DJI’s new GoPro competitor launches at $399

The DJI/GoPro relationship has been an uneasy one ever since planned drone collaboration fell back down to earth some eight or so years back. After the deal fell through, GoPro launched its Karma drone, but ultimately failed to find purchase in a category that DJI continues to dominate.

DJI, on the other hand, has entered the action camera space with considerably more success. The Osmo Action had some kinks to work out early on, but it’s also managed to bring innovative ideas to a category whose moment once appeared to have already past. Since then, the race between GoPro’s Hero and DJI’s Osmo Action has tightened considerably, with the two cameras running neck and neck.

Case in point, the newly announced Osmo Action 4. The device goes toe-to-toe with the GoPro Hero 11 Black, and from the standpoint of sheer specs, there’s really no clear winner between the two. One place DJI does have the competition beat, however, is low light. The new Osmo Action has a much improved sensor to boost night shooting. Depending on what you’re looking for in this sort of a device, that may well be enough reason to jump ship to DJI.

The Action is also a bit more compact at 70x44x33mm to the Hero’s 71x55x34mm. At 5.4 ounces, it’s also a touch lighter than the GoPro, in spite of having a slightly larger battery (1770 versus 1720mAh). The Action’s waterproof rating is up to 18 meters — eight more than the Hero.

The GoPro bests DJI on resolution with 5.3K (60 fps) video versus 4K (both shoot up to 120fps in 4K, BTW). The displays are effectively the same. Both have a front-facing 1.4-inch display, while the DJI’s rear screen is 0.02 inches larger at 2.27 inches.

The Osmo Action 4 is priced at $399. That’s a full $70 more than its predecessor, but it puts it in line with the GoPro’s reduced price (down from $499). At a glance, I’d say DJI’s got the edge here. The Action 4 is available starting today.