Yet another camera question

[mr_cellophane]

How reliable are £100 + cameras ?
If top quality isn't my aim, would it be more economical in the long run to buy six £20 ones rather than one £120 one ?

 

[gaz]

Which £100 one are you looking at.
I think the drift innovation is about £100 and is miles better than the £20 cameras.

The negative with the cheaper cameras is poor picture quality, poor sound quality, poor mounting options, narrow field of view, not waterproof, non replaceable battery and more. They may not all apply to each cheap camera but IMO it's not worth buying them if you can afford a more expensive camera.

 

[Tommi]

I saw Full review of the Real 720p HD 808 Key Ring Spy Camera some time back and for the size and price it looked pretty good. Especially the small size compared to ContourHD is appealing.

 

[mr_cellophane]

Which £100 one are you looking at.

Probably the Dog-cam sport or this one for the longer run time

The Drift is nice, but it is very big compared to others.

 

[cloggsy]

The dog-cam looks great, if a little pricey...

The second camera (the ACT20) is cheap, but no to good... See here

Mind you, you get what you pay for I guess...

This could be another option, but alas, not that great either...

Depends what you are after at the end of the day...

I think the 120° lens is a big advantage

 

[derrick]

I use a Go Pro for one of my other hobbies, i know there a bit on the expensive side, but quality is amazing, check out link below start 3.4 mins in.

View: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R0xwCHwfs0M&feature=related

 

[Tinuts]

I can recommend Dog Cam Mini DVRs. Quality is good - none of that rolling distortion you get from many CMOS cameras. Great support from the DogCam people also. My only gripe is the 90mins odd battery run time - but that's a criticism one could level at most cameras.

 

[cloggsy]

The new 'Jumbo 808 #11' camera has a much longer run time on the battery.

Unfortunately, this camera is not waterproof, nor does it have a 120° lens. But it doesn't drop many frames (unlike the other cameras listed.)

 

[BSRU]

I could mention the £66 Poseiden HD720, completely waterproof, records for up to 3 hours and spare batteries are cheap.

A test video

Cannot recommend it yet as I have only had it for a six weeks or so and also I have not the opportunity to try it a night.

One unknown is the customer support, since it's from China I have no idea what happens if it goes wrong in the first year.

Contour and DogCamSport customer support is excellent from my experience with them.

 

[cloggsy]

I could mention the £66 Poseiden HD720, completely waterproof, records for up to 3 hours and spare batteries are cheap.

A test video

Cannot recommend it yet as I have only had it for a six weeks or so and also I have not the opportunity to try it a night.

One unknown is the customer support, since it's from China I have no idea what happens if it goes wrong in the first year.

Contour and DogCamSport customer support is excellent from my experience with them.

This test video looks good; couldn't see any dropped frames...

Do you know what format it records in (i.e. H264 etc?)

Where do you get it for £66? I Googled it and it was £119+

Thanks in advance

 

[BSRU]

This test video looks good; couldn't see any dropped frames...

Do you know what format it records in?

Where do you get it for £66? I Googled it and it was £119+

Thanks in advance

As far as I remember. its mpeg4 in an avi file, I'll double check later.

£66 pounds is from China through EBay, I think the £119 must be for UK based resellers. I think ChinaVision sells the same camera for a similar price.