Is the sj4000 still the best budget alternative? No desire for 4k I’d be happy with 720@70fps+

Xiaomi seems to get some decent reviews for there cams. Anyone tried one?

Did you know you can get an actual GoPro for £94.00 from John Lewis.
I know it’s not £80, but I thought I should throw it in there.

The copies are getting better though.
The SJcam SJ5000X WIFI ELITE is around £89

But SJcam have a large range now with a model at lots of different price points. Try and buy from a reputable source to avoid copies.

Which gopro are they selling for 94 quid, and do they ship to Australia? Edit: no they don’t.

The newer sjcam looks alright though

Ah – shipping would put the price out of reach from that seller.
It’s the standard ‘Hero’ which was re-launched recently as the entry-level HD cam.

It’s this one, which may be available at a similar price retail from Aus sellers:
http://www.harveynorman.com.au/gopro-hero-camera.html
(this works out at £103 though).

It does lack some features compared to the SJcam ones, but you should look at PQ comparisons before discounting it. Good 720p60 can have more detail than soft 1080p60.

The lack of wifi or screen could be show-stoppers for some though.

No idea about this retailer, but equivalent of £84 here:
http://www.digitalcamerawarehouse.com.au/prod11789.htm

That SJ5000 is quite interesting, anyone have one?

Got a VIRB basic for £75 recently, though that was a half price in a closing down sale. Think you can get them fairly cheap though.

Personally prefer the sleek design over the box style GoPro, but new VIRBs have copied GoPro and gone box style also. Though to be fair it’s a better design for use with chest mounts, but chest mount videos are so boring.

Always been happy with the quality of video from Jnr’s Veho Muvi.

I bought a xaiomi yi action cam. They are around the £50 mark. Excellent connectivity with phone with an android app. Firmware update bought a 2k resolution option. Excellent Sony chip also.

The thing is, if you’re happy without wifi then you can pick up an SJ4000 for just over half the price of one of those.

Check out http://www.techmoan.com/ for the latest reviews – I saw a review recently for one he thought was better than all the others, and IIRC he didn’t particularly rate the SJ5000 either.

Just bought a new Sony action cam mini off eBay for £100. Also hero 4 sessions are going for £100

have a look at the Mobius…..much more discreet than the Gopro / SJ boxes

Bought a faux pro of ebay £34.99 looks like a copy sjcam
wasn’t expecting much given the price,I’ve been very surprised picture quality is good and a multitude of functions including wifi easy to use and good battery life easy to recharge and upload pic’s

Best prices on both…

Sj5000x elite is $145 with lots of accs
Xiaomi Yi is $70

Image looks better on the xiaomi but you need wifi on and a smartphone to access the majority of features.

The sj is fractionally bigger… But twice the price.

Hmmm…

What’s become clear while having a browse around is that when you look on youtube for videos they’re all a bit disappointing. Then when you look at the footage on Vimeo – they all look great!

So many of the youtube ones turn to mud!

The more I look at footage and read reports, the more I like the XiaoMi Yi. They’re a very interesting company XiaoMi. An incredibly fast-growing and aggressive Chinese rival to the more established Samsung who themselves did the same to Sony.

(you don’t get many accessories with it for £53 though – no case, gopro mounts, etc)

Indeed – I could do without the multitude of mounts, but want a case – it appears if you want a waterproof case you’re paying £80, so actually much the same price as a similarly specced SJ4000 (though it seems the quality is enough of an improvement to still make it a better choice at the same price).

Gearbest have a waterproof case for £5
http://www.gearbest.com/action-cameras-sport-dv-accessories/pp_203821.html
I noticed a London ebay seller with the camera itself in stock for £54 which I thought was pretty good. Xiaomi reckon it’s already waterproofed to some degree though.

Thanks for that – have been pondering an SJ400 for a while, but think I know what I’m getting now (I also want to use it for kayaking, so need a proper waterproof case, but presumably if it’s kind of waterproof it’s usable without for biking?) I suppose I need to check on mounts, but then they’re cheap too if imported.

So now I’ve saved so much on a camera, I can afford a brushless gimbal – right? 🙂

I bought a waterproof case and a £20 bag of mounts which includes the chest mount and plenty of other fittings. The camera in its case went swimming with me and the video footage was very good. It handled going from underwater to bright sunlight with ease. I’m going to pick up dash cam version when they release it with an English language setting.

[video]https://youtu.be/eUt9dBZEQSM[/video]

Yi footage looks impressive to me. Ordered ing one and a waterproof case now.

Garmin Virb currently £75 on Sports Pursuits

Again, postage to me in Oz would probably not be such a good deal.

Anyways, just ordered an XM31 Xiaomi Yi, with waterproof case for $135 delivered (67 quid). And a couple of spare batteries and charger for $18. Can’t really grumble at that.

retrorick – Member

I bought a xaiomi yi action cam. They are around the £50 mark. Excellent connectivity with phone with an android app. Firmware update bought a 2k resolution option. Excellent Sony chip also.

That’s a nice action cam but as small as Mobius however as a dash cam that is fine.

After much Googling & reading up I’ve just just ordered an sj4000+. What swung it for me is that it features a gyro for image stabilisation. I’m planning to use it on a ski holiday next week so hopefully it’ll work OK.

Code released by Gearbest today makes it £48.99 for the XiaoMi Yi
EDYICAM

(no case or mounts)

I set up my xaiomi yi using my phone and the WiFi connection then once riding it is easy enough to turn the camera on and off when needed. The WiFi can be set to auto turn on when the camera starts up which can be a bonus and at the same time a battery drain if not needed. There is an external button on the camera to turn off the WiFi which helps.

Any sample footage uploaded yet Rick?

Mine’s arrived, c/w waterproof case. Just waiting for the bike mount and SD card to arrive. FW updated too so can do 2k if I desire. Seems a decent bit of kit for the price. Whether it will last or just spur me on to eventually buy a GoPro, who knows.

Wow. Just used it on a sunny autumn late afternoon and dusky evening at a kids park with an event on. Cracking video, really impressed. 1080p @ 60fps just been watching some of it now. Such good VFM can’t wait for the bar mount to turn up so I can do some cycling footage. Very happy.

The copies are getting better though.
The SJcam SJ5000X WIFI ELITE is around £89

Don’t get the 5000 go for the 4000+wifi instead, the 5000 was dogged with issues and I think they have abandoned firmware updates for it now

My 4000+ is spot on, I had to update it to version 13 or above of the firmware to enable the gyro stabilisation and image rotation but that was easy enough to do

Just checking aphex, that’s the xaiomi yi you have?

Yes indeed. Great bit of kit, really happy.

Soon to launch the Yi 2.

4k. 2 hours recording. Touch screen. Looks a lovey bit of kit. Released end of June and $250

[video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hxUivGtogSU[/video]

Just to update too, I used my new sj4000+wifi on a ski holiday back in March and am very impressed with the results. Although I don’t have anything else to compare it to the gyro image stabilisation works really well.