Sandberg ActionCam 4K Waterproof + WiFi – Hardware Review
We’ve taken a look at a lot of Sandberg’s gaming peripherals, and most of them, if not all, were found to be very qualitative, good looking and practical. Of course, Sandberg is a brand that focuses on a lot of different market segments and thus they also have a lot of other product lines that focus on a wide variety of different people. This time we are taking a look at the company’s Active line, which has a lot of neat outdoor products, such as the ActionCam 4K Waterproof + WiFi. This might not be the most catchy name for a product, but it immediately describes what you can expect. We decided for once to leave our man-cave and tinker outside with a new gadget.
Design
The ActionCam itself has a fairly simple outward appearance, as the device is coated with a black matte rubber-ish layer, which has a certain charm. It only starts to stand out when you place it in its waterproof container, which highlights all the buttons and simply makes it look like something high-tech and spiffy. Sadly, the case doesn’t indicate what button does what, which can only be seen on the actual device. Nonetheless, Sandberg put a good-looking product on the market, that has some original details.
Comfort
There isn’t all that much to discuss in terms of comfort when talking about this product. You’ll be treated to a fairly compact and light device, with enough add-on possibilities to use it for every occasion. The waterproof case is decent and easy to open and close, making it so you can easily remove the camera, to remove the micro SD, to check the pictures/clips you made and view them on your PC. Other than that, the buttons are easily accessible and properly show what they do. There isn’t that much more to state.
Specs
- Lens: 170 HD° Wide-angle lens
- Image sensor: 16 Mega Pixels CMOS
- Image resolution: 16 / 12 / 10 / 8 / 5 / 2 Mega pixels
- Video resolution: 4K 30 fps / 2.7K 30 fps / 1920*1080 60 fps / 1280*720 12 fps / 90 fps
- Video compression format: HD.264
- Video file format: MP4
- Image format: JPG
- 0″ LCD screen
- Memory card supported: Micro SD up to 64 GB
- Connectors: 1 x MicroUSB for charge, 1 x Micro HDMI for AV out
- Battery capacity: 1050 mAh
- Battery life: Approx. 90 minutes depending on resolution
- Built-in Microphone:
- Frequency range: 100 Hz – 16 kHz
- Impedance: 2200 ohms
- Sensitivity: -42 dB
- Directivity: Omni
Overview
Sanderg’s ActionCam is a pretty straightforward device, as you’ll simply need to charge it, power it on, and you’re good to go when it comes to pictures, filming and slow motion captures. The buttons properly indicate whatever it is they do, ranging from the power/mode button, to the ok button, to the WiFi settings and navigating through the menu. It’s clear that the UI has been kept simple, and we can only appreciate this gesture, as it doesn’t overcomplicate things that should be easy to use/understand. Same can be said about the waterproof casing, as it’s easy to embed the device inside, and lock/open it.
We’ll first get the negative out the way, and that’s taking pictures with the ActionCam, as they look like utter garbage. This might be crude, but on a sunny day, all your pictures will be overexposed, while on a cloudy day, things will look too dark to properly see what you wanted to take a picture of. Of course, a convex lens isn’t ideal to take great family photos, but we feel like the device lacks a bit in this department.
Of course, the chances are slim you’ll be buying the ActionCam for regular photos, so we can immediately state that filming your escapades or your sportive accomplishments will look crisp and clear when using this device. You’ll end up with great film material if you use the device, above and under water. This is the main forte of the device and it truly shows when you end up with qualitative material.
The camera supports Micro SD cards up to 64GB, which is certainly enough to make some proper clips and pictures, but keep in mind that your cards must have decent writing speed in order to handle the 4K filming. That being said, we had some issues using cards that were already used in other devices, such as smartphones or the Nintendo Switch. The camera will prompt you to format the card, but even so, it doesn’t recognize the card, but it does format the content on said card. This proved to be a rather annoying experience, as it even ensued after formatting the cards on the PC and reinserting them into the device.
Conclusion
While the camera itself is indeed great as a GoPro alternative, the picture quality is truly abominable. If it’s light outside, you’ll have overexposed pictures, if it’s getting a tiny bit dark, you’ll have shoddy pictures in which you can see nothing. If you’re hoping to use this device as a normal camera outside of the filming capabilities, we can immediately advise you to look elsewhere. If you’re interested in the 4K filming possibilities, then we can wholeheartedly advise this device to you.
Sandberg ActionCam 4K Waterproof + WiFi - Hardware Review,
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