The only things I liked about my GoPro Hero4 Black were 4K video and 120 frames per second.

But the Hero4 Session doesn’t do 4K video or 120 frames per second. 1080p and 60 is all you get. Two strikes. Why not keep using my Olympus TG4? It’s rugged, waterproof, has a zoom lens, and gets amazing shots. Try this with a GoPro:

Photo by Ivan Makarov

One thing I hate about all previous GoPros is the plastic can. It’s a pain, it fogs up so you have to put dessicant strips inside, one drop of water on it and your shot is almost completely obscured, and it wrecks the sound.

The Session doesn’t need the plastic can. Ah, so much easier, such better sound, no fogging. And it has two mics! One in front, one in back, so when you’re charging downhill with wind whoosing by, it switches to the back mic and you can actually get good sound.

But the reason I love it most is not anything I expected: a 1-button UI. Press it and it powers up and starts recording. Press it again and it powers down. With previous GoPros, you’d press one button to power up, the same button to power down (long hold) or to change modes (short hold). And a different button to start/stop. A third button to change settings. One on the front, one on the side, and one on the top. I couldn’t hand the camera to anyone who wasn’t very familiar and have them reliably work it.

Instead of long-holding the front button to power down, they’d short-hold it and change the mode to stills. And then they’d think they were shooting video, but they got stills. Or something else would go wrong.

The session saved us at Great America among the roller coasters. My technophobic wife was able to shoot the most amazing roller coaster ride with just 30 seconds of instruction. I handed her the camera, said press the button when you’re ready, point it at Audrey for her first grown-up roller coaster ride ever, and magic happened:

Then she handed it to my daughter-in-law, Meghan. More magic. It was amazing shooting into the sun, then shade, then through the sun again. It’s stunning quality for so small a package, although there’s a step down in quality playing it through the web.

When we saw the footage from the rides, our love affair began.