****** - Verified Buyer
4.5
After half a dozen years with a competitors cheaper priced camera, I made the jump to Akaso with the Brave 7.At its cost point, I did not expect much, and using it for paintball footage I was looking for something with good stabilization that I didn't have to break the back to get.Paintball is a sport where many player use cameras, but there is no clear leader in the market as it is a niche sport, and untapped for one company in the action camera field to target and dominate. So when we paintball players look for new set ups, its mostly an exercise in jumping in blind and hope it works. I would like to help fellow paintballers with this review!First of all it is VERY well build, very sturdy and not cheap plastic like its price point competitors have. It has many easy to use options and the interface is user friendly.Now, how is that stabilization I needed? It exceeded my expectations in a sport where even the highest priced action cameras still end up shaking.The picture is clear, and has after my first 4 hours of use in paintball battles shown no frame loss/jumps as many stabilization sets ups have. It has slight fish eyesing on the edges of the screen as one expects for most action cameras when in a sequence where the camera is being shaken severely, but I would say from my years of experience less than most and very acceptable.While waterproof and sturdy on its own, I did get its protective case, advertised for diving mostly. This is something I get with all my brands of cameras. It is built strong enough to take shots on its own. But the hard impact and shell of the paintball can scratch the lens and if fired into the microphone damage that. For much cheaper its easier to get replacement case rather than a lens, which in some cases a lens cant even be replaced with some brands!The issue with external case is being made for diving seals tight and often doesn't capture sound well. In fact in some cases captures no sound at all in the case. I expected to perhaps have to drill some holes in the back of case to get more sound in, but went into the first day of paintball with it as is to test it. I got a very acceptable level of sound with the case as is, surprisingly I must say.Remember the sound on even the most expensive action cameras is never great, and with Akaso its standard I would say. My hopes would it would be at least this, which it was. Again, understanding my first goal in upgrading to the Brave 7 was picture and stabilisation. With an external microphone you apparently can get even better sound, but for paintball that is not a practical option.My model is a newer version of the Brave 7, when researching new cameras I know the original run of Brave 7 has stability and sound issues but I assure you are fixed now.One surprise is that I read the batteries last 80-110 minutes which is great compared to my other batteries. Once again to my suprise, once on the field I got 4 hours on 2 batteries. That is right, with one battery 118 minutes of footage in the first half of the day and in the second I got a whopping 128 minutes. In both cases batteries were under 10% but under the circumstances amazing. With my other cameras I would have needed at least 6 batteries where for this just 2. The temperature started at 1 degree in the first game up to 8 degrees by the end of last game. Despite the heat of having the camera in a enclosed camera in a case, I only had to take camera out of case once to clear a bit of fog in the am session, and not once in pm!If you are on a budget and can't afford the highest end action cameras, if you want an action camera with long battery life, great image and above average stabilization while not lacking anything its competitors have sound wise, I would recommend the Brave 7.For paintball its excellent in my opinion, and Ill be saving up money to get another Asako model in the future as well.
