As you probably already know, Gearbest is making a great promotion for 11.11 (November 11), a great festivity in China.
This is a table with the best selling action cams in these days of promotion, below the table you will find a brief description of these cams:
Yi 4k camera | 206,99$ |
Yi 2k camera | 73,99$ |
Git 2 | 94,99$ |
Xiaomi Smart 1080P WiFi IP Camera | 29.99$ |
Dome G30B Dashcam | 37.99$ |
SQ8 dashcam | 12.99$ |
SJ6 Legend | 126$ coupon: 20off |
SJ7 Star | 168$ Coupon: 21off |
SJ5000X (black, white) | 105,99$ |
Hawkeye Firefly 7S | 65,99$ |
SJCAM M20 | 89,99$ |
Original YI M1 12/40mm mirrorless m4/3 camera | 403,99$ |
Original YI M1 Dual Lens mirrorless m4/3 camera | 540,99$ |
Now let’s see some of these cams in details:
Yi 4k
This semi-professional action camera has excellent features, that will compete with Gopro 5 black. It features Ambarella A9SE chip and Sony IMX377 sensor, top quality hardware to record stunning 4K@30fps and 1080P@120fps video, and 12MP pictures. This is probably the best action cam under 250$ and can compete with Gopro 5 and Sony X1000V for video and photo quality.
It also features a 2.19″ touchscreen display – it’s really big, much bigger than gopro’s – where you can see what you are recording or shooting, change options and features just touching it, and playback videos. Besides, it has a wifi 2 times faster than the gopro one, that reaches 3MB/s download speed, a 1400mAh battery that allows to record up to 120 minutes at the maximum 4k@30fps resolution – we tested it befor saying – , and a 6-axys Gyro stabilizer that removes vibrations and unwanted movements. Talking about the audio, Xiaomi Yi2 mounts 2 microphones for a superior stereo audio quality. It has bluetooth and you can control it using the YI RC remote control (I personally tested it and it works perfect). And all of this for 249$! (206$ for 11.11 promotion).
We tested the cam and 4k videos are astonishing, sharp, bright, clear and crisp. It seems like to watch high quality pictures moving. I took my cam to the mountais near my city, and took some picture and 4k video. Talking about photos, I’m not used to see such good quality in pictures shot with a action cam. Git2, Sj5000X makes good photos, but these are excellent! Maybe even better than gopro 4 black, or at least of the same quality. Read our Yi technlogy Yi 4k review.
Now available also in the EU warehouse for 186€, but only until Nov. 15th
Gitup Git2
This cam is the bestseller of 2016, it has similar hardware features to SJ5000X and FireFly 7S, has the same Novatek 96660 chip and an excellent Sony Exmor sensor (16Mpx IMX206). The combination allows you to record video up to “interpolated” 4k resolution at 24fps, or 2K at 30 fps, or 1080p at 60fps. It allows you to take good photographs at 16mpx. The visual field is the classic Fisheye at 170 degrees, typical of most action cam. Read our full review of Gitup Git2
Positive notes of this action cam are the back 1.5″ LCD screen that allows you to see what you are recording, playback videos and photos and easily change settings, and the audio that has a very good quality. This cam records a very good sound, definitely better than other cam of the category (SJ5000X, Xiaomi etc.) almost reaching GoPro and Sony quality, but additionally it allows the use of external micro usb microphones, useful in many conditions such as. in motor bike, in which you can place the mic in a wind-sheltered spot. See eg. this microphone.
Another interesting feature is the possibility to use a simple Wrist Remote Control to start and stop recording of videos or to take pictures. You can find the remote at GearBest for just 14$.
One thing that makes this cam really interesting is the presence of the Gyro Stabilizer , a hardware component that stabilizes video when they could be shaky, for example during a bike session, running, or even just walking. The stabilizer works really well, although not as the Sony’s Steady Shot. It works much better than in SJ5000X and slightly beter than in Firefly 6S.
Many other features are really useful to use the Git2 as a dashcam, like the Cyclic record, the Motion Detection that allows you to start recording when the cam detects movement, useful, for example on skis, by bike or motorcycle and in the car, a G-sensor useful in case of accidents, it stop deleting files in Cyclic Record mode to keep the file in wich the accident is. It also has the possibility to turn on and off the action cam when you plug in the mini usb, useful in the car. – Read our Gitup Git2 full review
Xiaomi Yi 2k
This has probably been the best budget action cam of 2015-16, we are indeed talking about a real gem sold at a very low price. Xiaomi entered the world of budget action cams, after taking a good share in the smartphone world offering quality devices at low price. This action cam records 2k @ 30fps or 1080p @ 60fps videos, with a very good quality, reaching GoPro 3+ quality, doing better than GoPro Hero, SJ4000 and 4000+ and SJ5000 +, its most direct competitors.
At about 70$ you can buy a very good action cam with high quality video and photo results, a videocamera that records in 1080p and 2K, takes pictures at 16mpx with a sony sensor, with wifi and bluetooth, although she misses some feature, as we will see. With a firmware update in august 2015 it’s been introduced the possibility to record 2k videos, and now you can find new accessories (original or not) as the optional rear screen that can be connected to the cam and a more powerful 2400mAh battery. Read our Yi 2k review.
Hawkeye Firefly 7S
After the big success of the Firefly 6S, Hawkey created this new action cam Firefly 7S, very similar to its predecessor, the main update being the presence of a big 2″ rear screen, that will improve user-friendliness which ultimately translates to it being a better device when used as a proper action camera. It still has an effective Gyro stabylizer, a small front screen for options, Sony IMX078 image sensor and Novatek 96660 chipset.
7s features the Sony IMX078 sensor, the same used in the Firefly 6S and in the SJ5000X. It is a very good sensor, as we said in the sj5000x review. It can reach 2k@30fps resolution, 1080p@60fps and an interpolated 4k@24fps. It uses the same Novatek 96660 chipset, used also for 6s, sj5000X, Git2, Explorer pro.
This is a very good action cam, similar to Git2 and SJ5000X with almost the same hardware, a good stabilizer and a 2″ screen, but for a much lower price. Read our Firefly 7S review.
SJ5000X
This action cam has the new 12.4MP Sony Exmor IMX078 image sensor and a Novatek 96660 chip that allow this cam to record interpolated 4k videos ( 2880×2160) with a frame rate of 24fps, 2k @ 30fps or 1080p FullHD @ 60fps. It mounts a gyro stablizer for more stable and ssteady videos without annoying vibrations, even in sport situations. It has a 2″ rear screen where you can see live what you’re recording, cheange settings and playback your files, and wifi. This is a very good action cam, with a very good video and photo quality, but with a bad audio quality, probably it’s only cons.
Sony Exmor IMX078 image sensor used in this action cam has a sensibility of 1437 digits and could theorically record 4k videos with a resolution of 4000 x 3000 pixel at 42fps, but Novatek 96660 chip can’t reach this numbers, restricting the cam to record interpolated 4K @ 24fps videos. This is the same sensor used on Firefly 6S and 7S and in the Pentax Q photo camera.
Gyro Anti-Shake stabilizer makes this action cam recommended for sports videos, like mountain bike, ski, motorbike, or with drones. From firmware version v1.25 the gyro works quite well and absorbes a lot of vibrations. You can see the difference from a non-stabilized video even shooting a video walking with the cam. When you try a cam with stabilizer you won’t buy one without it anymore. It works quite well, almost as the best of the category: Gitup Git2.
Xiaomi Smart 1080P WiFi IP Camera
Original Xiaomi smart 1080P IP camera for home security
1080P full high definition resolution provides a clear image
1/2.7 inch CMOS sensor and 8X digital zoom, bring more details
F2.0 aperture, 110 degree super wide angle FOV
IR-cut, support day and night auto switch
Built-in 2pcs 850nm LEDs, support night vision range up to 9m. You can have a clear view even in a dark environment
Support motion and sound detection, detects the smoke and CO alarm, send you the alarm when it is triggered
Two-way audio, you can talk to your family when you are not at home
Max support 64G extended TF card ( not included )
Magnetic bracket, it can be mounted on any metal surface
Support time-lapse recording
Please download APP “Xiaomi Smart Home” from Apple Store or Google Play
Support Android 4.0 and above, iOS 7.0 and above system devices
Dome G30B dashcam
1080P FULL HD high quality resolution dash cam with dual cameras (front and back) to record whats happening outside the car and inside the car. It can register 1080p videos in front camera and 480p videos in the back camera. It has a night vision function with Infra Red feature. It has everything you need to use it as a dashcam, like G-sensor, motion detection and loop recording.
Features:
Dual cameras: Front camera(1080P, 140 degree wide angle); Back camera: (480P, 120 degree wide angle)
Advanced H.264 photography compression technology
2.7 inch high resolution LCD, can watch while shooting
IR night vision function
G-sensor function
Motion detection function
Support TF memory card, up to 32GB
Seamless loop-cycle recording function
Delay power off function
Automatically turn on/off function
Rear camera cable length: 4.5m approx.
SQ8 mini camera
SQ8 Mini DV Camera is a really small and good dashcam. It weights just 25g and can record 1080p @ 15fps videos, and is as small as a coin.
If you plug it into the car charger, it will turn on and start recording as soon as you turn on the car, and turn off together with the car, saving your videos in a micro sd card.
It can also shoot pictures with a resolution of 12MP (4032 x 3024).
Included in the package there’s a very useful rotating bracket, that can rotate 360° and you can put it in many places easily.
It has a Loop video function, it records 5mins videos, and when there’s no more room in the microsd, it deletes just the older file to record a new one, so you can keep the more recent videos.
You will also get a clip to position the camera in your pants or hat, to use it as a spy camera or to record your experiences.