Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/1525243
P120 PRODUCT REVIEWI I was most impressed by the camera's stabilization system. I used the handlebar mount, which took just seconds to clamp into place and position the camera the way I wanted it, on my fat-tire e-bike and rode it over a section of trail that was a sea of rocks. I was blown away by how smooth the video was; it was as if I were riding on freshly laid pavement. You don't see any jiggling. On a street motor- cycle, videos are as smooth as silk. You won't need a gimble with this camera. The camera also delivers su- per smooth videos on a motocross track via the chest strap mount, which has mounts both front and rear for coming and going shots. Battery life is good. DJI claims the Action 4 can record up to 160 minutes. The longest I got while shooting 4K in standard stabiliza- tion mode nearly continuously was a little over half that, but that was still plenty for whatever I needed (so far). I'm sure battery life would be much longer shooting in 2.7K. I loved the quick-release mounts. You can move the Action 4 from one mount to another quickly and effortlessly, but don't lose those little mounts: they're expensive at around $15 a pop. With the Action 4's base mount attached to the camera, I could use my drawer full of GoPro mounts, which was nice. The camera's internal audio is remarkably clean. The sound quality is better than I expected, and it does a very good job of squelching wind noise. For voice recordings, you can attach DJI's wireless (via Bluetooth) Mic2, which should im- prove sound quality even further. I also found it easy to get the camera to communicate with my smartphone via the Mimo app to control the start/stop recording remotely. The app works with both iOS and Android. What I didn't like? The locking doors that protect the camera's only port, a USB-C port, and the battery/ micro-card compartment are a little awkward to operate. I kept getting an "SD card speed slow, recording may stop" message that got a little annoying after a while, but it never did stop. So, I'll continue to wait until I lose my old card before I upgrade to a faster one. The bottom line is that the DJI Osmo Action 4 camera is a very impressive, rugged action camera that can go anywhere, shoot anything, and create outstanding video and still images. And its stabilization system is fantastic. The best part, however, is that it does it all right out of the box: just charge it, mount it, press play, and go. It's that easy. You can fine-tune things later if you want, and you have many options. Plus, it's priced about right, the same as GoPro's latest Hero 12 Black, which, however, shoots in 5.3K and delivers higher resolution photos. But if those things are not important to you, DJI's new Osmo Action 4 camera is absolutely worth looking into. Kit Palmer The Motorcycle/Mountain Biking package has a chest/back mount and cycling mount because most motorcyclists do both. The camera's stabilization system is fantastic. • EXCELLENT STABILIZATION • GOOD IMAGE QUALITY • UP TO 4K120 SLOW MOTION • ULTRA-WIDE LENS • QUICK-CHANGE MOUNTS • EXCELLENT WATERPROOFING • EXCELLENT STABILIZATION • "ONLY" 10 MEGAPIXELS FOR STILL PHOTOS • COMPARTMENT ACCESS DOORS ARE AWKWARD TO USE • SOMEWHAT DIFFICULT TO REMOVE FROM METAL HOUSING