Affordable action camera

yoursoawsome · March 1, 2015

Hello,

I am going to Ecuador this summer and was wanting to make a video and take a ton of pictures. I do have a decent camera already (pentax q10) but i am just worried about the conditions in Ecuador. It is a very wet environment and taking under water pictures would be difficult. I am wanting to take an action camera on the trip so i do not have to worry too much about water. I just spent $250 US on my pentax and don't want to spend more than $130 US for another camera. Most of my trip will be near the ocean or in it so i will mostly be using the action camera in those areas. In the city i will be taking pictures with my pentax. I am wanting the camera to shoot 720p 30 fps min. And an lcd screen would be nice so i can frame my pics and video. I was thinking about the sj4000 with wifi.

What would be better the go pro hero for $130 Us or the j4000 with wifi and a screen for $110 US?

Are there other cameras that may be just as good but for a cheaper price?

Thanks

Martz_10 · March 1, 2015

On paper the sj4000 looks much better than the GoPro Hero. However you can't be sure on the build quality or reliability of the sj4000. Personally i'd buy the sj4000 and if does turn out to be bad i'd return it.

Hope that helps.

nerdyrcdriver · March 1, 2015

I bought a sharper image action cam for like $20 at Menards (a hardware store in some parts of the US) and I am fairly happy with it. I don't see a problem with buying a cheaper camera like the sj4000. When I looked it up there were a lot of people on amazon saying that they got knockoffs of the sj4000. Honestly if I was going to go for a more expensive action cam I would probably just go for the gopro because of their wide accessory range and documentation. You can still frame shots with the gopro without the lcd backpack, just not as well.

Just like the scrapyard wars that linus and luke just did, I would probably try to find a used hero 3 with the lcd backpack on ebay or something.