Voice control lets you record on command with the Garmin VIRB Ultra 30

Garmin looks set to take the fight to GoPro with the arrival of the VIRB Ultra 30 action camera.

Shooting 4K movies at 30fps, footage can also be captured at 2.7K (60fps), 1080p (120fps) and 720p (240fps), so there's plenty of scope for capturing breath-taking slow-mo videos. Meanwhile, still images can be captured at 12MP and 8MP, with burst shooting at a blistering 60fps.

The VIRB Ultra 30 sports a 1.75-inch touchscreen display so you can see exactly what you're shooting, and hopefully that footage should look shake-free thanks to the new 3-axis image stabilisation technology.

Offering something that GoPro doesn't at the moment (though it's rumored to feature in the Hero 5) is voice control. The camera has to be switched on, but it's possible to tell it to start and stop recording, take a still photo and tag footage by saying "remember that".

Overlay data

The VIRB Ultra 30 sports built-in sensors and GPD to capture what Garmin calls G-Metrix data - speed, altitude, G-force and even heart rate, which you can then easily overlay on your video footage in the shape of gauges and graphs.

Weighing just 87.9g with a battery, the VIRB Ultra 30 comes complete with a waterproof case that can be submerged down to the depth of 40m.

The Garmin VIRB Ultra 30 will be available later this month, priced at $499/£449/AU$699.

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