7 Best Action Cameras Like GoPro But Cheaper!

1 Shares

Unlike other types of cameras, action cameras are designed to be used in rugged situations.

With the need to have high-quality video capabilities, action cameras also need good video stabilization to make the footage smooth.

In this industry, GoPro has stood out to be a top brand preferred by most people looking for the best action cameras.

There’s no point of contention, GoPro makes decent action cameras with very high-quality video & photo qualities.

However, not everybody will buy a GoPro just because it’s a top brand. One major concern some of the consumers raise is the high price tags of these cameras.

For the Hero8 Black, which is GoPro’s most recent camera, it was released with an initial price of $399. You will also part with $499 to get the new 360° GoPro Max.

Spending that amount of money on an action camera may not be everyone’s capability.

If you still want to purchase a GoPro, I recommend you consider the Hero7 Black which has reduced its price significantly.

You can however get action cameras like GoPro but for a much cheaper price, those alternatives offer close specs and quality to some of the GoPro cameras.

You will get a pocket-sized camera with 4K resolution, remarkable video stability, great photo quality, good audio, all for a cheaper price.

What to Look for in an Action Camera

Before buying any action camera, there are several features you need to have in your checklist.

GoPro cameras are renowned for checking all the boxes in terms of the top features. GoPro is well known for having:

High-quality video and incredible stabilization
Good video processing and encoding, low bitrate, and multiple field of view options.
Cool features like Time Lapse, TimeWarp, and live stream.
Advanced video and photo settings (Protune)
Waterproof without a case
Small size that can easily be mounted or attached to your preferred location.

When looking for a GoPro alternative, it’s important to confirm if the desired brand fulfills the following attributes:

Video Resolution & Frame Rates

The action camera you’re looking for should have high-resolution options like 4K and 2.7K. I recommend going for cameras that have 4K resolution.

Frame rates can vary, with budget cameras the maximum frame rates you can get along with 4K is 30 or 60fps.

For lower resolutions, like 1080p, some action cams can reach 120 frames per second, which is good if you would like to shoot some slow-motion videos.

Action cameras that offer 4K with less than 30fps, they probably have fake 4K. So I would run away from those.

Fake or Native 4K?

In order for some manufacturers to reduce their costs, they make cameras with fake 4K resolution which is also known as interpolated 4K.

To know if the camera has fake 4K, you need to look at two things:

1- Frame rates: if the frame rates in 4K are low (like 10 or 15fps), this means that they are too slow and cannot result in a true 4K video.

2- Interpolation: here, the image is stretched by computer software to become larger than it is supposed to be.

The software adds on to the image some digitally generated pixels which will ultimately create bigger images.

The 4K display resolution is 3840 x 2160. Any “4K” video that has less width than 3840 is fake 4K.

Codec

Video codecs are used to encode the videos and compress them without sacrificing quality. You will find action cameras with two codec options: H265 and H264.

H265 is the newer version which is also known as HEVC, and it provides better compression than the H264 and delivers higher quality videos.

So opting for a camera that has both is an advantage.

Field of View

Look for an action camera that offers different field of view or as some brands call them ‘angle’. With the cheap cams, you usually get three angles wide, narrow, and linear.

These are useful when you want to shoot videos with a normal angle instead of wide.

Time Lapse

Time-lapse is also another feature to consider before getting an action camera. There are three time-lapse options, Photo, Video, and Night Lapse.

Each option comes with different intervals.

Advanced Settings

Your action camera should be able to offer some advanced settings like exposure, ISO, shutter, and EV compensation.

These will help you get more control over your camera, and will help you in low-light situations.

Waterproof

Whether or not you are planning to use your camera in wet environments, you may want to look for a camera that is either waterproof or can become waterproof using a housing.

Now, most of the cheap action cameras are not waterproof without a case, and most of them include the waterproof case for free in the box.

Additional Features

Bluetooth and Wi-Fi are something to consider. Some brands have smartphone apps that connect to your camera and give you remote control over your camera. You can also use that app to download your footage and share it directly to social media.

This will also enable you to control your camera remotely via voice or remote control.

If you are a heavy user and you think you will use your camera for long hours then you may want to consider a camera with good battery life and a large SD card.

This is basically what you need to look for when shopping for an action camera like GoPro.

Now, let me show you my best selection of cheap GoPro alternatives.

Akaso V50 Elite

The Akaso V50 Elite is a direct successor of the EK7000 Pro. Akaso offers great deals on its action cameras and has good features that can be close to those of a GoPro.

Looking at the exterior, it looks a bit like a GoPro, and by that, you can use your GoPro mounts (if you have any) on this camera too.

Akaso’s marketing point for the V50 elite is the native 4K at 60fps. It also has a touch screen display which allows you to have a real-time view of what you are recording.

Let’s dive in the specs of the V50 Elite and see whether it goes with your taste.

Video Resolutions and Frame Rates

The V50 Elite can take footage in a maximum resolution of 4K. Other resolutions in this camera are 2.7K, 1080p, and 720p.

Here is the definition of each resolution in pixels:

4K: 3840 x 2160
2.7K: 2704 x 1520
1080P: 1920 x 1080
720P: 1280 x 720

The V50 Elite is a native 4K camera because it has the required number of pixels in that resolution.

Video Quality

The V50 Elite produces very nice videos in day time shooting. Nighttime shooting produces below average videos, and that is directly attributed to the 12 megapixels Sony image sensor which does not deliver good results in low light conditions.

I especially liked the 4K 30fps video quality during the day, and if you do not intend to use the V50 Elite in low light conditions, you will love this camera.

Recording in 4K60fps will give you good results, however the camera will overheat because the hardware is not meant to handle 60 frames per second at 4K.

Also, you will not be able to use image stabilization because it cannot work with 4K 60fps.

The video recorded in 1080p appeared grainy and you may end up not using it. I recommend shooting in 4K 30fps.

Frame Rates

The V50 Elite can shoot at a maximum of 240 frames per second. This frame rate is suitable for slow-motion filming, you can get 8X slo-mo videos. 240fps can only be used with a 720p resolution.

Other frame rates and their compatible resolutions are:

120fps can be used with 720p, 1080p.
60fps can be used with 720p, 1080p, 2.7K, 4K.
30fps can be used with all resolutions.

As I noted earlier, the camera’s chipset is not compatible with 4K60fps. This can only indicate that Akaso added this mode for marketing purposes.

Codecs

The V50 Elite supports both the new H265 which saves a lot of storage space without degrading the quality of the video and the standard H264.

Since the chipset supports it, it implies that it is real and can compress 4K videos while maintaining a low bitrate and without compromising on the quality.

You can switch between H.264 and H.265 in the camera’s settings. I will always keep it on H.265 because I will get smaller video files.

However, you need to note that the H.265 cannot be used with 4K 60fps.

Electronic Image Stabilization

The Electronic Image Stabilization (EIS) in the V50 Elite smoothens up shaky images from action activities. When running or riding a bicycle, you will surely get a smooth video.

The EIS can be used in the following situations;

Resolutions and frames: 4K60fps, 2.7K60fps, 1080p120fps and 720p with all frames.
Slow Motion
Angles: Middle, Narrow
Zoom
Time Lapse video
Date stamp

Loop Recording

Once your memory card is full, the V50 Elite will delete the first video files to create space for upcoming videos. This feature is known as loop recording

With the V50 Elite, you get options of between 1 – 5 minutes as well as unlimited time. If you choose 5 minutes of loop recording, the camera will do five minutes of footage and overwrite five minutes of an old video file.

Recording at 4K at 60fps does not have the option to use this feature.

Slow Motion

The camera has can shoot slow-motion videos in 1080p120fps, 720p240fps and 720p120fps.

With 120 frames per second, your footage is slowed down 4 times, and 8 times with 240 fps.

Photo Resolutions & Formats.

The V50 elite houses a 12 megapixels Sony IMX078 image sensor that does a good job in producing stunning photos especially during the day.

From the camera settings, you get the following resolutions to choose from; 20, 16, 12, 10, 8, 5 megapixels. However, it is important to note that the 20 and 16 megapixel options are not real since the camera sensor can only support up to 12MP.

Photo Quality

The camera does a good job in taking day time photos and I was very impressed. However, the night photos are not so good and you may end up not using them just as the night video.

Formats

The V50 elite supports both RAW and JPEG formats. For starters, RAW photos are saved in .gpr extension, and are bigger in size than the JPEG.

JPEG being a compressed photo format, always loses a lot of details and quality of the photo.

The formats can be switched in the photo settings of the camera.

Time Lapse

The V50 elite can capture timelapse photos, video and night shots.

Intervals can be set to 1, 3, 5, 10, 30 seconds, 1 minute. After setting the interval, you can now choose the duration which can be set to; 5, 10, 15, 20, 30, or 60 minutes, as well as unlimited.

Night Lapse has the same interval settings, but regardless of the exposure setting you choose, the V50 Elite still performs poorly in low light.

Audio

Recording your videos in a quiet environment will give you clear and usable audio. In areas of moderate wind, the noise reduction does a good job of reducing the wind noise from your surroundings.

Battery

The battery is not the best out there though it gets the work done. I have filmed continuously for 95 minutes before draining it completely.

Something positive is that the camera comes with two batteries, both with a capacity of 1100mAh, so you can alternate between the two as you charge in cycles.

Waterproof?

Unluckily enough, the Akaso V50 Elite is not waterproof. You will need to use the waterproof case included in the box for underwater recordings.

Other Features

Field of View: Wide, Medium, and Narrow
Drive Mode
Zoom: 8X
Voice Control
Burst mode
ISO: Auto, 100, 200, 400, 800, 1600, 3200.

Pros

Shoots good 4K 30fps videos
Captures bright, vibrant colors, and more details in JPEG and RAW.
The camera incorporates 2 batteries and a dual charger.
The touch screen works well

Cons

Not waterproof without the case
4K at 60 fps is not good
The software is slow

Check my detailed Akaso V50 Elite review.

Check Price

Campark V30

With a Native 4K resolution at 30 frames per second, Campark V30 offers Electronic Image Stabilization.

The camera’s build is amazing at its price tag, it’s very easy to use and I can recommend this camera to anyone who is just starting off the journey with action cameras.

The back of the camera fits a touch screen display which provides a nice user interface coupled up with the buttons distributed around the camera.

This camera supports an external memory card for up to a maximum capacity of 128GB.

Video Resolutions & Frames Rates

Resolutions: This camera will offer you a native 4K resolution. Other resolutions available are 2K, and 1080p.

Filming at 4K is the best option to go for, however, 1080p also captures in a lot of details with vibrant colors.

Frame Rates: The camera has a maximum of 90 frames per second, which can only be used at 1080p resolution. Other frames available include; 60fps with 1080p and 2k, and 30fps with all resolutions

4K30fps will give you footage with a bag of details, lively colors, and good overall quality.

I recommend you to either use the 4K 30fps or 1080p 60fps with the V30.

However, you will not get any advanced settings hence you cannot fine-tune the exposure, ISO but only the EV settings.

Codecs

It has both H264 and H265 codecs.

Field of View

You also get the options to adjust your field of view in the following options; Wide, Medium, and Narrow.

Electronic Image Stabilization

The Camera includes a 6-axis gyroscope for Electronic Image Stabilization which Campark calls Anti-shaking.

It delivers, I can say the EIS met my expectations.

Time lapse video

You can also shoot in Time Lapse video, which can be used to record the sunset or sunrise and many more interesting experiences.

Photo Resolutions and Formats.

Capturing still images with the V30 will give you a bag of details from its 20MP camera sensor. With the appropriate settings, you will also get very nice photos in low light conditions.

The photos can only be saved in the JPG format, no RAW format options.

Audio

The audio quality of the V30 is fair enough for its price tag. Also here, we don’t get any settings to tweak the mic volume on the camera.

Any adjustments will have to be done via the video editing software in post-production.

I recommend you get an external microphone to get boosted audio performance to your footage.

No Voice Control

The V30 does not have Voice Control option. However, you can control the camera remotely via the ‘RoadCam’ App which uses the camera’s Wi-Fi.

Battery

The Campark V30 includes two batteries with a capacity of 1350mAh each.

The batteries will easily get you continuous usage for up to 3 hours before draining completely.

Something nice also is that the dual charger included in the box can charge the batteries simultaneously.

Not Waterproof

The camera is not waterproof by itself. However, the box includes a rugged waterproof case that will allow you to record your underwater adventures up to depths of 30 meters or 100 feet.

Check my review here.

Pros

The 4K30fps is amazing, it gets a lot of details
Low light recording produces nice results
Anti-shaking video stabilization works well most of the times

Cons

Not waterproof without a case
Audio quality is not the best
Anti-shaking stabilization may fail in very sharp corners

Check Price

Akaso V50 Pro

The Akaso V50 Pro is the direct competitor to the GoPro Hero7 Black but what is interesting is that the latter costs twice as much.

The Akaso V50 pro offers a good budget choice for an action camera. The camera has Wi-Fi that will allow you to connect to a smartphone app for remote control.

The V50 Pro can support an external memory card up to a maximum of 64 GB.

Video Resolutions & Frame Rates

This camera is fitted with an iCatch V50 chipset that supports native 4K and a maximum frame rate of 240fps.

Resolution: The V50 Pro can record videos to a maximum native resolution of 4K. Getting a native 4K camera at that price tag is really nice. Other resolutions available are 2.7K, 1080p, and 720p

Frame Rates: The maximum frame rate available in this camera is 120fps. Other frame rates available are: 60fps, and 30fps.

120 fps is available at 720p. 60fps is available at 1080p and 720p, while 30fps is available at all resolutions.

Akaso claims that the camera can record at 4k 60fps but that is probably fake because the chipset available in this camera can only support a maximum of 30 fps in 4K recording.

Slow Motion

You can choose the slow-motion recording at 720p at 120 frames per second if you intend to use it. This means that the video will be slowed down for up to 4 times.

Video Quality

From my experience in using this camera, I can say that Akaso has done a remarkable job.

The native 4K videos are good quality with vibrant colors in daytime shooting. Using the camera at night/low light conditions results in average footage.