My primary purpose is to film 3.5 days fishing @ El Salto, which should be a memorable event. Beyond that, might use it once in a while for various other occasions, but not going to be a professional filmmaker with it.

And let's say money isn't an object.

Which one is best for ease of use, cool features, etc.

Do I need the Top of the Line?

Thanks

The Silver is going to be the most user friendly by far. It comes with a touch screen on the back that can still be used while in one of the waterproof cases. It will record and 1080P and has a slightly slower frame rate than the Black does, but for bass fishing the slower frame rate hasn't ever made a difference with any of the recording I've ever done. The Black will record in 4K, but doesn't have the touch screen on the back.


There's a video I recorded with mine last year. There is music on it to cover up the howling wind from that day.

Thanks Colorado,
Just what I'm looking for, some personal experience. A couple other things come to mind as I begin to learn about these things.
Battery Life - How many batteries would I need to cover an 8 hour day of fishing?
Memory - I see that these things use SD Cards for memory - and it looks like a 64 bit card is the biggest they'll take - how many hours of filming does a 64 bit hold?
Mounts -I have a pretty good idea what kind of boat we'll be in - I am leaning towards one of those "Goose Neck" types, with a clamp on one end - to attach to the gunwail of an aluminum boat.

Thanks for help

I have the Silver version and it puts out great quality video. I have a 64GB card and can get 8-9 hours of footage.

I would go with the Silver. Having the LCD screen to quickly review video and check camera angles is nice. The GoPro app is ok for this but it is laggy and requires you to connect your phone to the GoPro over WIFI. How quickly the SD card fills up depends on the resolution and frames you decide to film in. You only need high FPS if you plan on doing slow motion. The more frames will make super slow motion smooth as butter.

Here's a link to GoPro that will give you an estimate of how much a 64GB sd card will hold in each setting.

https://gopro.com/support/articles/hero4-silver-recording-time-in-each-video-setting

As far as battery goes. I use 2-3 for an 8 hour day shooting in 1080 at 60fps. This will vary depending on how often you have the screen on, etc. If the boat you are going on has a cigarette lighter, then just bring a charger with a long cable and you won't have to worry about it.

Biggest piece of advice I can give you would be to stop recording after any moment that you want to find easily. For instance, if you catch a giant, after you release it and say whatever to the camera, stop recording and then start recording again. That way you know the footage is at the end of that file. It will save you a huge amount of time instead of scrolling through 40 minutes of footage trying to find the 1 minute you want. It will make editing a breeze.

Thanks so much guys,
I've done the reading you've suggested, and think I'm on the right track thanks to your help. Just going to have to get one & start experimenting a little. Also appreciate the tips.
Time to go check some pricing on the camera, & accessories I think I'll need.

Thanks again

I do two things to not worry about the battery life and storage. One I bought a large battery that will attach to the back of the case and is still waterproof. You do lose the ability to view the screen but I use my iPhone to see that it is shooting correctly. The second one is I do a 5 minute loop. The way the loop works is you have 5 one minute videos at all time. After catching and releasing a fish I stop and start the camera back from my iPhone. You can increase the loop up to 120 minutes if you have the card space but I can't remember too many bass that it took me longer than 5 minutes to catch and release. Here is an article on looping: GoPro Looping It sure saves a lot of time when trying to find that special moment.