Looking for a decent action camera

jack10525

Active member
Can anyone suggest a decent action camera other than a gopro? I would love to get a gopro hero 5 but it is a little pricey.
 

makattack

Winter is coming
Moderator
Mentor
I think it would help if you gave us an idea of your needs. Do you have a minimum resolution/FPS requirement? Is weight or size important?

If you're looking for a camera with the same or similar specs (size, weight, resolution, record fps) as a gopro hero5, I'm sure they are out there, but I'm not familiar with them.

If you're looking for just any actioncam, I'm a big fan of the mobius actioncam. It's smaller, doesn't record in as high a resolution or framerate, but is suitable for my needs and only cost about $60-80 when I got them. There's a newer model, the mobius2 that's closer to the $80 range out now, but I have no experience with it.

Runcams are also popular and of a similar form factor as the mobius, but I have no experience with them.
 

PsyBorg

Wake up! Time to fly!
I picked up the Vivitar action cam at Walmart for ~ 55 dollars and it shoots 720p 60 fps nicely. The back lcd is currently exploded after a hard fall from the sky landing that pushed my batter forward which broke the screen. I have been flying with it for over 4 months that way and it still shoots fine video. This one is just a few days ago.

 

ageorge

New member
i have a hawkeye firefly 7s from gearbest.I paid about 72 dollars.It is still on discount from its original price of about 150$.It can record 4k at 24 fps 2.5k at 30,1440p at 30 1080 at 60 and 30 and 720 p at 60.The clarity is just unbelivably good for the price.Also it can be connected to your phone via wifi!
 

jack10525

Active member
Wow a lot of good choices guys. Thanks!!!

To answer the makattack's question, I don't know. I would like a camera comparable to a hero 5 but I don't know all features it has. I'm sure I don't need them all. I just want something I can strap to a plane or quad and record video. Don't need to stream live but that would be cool. Better quality is always a good thing.

The hawkeye firefly 7s from gearbest sounds like the ticket but I am going to check out all suggestions.
 

TazRC

Obsession, not hobby
I know many places clearance older model action cams pretty cheap. Not long ago I picked up a new Mobius for $50 at Ready Made. I saw Runcams pretty cheap at GetFPV recently as well, I think they were like $60. These li'l cams are lightweight and work great for onboard footage.
 

JimCR120

Got Lobstah?
Site Moderator
Wow a lot of good choices guys. Thanks!!!

To answer the makattack's question, I don't know. I would like a camera comparable to a hero 5 but I don't know all features it has. I'm sure I don't need them all. I just want something I can strap to a plane or quad and record video. Don't need to stream live but that would be cool. Better quality is always a good thing.

The hawkeye firefly 7s from gearbest sounds like the ticket but I am going to check out all suggestions.
If you want something like a GoPro there are cameras out there that do some of the functions in a same style body at a fraction of the price bit if you decide to go that route you should see what's not included.

I find the Run Cam line of cameras appealing. They have several models you might like. Today I saw RCModelReviews do a review on the new RunCam3. Bruce, the gentleman who does those reviews, had a preproduction model that did well except for a few areas, one of them being SD card insertion which was plenty enough problem on its own. That said, perhaps they will tweak it before production. At $100 it's 1/3 the price of a GoPro but comes in an identical body style/size as the Session 4 & 5. For that I might wait and get one after the kinks are worked out. Otherwise I would think seriously about the RunCam2 which is similar in many ways to the Mobius and the Foxeer.
 

PsyBorg

Wake up! Time to fly!
Hrmm I will have to go see Bruce again. That swap to the session style has me interested to start saving for one as I have been contemplating a session 5 for a while now but that would take me months to save for. I might be able to snag one by summers end.
 

Rokcrln

New member
I just got the session 5 on Monday as a bday gift and it is sweet! I have only used it a few times now under my Chroma but hope to have time to strap it to my Spit this weekend for some fly footage.
 

jack10525

Active member
Wow has it been a year already? Well I bought 2 different runcam 2's from amazon. Both were duds and sent back. The first one got really hot and started acting up. It would not connect to wifi, it would freeze up, buttons were non reponsive. The 2nd just plain did not work. Could not get it to turn on or connect to wifi. Tried using the buttons to record and they did not work. Very buggy camera and in my opinion not that cheap. I had a few chinese gopro knockoffs that were much better for less than half. I think I will take trip to walmart and best buy to see what they have available. Might have to step up to a gopro session.
 

Crazy Goats

Active member
Wow has it been a year already? Well I bought 2 different runcam 2's from amazon. Both were duds and sent back. The first one got really hot and started acting up. It would not connect to wifi, it would freeze up, buttons were non reponsive. The 2nd just plain did not work. Could not get it to turn on or connect to wifi. Tried using the buttons to record and they did not work. Very buggy camera and in my opinion not that cheap. I had a few chinese gopro knockoffs that were much better for less than half. I think I will take trip to walmart and best buy to see what they have available. Might have to step up to a gopro session.
Thanks for updating this thread! I was just checking out the mobius and I appreciate your input.