The big question is can you really buy a fully fledged action camera for just £62 / $80?
The H8R may be a cheap action camera but that doesn’t mean that it cuts back on features. The headline resolution of 4K and 30 frames per second (fps) defies its price as does the inclusion of wifi, a wrist remote and large full colour LCD built in.
The camera also comes fully equipped with the essentials; a 30m waterproof housing to protect the camera from the elements, an array of adhesive mounts, a bike handle bar holder and tripod adapter.
Really giving any budding extremes sports enthusiast everything they could need to get started. This just leaves you to find a suitable SD card of up to 32GB class 10 before you can start filming.
The H8R creates a good first impression and the small camera feels solid enough. The waterproof housing follows the usual GoPro style with one very obvious difference. It features a circular flat lens that protects the 170 degree field of view camera lens behind.
The design looks like it should also help to avoid the vignetting issues that can influence the image capture of many budget cameras. The flat style of lens is thankfully void of bolts or fancy design so it’s easy to quickly wipe clear of water or mud.
A flat quick clean lens makes all the difference
The exterior features just three buttons and these are as always with cheap action cameras unmarked, (actually with almost all action cameras) leaving it you to experiment initially to find out what each button does. However with just three buttons it shouldn’t pose to much of a problem, and pop it out of the case and the three buttons are all suitably marked.
The button on the front activates the power and then doubles as the mode button, the shutter button is where it should be, on top of the camera, and on the side is the direct wifi activate button.
The base of the H8R waterproof housing features the usual GoPro style mount. This means that when it comes to mounting options you have the full range of GoPro compatible mounts to choose from. The housing itself is held shut firmly by a simple lever style lock.
A little care does need to be taken with the case just to ensure that it is properly closed and water tight. Release the catch and the camera can be easily dropped out.
Buy the H8R now at Gearbest.com
A quality feel for this surprisingly cheap action camera
Out of the case again the camera feels of decent quality. On the side there is a slot for a MicroSD card as well as USB and HDMI sockets. On the back is the large 2″ LCD.
Finally on the base under a removable door is the 1050 mAh battery that will provide a good hour and a half of power when filming 1080p at 30fps.
The H8R shows instant promise, in the next part of the review I take a look at how easy the camera is to set-up, connect and start filming.
Check out The H8R action camera in use – H8R Review Part 2
Check out the H8R Verdict – H8R Review Part 3
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