including Final Cut Pro with its productivity apps Keynote, Pages and Numbers into a subscription software suite called Apple Creator Studio.

The package, which includes apps for Mac, iPad and iPhone, includes Logic Pro, Pixelmator Pro, Motion, Compressor, MainStage and the whiteboard app Freeform. Creator Studio will be available starting Jan. 28 at a cost of $13 per month or $129 per year, or $3 per month or $30 per year for students and educators. Mac users will still have the option to purchase software like Final Cut Pro for a one-time free. The current price for Final Cut Pro in the Mac App Store is $300.

While apps such as Keynote and Pages are already free on Apple platforms, it appears that new versions of those apps will receive access to beta features that will roll out first to Creator Studio subscribers. The announcement by Apple alludes to «new AI features and premium content» in some of the apps it otherwise makes available to use for free.

What the Creator Studio bundle comes with

The star of the show in Creator Studio is Final Cut Pro, the video editing software that will now include Transcript Search on both Mac and iPad. There is also a new Beat Detection feature Apple says uses an AI model to analyze a music track and display a beat grid, making it easier to cut video to music rhythms. The software also will include a new Montage Maker on iPad for quick social video creation.

Motion, the 2D and 3D graphics tool, and Compressor also integrate with Final Cut Pro. Apple touted Motion’s Magnetic Mask feature for isolating objects or people without the need for a green screen.

Logic Pro has new features for musicians, including a Synth Player addition to AI Session Players. Chord ID, a new AI feature, can create chord progressions from audio or MIDI recordings. A new Sound Library will have hundreds of royalty-free clips, samples and loops.

A revamped MainStage app gives subscribers access to instrument, voice-professing and guitar rig tools. Pixelmator Pro arrives with new tools and filters, and there will be an iPad version in addition to the Mac tool.

Freeform in the Creator Studio package will add premium content, including curated photos, graphics and illustrations. It will also get new AI features that include image creation.

Technologies

Reddit Outage Resolved: Here’s What Happened

Did you have trouble reading your favorite subreddits today? You weren’t alone.

If you had trouble accessing the news and discussion forum Reddit on Tuesday, you weren’t the only one. However, as of 10:15 a.m. PT, the site appears to be back up and running normally. Reddit’s status monitoring page, RedditStatus.com, notes that «all systems (are) operational» after the brief outage.

But earlier, at 9:30 a.m. PT, RedditStatus.com said the company was «investigating elevated errors across reddit.com and native apps.» RedditStatus.com reported degraded site performance for both desktop web use and native mobile apps.

Earlier on Tuesday, the site-monitoring service DownDetector also reported issues at Reddit, providing additional details. At one point on Tuesday, DownDetector received over 100,000 reports that the site was having problems. At 10:25 am PT, the report numbers fell to under 600. (Disclosure: Downdetector is owned by the same parent company as CNET, Ziff Davis.)

Don’t miss any of our unbiased tech content and lab-based reviews. Add CNET as a preferred Google source.

«Reddit is currently experiencing a significant internal outage causing widespread service disruptions,» the site said earlier Tuesday. «The impact is categorized as Very High, primarily affecting mobile app access (55%) and website connectivity (39%). While reports are heavily concentrated in major hubs like New York City and Chicago, the lack of ISP correlation suggests a broad, nationwide issue stemming from Reddit’s internal servers rather than external network providers.»

A representative for Reddit did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Another social media site, X, formerly Twitter, also showed problems on Tuesday, according to DownDetector. Those problems seemed to spike around 6:30 a.m. PT and improve after.

Technologies

This 3-in-1 Charger Is a Must-Have for Travelers, and It Just Hit a Record-Low of $95

Snag it for $45 off and charge your iPhone, AirPods and Apple Watch at the same time.

If you’re a frequent traveler, then you know that outlets are a precious commodity in places like airports and coffee shops. So why waste one on a single device when you can charge up to three at once? Right now, you can grab this seriously sleek Ugreen Magflow three-in-one foldable charger for just $95 at Amazon. That’s a $45 discount and the all-time lowest price we’ve seen. Just don’t wait too long, as this deal could expire at any time.

At just 7.4 ounces, this compact charging station is designed to be taken on the go. But despite its size, it still supports 25-watt MagSafe charging for iPhones, as well as 5-watt wireless charging for AirPods and Apple Watches. The charging stand also tilts up to double as a stand, and it’s equipped with 16 magnets to keep your phone aligned and securely in place. Plus, it’s got built-in protections against overheating, overcharging, short-circuiting and more to prevent damage to your devices.

Why this deal matters

This folding Ugreen charger is great for juicing up your devices on the go, and it’s never been more affordable. Plus, Ugreen makes some of the best MagSafe chargers on the market right now, so don’t miss your chance to grab one at a record-low price.