PSA – GoPro alternative (sj4000) less than 40 quid!

Singlecrack – yes please.
YGM

Yes please if it turns out geoffj wants to quibble a fiver, Unlikely, I know 😕

Yep, 4gb limit due to file system. If you put it on continous mode, it will start a new file where the last one ended (with one frame overlap)

Cheers Geoffj look forward to seeing it in action

I ordered a class 10 sandisk card 32gb so sure it will be ok

Daft question but they come with a rechargeable battery right? Charged via usb?

Daft question but they come with a rechargeable battery right? Charged via usb?

Yes, but 3rd party chargers are available. The charger it comes with is a european plug, but I’ve just plugged a microusb cable in from one of my chargers (Anker 5 port jobbie) and it seems to be fine.

ordered one too from Geoffj link .

Cool cheers geoffj will Just plug the Ian into my iPhone charger then sure it will work just the same

Interested in seeing some footage of it now 🙂

oscillate – good choice of card, never had any problems with sandisc cards. should do the job for you nicely

Thanks geezer!

Looking forward to trying it all now I’m still quite skeptical but In for a penny in for a pound etc

just taken the plunge again with geoffj’s link http://www.amazon.co.uk/Blueskysea-SJCAM-Camcorder-unterwasser-Helmkamera/dp/B00R74JMEM

fingers crossed this one is legit and has timelapse 🙂

Is anyone clear what the firmware situation is? My one has 20140818V01 on it (apparently).

Does that mean that “in theory” the latest non-Wifi version of the firmware available on the SJCAM website *ought* to work without bricking it? And (or) that any firmware with a date after 18th August 2014 (the date on my firmware) with a V01 suffix *ought* to be worth a try? I’m conscious that I’m not missing anything (other than timelapse) but would like to see if “newer = better” in any way shape or form?

The trouble is that too many of the sites hosting the firmware or discussions of them seem to be written with english as a foreign language (or are websites which require google translate) so I don’t 100% trust my reading of them!

wow those last 13 sold out quick – on geoffjs head be it 😉

mines is out for delivery tomoz had it done first class and the items I ordered are en-route

will have a play tomoz

I take it with the firmware you just basically leave well alone? if its genuine though why cant you update the firmware?

Any SJ4000 owners managed to get motion detection working ? I have a garage animal raider I want to capture..

I take it with the firmware you just basically leave well alone? if its genuine though why cant you update the firmware?

Probably down to personal taste but I’d suggest leaving well alone so long as the camera performs as it should. My firmware is dated something like 28th Sep 2014 and has the newer display, so I’ve no need to update. Would like to find longer lasting batteries but all seem 900ma.

Missed out on that one.. Anyone found any more genuine ones that cheap?
If anyone has ordered one and decides to sell it drop me a line, £40 waiting here!

I’ve got some of these batteries. They are 1100mAh so should be about 20% longer lasting. Not had a chance to try them yet but will report back.
edit: just put it on to record while I’m at work so will see how long it goes for.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00R4C2LXQ?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o02_s00

Are they actually 1100mAh though? What often happens is that say 900mAh is the max available so someone just puts a label on theirs stating that they’re higher capacity…

Are they actually 1100mAh though?

Can only go on what they say on them. Will run side-by-side test with standard, 900mAh, battery and report back.

Banggood have admitted they unfortunately supplied some fake Wifi cameras – appears they are replacing them http://forum.banggood.com/forum-topic-43922.html?page=2

Battery runtime results.

All batteries fresh off the charger. Recorded in full 1080HD, screensaver OFF

1: XCSource 1100mAh record time 67mins
2: XCSource 1100mAh record time 70mins
3: Standard 900mAh record time 49mins

So the 1100mAh give 40% more record time. I did notice that the battery indicator on the camera is pretty rubbish. With a fully charged battery it shows 2 bars, goes to 1 bar after about 15mins then 0 bars after about 30mins.

awesome geoffj, looks pretty good quality that

but how come its only available at 720p max??? not the 1080p? hd?

I couldn’t be arsed uploading at 1080. I might do now.

Banggood have admitted they unfortunately supplied some fake Wifi cameras – appears they are replacing them http://forum.banggood.com/forum-topic-43922.html?page=2

Cheers for looking into that. Seems like late-Jan orders are the ones under scrutiny. I bought mine from BG in Nov as I’d heard nothing but good things about them. 99.9% sure it’s genuine too, and I’d like to think anyone else buying off my recommendation receives the same.

1: XCSource 1100mAh record time 67mins
2: XCSource 1100mAh record time 70mins
3: Standard 900mAh record time 49mins

Excellent. The 900mAh stacks up with my estimated 40-45 min timings, so I’ll grab a couple of those 1100mAh for good measure. Ta

geoffj – Member

I couldn’t be arsed uploading at 1080. I might do now.

go for it geoffj, even though the quality is still decent at 720p

is that with your old SD card or new one?

Looks impressive Geoffj, glad i took the punt and got one now.

How you finding the wifi app?

yeah it does look good, be mint if its like that, but in 1080p even clearer!

mines coming tomoz so cant wait to have a play now

I’ll try and stick a 1080 video up later, but even at only 50 seconds long, it takes about an hour to render and upload. I’ve been wrestling with different versions of iMovie most of the day, but I’m slowly getting there.

How you finding the wifi app?

Better than I expected TBH. Its good for checking the angle and mini me is going to use it with her huddle for some animation stuff too. There are a few quirks and some of the menus are written in Chinglish, but on the whole I’m pleased.

is that with your old SD card or new one?

That’s the old one, but my new class 10 has just arrived 🙂

Off to Cairngorm skiing tomorrow, so lets see how it copes with a bit of proper winter weather.

cool nice one, youd only expect the quality to be a bit better at least with a class 10 and doing it in 1080p

yeah just do a clip don’t expect an hour long one, ill try and film something tomoz though I doubt ill get chance before dark so filming for me will prob be weekend if so

good idea on the wifi as once its attached to your chest you cant see exactly where its pointing – guess that’s where the Wi-Fi kinda comes into its own as you can see looking at your phone whats going on live, then stick ya phone away once your happy with the placement of camera

if it works, and has that kinda quality above ill be happy

don’t expect miracles for 50 quid all in but its worth a punt, run times not really an issues im only using it for a bit of fun on descents, wouldn’t be all the time on, nor filming continuously

oh yeah, what is the best software for these then? can you not just upload it via usb to vimeo or similar? or being to naieve there? 😳

Apparently the new Android wifi app can tell you which firmware your sj4000 needs and if there is an update (says so in the about app stuff on Google Play). I have it and I can’t see where I get that info…perhaps my wifi needs a firmware update. Works very well though so I’m in no rush to do so. Got it from Banggood at start of January, pretty sure it is legitimate.

Just tested out the battery in mine, managed to capture a 35 minute (4gb limit) and a 33 minute capture before it ran out of juice. So that’s well over an hour of recording.

I did notice that the screen times-out which probably saves battery life too.

I think the screensaver being on would add a fair bit to the times I got with my battery test. If I get a chance I’ll retest tomorrow.

I did a brief test with mine last night. Battery life was pretty poor in the cold and I did not really get the position right. But for the money you cannot really argue. I think some more work with set-up and lights and it will be fine.

Dodgy night riding vid

well mines has turned up

the barcode etc says wifi, but the box/camera unit all dont mention the bleedin wi-fi!

so looks like ive received a non-wifi version

is this literally the only difference? will it perform the same as the wi-fi?

pretty annoyed as its the first time ive used amazon!

can you contact amazon abotu the order? all i can see is a returns procedure just hoping to email directly

Check the up button on side of camera…does it have the wifi sign on it? If so press it…should activate the wifi.

Also shown as an option in the settings section.

Appears they are the same other than the wifi…I have both and they do the same thing, same quality, just one has wifi.

UPDATED BATTERY TEST

This time with SCREENSAVER ON, 1min setting.

1: XCSource 1100mAh record time 87mins
2: XCSource 1100mAh record time 86mins
3: Standard 900mAh record time 59mins

So the screen being on uses a fair bit of power as I got an extra 20mins on battery #1, 16mins on battery #2 and 10mins on battery #3.

Very happy with the camera/battery purchase as I can now get nearly 4 hours of full HD on 3 batteries, with one 32GB class 10 card.
Total cost:
Camera: £38
Batteries: £12
Card: £11

can you contact amazon abotu the order?

On Amazon, Go into your account, order history and on the order for the camera you should see a ‘Contact Seller’ box. Click on that and you can email the seller direct.

cheers guys, think ive just managed to message them, will see what they say

i must say impressed with the package! (had they sent the right one of course!)

the quality seems spot on

now for a stupid question, when mounted to the amazon cheapy chest mount, i cant get the camera when mounted to sort of sit straight, due to the waterproof case it looks like its pointing to the ground too much (even when tilted as far up as i can adjust it), am i being dim , or is this as far as its suppose to go so it will show the trail etc?