[Closed] PSA - GoPro alternative (sj4000) less than 40 quid!

Just be aware that the sj4000 is so good that others are now making copies that are not so good. Seems cheap.

Techmoan.com has a review and warns about the cheaper fakes

Ooh, thanks for the heads up. Might be adding to the Christmas list..

Anyone got any real-life feedback on these?

Blimey that looks good!

Not sure I need one, but tempted to give this a go!

Just bought one a few weeks ago. Picture quality is great. Little bit of distortion with high speed movement. For the price it's a great way to have a go and see if you will use one.

As above watch out for fakes. Not sure how you tell, though. Also.it doesn't really do 60fps

As said above, it doesn't do 60fps, but apart from that, for the money it's bloody brilliant. The battery indicator lies, it'll go down to 2 bars almost immediately, but I've comfortably got a couple of hours use from mine without it dying.

Couple of clips from mine (all edited in Premiere but no effects or processing).

Sod it, you can never have too many HD action cams. Just ordered one, so will tell you what it's like in a week or so.

Does anyone know of a cheap waterproof action cam with GPS?

I missed the sony/argos one :-(, I've used the GO-pro for analysing technique on the boat but it'd be usefull to see how fast I was going as well (if only for bragging rights).

Cheap GPS tracker (if you don't already have a GPS logging device) and take a picture of a calibrated watch at the start of your video? Can't be too hard to combine the two.

That is indeed very cheap for a SJ4000, which like others makes me dubious about how genuine it is.

I ordered the WiFi version last week from a authorised resellers shop on eBay this week as too many fakes around, Bought mine for my snorkelling and diving trip to Egypt in a few weeks 🙂 .. the reviews look quite good .

So is that a proper sj4000 or a copy in the link?

Best thing about this appears to be removable batteries for £7 so you can take spares, I assume it is compatible with GoPro mounts?

I suspect that it is a fake SJ4000. If you look on Ebay there are genuine ones which tell you how to tell the difference. Probably use the same components anyway so not sure whether it makes any difference or not

Bugger, I've just bought the new cheap GoPro as well!

Yes, the mount on the bottom of the SJ4000 housing is GoPro compatible. The housing itself is (I understand) slightly different, but as I only have an SJ4000 I can't comment.

I bought mine a few weeks ago from one of the reputed "genuine" sellers (Joovuu). It seemed like a reasonable way to have a play around with the idea of a camera without having to spend loads on a GoPro + mounts. Picture quality seems OK so far although I don't have anything to compare it to. Unfortunately I can't upload any videos to YouTube at the moment as access is a bit... tricky... here in China.

Could be genuine but hard to tell: http://www.foxoffer.com/blog/2014/07/05/the-difference-between-original-and-fake-sj4000/

Worth a shot i'd say.

Checking the pics on that foxoffer page earlier, this does seem to look like a genuine one. The trouble is, how do you know they're using pics of the one they're selling rather than just generic pics of the real thing? Or that there isn't some fake which now looks more similar?

Thanks for the guide on how to tell the difference. When/if mine turns up I'll post back and let people know.

Another alternative that I keep looking at is the Mobius Action Cam.
It's a bit different (case and mounts aren't as high a priority), but footage always looks really nice imo.

Although tbh, a second hand original GoPro HD Hero is probably as good a bet as any.

Cheap GPS tracker (if you don't already have a GPS logging device) and take a picture of a calibrated watch at the start of your video? Can't be too hard to combine the two.

I could do that, but it rapidly reaches the point of faffing where IDGAS anymore and don't bother. It's mainly because STRAVA is fairly irelavent to sailing as it's a real race and the route you take is a ballance of speed Vs distance, etc. The speed on the GPS is almost entirely a vanity thing!

I've done a fair it of research into this and I'm confident it's the real thing.
Can't wait for it to turn up now after seeing the videos above!

Just remember you have to go to Iceland to get the best out of it 😉

Cheers for the PSA I've just ordered one. Payment is through amazon if that makes any difference to whether it's genuine or not???

Nice heads up, just ordered.

flyingmonkeycorps - nice wee video and introduction to Jon Hopkins. Suspect he will be today's soundtrack.

[url= http://www.dashware.net/ ]Dashware[/url] is a nice bit of software for overlaying GPS data onto videos. Set a Garmin going to record and then Dashware combines the GPX file with the video to show whatever data you want from it.

Cheers, Rich

ooooooooohhh 8) I think I might buy the dog one for her birthday 😀

Might give it a try when I'm back from my holibobs.

[quote=dhyetiman ]I've done a fair it of research into this and I'm confident it's the real thing.

What sort of research? Interested in a genuine one at that price, but not a copy.

Scruff - I love Jon Hopkins. Insides is one of my favourite albums at the moment (I'm about 5 years out of date) but it really needs to be listened to through some decent headphones.

apparently original ones have Socam on them

flyingmonkeycorps - nice vids. But, at 2:07 on the Iceland vid - did you fart? 😯

More than likely!

A racer - can't really say it's in depth research but from the few bits I've read on them and from a couple of people who have purchased it ive drawn my own conclusions. Il let you know for sure when it arrives

apparently original ones have Socam on them

Later model ones have 'SJCam' on them but this is an earlier model that predates that change anyway, I suspect it's clearance of the old stock, hence the lower price.

What editing software do you guys use ?.

I use Premiere, and After Effects when I need to do fancy stuff (not on those clips!).

from the link

This camera is totally unbelivable for the price

that's what we're worried about...

SJcam thats what I meant

what timelapse options do they have

For timelapse, I think you can set it to take a photo every minute, every 5 minutes, and every 10, but sometimes a firmware update adds extra options.

I have one of these already, I paid around 65 squid and had to wait a month for it to arrive from Hong Kong.

I think I'm going to get another, simply as a spare or to have on a 2nd bike. Once it arrived I'll see if it is genuine as I have a real one to compare it to. 🙂

EDIT:

Maybe handy if you want to be sure.

I will be using iMovie as just got an iMac! What a learning curve that is !!!!

I've got one of these cams & just getting used to it,the only downside I've found is the mounts,they don't tighten up & stay tight,so the camera flops about which is a pain,certainley the bar mount anyway !.

Does anyone know if they record with time code?

jonjones262 - Member
Does anyone know if they record with time code?

You can set-up a date & time stamp according to the reviews.

I've got one of these cams & just getting used to it,the only downside I've found is the mounts,they don't tighten up & stay tight,so the camera flops about which is a pain,certainley the bar mount anyway !.

reedspeed - on the plastic on the screw mount take some sandpaper to it to rough up the edges on both pieces. The rough edges bind perfectly and don't move (techmoan's tip not mine but will take credit 🙂

I cannot see any mention of WiFi connectivity or is it me?

Dogsby

I have one and its great bit of kit for the cash.

Small tip, set the white balance to Tungsten for best results.

Dogsby - Member
I cannot see any mention of WiFi connectivity or is it me?

Dogsby

There's a newer version that has Wi-Fi. This one doesn't.

There are lots of brands claiming to be the 'new' SJ4000. Is there actually an official one? Things get a bit grey with copies of copies.

Thx smurfly13..

I bought one when they first appeared for around 60 quid. Footage is great quality, but as above had to manually set the white balance (i set mine to cloudy) to stop it doing weird things with the colours.

For bar mounting i use one of these
http://www.amazon.co.uk/ST-86-Aluminium-Handlebar-Adapter-camera/dp/B00FJ2P6UI/

Been swimming with it too, still watertight.

I got one like this marketed as a Sunco Dream 2. I think it's the same cam. It's very good indeed and I've had it down to about 8m with no issues.

Not too bad on an MTB either.

Anyone know if it will fit onto a GoPro chesty mount?

Yup, works fine with a chesty mount, the vids I posted earlier are shot with one.

Ooooooh. I think you've all shown me what I should spend my birthay money on.

Hookers?

And blow.

Lol

And recording the evening on your new action camera?

Good thing they are waterproof.

And come with a cleaning cloth

I didn't get THAT much money for my bithday and I think I'll keep a healthy distance from any hookers that'd do it for the loose change I'll have left over.

^^^this has made me chuckle^^^

:lol

http://road.cc/content/forum/134068-tv-request-have-you-filmed-crash-scrape-or-near-miss-itv-wants-your-footage

Does anyone know of an effective way to mount this for use on the commute without helmet mounting? I don't want to draw attention to the camera if I can help it, I'm thinking some kind of belt clip type setup on my rucksack straps rather than bar mounting so that I can point it away from 'forward' if need be.

It comes with a sprung clip. A bit like a wide clothes peg. That'd clip to a rucksack strap or pocket fairly easily

Like the idea of this at £38, but prefer the idea of a Wifi one!

Anyone received one from EVOMTB yet to confirm if its the genuine one??!

Is the idea of wifi simply to make uploading easier? I know on the GoPro it's so you can view the frame via your iPhone ect, but as this has a screen to allow that I'm not sure what the other benefits are (if any)

Looked on their site cant see a delivery time? Anyone know if they are genuine version or fakes?

Mine has been shipped from China, but not received yet.

Not that impressed with it TBH
I do need to look at the setting but the quality doesn't seem that great to me.
It's from a recommended source so presume it's genuine.

Anyway, I stuck it on my new winter motorbike yesterday for it's maiden ride, if you're interested there's a clip here.

http://tinyurl.com/qeg2h96

Where are you chaps buying these from? I've a bunch of sites (bookmarked but can't access from here) from research I did a few months ago.

Interested to see if there is a pattern to pricing/delivery/authenticity.

Ta

I bought one from EVOMTB/Amazon, i've had a despatched email and am expecting it delivered todayish.

No idea how i'll tell if it's a real one but i'll film a bit of my commute when i get it to see whether it's any good or not.

Sorry where are they on Amazon, I can only see EVOMTB's own website?

Has anyone tried the unit skiing? Can it handle the white?

Ta

Evomtb links through to Amazon at checkout, that site is basically a shop front and their transactions are done through Amazon.

Haven't seen any footage of snow myself but it's worth searching Youtube for sj400, there's a lot on there. I've seen some impressive results from people who have fiddled with the white balance and done a bit of basic post processing. If you're interested in getting the best image possible, this seems to be necessary with this camera.

Ah great thank you

Looks like the yellow version has been dropped a bit further ; <£35 now...

Wife mentioned getting me it as a Christmas pressie but it's not likely to last long at that price! Tempted to just get one...

Checked my despatch email again last night and it might not get here until Nov 27th!! So i'll have a wait a bit longer to test it, I really should read stuff but i just got too excited......

£35 just too tempting, I've purchased one