Make sure you do your research. Some sellers inflate cost to make it look like their item is a great deal. Other sellers will actually sell for higher than normal. Also pay attention to shipping prices as sometimes that makes the difference between deal or dull.
Cheap tablets that don’t have name brand specs (processor, ram, memory)
Note that Chinese sellers do take a while to ship, expect the item 2 – 5 weeks after purchasing. Keep in mind warranty service is difficult to receive should the device not function as intended.
There are some crazy good deals and coupons available this week for action cams. Gearbest is having their September sale and a bunch of sellers on Amazon are blowing out old stock since summer is over. If you’re looking for a cheap GoPro clone or budget action cam here are the best deals this week:
The Cheapest: SooCoo C30, $39.99
This is a killer deal on a decent budget action cam that is normally priced at $70. There are a few reasons we recommend the Soocoo C30 over other cams at this price point:
Real 1080p 60 and 2.7k 30 fps
Real 12MP Sony sensor
Image stabilisation
Two batteries included
The C30 isn’t perfect and that’s why it is so cheap. Ocasionally the colour gets a bit wonky and the audio quality could be better. But if you want to spend less than $50 on a cam this is a very good option. No coupon is necessary for the deal and there’s no indication when it will end so get it quick!
This is our favourite sport cam we’ve tested to date. Since it is a fairly new release it does not go on sale often, and $120 is the best price we have seen it at recently. This cam has better colour reproduction, more detail, better audio quality and better low light than the SooCoo C30 so it is worth buying if you can spend the extra. Other key features include:
Better quality 12MP Sony Sensor
Real 4K at 30 fps and stabilised 1080p60
720p at 240fps slow-mo
Touch screen user interface
Included USB mic
If we find a coupon code to bring the price lower, we will drop it here. In our opinion this camera is well worth $120.
If you can’t swing enough to buy the Firefly 8SE, the ThiEYE T5 Edge is a great choice. It features real 4K with image stabilisation, excellent colour reproduction and a simple user interface. Get the Firefly 8SE if you can, due to its better audio quality, but the T5 Edge is a great choice if you don’t have the extra to spend or you plan to use the camera in the waterproof case where audio doesn’t matter anyways. Its important specs are:
We’re constantly keeping our eyes out for good deals on technology and action cams. If you find one let us know on Twitter! Hopefully this helps you save a bit of money when you buy your cam. Thanks for reading.
The Firefly 8SE is a real 4K action camera from Firefly based on a Sony 12MP sensor. It is largely similar to last years Firefly 8S, but includes a few minor updates such as a touch screen and better audio. These improvements make it easy to recommend this camera over others at the same price point. It also includes a mic in the box, as an added bonus.
The next step up from this camera would be one that offers 4K @ 60FPS but the price difference is so high that it may not be worth the upgrade for the casual user. This camera is a good balance of price and performance.
Important Specs
Maximum real video resolution: 4K @ 30 FPS
Maximum video resolution with stabilization: 1080p @ 60 FPS
Highest framerate slow-mo: 720p @ 240 FPS
Still image resolution: 12 MP
4K bitrate: 65 Mb/s
1080p 60 bitrate: 32 Mb/s
Other Footage and Samples
Where to Buy
Gearbest (try coupon code: Firefly8SE). There’s also a 90-degree FOV version of this camera, if you want one with less distortion.
Note: Gearbest sent a sample of this camera to us for unbiased review. All thoughts and opinions are our own, after real use of this camera.
These two cameras are some of my favorites, but one of them is now my go to for daily use.
Spoilers: I really wanted to love the T5 Edge because the video looks very good, but it was just too often that I couldn’t use the audio from it. So that means the 8S is still my go-to every day camera.
All of these cameras are so close and the differences in how they process video are so minimal, that what you should look for while watching is which camera processes exposure more appealingly to you, which camera has the most appealing audio to you and which cameras user interface will work best for you. No matter which you buy you’ll end up with a camera that has decent video quality.
Click here to learn how to update the Mijia to English menus.
Initial impressions of this camera are very positive, and this camera is fast becoming one of my favorite real 4K cameras I’ve tested to date. The reason I prefer it over competitors such as the SJ7 Star or the ThiEYE T5e, is because it loudly beeps when buttons are pressed, compared to the other cameras, which only have soft beeping that is difficult to hear in the waterproof case. I often use these cameras on my helmet and having a clear audible confirmation that the camera is recording is a huge plus. The video quality is similar to the other cams. The user interface is highly customized and simplified and the stabilization is slightly better than similarly priced competitors. More information about this camera will be released soon with the full review.
The SPCA 6350 / OV4689 Processor and sensor combo does a decent job faking 4K. Some Youtubers even claim (incorrectly) that it’s better than GoPro 4K! You might not be able to tell the difference on a smaller screen… But it is only 1/2 the resolution of real 4K, and since it uses MJPG instead of H.264 for 4K mode, there is a lot of compression artifacts. It is also only 25FPS instead of 30, making it jittery at times. Some shots even got corrupted. This was filmed with an H9R clone (same cam as Akaso EK7000, but unbranded). It is also found in Eken H9 and a bunch of other cams around $50 – 60 on Amazon/Gearbest/AliExpress/etc.
I’m sure I called it the S7 several times in this video by accident. This cam looks very promising – I’m very fond of the user interface tweaks they’ve made. We’ll see how video quality holds up after more extensive testing. I only got to run it quick once last night before it was too dark out. Full review to come soon!
