action camera, Cameras, Gear, GoPro, HERO4, POV Camera, Video - October 11, 2014

First Ride: GoPro HERO4 Silver Edition

A native touchscreen makes choosing settings and previewing shots much easier than prior models.

A top new feature of the HERO4 is a native touchscreen that makes choosing settings and previewing shots much easier than prior models.

Our new GoPro HERO4 Silver Edition camera showed up on Thursday and we wanted to quickly put it through the paces to see how it stacks up against the company’s prior top-of-the-line effort, the HERO3+. While the HERO4’s press materials tout an impressive number of new features and upgrades, the two we’re most optimistic about are its new touchscreen back and much-improved low light sensitivity.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=9vgAGbOW9hc

We hardly got the HERO4 charged before shooting this sample commute footage–the camera was set at 720p resolution, superwide mode at 60 frames per second.

With little more than charging the battery, we took it on the commute home as captured in the video above and can already see much improved transitions between harsh light and shadows. The picture is also less washed-out looking and more vibrant than the Hero3+.

We’ll be taking the HERO4 to the Santa Cruz Super Enduro this weekend to give it a more thorough test and see how it does in the often-difficult mottled light of forest canopy.

The HERO4 comes with an array of mounts and accessories–including new housing backplates that are compatible with the new unit’s touchscreen.

While most HERO3 accessories are compatible with the 4, the batteries are not.

While most HERO3/3+ accessories are compatible with the HERO4, the batteries are not. We hope this translates into longer battery life.

With what seems like a new competitor coming into the market on a weekly basis, GoPro attempts to raise the bar yet again with the HERO4.

Our initial still photo test yielded good results, though we’ve only shot in the HERO4’s default mode thus far. We’ll be taking it to the trails this weekend at the Santa Cruz Super Enduro for more testing.