GoPro HERO11? 10? Something else?

So, mini review for the Akaso Brave 7 in case anyone is considering one.

I actually tried pretty hard to give Akaso my money, I tried three different models priced from $95 to $145 (Brave 7). I was hoping that my modest needs (1080p is fine for me) would allow me to have good results with a value brand. On Amazon, they seemed to be the only knockoff that was attempting to be a legit competitor - professional looking Amazon store, several models, decent reviews,etc.

So anyway, the Brave 7 is a no go for me due to the following:

Dealbreakers:

1. Internal mic is absolutely unusable inside a racecar - can't watch the video with the sound on - major distortion/clipping whenever not coasting. External mic is supported through USB-C, but I was already using that port for the "record on USB power" feature.

2. 4 out of 5 track session recordings happened as expected ( I was using USB power to auto start recording), but 5th shut off very early for no apparent reason.

3. The camera broke up the recording into a bunch of 3 minute files. Shouldn't be  a huge deal, I have some freeware that I have used to join files before - takes maybe 20 seconds to process. But with the Akaso MP4 files, my freeware spun for an hour and was only 10% finished with the file join. So, I never determined if the files had a time gap when joined.

Other annoyances/not quite deal breakers:

1. There's no recording indicator light on the front of the camera, so no way to tell if it is actually recording if you can't see the top or back of the unit. Actually, the Brave 7 comes with a remote that does have a recording indicator LED and a time elapsed display. That seemed to work ok, but it just seems dumb not to have a light on the camera. I thought I had a great idea - put some foil tape on the latch to reflect the top LED. Worked great in the garage, could see the little Blue LED in my rear view, but couldn't see it at all outside in the sun.

2. Tried a few exposure settings, but the view outside (in strong sunlight) was always washed out. Really couldn't see anything more than a car length or two ahead. Inside the cockpit looked pretty good, lol.

3. The mechanical fit of the pieces wasn't that great. The little door over the USB and SD card did not want to stay latched. Also, I could not get the camera out of the camera mount ( a plastic skeleton that the unit snaps into) without removing the protective lens. Which is kind of terrible since the moment I am most likely to fumble it is when I am reaching through the cage and trying to pop it out of the mount.

For those still reading my ramblings, at this point I am still looking for a new camera option. A GoPro 10 or 11, or a DJI Action 3 are the front runners. I thought I had found a perfect solution with this Thinkware device - I mean 2 lipstick cameras recording to the same SD card and a wired start stop button with an indicator light! Wow, those Thinkware guys totally get me! Unfortunately, a couple of youtube reviews showed really weak video quality, so I think it's not the droid I'm looking for.

I got a GoPro 10 when it came out last year, and haven't been disappointed. They seem to have fixed the gaps between 10 minute clips, and the quality is excellent.

If you are recording for more than 30 minutes plan to have an external battery. The GoPro market seems to be much more clip oriented l, where the longest you are expecting to record without breaks is a top to bottom ski run, and battery life reflects that.

For Lemons racing I can record for well over 12 hours straight with a high amperage Anker car charger and a 256GB sd card. With a 512GB card you could record and entire 24 hour race

A friend of mine does really nice high-production YouTube videos on track cars.  He wanted to do one about my Spec Racer Ford and we worked together on this.  All of the in-car footage from 5 minutes on was shot with GoPro 10 cameras.  Notice things like the quality of the image stabilization, the lack of blown-out highlights, and the contrast and detail on the clouds.

Recording in short clips sounds like a settings issue, other than that the only limit to video length should be when the file size hits 4GB on a FAT32 file system.

Yes, mine limits file sizes to 4GB also. The file names on the memory card are in sequence so you can just splice the videos together while editing. 

I am sending a brand new DJI Osmo Action 3 back to Amazon one race weekend after purchase. I am terribly disappointed with it for one simple and unforgivable flaw: it MUST be controlled via smartphone app. I don't app. Don't want to, don't plan to, don't have an apple account to do so, and am not missing out. The camera itself seems like a nice piece of hardware. Even the limited time I had with it to play with settings and record one 20-minute TT stint before being locked out left a good impression. Mount, dual touchscreens, protective case and video quality all seem good. Recalling the exchange from Jurassic Park, it's even heavy. But then it was "No more skips, you must register your product using the DJI privacy invasion software suite loaded on a smartphone that belongs to someone else" (not an option over the weekend, good thing I didn't REALLY need a camera). I can't understand why a product like this which was apparently so well thought-out from a functionality perspective was ruined by a blockade of crap software I have no interest in or use for. I even grabbed the Wife's phone and downloaded the stupid 500MB app, only to find out that it wasn't a one-time registration deal, but a required-for-function arrangement. That little tidbit was never spelled out in the documentation, so I'm definitely sore from a taste of the classic bait-and-switch trick. The consent agreement/privacy statement fine print was laughable. The camera is at a price point well above something that should include freemium invasionware from the PRC--as in they're making enough money on the hardware not to have to process and sell my (Wife's) video data, phone contacts, browser history, location, and usage patterns. I just want a worthwhile CAMERA with no tricks! Why is that so much to ask? 

What do I try next? There's been enough discontent with the Hero line on this thread that I'm not going there.

Going to go sit in my 32 year old analog car in the shop and play back mental videos instead. It's got great sim controls...

In reply to Nockenwelle :

Can you be more specific about what you mean by "a required-for-function arrangement." 

Are all functions locked out - as in you can no longer record video, or does it just affect things like transferring files off the camera?

Asking, because I was about to pull the trigger on one of these over the Hero11.

I've heard a lot of professional YouTubers saying that used Hero8s are a good value for money - still not cheap, but the video quality is damn close to the latest big-money GoPros for a good few hundred dollars less.

SWMBO is asking for Xmas hints, I forgot about this thread.  Hmm maybe a Hero 10 or 11.

GameboyRMH said:

I've heard a lot of professional YouTubers saying that used Hero8s are a good value for money - still not cheap, but the video quality is damn close to the latest big-money GoPros for a good few hundred dollars less.

Agreed - most smallish YouTubers are still using 8s and 9s and shooting with multiple cameras.

My Hero 8 died pretty recently. I think the 8 is EOL, because they replaced it with a 9.  I will say the support process was quick and painless.  They also sent me 2 batteries for free, since I had two and the 8 and 9 batteries are different.  

I have a GoPro 1, 5, and 8. The only one that works every time is the 1. The 5 is solid and the 8 is pure hot garbage. I'm glad I got it as a gift and didn't pay a dime for it. They never work how they are supposed to, they overheat after 5  minutes of being inside a champcar, mounted out of direct like and with ventilation. 

We livestream with a Yi action cam but you can't buy those anymore. Sound quality is atrocious but video is ok. 

Loving all the suggestions for suitable alternatives. My GoPros have literally just been paperweights recently, it's the one thing they do well. 

In reply to sevenracer :

The process went like this:

Camera locked out and displayed a QR code and message to register.

Returned home and yesterday morning, downloaded DJI app on Wife's phone. Grudgingly accepted obvious spyware for the sole purpose of registering camera.

Scanned QR code on camera which took me to another disclaimer within the app, to the effect of "are ya really sure?". Verbiage included aforementioned affronts to data security and privacy, which I habitually reject just on principle. Not that what I would be recording is all that interesting--amateur in-car videos would be pretty boring to most of the world. Disclaimer also had key statements like "DJI app must be used to control this camera" and "If you do not accept these terms, you are entitled to a full refund if the product is returned without completing registration". I saw my chance and thought "berkeley this" and bailed out.

Many people might blithely click accept without reading, or just don't care. The clincher was that I got the distinct impression I'd have to use Her phone to do anything other that turn the thing on and hit record. The disappointment is on par with the ice cream falling off your cone on a hot July afternoon after waiting in line for 20 minutes as an impatient 6-year-old.

My biggest complaint with my Hero (very early adopter here) was the sound the mount made - this plasticky stiction squeak that went on thru the entire recordings. It made it impossible to have the sound on during playback.

Next came sound quality when the mount wasn't making it's awful noise - the wind noise was horrible, even when I put a couple of layers of race tape over the mic openings.

However, I find that to be the case with all of these small cams, even my current Garmin dashcam - it's great with the windows closed, but open - not so much. The big advantage of my dashcam is that it's hard wired to the car, so when the power comes on, so does the cam - easy peasy.

Best recordings I ever got were using my old Canon Powershot ($120 point and shoot camera) on a camera mount. 

In reply to Nockenwelle :

If it makes you feel any better, I'm very happy to hear that other people take their privacy/security seriously. What you did sounds exactly like what I'd do.

After even more GoPro shenanigans, I've broken down and ordered a Catalyst. It was between that or the Aim Smartycam, which is super expensive. The Catalyst itself isn't cheap and is more "high tech" and I assume fiddly than I'd like, but at least there's a chance it'll make me a bit faster via coaching as well. I don't love the "cloud" features it has, but I believe it can be used standalone without the associated phone app/garmin account.

Any thoughts of getting a used Sony, Canon, Nikon  small Handicam that was state of  the art 10 years ago ? Something that was $400-500 or more when new,
 

I would guess they are not 4K but maybe 1080 ,  the build quality will be first class.

californiamilleghia said:

Any thoughts of getting a used Sony, Canon, Nikon  small Handicam that was state of  the art 10 years ago ? Something that was $400-500 or more when new,
 

I would guess they are not 4K but maybe 1080 ,  the build quality will be first class.

From my experience in the bad old pre-action-cam days, the major downsides of this approach were the fragility of the cameras and the fact that they were simply intended for a completely different use - you'll learn to appreciate an action camera's simple controls with remote options and status lights quickly once you don't have them. Build quality may be good but a traditional digital camera or camcorder won't shrug off a strike from a kicked-up rock or tumbling down the track at high speed with just some damage to the protective outer case like an action cam could. They're also much heavier and will need much sturdier mounts which you may struggle to find or modify to sufficient stiffness. Image quality is likely to be the only area where these cameras would have an advantage - although these tend to have narrow-angle lenses and you want a wide-angle lens for doing action camera stuff, and those lenses aren't protected inside a case.

Personally I thought the action cameras were a godsend, I'd rather pay for a new Hero11 than go back to the old days of trying to rig up bulky handheld digital cameras.

Bumping this back up.

Any one have any new recommendations for action cams (GoPro or FauxPro) that can handle road racing sprint sessions (20-30 min)?  I bought an SJCam SJ8 Pro off Amazon and used a Tacklife mount to install on the harness bar.  Mount works great, video quality (even at 1080/60fps) looks good...when it records.  I have it set to record when powered on, and all I get are random, non-sequential 7 second (or 3 minute, or 30 second) clips, sometimes continuous video of the false grid or cooldown lap (useless), but almost no actual on-track action.  I'm using a SanDisk Extreme 256GB card that should be able to handle recording throughput and quantity of files without issue.  The audio is also total hot garbage as well, but I could sort of ignore that if it would Just. berkeleying.  Record.  I'm trying to get a replacement from SJCam to see if I just happened to get a lemon or if this is par for the course, but would like to get at least some in-car footage before the season ends.

Other recommendations in case I decide to punt this into a river?  The GoPro 11 isn't cheap, but at this point, I just want reliability and am thinking that might be the way to go.

Thanks!

In reply to Rotaryracer :

I've been using the catalyst for quite a while now for 20-40 minute road racing sessions and its been very good. Pretty much "just works" every time. Video quality isn't on par with the latest goPros, more like a dashcam, but you can't beat not messing with it. The only non-fiddly alternative I see is the Aim SmartyCam, but the price is high and the quality of the video isn't fantastic there, either. The Catalyst gives extra feedback which has been a bit helpful. The SmartyCam would give nicer "published" video since you can hook up sensors to it and overlay data, if you care about that.

GoPro is the cheaper option but it's always going to be a PITA in comparison.

Gopro is probably still the easy button. Make sure you do your research though, IIRC they are capable of doing start/stop by power signal but it involves a not super straightforward setup process and might be limited to certain models.

If it'll do it, the hero 8 has all the important features of the newer versions but is like half the price. It's biggest issue is a tiny battery but if you're using it powered that's not an issue.

I have a gopro 5 and two Gopro sessions. Except for the smaller battery (good for an hour), I love those little cubes

I had posted a while back during my search for a better camera solution. Was kind of soured on GoPro's and looking for other oprions. After trying a few Akaso camera's and sending them all back, I wound up with a Roadkeeper HD. I got the rollbar mount version with external GPS antenna. It's good not great, but I am keeping it.

Pro's:

It has a mode to start on power that works reliably with no user intervention - This was one of the biggest features I was looking for.

Captures front and rear view and basic accelerometer and GPS data all at once.

Synchronizes F/R and data automatically.

Allows you to immediately view data and video together on a laptop after a session using Racekeeper Comparo HD - Another big feature I wanted.

Con's:

Video Quality is just ok. Definitely not as good as a any GoPro from the last few years.

It's not waterproof, so needs to be behind a windshield and under a roof and away from spray through the windows.

It records about 15 min per file then continues in a new file. The join function for importing into Comparo has not always worked for me. i.e. I can view each individual file with F/R and data in  Comparo, but when I join them, it shows the data stream but no video.

Can't overlay external data like rpm or other ECU data

I have a Hero 10 I picked up from Costco and  have done some 4k recordings with it. Make sure to set to 4k. I've used helmet mounts and sunroof suction cups. Here a vid. Ignore me going off at the end.

No overheating issues yet. I would recommend extra batteries. I can safely record 2 20-30 minute sessions at 4k. Probably 3 if they are all 20 minutes. I haven't tried any alternatives, but I've been happy with the gopro. 

If you get good GPS signal it can give pretty good telemetry too. All the data in this vid other than the RPM, throttle, and brake is from the GoPro GPS. Though this seems a bit car dependent. I had good luck with my sunroof, but my family in Mustangs, not so much.

In reply to sevenracer :

I have a akaso 7 and it works great and the internal mike is decent. You may have got an older version of the camera and if you had it an driving mode it will record short videos mine will record 9min files on 4k at 30fps

xeonoex said

If you get good GPS signal it can give pretty good telemetry too. All the data in this vid other than the RPM, throttle, and brake is from the GoPro GPS. Though this seems a bit car dependent. I had good luck with my sunroof, but my family in Mustangs, not so much.

I agree- I pull video from my GoPro 10 into Race Render, along with Aim data from my car.  The GPS data from the camera seems just as good as that from the Aim dash.  I was using the GoPro on an open cockpit car so the GPS signal wasn't interrupted by a metal roof.

I really don't like gopro. They killed their desktop editing software and try and force you into a web subscription. The only editing offline is mobile apps that suck. My gopro also did the chaptering which was really annoying. Having to stitch longer sessions together was always a PITA. I understand newer gopros you can turn off chaptering (or at least set it higher) but their current business model really turns me off.

Now I have an insta360 one RS. It has PC editing software. No stupid subscriptions. It can record at least 30min without chaptering. Its really rare that I need more than that. You can even get completely different capture modules. Like I have a 1in leica sensor. You can get a smaller normal 4k one or a 360 module.

Downsides are that the optical flow stabilization is not quite as good as gopro. Still excellent, and even better if you apply it in post and capture raw. (Their PC software does the stabilization if needed.) Not as good 3rd party support, but all the gopro mounts work. But stuff like extra lenes, etc. Other downside is it doesn't have native GPS tracking. You need to buy the GPS remote if you want the trace to toss into racerender, or get it off your phone or other device.