[Closed] PSA: Hitachi action camera (Go Pro ish) for £60 from Argos

I was looking at these a couple of weeks ago. Anyone got one?

This actually looks pretty good. Comparable to GoPro Silver for third of the price. Looks like there are even GoPro mount adapters!
Tomorrow is payday and I am very tempted to give it a go!

Tempted too for that price...

What's the viewing angle? Frame rates etc...

Argos seem a Bit light on on details.

Ebay are awash with gopro clones and other helmet cams for £60 or less. But I've not taken a flier on one yet as you just can't be sure of the quality of what you're buying IMO.

If this Hitachi is any cop I could be tempted. But I want more details about it.

There's a few Vids on YouTube search Hitachi action can , seems OK specs on a par with a low end go pro

These are some specs taken from an Ebay auction -

- Full HD 1080p video
- 5 Megapixel stills
- H.264 video format
- Wide Angle 127 degree Sports Camera
- SDHC class 6 super fast memory card compatible [card not included]
- built in 128Mb flash Memory
- li-ion Battery
- Waterproof Casing
- Helmet Mount
- Chest Mount
- mini HDMI output + lead [included]
- USB output + lead [included]

Imaging Sensor - 1/3.2" CMOS 5.0 megapixel sensor
Active Pixels - 5.0 megapixels
Built in 128 MB flash Memory
storage media - SD card, SDHC compatible up to 32Mb
Focus Range - 30cm > infinity
formats - JPEG / H.264 (avi)

Video resolutions;
1080p (30fps)
720p (60fps)
720p (30fps)
960p (30fps)
WVGA (60fps)

Dimensions 70.9mm (L) x 30mm (D) x 45mm (H)

anyone tried it in the flesh? where is the link for the mounting bitties? quite fancy one cheap down at fork level...

Hitachi = name used under licence for Argos own-brand stuff. Having had cold feet on a Pro 3 Black and returning it, been looking at the "pebble" SJ1000, several on Amazon for around £55, comes with numerous mounts, some (very) positive reviews and footage on youtube.

I reserved one of these yesterday but didn't buy. The footage might be ok but the mounting system appears unique to this one so might be a faff to connect to existing systems.
I have looked at the sj1000 too but technomoan suggests that the purported 70fps is not.
I'm waiting for the liquid image ego to come down a bit..that one looks like the best compromise between a known brand/mount compatability/performance.

I took some video 2 days ago and although cinematically it's pants, it shows the quality - I'll try to post it up tomorrow.

Here's the video that I took using the Hitachi camera.

The first 10 secs are taken using the handlebar mount and the rattly-ness is clear. Although the mount is firmly secured to the bars the plate that the camera sits on is a bit loose so you get the effect in the footage. There's only a thin bit of rubber between the bars and the mount so little in the way of vibration damping/resilient mounting.

The second bit of footage is taken using the chest mount and apart from the obvious flaw that its looking at the floor the quality is good enough for my exploits.

You can also see the handlebar mounting arrangement in the second half of the footage. I didn't get around to using "helmet-cam" as it sounds a bit rude and I didn't have time. The helmet mount is an adhesive-pad arrangement to the lid of the helmet but I think i'll back it up with some cable ties as an emergency camera-saving arrangement.

[url=

Mintman that looks OK. Obviously the bar mount needs modding, but as you say, the quality looks reasonable.

Is the chest mount adjustable? i.e. did you just not have it set up right (pointing at the floor) or is it fixed position and will always point to the floor?

It might have been some operator error! The straps are all adjustable for length but I don't think the mounting plate can be adjusted at all.

I did have it sat really high on my chest so that might have something to do with it.

Thanks Mintman, I think the Gopro ones have a quite a wide range of angle adjustment aside from the straps, but I suppose it might be possible to angle this one (maybe an angled block underneath the mount?) with a bit of home modification?

Very bad rolling shutter. I think even with the ineptness of the operator the camera is poo. IMHO.

Never had any where near that much rolling shutter on my GoPro HD.

What fps was it shot at?
If you shoot at the highest FPS then it [b]CAN[/b] reduce rolling shutter depending upon the exact way this particular camera works.

I think this was at 30fps, I'm off to Bike Park Wales at the weekend so I'll give it a thorough test in its different modes there.

As for you Deveron53, that's the last time I do you any videographic favours..!

The clip was very pixalated on my ipad

From what I found on the interwebs it can be run at 720p / 60 FPS... would that would be worth trying to reduce the rolling shutter effect?

720p is still plenty good enough for stuff that's just going to end up on youtube...

Why not just get a hero hd off ebay? The original hd version is fine for most and you get the benefit of all the gopro accessories.

As for you Deveron53, that's the last time I do you any videographic favours..!

The Sony is now available for around £100 and at this price it blows EVERYTHING away! The image stabilising works great, battery life is good. Buy one!

I was at Bike Park Wales yesterday (which is much fun I might add) and used the camera all day. The best setting is indeed the 60fps mode and that's what the video below was shot in. I chose this video as its got the open expanse at the top of the hill and then some woodland so you can see how it copes in both light conditions (although its not particularly dense woodland I admit).

For some reason the playback from youtube is a lower quality than watching it direct from my PC. I don't know why...

My thoughts:

The helmet cam mount sits quite high on a stalk so tends to wobble your head a bit so a more direct form of mounting would help there to further improve comfort and video quality - I don't see this mod being too complicated.

The chest cam is a better view point (imo) but it points at the bars almost all the time so the mount will need some packing on the underside to change the angle - no great drama but additional effort required.

For £60 I'm fairly happy with it, its clearly not as good as a go-pro but good enough for me - I'm not going to be mass-producing gnarly videos anytime soon!

Where can you get the sony for £100?

Still very pixalated here,

Still very pixalated here,

To be fair, the footage I took on a GoPro black looked pixelated as hell by the time I'd uploaded it. I had to compress it quite a lot to get it to upload.

Thanks for posting the videos, I reckon that for the money that is pretty good- more likely to take that out and use it on the kids' bikes than a gopro,

Can you not upload to you tube at 1080
Ive got videos on you tube that look cristal clear, or is it the camera?

easygirl - Member
Can you not upload to you tube at 1080
Ive got videos on you tube that look cristal clear, or is it the camera?

I'll have another go later, the video played straight from my hard drive is much clearer than the one I uploaded so it might be me being a biff again!

I came across this useful test whilst researching action cams.....

[url= http://www.canoekayak.com/gear/ultimate-pov-cameras/ ]POV Action Camera Comparisons[/url]

I'm guessing that the Iron X is nearest in quality to the Hitachi, but I'll probably splash out for the Sony as I need to film underwater and the quality ain't too bad on that camera.

Oh oh oh, I got one 😀 had it a few months now. Footage good, battery life also good, the mounts on the other hand are pants. I spent a few quid and modified it to work with the go pro mounts and it works a treat.

I'm keen to find a good value helmet cam but tbh, that footage above is awful through my iPad- 5mm big pixels!

crosshair - Member
I'm keen to find a good value helmet cam but tbh, that footage above is awful through my iPad- 5mm big pixels!

As much as I can't prove it the footage quality is significantly better than the video suggests, I'm not sure what's happened with the upload to youtube!

?..the mounts on the other hand are pants. I spent a few quid and modified it to work with the go pro mounts and it works a treat.

Any advice on how you did that? I agree about the mounts!

i clicked on the link under the video and opened it in youtube is a lot better quality than clicking on the video itself on my ipad anway looks good

[quote=Mintman said]
As much as I can't prove it the footage quality is significantly better than the video suggests, I'm not sure what's happened with the upload to youtube!

There's something a bit funny going on with this. Looking at your video on youtube in chrome on my PC, the 480p setting is much clearer, and has more detail than the 1080p version. I'm not sure that the video has been uploaded at the higher resolution, and I wonder if youtube is just making a hash of increasing the resolution.

Screen grabs of the same frame below.
[img] [/img]
[img] [/img]

I'd say that the 480p video actually looks pretty good.

So,the Sony HDR AS15....how would you go about mounting it to a helmet or chest - it looks relatively huge and impractical for mounting somewhere whilst riding surely??

You mount the Sony to the side of the helmet, not on the front as with the GoPro/Hitachi. Chest I don't see how you can do without the camera coming out of you.
Argos has some very stupid policy of not allowing returns of cameras, due to privacy?! I wanted to test the Hitachi and return it if I am not happy with the quality, but this was a deal breaker. I remember something about EU regulations requiring any retailer to offer 7 day return period but I got a very sweet deal on used Black 3+ instead. And the awful rolling shutter.

I am still interested in the camera as a gift, so can you please upload the original movies to Dropbox? You have a Public folder there and can share links to files in it.

Youtube re-encodes and "optimizes" videos so is a really bad place to show sample footage.

I remember something about EU regulations requiring any retailer to offer 7 day return period

not heard of that, there is a 7 day cooling off period for internet/mail order purchases.

Well guess what Santa's brought me! Slightly concerned the box says it requires Windows though. I'm hoping it refers to the editing software, rather than the video format and I will be ok with OS X.

Mintman- just watched it in YouTube proper and that's actually pretty good 🙂

Well guess what Santa's brought me! Slightly concerned the box says it requires Windows though. I'm hoping it refers to the editing software, rather than the video format and I will be ok with OS X.

It's only the video editing software (which isn't great) so I wouldn't worry about it!

regarding the price..

its been at this price since launch on amazon just invade people are basing their purchase on the rrp.

[img] ?force=1&zero=0&w=725&h=440&desired=false&legend=1&ilt=1&tp=all&fo=0&lang=en[/img] http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B00BCX8Z2E/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?qid=1387974832&sr=8-1&pi=SL75

The missus has dropped a bit of a bollock this year, accusing me of not getting her anything good for Christmas, I've actually gone and impressed her for the second year in a row. So I've quietly broached the idea of me spending a wee bit on myself.

Was considering the Hitachi can but then I've found some reconditioned Drift cameras for what seems like a competitive price. Not too sure but the "HD170 Stealth" might edge it over the plain old "HD170" both will do 1080 but the stealth will do 60fps in 720 mode where the HD170 is apparently fixed on 30fps at all resolutions. Bother quite old models now but probably more than adequate. Some good accessories available and both models come with a remote...

Anyone know much about either one vs the "cheap" Hitachi?

Looked at these and the drift cameras and in the end I've bitten the bullet and gone for a gopro I hope I don't regret spending the extra £ as I usually spend my spare pennies on the kids and do without stuff for myself.

Same here but I've [url= http://pages.ebay.com/link/?nav=item.view&id=161181502864 ]Gone and ordered this now. [/url]

At £80 I'll be interested to see how it compares to the £60 Hitachi that started this thread.

The obvious first issue being chest mounting a drift, you just can't, but there do appear to be shoulder mount options, and I very much doubt it stacks up amazingly against a go-pro. Like I said its a couple of years "out of date" now but still seems like a reasonable deal.

Just a heads up that this is now £49.99.
I had a look at one at the weekend and it appears reasonably well built but I'm concerned that the mounts aren't compatible with go pro style fittings. But for £50, I might be tempted and risk fudging something together.

If your after something even cheaper there are [url= http://m.clasohlson.com/uk/Rollei-Youngstar-Action-Camera/38-5987 ]these[/url] for £30, the YouTube clips seem decent... I'm tempted even if it just becomes a poolside holiday camera

Good spot wiggles...looks reasonable and standard tripod mount helps.

They sell chest mounts and stuff as well

Ordered one, with the chest mount, the camera comes with the helmet mount. Was £55 (inc delivery so less in store)

Worth giving it a shot for that price. My riding isn't really worth filming so not worth more than that!

My £30 cam turned up yesterday. Seems decent is very small will have to test it out when I get a chance at the weekend hopefully

Hi, Can anyone help? We have purchased this camera to take skiing - we have tested it and found that we cannot load videos directly onto our iPad using the Apple SD card reader adapter. Has anyone been able to do this? Photos work OK and videos recorded on my Panasonic camera using the same SD card upload to the iPad. The video format is H.264(avi) which should be compatible with an iPad. thanks

I've got a funny feeling I'm going to get one of these for my birthday next week and I might be allowed it early for Brass Monkeys ;D

Does anyone know how well the chest mount works and if there are any handy hints for setting it up accurately??

I bit the bullet and collected mine from store on Sunday. The chest mount appears reasonably well built but the attachment point is unique to the camera, not go pro style. The chest mount holds the camera flat to the chest so when riding, I expect the will be a lot of ground and top tube. I'm looking into sourcing a plastic wedge or similar to pack the lower edge out. I have also ordered a go-pro compatible tripod adaptor as I also have a veho chest mount which uses the go pro 2prong 3prong interface. Chap on you tube suggests the hitachi camera mounts can be modded with the gopro tripod kit so I'll see how that goes when it turns up.

Thanks. I might stick with the bar-mount for now until I've got more time to mess about with it.

The handlebar mount rotates through 360 degrees. Would it be worth using the handlebar mount to mount it to the seatpost and rotate the camera round till it's level and film pointing forwards towards the stem?
Haven't had a spare moment to try fitting mine but the test footage seems ok quality.

My go pro tripod adaptor arrived today. It's going to need a bit of calafudging but might work. I'm not convinced about the seat post mount, with the wide ish angle lens there could be way too much leg/shorts footage.

First test this weekend..
Bit of a sample posted on YouTube..

Search for..."slow motion flo"

Very impressed for £49.99.

First bike film with the bodged chest mount.

Happy.

How did you bodge the chest mount?

That footage looks ok. Not as jerky as some GoPro footage, has the Hitachi got stabilisation?

Swayndo...I had an old veho chest mount as a starting point. Clipped to this was a standard tripod mount with the three finger fitting. I cut one finger off a gopro tripo adaptor and slipped them together so that provides the angle adjustment. It was just a case the of parting the handlebar mount and using a tripod screw, bolting the gopro tripod mount to the 3prong clip of the handlebar mount part.
I'll try and post a picture as that description makes nonsense!
The result is a little cumbersome and stands proud of the chest a little far. I'm going to have a go at packing out the supplied chest mount with a 45deg wedge of printer packing foam which is light but not very compressable. I'll post the results of that.

With regard to stabilisation, I don't know if the camera has it as standard but that footage was at 60fps. I was pleasantly surprised with the quality and lack of bounce on the footage. Stills are really good too.

Definitely a bit of a bargain....

There is a video of a guy on Youtube explaining how to modify a gopro 3 prong to make this adaptor but i've lost it and can't find it again. Dying to try mine out as it's been sat in the box unused for months now which is annoying!

Oh here's another. I should be working but this is more fun.

That video is what I did. I had to make a collar between the tripod mount and the split bike mount tho as the boss sticks out and prevents a decent face to face interface!

Used mine on Saturday with the supplied helmet mount ziptied onto my helmet and it worked really well. The roughest parts of the trail weren't as great as my helmet was a bit slack and the cam was bouncing around a bit, but I'm really impressed overall. I even managed to **** it off many branches without it coming off or moving.

I suspect I'll be able to tie the mount plate from the bar mount onto the helmet or onto a plate on the helmet for a more robust helmet mount. Also the chest strap should require minor bodging to be suitable. What a great wee toy 🙂

I used mine ziptied direct to the top of my helmet, not in the case.
Worked well and is much lighter to the point of being un noticeable. Had to be dry obviously!

If anyone is thinking of modding a mount for themselves, the fitting is a standard fitting, albeit not a common one.

Search for "ultimate addons three prong" and there are quite a few variations which should fit in the back or base.

Here's a starting link...

http://www.ultimate-mobiles.co.uk/Attachments

The tripod mount looks like it could be fudged to a chest mount system.