Be a Hero – GoPro Hero 4

http://gopro.com
GoPro’s marketing machine is simply relentless. Everywhere you go these days, there seems to be another GoPro POV cam attached to some part of a paddler’s body and logging on to social media streams reveals a plethora of action shots taken with the popular cam. The brand have done a sterling job at getting these toys out to the masses and, with a wide choice of alternatives now available to choose from (see last issue’s Contour ROAM 3 and 4000 write ups), we were keen to see how the new GoPro Hero 4 stacked up.

One of GoPro’s USPs is its compact, light weight nature and easy to use interface. Many pretenders have copied the one touch menu solution but there’s something about the Hero 4 that makes it more satisfying to use. Scroll through the video and photo options until you find your desired setting. It’s then simply a case of hitting go before getting on with the SUP job in hand. With a plethora of mounts available (we use the K4 windsurf harness mount and FlyMount) you can angle the Hero 4 to shoot almost an infinite number of angles.

Although there’s the option of adding a backlit LCD screen, we were supplied this GoPro without and, while only a minor point, it was slightly annoying not being able to check back what shots/vid we’d captured. In fact, here lies the problem with all POV action cams – even those with LCD screens. Until you get your mini SD card back home and upload to your laptop or PC, there really is no way of assessing your footage or snaps. We appreciate the WiFi setting on higher end GoPro Hero 4 models, but we’d prefer to check out our shots first – after all, you want to display the best of you looking as rad as possible!

We can’t fault the quality of photographs or video footage though. Easily magazine quality, when you’ve nailed that banging shot it feels super satisfying – it’s just a chore having to sift through thousands of unusables first!

CONCLUSION
Tough, in its durable waterproof housing, GoPro have really hit the bulls eye with their POV waterproof action cams – you only need check the scores of imitations and alternative models, all spawned by GoPro’s phenomenal success. It’s not hard to see why the company are continuing their dominance. Super easy to switch setting and capture all that SUP action, with phenomenal quality images and video, GoPro is rightly so still the first choice of amateur and pro videographers alike.

With the option of their budget version, as well as higher end add-ons, whether you are directing your own stand up paddle boarding epic or simply archiving your ripping for the social media masses to see, the GoPro Hero 4 has you covered.