Good camera

It’s exciting to see new competition in the action cameras arena. It's especially exciting to see some useful new features such as the GPS and handy sensor data used by the TomTom Bandit and Garmin Virb Elite, as they introduce new possibilities. Then there are other innovations, such as EE's 4G streaming, that we’re not so sure about. But GoPro has been doing this, and only this, for a long time - and it shows. The Hero4 has abundant mounting options and a focus on image quality and versatility that means it’s still the one to beat. Its free editing software is just as powerful, helping you to get carefully ­crafted action vids up in double­quick time. Having said that, £410 is a lot to spend, so we’d recommend looking at its cheaper cousin the Hero4 Silver (£330) to see if your needs can be satisfied for less of an outlay. It can only record 4K video at 15fps rather than 30fps, but does have a built­-in live-view screen. And if you don’t need 4K videos, the smaller Hero4 Session could yet prove to be your best bet. After that we’d consider the Garmin Virb Elite. Its video quality and editing package with G­-Metrix overlays are just brilliant, but most attractive of all is the price - it's practically half the price of the Hero4 Black. It's the TomTom that comes in third - it's overall design is really well thought out, and while it's automatic video editing isn't perfect, the innovation is to be applauded. And then there's the Sony FDR-X1000V - it comes second on the video quality front, but the usability is just a little too compromised. Finally, while novel and unique, the 4GEE’s focus on standalone streaming feels like a slightly misguided concept to us.

Its menu system is rather fiddly, but the Sony FDR-X1000V is top-notch 4K action camera

Sony continues its march towards a 4K future with an upgraded Action Cam, complete with improved image stabilisation