Original sq12 Mini Waterproof Camera Full HD 1080P with Night Vision and Motion Detection, Portable Video Sports DVR Camcorder Car Recorder, Small Surveillance Cam, Mini Security Camera

I've purchased 2 of these cameras and used them in lots of ways. As long as you realize this is NOT a gopro but a super affordable option to a high dollar action cam, then you won't be disappointed. The video clip I posted was converted from AVI to MP4 in order to load it to this review. I used this one as a cheap helmet cam option: I didn't want to spend big money on a cam OR have a big obvious block mounted on the outside my helmet for many reasons. SO I mounted a SQ12 camera to a mangled hotel key card (3m heavy duty double sided mounting tape) to slide into my helmet padding and it works PFG. If ever I need video evidence of an event from my point of view, or require say... recording a conversation that I had while pulled over.. then this cam will do the deed perfectly. You can get a 720p SQ12 camera for less than $25 and get about an hour of recording out of it at 1gb/hour. I used a 32gb card because it was a good price/performance. There are other cheap cameras like it (Sq11, 13, etc) that have other features like wifi for wireless access but I wanted maximum battery time. -30-60 minutes to charge -1gb/hour @ 720p (the 1080p setting does not look better than the 720p/base setting and 1080p takes up a lot more GB) -easy to use once you learn the controls and what light colors/blinks mean. If you power it on and press the power button once, then it's re recording. If you plug it into usb with an sd card inserted, then it's recording. If you get lost changing settings, just turn the camera off and back on. Pros- CHEAP small/hidden decent image and audio easy enough to use Cons- -only ~1hour of record -1080p is not better and takes up more room -image quality is not crystal clear -Have to pull the SD Card and view in some other device (yes they have wifi versions but I have not tried them because it shortens battery run time)

When they record they do ok but the battery life is poor, I can't tell if they're on or off, recording or standby, etc. and they seem to charge well once or twice and then after that they seem to be buggy.

Well the video recorded won’t play in any device, but I kept since my son plays with it! Better spend a little more and buy something g better!

Good!

The camera's picture quality and framerate is acceptable for its price range. However, it records in a strange codec/format that most video editors cannot understand. If you intend to share or modify the videos, you'll soon run into audio sync issues and jitter quickly. To view on PC as-is a software based viewer will be needed, like VLC or MXplayer. Despite its slew of essenally free accessories that it comes with, I'll have to exchange this SQ12 for a different one. I had better luck with the Sq12 model sold by tineye.