It's small, tough and scrappy. The number of ships I've taken down by ramming them in the week I've owned this beauty is 7 and none with a major repair bill after. Handling is sweet and stable. I'm a fighter-bomber guy at heart and the Viper4's thick shields & armor plus great weapon convergence and decent cargo capacity gives makes it viable for Powerplay missions and the BGS. Cheap to run too , by upgrading it to D class modules and equipment you already get a very capable multi-role spacecraft.
There are a couple of things to watch out for as far as handling is concerned. The Viper 4 loses momentum slowly which is great for acceleration but not for tight turns. You really have to throw your thrusters in extreme reverse to slow down or rapidly shift to the blue zone. If I'm fighting in an asteroid field though this will be the ship I'd take , nimble enough & easy to control plus a thick hide to absorb accidental collisions.
Running now with a modest amount of upgrades and have a 15-17ly jump range, 345+ boost speed 500+ armor , 20+ tons cargo capacity and a weapon array consisting of a missile launcher, a burst laser Turret and 2 gimballed pulse.
The laser Turret is useful for me since it keeps tracking and firing while I'm maneuvering for the target. It has 2 kills on it's score card - both when the hostile was out of sight. My next project is to finally try out the rover and some planetary missions. I'm targeting the land bases in Exioce where the Order is currently fighting for control. I suspect that both Turret and point defenses will be useful against hostile sentries there.
My only regret is that I can't carry my Sidey with this ship. I normally avoid large vessels , too much overhead & trouble to run. But the first future ED ship that can carry a Sidewinder will head straight to my hangar.
