Was thinking of getting a camera for packrafting/fishing/hunting. I am brutal at not taking pictures or video now so hesitant to spend money on a go pro I’ll only use for a few minutes a trip. Any cheap alternatives worth looking at?
I own two gopros, and have seen knock offs that friends have bought... guess it's all personal preference, but the older versions of gopros are alot cheaper, I mean unless you need to shoot in 4-5k with the newer ones. The 3 and 4 are low priced and still do the job extremely well. I myself own a hero 5 black and a hero 7 black. The updates to the app have made them worthwhile tbh.
I'd recommend watching youtube comparisons with the top knockoffs vs gopros and see if any of those are good enough for what you want to use the action cam for. After that its better to ask yourself if you wanna risk buying an offbrand and not liking it and having to fork up the gopro money anyways... buy once cry once seems to be the biggest phrase in hunting/shooting/photography groups lol
I've used two different Akaso "action cameras" I ordered through Amazon. The images are not as good as gopro, but still good. Looks like you could get the ones I have for between $50 - $70 right now, and the newest models for $140.
However, I have had my eye on the gopro HERO9 which is on sale for $350 right now.
I have an AKASO brave 6 plus. Haven’t compared the quality directly with a go pro but it seems to take good video. Comes with 2 rechargeable batteries that last 1 1/2 to 2 hrs. I dropped it in the river while fishing in Pulaski and it still works. Mounted it to my stabilizer on my bow for a couple hunts. Learn from my mistake and Make sure it’s in video and not photo mode. Instead of footage of my Ohio buck I have a sweet picture of the tree in front of my stand. Paid less than $100 on Amazon on sale.
I needed two of them in a pinch for a temporary security problem last summer. Picked up 2 Akaso EK7000 pro units on Amazon for about $50 each. I don't have a gopro for comparison, but was pleasantly surprised on the picture and video quality and ease of use. Now granted, I wasn't looking for long term use and superior image quality or would have probably got a gopro, but for the quick fix I needed they fit the bill getting 2 for $100. They came with a variety of accessories although I never used the underwater box so I can't speak to that part
I've been pleased with the akaso I bought a few years back. I use it mainly skiing but have snorkeled with it also using a 15 buck waterproof case off Amazon.
There is one feature that is only available on the GoPro 9 that may be worth the extra money depending on your use. GoPro 9 has a "hindsight recording" feature that allows you to record the video of something that you missed. How can that happen?
You can select a 15 or 30 second buffer and it will record continuously for that duration before you hit "Record" on the unit.
Let's say a grizzly goes streaking across a trail and into the woods. By the time you hit record, it is 2 seconds too late. If you had enabled the 15-second hindsight buffer, you would have recorded 13 seconds before the bear was visible plus the 2 seconds it took to streak across the trail.
I could be wrong but I'm not aware of that feature on any of the knockoffs.