[Closed] 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?

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

[b]Battery runtime results.[/b]

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
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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?

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.

[url=

night riding vid[/url]

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.

[b]UPDATED BATTERY TEST[/b]

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?

dickbarton - theres no mention of wi-fi anywhere on the unit nor in the menus

i can see why the packager has sent it as the barcode says wi-fi on the label

but the box/unit doesnt have it at all 🙁

was kinda looking forward to the wi-fi to see if it was actually lined up right for mounting on the chest

You need a spacing arm/extender to move camera away from mount so you can tilt it further back so it fits when holding the bars...

Or mount it upside down so that it hangs from the top - that way if it loosens it tends towards bending forwards, rather than bending downwards.

doohhh! yep it came with a extender mount so ive got it at what seems the perfect angle

just done a few tests in and outdoors and it seems pretty good tbf, quite impressed for the money, ill see what they say about the Wi-Fi version but if its a load of hassle ill just keep this one

seems pretty good though, and all working fine at the moment

the cheap chest mount seems good too, got it setup and the angle looks pretty good although wont really know till its on a bike

right new to all this, If I directly upload to youtube I can get it as 1080p by changing it accordingly on the video playback

however if I edit the video in moviemaker on windows, and save it as a 1080p movie then upload it to youtube I can only get it to upload as 320max which is obviously shite quality

any ideas what im doing wrong?

You need a spacing arm/extender to move camera away from mount so you can tilt it further back so it fits when holding the bars...

which makes it more vulnerable to flex/wobbling or being knocked, or

mount it upside down so that it hangs from the top - that way if it loosens it tends towards bending forwards, rather than bending downwards.

which I said (and did) a couple of pages back. Use "rotate" in camera menu to correct the footage.

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

you can change that too in settings, I have mine timing out quickly to save battery.

Just FYI, there is no camera rotate option in the non-Wifi SJ4000 version that I have (20140818V01). But it is trivial in windows MM to flip a scene anyway, doesn't cause the file to need re-encoding.

anyone help then ref windows MM?

got two short clips that are 1080p recorded, and If upload straight to youtube they are still 1080p

but if I put some effects on windows MM and save the file? (not entirely sure what to save it as?!) and then upload to you tube it only takes 320 max resolution nowhere near the 1080p it recorded in?

EDIT : think ive sorted it, It seems to only play 320 straight away, if you leave it a few mins the 1080p option comes up later on 😳

When I put my video up on YT it was only in 360p but went to 1080 after a while. Apparently it takes a while for YT to decode(?) it into the frame rate you upload.

I have a rotate option in the menu section of the SJ4000 non wifi version with V1 software...

I know this as I made some upside down films before I worked out what teh sessting should be....

Stevied- yep exactly that budd

impressed if im honest, cant be arsed send it back for the Wi-Fi version as it seems pretty good anyways

ive got the mounts sitting fine the correct way up and the cameras pretty much rocksolid with just a tshirt on (will be even tigther with jacket on etc

Same here, wifi one ordered, barcode sticker on the top says wifi but its clearly not.

And its silver and not blue. ****ing idiots.

I feel bad now 🙁

Hope you guys get sorted out.

On a brighter note, I took it skiing at Cairngorm today. Visibility was pretty poor, but I did take some average footage of me mincing down the slopes. If there's anything worth watching (unlikely), I'll post it up later.

The only thing of note is that the cold isn't great for battery life - no shit sherlock 8)

Oh and I tried to load a 1080 video on both YouTube and Vimeo without any success. I've not got time to piss about trying to find out why at the moment, but rest assured that the 1080 footage looks good on a monitor.

philwarren11 - Member

Same here, wifi one ordered, barcode sticker on the top says wifi but its clearly not.

And its silver and not blue. **** idiots.

ive emailed the seller direct, is annoying, mine is blue like I ordered but not bothered on the colour, am still a bit miffed its not wifi though, will report back if I hear from them, if not ill leave negative feedback on them

ive done a couple of messing around 1080p ones and they have worked fine I must say, only 1minute long but 1080p video'd and 1080p uploaded

pretty sure if you uploaded it to youtube direct, you just have to wait for it to process the 1080p version, check back on the video a few minutes later once its uploaded to youtube

Is that £5 chest strap made of elastic or non stretch material? My elastic one bobs about a bit on the rough stuff.

Just FYI, there is no camera rotate option in the non-Wifi SJ4000 version that I have (20140818V01)

interesting, not sure which firmware mine (which does) is but it was one of the unboxed versions so I'm sceptical about its authenticity (but very happy with it).

that £5 chest strap made of elastic or non stretch material? My elastic one bobs about a bit on the rough stuff.

its webbing/strapping like rucksack straps, not elastic. In my vid the only time it moves its when I compress on a landing and clout the camera against my toptube/stem.

I got sent a non-wifi silver one as well. Not sure I'm that bothered really so I'll probably keep it. Presumably the battery life would be better without wifi anyway?

Warning! I got from AccMart one with 20140818V01 firmware (I posted a photo of it earlier in the thread).

Started to fiddle with it, and tried to put on the latest firmware. Goosed it completely. After trawling the net a fair few times, the only thing that has sort of worked so far is putting firmware V01 from the SD28 from Acmell.com on it. But I can't get the screen to come on at all. Video recording is OK, and from what I can tell from pressing the buttons the firmare is all there, it just doesn't boot the screen at all. I've tried about 10 other different firmwares, all with the same result - either nothing working at all (official SJ4000 firmwares) or recording working but no screen.

Wondering what to try now...

I didn't know you could get higher capacity batteries for these. I may pick up a couple.

It's a shame the time gets reset whenever the battery is changed however, as I have a script which automatically renames the video files based on the time and date.

I've decided to keep my wrong colour non wifi wrong order. Camera itself seems to be spot on and for 35 quid I was going to get this model anyway.

Rampworld tonight and BPW tomorrow to try it out.

So which is the one to buy at the moment?

samehere phil, for the price you can only get a sj4000 anyways, yes the Wi-Fi would have been a bonus but hey ho

if its shite quality ill just get a go pro entry

the only downside I can see at the mo over the go pro is the low light, it doesn't adjust/like the low light very much, but once back in light the picture seems better (as per most youtube reviews I guess)

Big kudos to mau00149 for giving me a copy of firmware 20141122V02 which brought back to life my AccMart purchased model which previously had 20140818V01 allegedly on it.

I doubt this is a "real" SJ4000 but given that the chipset is the same, the HD recording is OK and it only cost me £33, I'm not quibbling - especially now as the device is back working again with some updated features (e.g. rotate is now included in the firmware).

Here's a link in case anyone needs it.

[url= https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/93890118/SJ4000%20SD28%20Camera/FW96650A%20-%20AccMart%20Clone%20-%20fixes%20blank%20screen%20-%2020141122V02.bin ]Download firmware 20141122V02 for SJ4000 clone[/url]

Just missed Geoff's deal on the SJ4000, does anyone have a view on the [url= http://www.gearbest.com/action-cameras/pp_77094.html ]Amkov AMK5000[/url]?

It has wifi and similar specs to the SJ4000, although no screen, reviews are thin on the ground but quality looks ok.

I quite like the look of the M10 Cube, anyone have any experience of one?

[url= http://www.safeye.nl/en/blogs/nieuws/differences-m10-cube-vs.-sj4000 ]Link[/url]

I reckon in the UK with the number of accessories which are dedicated (currently) to the SJ4000, I'd go with one of those irrespective of whether it is a cloned model or not.

At their hearts, they have all just bought an off-the-shelf chip from Novatech (N96550A I think) and put other fairly standard parts with them. They all do 1080 in some form, but none of them are quite up there with a GoPro. But for less than £40....

Got mine today, it is blue and it says wifi on the camera itself and on the top button too. So I assume it is wifi. Came with lots of mounts too.

I don't know what YouTube has done to my video, but it looks more mangled than the raw footage.

typical, order was placed and just been informed they are out of stock....time to look for another source

Finally got the chance in daylight to try out the AccMart clone SJ4000 on a chest mount with my son as the rider. No comments on the excitement of the video, but here for a sample of the recording quality etc...

Used mine today

Quality wise it's absolutely spot on and I mean seriously good for the money as good as any go pro footage I've seen in hd anyways mtb wise

Sadly the chest mount as expected pointed down on all the descents which is logical wish I'd have read up on it before as it's simply remedied by flipping the camera and attachment upside down and having it pointing 45 degrees in the air 🙁

Gutted as the descents I recorded looked really clear and pretty fast with no slo dodgy recording on a great ride sadly it's all footage mostly of my top tube etc

Have fitted it upside down now and Locked it in at the correct angle so will test on a night ride next week now

All in all it's bloody fantastic for the money

I've got one it's very good it only cost me £34.50 from amazon.co.uk
The only problem was the battery was losing contact on bumpy sections and turning itself off. When it does this the video gets corrupted. The solution I found was to glue the battery in and now it's working fine.

The solution I found was to glue the battery in and now it's working fine.

Could you not pack the battery with some card or blue tack behind the door for a better fit? Glueing it in seems a bit drastic.

so forgive me for asking but where is the best place to get one. cant see any for £38 and all are in hong kong!

Help!

havent tried mine yet .but tried to set up the wifi .

was hoping the android app would work on my blackberry but it doesnt seem to .

working fine on a chinese tablet and a samsung phone .

dOES THE APP TELL YOU IF A FIRMWARE UPDATE IS AVAILABLE? aPPARENTLY THGE LATEST VERSION OF THE aNDROID APP IS MEANT TO DO THAT - DOESN'T ON MINE...

Dammit...caps lock was stuck on...sorry...I'm too lazy to retype that!

Had my first go with it on Saturday on BPW uplift. Im impressed. Run it with the 10 quid chest mount, pretty easy to set up and use, wish the light could be seen better in the bright light tho.

Heres my first vid taken with it.

Sixtapod.

phil what chest mount did you use and how exactly did you set it up to film straight on the trail?

as above mine was pointing down the whole way once I started to descend, be interested to hear how you set yours up to run directly down the trails

strangely in 1080p yours hasn't come out quite as clear as mine did (although mines is useless pointing at the ground)

This is the chest mount I bought. http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00KU70D4Q?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s01

I turned the camera upside down on the chest mount to get the angle correct then flipped recording it in the settings in camera. To get the correct angle i found was easy, standing on the bike in the riding position and looking at it.

My settings were default apart from changing quality to fine. I did add some contrast and saturday to the footage in iMovie, but only a little, which i might not do on the next upload.

Youtube and/or iMovie has dropped the quality a little, i might try to export then upload using youtube instead of share through iMovie. I was using a Samsung 8gb Class 2 card as i couldn't find my 32gb Sandisk Class 10 card, which is what I use in my Contour camera, ive now found it, typical.

Hope that helps.