Action Cam Battle Spring 2014: The Six Best

Cameras tested:
GoPro Hero 3+ Black
Sony Action Cam 2 (HDR-AS30V)
JVC Adixxion GC-XA2
Garmin VIRB Elite
Drift Ghost-S
Ion Air Pro 3

NOTE: After updating the Garmin's firmware just before shooting this video it seems to have defaulted to a narrower field of view. We shot a second comparison with just it and the Hero 3+ Black, which is included in the article linked above.

[philipneumann]

Perfect test video.

For those mulling over what to get, consider how you plan to use it. In the Los Angeles area (where this video appears to be) and doing extreme sports during the day, the Sony, GoPro, and JVC perform the best in these bright conditions without oversaturating the colors. But at night, in the middle of Manhattan, the Ion Air stands up to the GoPro and outperforms the Sony - especially when mounted on a bike with the expectation of using it for safety and catching license plate numbers accurately.

[gearheadflicks]

Excellent video.  I wish you included the Contour Plus 2.   We do a lot of car action stuff and the lens rotation has been the biggest selling point for us.  The picture quality has always been nice...   the audio is ok... but we deal with high speeds so wind is a major factor if you don't prepare a hidden mic.

[thetreverpitts]

sony has the best mics on that style of camera 

[phased]

Thanks for this.
I went with the ION.
I had a problem with the Wifi Podz which has been mostly solved my their Customer Support with a manual firmware update, and I'm very happy with the quality of the video, nice to have sound too. So far so good.

[MrCubix]

Go Pro - JVC - Sony - Ghost S - Virb - The image quality on the Go Pro is just superb!

[abdulraheemalkurdi]

why haven't you used the Sony AS100V instead of the 30V?

[joseluissimone]

parabens pela comparaçao .essa sim da pra perceber nitidamente e de maneira rapida e facil quem e quem....

[billfarkas]

Well done!
I come away with the sense that the GoPro comes out on top in most respects.
The last shot of the car at night, GoPro clearly took the lead.
In almost every scene, GoPro seemed to provide the baseline resolution, lighting, contrast, etc.

Anyway, much appreciated

[RichardsWorld]

Good ideas for your tests.

How about compare to a water resistant phone, such as the Samsung S5. Some people might say try an iPhone, but those aren't water resistant like the S5 or S4 Active which is getting old.

[BigB]

It was quite obvious that there was a defect on the glass lens of the ION.  It showed up on several of the scenes.  I would welcome another test with the lens clean. And to video document an event, I believe sound plays a very important part.

[dogdaysunrise]

The ion seems to be the only one without the fisheye effect at 4:20, which I like. So I think the GoPro, the Sony and ION are the winners here. Sound is even better on the latter two.
Imagine quality, I'd say GoPro and Sony with the ION very close. All the others have either crappy sound, extreme fisheye effect, weird colors or overall weak image quality.

[jasonickd]

Not sure why his Ion Air Pro3 looked like that, sound and video was good surfing, but mountain view with airpro did look bad, why, I think for sure he didn't wipe the lens 100% clean, cause I get sunset evening views like that and they look crystal clear. What people dont know is u get ion air pro half the price of gorpo and it is already water proof and mounts are awesome/low profile, not some bulky crap and clear housing for the cam. Yes the go pro looked good, but so did the ion and sound. I ride motorcycle so I use external mic in helmet, works fine.

[NoAltoGiro]

Thank you for the work you have done this video. Helped a lot in my doubts.

[jasonickd]

I give a thumbs up on this video, 2 thumbs up for mount and time to show all this. Thanks man.

[ReneeNme]

I could just imagine the passengers in that car looking at each other after they passed you and asking each other " What in the hell did that guy have on his noggin' ?! ". lawl

[gorodriify]

Sony > GoPro >>>> JVC >>> Others

[blainemaestas]

Ion pro for sure! You can still see guys face when he has the sun behind him. Great sound quality...colors looks good too

[FootballOrigamiGames]

Hi Brent, I am wondering did you bought this cameras or did companies send them.If you bought them ok, but if you got them from companies how did you contact them and how did you write letter/email?

[ebbaastrom]

Great comparison! It's quite obvious that GoPro and Sony were the best ones!

[TheSimonkk]

Excelente comparación! En conclusión para mi al menos, creo que la mejor calidad de imagen está entre Gopro y Sony, y respecto a la captación de audio está entre Sony y JVC Adixxion. usaste la misma carcasa sumergible para todos los videos? Muchas gracias