By David Hayward
The 216g AS100V feels a little cheaply constructed, but that belies a surprisingly capable device. It has a similar form to competitors like Contour and Drift, with a user interface made up from a few buttons and an LCD display. Unlike the skull-piercing beeps of most action cameras, it also has really quite pleasant audio tones – even if they do sound like a clichéd sci-fi computer. Surprisingly, while quite soft they were very audible, even through a full-face helmet.
Sony sent the AS100V with a bag of different mounts and a wrist-mounted remote control. For mounting, it uses a standard tripod screw thread in both the base of the submersible case, and an attachment for the naked camera, which is sold as ‘splashproof’. Whatever that means exactly, it was sufficiently waterproof to make it through several days of being thrashed over puddles while variously attached to my bars, seatpost and helmet.
For the most part the mounts feel cheap and overly complicated (the lanyard is an incomprehensible bundle of wire, string and plates), but they do function well. The roll bar mount, while it took some working out and has easy-to-lose fiddly bits, did shoot some good footage from the seatpost of a hardtail. The goggle mount stayed put all day, and the handlebar mount gave decent results. As you’d expect, the bike mounts are best combined with image stabilisation, which the AS100V has, but it does limit the viewing angle to 120 degrees rather than its non-stabilised 170 degree view.
Where the camera really shone was with the dedicated remote. This puts a relatively large live view screen on your wrist, along with a big, obvious record button and a red LED. It’s chunky enough that I could sometimes check that the camera was recording and pointed the right way while riding, and though the controls and labels are designed for right-handed use, lefties like me can flip the image to use it the other way.
As well as the usual still and video modes you’d expect, the AS100V has Wi-Fi, NFC, GPS, and a removable battery. It’s a fully featured decent camera, and while it wouldn’t be my first choice without the remote, when paired up its usability on the trail is second to none.
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Review Info
| Brand: | Sony |
| Product: | AS100V |
| From: | Sony, sony.co.uk |
| Price: | £319.00 |
| Tested: | by David Hayward for |