GoPro HERO4 SILVER

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The Hero4 Black still has the edge when it comes to resolutions, frame rates and bit rates, but the Silver has a built-in touchscreen -- a first for a GoPro camera. Having the screen not only makes framing up your shots easy, but it also means you don't have to rely on the small front screen for setting changes and you can view your results immediately on the camera. Just to be clear, it's not the only action cam with a screen, but it's nice that it's not just an add-on and that it doesn't make the camera any larger.

Considering all that it does and its generally excellent video quality for the category and that it's all topped off with a touchscreen, the Hero4 Silver earned our Editors' Choice Award. Still, there are some things to know before you buy.

Design and features

For your money, you'll get the camera, a waterproof housing that's good down to 131 feet (40 meters), skeleton and touch back doors, two adhesive mounts (one flat and one curved), horizontal and vertical quick-release buckles that attach to the bottom of the camera's housing and a three-way pivot arm, so you can mount the camera on the top, front, or side of a helmet.

A small locking plug (also included) can be used to help prevent the buckles from accidentally releasing from the mount from force or vibration. There is no charger in the box for the camera, just a Mini-USB cable for charging via computer or USB wall adapter if you have one. There is also no microSD card included for storage, so plan on getting at least one of those.

If you prefer using the monochrome display and physical buttons to change settings, you can lock the touch screen by simply touching the display for about three seconds. Or, you can turn the touch screen off altogether by pressing the tiny button on the bottom left of the GoPro's rear surface. GoPro did well to include an easily accessible On/Off button for the touch screen, as it does drain battery quite considerably (more on this below), and you probably won't want to keep it on all the time.

Otherwise, the Hero4 Silver has the same dimensions—1.6 by 2.25 by 1.12 inches (HWD, with protruding lens)—as the previous Hero3 and Hero3+ series, with the same slimmer and lighter waterproof housing that was introduced with the Hero3+. The only cosmetic differences are the new black border around the monochrome display, and the LED indicator lights to the left of the screen, which have taken a new, narrow oblong shape. At 5.2 ounces with the housing, the Hero4 Silver is also slightly heavier than the Hero3+ Silver Edition, which weighs in at 4.8 ounces (also with housing), but the difference is negligible.

Unfortunately, GoPro's battery life continue to disappoint, but most other action camera batteries aren't great, either. The 1,160mAh pack isn't quite as big as the Hero3+'s, but GoPro claims the Hero4 lasts about the same one hour and 40 minutes of recording time. And at least it's removable, so you can carry a spare and exchange it on the go. Unsurprisingly, keeping the screen on had a detrimental effect on battery life in my tests. The camera lasted less than an hour while it was switched on and not recording. 

Performance
In testing, the Hero4 Silver was a huge improvement over the Hero3+ Silver Edition, which shot surprisingly blurry and jagged footage in my tests. Indeed, the Hero4 Silver is likely a rebranded Hero3+ Black Edition underneath the surface, as it employs a similar (if not identical) 12-megapixel sensor. And it records in the same resolutions, including 4K at 15 fps; 2.7K at 30 and 24 fps; 1440p at 48, 30, and 24 fps; 1080p at 60, 48, 30, and 24 fps; 960p at 100 and 60 fps; and 720p at 120, 60, and 30 fps.

You also get Superview options for 1080p and 720p resolutions, which dynamically stretches the default aspect ratio to a full 16:9. That means you can get more details into your footage, but at the cost of some added distortion around the edges. You even get Protune, which records raw footage without GoPro's automatic color, brightness, and contrast adjustments, as well as Low Light options, which adjusts the camera's settings to shoot better footage in low-light situations. All of these features were flagship, Black-Edition exclusives in the Hero3 and Hero3+ series, so it's nice to see them here. Interestingly, the 17:9 aspect ratio option we saw in the Hero3+ Black Edition for 4K and 2.7K resolutions is no more, likely because it's rarely needed. 

Perceivable video quality is also similar, if not identical, to the Hero3+ Black Edition—which means footage looks sharper and clearer than any action camera we've reviewed to date, with only iON's Air Pro 3 to rival it. We haven't tested the Hero4 Black yet, so we can't compare video quality between the two; we'll update this review for comparison purposes once we get our hands on it. 

Still photo quality remains subpar, even when compared against other action cameras; details appear crisp and sharp, but once you try zooming in to objects further than a dozen feet away, the image becomes blurry. However, the Hero4 Silver has a new shooting mode that records video as well as still photos in five, 10, 30, and 60-second intervals. Additionally, the new Hero4 Silver has a Night setting for taking better still pictures in low light. This option did improve low-light test shots by brightening up some darker areas in our dark room, but there's still some noticeable graininess, and unless you use a tripod, photos won't come out sharp at all.

Conclusions
The Hero4 Silver is excellent all around, and should fulfill every criterion if you're in the market for an action camera. The touch screen makes it easier to frame your shots and review your footage, but as I mentioned earlier, it's a battery drain. Also, GoPro's signature cuboid design remains…cuboid, and not aerodynamic.

Despite its pros, $400 is a lot to spend on an action camera, especially when many people won't have the need for certain features, like resolutions above 1080p. If you'd prefer to spend less, we'd recommend the now-discontinued, but still available Hero3 White Edition instead. Another solid option is the iON Air Pro 3, which costs $50 less. It records similar quality footage as the Hero4 Silver, and comes with built-in waterproofing. But changing settings on the Air Pro 3 is difficult because of its poor mobile app, and it doesn't have even a monochrome display or buttons to change the settings on the camera itself.

Finally, we haven't tested the Hero4 Black yet, but its feature set and performance will need to seriously impress to justify its even higher $500 price tag, especially since it doesn't have the new touch screen. The Hero4 Black appears to have a similar 12MP sensor, which could mean that it records identical quality 1080p footage as the Silver. But the Black can record 4K resolution footage at 30fps, which will make the 4K option actually worth using, and you'll be able to record 2.7K footage up to 50fps, too. But, again, not many of us have (or can afford) TVs capable of more than 1080p, so there may not be much value there for those of us without UHD TVs capable of playing 4K media. For now, at least, the Hero4 Silver is the best action camera we've tested to date, and our Editors' Choice.