List Price: $299.95
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This camera has excellent video quality when recording at 1080p60. Any setting under this is pretty underwhelming. Good thing it can handle 1080p60 like a champ, right? Wrong. This camera will overheat if you record longer than 20-30 minutes, even if you set the LCD to turn off while recording. I did not experience this issue when recording in slow motion (720p120,) but the video quality was very poor. The bitrate was low and the video was grainy--barely usable. I was expecting the same 720p quality, simply at 120 frames per second. Clearly the processor cannot handle this, so video quality suffers.
When I experienced the overheating, one of two things would happen. 1) The camera would not indicate any problem whatsoever, and when you reviewed the footage later, you would find artifacts and major discoloration, (like a purple filter was applied.) 2) The camera would shut off without warning. If you leave the screen on while recording, you will see a warning about overheating. In my tests, I was using 1080p60, with or without the LCD on, and the camera mounted to a suction cup/arm from my car's windshield. I got the arm so the camera could sit back from the glass, and in the shade of my vehicle to prevent overheating. The device was not in direct sunlight. My A/C was set very comfortably as well. The camera was clearly overheating from the processor handling 1080p60 recording--not due to the environment.
I did get a chance to take the camera to the lake, and it performed admirably. Being quad-proof right out of the box without needing a case is pretty awesome. I did notice that when you got water in the microphone/speaker holes that recording and playback were affected until that water was removed. To help with this, I tended to use the camera upside-down, so the LCD was facing me in my right hand. The water would drain out faster. Video quality is great--I have no complaints there. I do wonder how long the camera will handle water, given the design. You are depending on a seal in the battery cover to protect everything. Eventually, this will fail, due to the way the cover slides into place and the nature of wearing on the rubber itself.
I returned the camera due to the overheating problems. In the manual, it states that the camera should be able to last about an hour of continuous recording at the 1080p60 setting. This seems fairly accurate, and I would also interpret that to mean the camera is capable of recording continuously without overheating. This is not the case, as I had the unit swapped out twice and all of the cameras had the same issue. If you are looking for a camera to take quick snippits of video, this JVC is hard to beat. If you need something that's going to last longer than 20 minutes of trail riding, racing, or whatever other activity you are doing, you need to look elsewhere. I purchased this camera in lieu of the Hero3 Black Edition due to many online reviews complaining of that unit being prone to overheating as well. This may be a common problems in this type of camera, but that doesn't excuse the defect. I want the highest quality available so that I have more to work with when I get back to the cutting room.
Personally, I am now waiting for the HDR-AS30V, which is being released at the end of September.
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