Yes, the GoPro Hero 13 has GPS (and you can time laps with it)

Yes. The GoPro Hero 13 Black has built-in GPS, and it is good enough to time your laps. Hero 12 does not. That is the whole answer if you only came for the yes/no.

If you want the useful bit: how the chip works, how it stacks against older Heros, and how to turn a session into lap times without a MyChron on the seat, keep reading.

GoPro pulled GPS out of the Hero 12 for battery life. Plenty of racers upgraded and only found out when the telemetry vanished. The 13 puts the receiver back. Position, speed and altitude write into the video file at about ten fixes a second.

Hero 11 vs 12 vs 13 for racing GPS

Buying used for telemetry? Grab an 11 or 13. Skip the 12 for this job, even if the video looks great.

Turn a Hero 13 session into lap times · Full camera list · Start free

What GPS the Hero 13 actually has

Same generation of receiver as the Hero 11 (a u-blox multi-system chip). It can pull from more than one satellite constellation at once, which steadies the lock compared with older single-system cameras. Data rides in the file with the video. No separate logger for position and speed.

Ten readings a second is what lets software draw a corner instead of a few dots. For lap times, sector splits and a racing line on a club circuit, that is enough for most drivers.

How it compares to older Heros

Hero 9 needed firmware love before GPS settled. Hero 10 moved to 10 Hz with a steadier multi-satellite lock. Hero 11 improved the stream again. Hero 13 carries that forward. Hero 12 is the odd one out with no GPS module at all.

Is 10Hz good enough to race with?

For finding tenths and reading your line, yes. A dedicated logger at 25 Hz with RPM and temps is a different tool. Do not expect a Hero to replace a MyChron for engine work. Do expect it to tell you which corner is soft and which lap was real.

Bigger real-world factors than the sample rate: GPS switched on, outdoor lock before you roll, mount with a view of the sky.

Turning Hero 13 GPS into lap times

The camera only records the data. It will not print lap times on its own. Upload the original file to Race Ninja. We read the GPS track, find start/finish, split sectors, draw the line and add coaching notes. No extra box on the kart if you do not want one.

Time my Hero 13 session or read the full GoPro racing analysis walkthrough.

Rule the spec sheet will not shout: turn GPS on, wait for a solid lock outdoors, then hit record. Re-encoding the file in another app can strip the metadata. Upload the original when you can.

Frequently Asked Questions