My wife has asked me what I'd like for Xmas and I was thinking about a cheap action camera which would really only be used on the car.

I did buy a very cheap one a few years ago but although it looked quite well made the results were extremely poor and eventually I got a refund from the supplier.

I really would like to pay under £75 and have seen reviews of the Qinux PixGo 4K, the AKASO EK7000 and Wolfgang GA100 which are around this price but seem to get a mixture of both "very good" and also "disappointing" reviews.

Has anyone and experience of an action camera in this price range and would you recommend one?

John.

I would research Go Pro and check around on EBay.Mixture of new and used to be had.I seem to remember there are lots of different mounts available for mounting it.

I have used a SJ Cam 1080p for a few years, it's now 4K and cheaper.
A link to a couple of videos, although YouTube have degraded the quality for some reason

SJ CAM

https://youtu.be/1sla98Td-xs?feature=shared
https://youtu.be/COzSYEthKvU?feature=shared

quote:

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Originally posted by 40inches
I have used a SJ Cam 1080p for a few years, it's now 4K and cheaper.
A link to a couple of videos, although YouTube have degraded the quality for some reason

SJ CAM

https://youtu.be/1sla98Td-xs?feature=shared
https://youtu.be/COzSYEthKvU?feature=shared

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quote:

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Originally posted by John P
My wife has asked me what I'd like for Xmas and I was thinking about a cheap action camera which would really only be used on the car.

I did buy a very cheap one a few years ago but although it looked quite well made the results were extremely poor and eventually I got a refund from the supplier.

I really would like to pay under £75 and have seen reviews of the Qinux PixGo 4K, the AKASO EK7000 and Wolfgang GA100 which are around this price but seem to get a mixture of both "very good" and also "disappointing" reviews.

Has anyone and experience of an action camera in this price range and would you recommend one?

John.

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Used Gopro is safest bet IME

My brother had a DJI Osmo Action 4 which we recently used at Bike Park Wales with some excellent footage. Ive not used gopros recently, but my brother got this one due to his research indicating it had better low light and image stabilisation performace than the equivelant gopro, while not having the overheating issues that some gopros have suffered from. It has touch screens back and front which make it simple to use away from a computer without needing to go through a phone app, or some tiny buttons and the magnetic mounts are very good.

The ista360 also seems to get good reviews too.

I'm keen to replace my old action camera, but not sure I'd use one enough currently. If I went for either of the 2 above I don't think I'd be dissappointed.

/brain dump on/
I have to suggest, that any old mobile phone nowadays can be used as a reasonable action cam,
but you have to ask, why do I want it? is it just as a toy?
and also ask yourself: do I need 4k? (& many that claim 4k are just upscaled )
the akaso waterproof ones are only waterproof since they sit in a larger transparent box, [which I think of as a fishtank...] if you don't need waterproof they should be fine, but in an open car...

if you want a toy, then look at < £100, there is a reason the better cameras cost more.
/brain dump off/

This is some footage from by brother's DJI Osmo, filmed in Thailand: https://youtu.be/-7jHuKwe7SM?si=VRzWCZseS8zPix06&t=51

SJCAM SJ5000X is what I've used for a while now. Obvious GoPro copy, but it was only about £20 on ebay, the video quality is great and the image stabilisation is easily good enough to give a decent quality of video with the camera hardmounted to the roll cage on a trackday.

Biggest issue you'll have is the rolling shutter when hard mounted. Get a damped mount and any cheapo camera will give half decent results.

I got this Wolfang 4K for a recent trip - https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B09TQMCNY7

Comes with an SD card, two batteries, waterproof case, remote control, external mic - and a mass of mounts and brackets. Quality is pretty good. Pretty good deal for £42.

Just for info - it says Black Friday deal, but it was exactly the same price when I bought it in September.

One thing also worth noting is sound - My gopro HD Session was a huge improvement over the generic action cam I was using.


Generic 1080 HD cam (ELE brand IIRC)



Go Pro Hero4 Session



[Edited on 26-11-24 by loggyboy]

slight tangent here, I think deserves a new thread...
I have just seen a youtube video of someone dismantling gopro and gopro-alike cameras and mounting them in a small rocket

thread link:
https://www.locostbuilders.co.uk/forum/8/viewthread.php?tid=220994&page=1?#pid1839537