Budget Action Cam Suggestion -

Hi everybody! This is my first post. I'm a long time tennis player/coach with decades of photographic and sound engineering experience, some video and video editing experience (church band, client's birthday parties), and NO action cam experience, except for when I made a chest mount for my Kodak Playtouch a loong time ago.

I don't really need lots of the newest tech so I'm seeking a reasonably priced ($75-$200) action cam with the following features:

1) ability to mount universally, including on tripod and helmet, and body/chest.
2) enough image stabilization to deal with mountain-biking footage.
3) 1080 & 720p with high FPS rate (min 120) to analyze tennis stroke mechanics.
4) good on-board audio quality AND ability to use external mic.
5) prefer user-friendly simplicity

Any info and suggestions are greatly appreciated!

 

Possibly nobody has an answer that will tick all your boxes. A conventional camcorder such as the Panasonic HC-V750 would cover most of your requirements, it has decent optical image stabilisation, sol-mo (120fps in the US) decent mics plus an external mic socket.
I know Go-Pro has external mic capability but whether it has all the others you want I don't know.
What is user-friendly simplicity? Depends on the user?

 

Thx! Camcorder is large, no? "User-friendly simplicity" = intuitive design.

 

Yes compared to an action cam but it fits easily into a pocket. 14cm L x 7cm H x 6cm W.

Provided you read the Instruction Book. Action cams are so small that buttons they have need to be multi use so one button may have a number of different actions.

 

That's a big ASK for a Budget starting at $75.

Most GoPros will perform well-enough, to cover most yr requirements . . . but it's only with some practical use you can really know where it falls short.
Audio is likely the obvious area - fixed by buying an SDHC recorder like "Zoom" (starts sub-$100), but placing it and avoiding wind-noise is not easy.
There are cheaper "Look-Alikes" (sub-$50), which will be close-enough for some uses and you'll not mind if they are destroyed by extreme sport activities ( well not so much.).
Camcorders can take longer-lasting batteries and do not sport such a Wide field of view . . ( which is often easier for the Audience. viewing ).
+However camcorders are unsuited to helmet/body wearing.... and will be much heavier.

 

Thanks all! It's always an excellent use of time to start a thread among knowledgeable and generous forum members...