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Monster Vision 1080p+ action cam review

The Monster Vision 1080p+ is an action / sports camera that can capture video at 1080P resolution. I recently reviewed my first action cam (the Andoer 4K action camera) and wasn’t overly impressed. When I was offered the chance to review another camera by a well-known name, I was happy to check it out. Let’s take a look.

What is it?

The Monster Vision 1080p+ action cam is a 1080P camera that can capture video with audio, and images. This camera can also be used as a dashcam.

What’s in the box?

Monster Vision 1080p+ action cam
16GB micro SD flash card
micro USB charging cable
Waterproof housing
Variety of mounting hardware for handle bars, tripod, window and more.
Quick start guide

Hardware specifications

Optics: 8MP CMOS 170 degree wide angle lens
Video: 1440p 1920×1440 30fps, 1080p 1920×1080 6fps, 720p 1280×720 60fps & 120fps
Video Format: MOV (H.264)
Photo: 3,5,8,10 & 12MP
Photo Format: JPEG
WiFi control via mobile app
Memory: 16GB micro SD card is included
Battery: Li-ion 1200mAh

Design and features

The Monster Vision 1080p+ action cam looks very similar to the 100’s of other action cameras on the market. It’s a rectangular black plastic camera with a lens on the front. Also on the front in the lower right corner is a charging and recording status LED. It lights up in blue while charging and blinks red while recording.

On the left side of the camera is the WiFi toggle button which doubles as the down button when navigating through on-screen menus.

On the opposite side of the Monster Digital action camera, you will find a speaker at the top and a micro SD card slot below it. A 16GB card is included with the camera. There’s also a micro USB port for charging and a mini HDMI port if you want to connect the camera to a display. Note that a micro HDMI cable is NOT included with the camera.

On the back of the action camera is the 2-inch color LCD display. In the upper left corner is the Power / recording status LED which glows solid red with the camera is powered on, and blinks while recording. On the right side of the LCD display is the Display / Menu button. This button can be used to toggle the display off and on and brings up the camera’s settings menu when you’re not recording video.

The menus are pretty standard for an action camera. You can switch video modes, resolutions, tweak white balance, etc.

On the bottom of the camera is the battery compartment. Note that the battery is rated for only about 1 hr and 75 minutes of video capture per charge and it takes 2-4 hrs to recharge it.

And on top is the power / mode button and the OK button which is used to select items in the menus.




Operating the camera

Like most action cams, operating it is pretty simple. Just get in the mode you want and start recording. For the Monster Digital camera, you can switch modes just by pressing the power / mode button on the top of the camera. Holding down the button for a few seconds toggles power and when the camera is on, pressing the button will cycle through video, photo, dashcam and playback modes. The camera is supposed to remember which mode you were in and will start back in that mode upon cycling power. I found this to be true, but only for video and dashcam modes. If you turn off the camera in photo or playback mode, it starts back up in video mode.

Controlling the camera via WiFi and the Monster Digital mobile app




To control the camera remotely, you have to install the free Monster Digital mobile app, turn the camera on, press the WiFi button on the side, switch to that WiFi connection on the mobile device, type in the password and go back to the app. You’re then able to remotely change settings, see a live view of the camera, snap photos, capture video and even play back photos and video.

Playing back video is a little wonky though. Most of the time I could hear the audio, but the image remained black.

Sample images



The photo capturing capability of the Monster Digital 1080p+ is ok. I wouldn’t consider using it as my primary camera, but in a pinch, it’s better than no camera at all.

Close up images like the first image on the left will show some slight bulging due to the wide angle lens. You don’t notice this with longer range shots.

Sample videos

I think this camera’s video quality which I had set at 1080p 60fps is pretty good. I’m not going to say that it blew me away because I feel like my Nexus 6P smartphone does a much better job capturing super clear video. But for a $100 camera, it’s not bad.

There are a couple things to mention though. First of all, the camera has an image stabilization feature that can be toggled on and off in the menus. I captured video with it enabled and disabled and could not tell any real differences. In the video sample above, the feature was enabled as I was walking around in the woods with the camera attached to the IK Multimedia iKlip Grip Pro.  I was also not overly impressed with the audio capture quality as it sounds a bit fuzzy and muffled to me.

Final thoughts

Is the Monster Vision 1080p+ the best action camera on the market right now? I think it’s safe to say that it isn’t. But when it’s all said and done, I do think the Monster Vision 1080p+ action cam is a decent sports / action camera that is easy to use, captures good quality video and isn’t overly expensive.

Source: The sample for this review was provided by Monster Digital. Please visit their site for more info.

 

Product Information

Price: $99.99
Manufacturer: Monster Digital
Pros:
  • Easy to use
  • 16GB microSD card included
  • WiFi mobile control
Cons:
  • Built in image stabilization seems to have no effect
  • Audio quality is not the best

Filed in categories: Camera Gear, Reviews

Tagged:

Monster Vision 1080p+ action cam review originally appeared on on March 3, 2017 at 7:06 am.

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DesignSkin The Slider iPhone 7 case review

Cases for smartphones are a constant subject of review here on The Gadgeteer. The latest craze I’ve seen in the case market is adding a place to store a few ID/Credit cards and some cash. The Slider, from DesignSkin, is one such case recently sent to me for testing.

Note: Photos may be tapped or clicked for a larger image.


The case is available for a handful of the most popular smartphones on the market and comes with many different graphic back panels. I requested the “Surprise the Universe” pattern. It arrived very quickly, and fit my iPhone 6s Plus perfectly. The interior of the case and the outer edges are a slightly pliant grey plastic.

There are cutouts in the usual places for camera, flash, ringer silencing switch, speaker, microphones, lightning port and headphone jack.

The volume buttons are covered, but their location is clearly marked on the case exterior. There is a similar denotation of the location of the Sleep/Wake button.

The case wraps around the screen and protrudes slightly – just enough to not actually touch any surface that you may place your phone on face down, but not really enough to protect it should there be sand or anything gritty on that surface. The edges, while not sharp, are not “grippy”, but slightly slippery. Though not as slick as a bare phone, it gives very little grip. The thickness of the plastic around the outside of the phone, however, should truly protect it in case of a drop, but that thickness works against things being connected through the ports. Docks, some headphones, several charging cables, and my DXO One camera are not able to connect well enough to operate normally. (See a dock and the regular Apple leather case versus the Slider in the two photos below.)


The “Slider” feature is just that: the rear panel of the case slides up to reveal a credit-card sized pocket that will hold 2 or 3 cards, depending on the thickness. The thin plastic that covers it shows no signs of being a screen for the wallet, so there is a good bit of stealth in the case as well. If you want to carry your driver’s license, a credit card, and a door access card, I’m sure you’d have no problem with the card being read through the backing. If you need to carry more than that, however, you’ll be out of luck, because there is zero “wiggle room” in the hidden pocket.


The printing on the back of the case is a matte finish and is evenly applied. The graphic actually appears to have depth in, but it’s just an optical illusion. Not sure if the paint will scratch off over time. It has zero scratches from the time I’ve been using it, but I usually don’t keep anything else in my shirt pocket with my phone.


All told, if you’re looking for a soft case with a nice look and a bit of protection that will let you hide a card or 3 inside, this could be your model. At $19.99, it won’t break the bank, even if you decide to get several designs.

Source: The sample for this review was provided by DesignSkin. Please visit Amazon.com to purchase.

 

Product Information

Price: $19.99
Manufacturer: DesignSkin
Retailer: Amazon
Requirements:
  • Device to protect
Pros:
  • Easy to insert phone into or to remove.
  • Allows easy, yet hidden access to cards.
  • Raises screen above tabletop
Cons:
  • Thick edges prevent some cords and accessories from attaching.

Filed in categories: Cases and Covers, iOS, Reviews

Tagged:

DesignSkin The Slider iPhone 7 case review originally appeared on on March 2, 2017 at 11:15 am.

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PITAKA carbon fiber magnetic wallet review

Have you been shopping for a new minimalistic wallet but don’t want one with the same old tired style as everyone else’s minimal wallet? Then look no further my friends because I have a wallet that you’ll want to check out. It’s the PITAKA carbon fiber magnetic wallet and it’s definitely unique. But is it the perfect minimalist wallet? Let’s find out.

What is it?

The PITAKA carbon fiber magnetic wallet is a minimal wallet that’s made of carbon fiber, which is RFID blocking. It also features a modular layered design that allows you to customize what it can hold.

Design and features

The PITAKA wallet resembles a deck of playing cards in shape, size and even with the layered “card” design.

Made of carbon fiber, the wallet is lightweight but tough.

The main wallet ships with four layers that include the top and bottom layer end pieces that can hold one card each and two internal layers that each hold two cards. That means that the wallet can hold a maximum of six cards.

PITAKA also sells additional layers that can hold coins, a key, SIM card, micro SD cards, and cash.

There are three magnets embedded in each layer. The larger magnet in the center bottom edge and two smaller magnets on the side edges. The location of the magnets allows for the card fanning effect that you can do with one hand (see video demonstration below).


Each internal PITAKA layer can hold two standard-sized embossed or non-embossed plastic credit cards.

The cards are held in place with very small tabs that you can barely make out in the image above. Look on the straight rails across from the nose in the face cutouts and you will notice that the plastic has a slightly wider section.

See it in action

As you can see in the video above, you just hold the wallet in your hand and fan the “deck” with your thumb which is also used to raise the card. Although I didn’t do a very good job in the video, with a little practice, you can use this wallet with just one hand.

There are two issues/problems with this wallet that that should be discussed.

First of all, you need to pay attention to the orientation of the wallet, If you hold it in your hand so that the larger center magnet is on top, spreading open the wallet will either cause the wallet to fan open upside down or even worse, will cause the magnetic layers to disconnect. I show this towards the end of the video at the 36 second mark. I really think there some be a visual or tactile indicator of how to hold the wallet.

The bigger issue with the PITAKA wallet is not how to hold it, but what types of cards it can hold. The box that the PITAKA is packaged in has a warning (click the image for larger view). Basically, it says that you should not use cards with magnetic strips in this wallet. Why? Because the PITAKA wallet uses magnets to hold the wallet’s layers together and those magnets can demagnetize the cards. I contacted PITAKA to get some clarification on this issue and this is their reply:

Great to receive your email and reply you on demagnetize issue.

Since there are magnets on our carbon fiber wallet, they are enabled with one-hand cool operation, meanwhile bringing another issue of demagnetizing
card with a magnetic strip. But that could be fewer and fewer situations as the RFID chip cards (credit cards, metro cards…) are reported to be the trend.
Most European countries have been used RFID credit cards everywhere and Americans have been on the way. Below are a tech news FYI.
https://www.nfcworld.com/2016/06/23/345759/emv-claims-third-global-card-present-payments/

Also we surely understand it’s still a great trouble if demagnetizes. We tried so much find magnets won’t demagnetize and checked with many material experts, all told us no such magnets exist. If you know some please do inform us for research and resolution. But kindly noted Chip technology is an advanced, and it is more safe than stripe.
As an innovation company, it’s impossible to develop a product that will be conflicted with the trend and technology.

The problem is that my main CitiBank Visa credit card has both a magnetic strip and a chip. I still find stores where I have to swipe instead of use the chip. So that’s a big problem for me and I’m guessing will be an issue for others as well.

Final thoughts

The PITAKA carbon fiber magnetic wallet is a wallet that has a lot going for it. It’s lightweight, has RFID protection, can be customized to add or remove layers and is fun to use. But the main problem with it is the potential to demagnetize cards with magnetic strips. If you don’t use those types of cards anymore, then yay for you! I think you’ll enjoy this unique wallet. But if you use cards with magnetic strips, I don’t think this is the wallet for you.

Source: The sample for this review was provided by Pitaka. Please visit their site for more info and to order one.

 

Product Information

Price: $80
Manufacturer: Pitaka
Pros:
  • RFID blocking
  • Modular
  • Lightweight
  • One handed access to cards
Cons:
  • If you don't pay attention to the orientation of the wallet, you might disconnect the layers when fanning the "deck"
  • Can't use with cards that have a magnetic strip

Filed in categories: Reviews, Wallets

Tagged:

PITAKA carbon fiber magnetic wallet review originally appeared on on March 1, 2017 at 1:22 pm.

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TEC Accessories Orbiter fidget toy review

Fidget toys are the latest gadget craze for geeks. Stop chewing your pen cap or twirling your pencil and grab the Orbiter fidget toy from TEC Accessories. It’s a fun and unique stress reliever. Let’s take it for a spin – literally.

What is it?

The Orbiter is a two-piece fidget toy made of grade 5 Titanium, Neodymium magnets, and a 5/8″ steel ball bearing.

Design and features

The Orbiter is comprised of two parts. There’s the Titanium and steel sandwiched base with embeddedNeodymium magnets, and the steel ball bearing.

Ways to fidget

The magnets in the base hold the steel ball in the depression in the base. The easiest way to fidget with the Orbiter is to just roll the ball around in the depression like a trackball for your computer.

The base also has a groove around the depression. Another way to fidget with the Orbiter is to spin the ball around in the groove. For me, this was the hardest to do. It’s not impossible, just tough, which is actually a good thing as it gives you something to practice.

The easiest way to fidget with the Orbiter is to spin the ball around the outside of the base. Once I got it going, I could keep it spinning for a long time.

Flipping the Orbiter over on the ball bearing and spinning it like a top is pretty easy too once you figure out how to do it.

See it in action

There might be other ways to fidget with the TEC Orbiter, but so far those are the ways I’ve figured out.

Final thoughts

I love little fidget toys and right now, the TEC Accessories Orbiter is one of my all-time favorites because it’s unique, well made and just plain fun to play with. It may be a little pricey, but there are no moving parts, so there’s nothing to break. This toy will last forever. The only issue you might have is losing the ball bearing, but you can order replacements from TEC.

Happy fidgeting!

Source: The sample for this review was provided by TEC Accessories. Please visit their site for more info.

 

Product Information

Price: $64.95
Manufacturer: TEC Accessories
Pros:
  • Multiple ways to fidget
  • Fun
  • Easy and hard
  • Titanium
Cons:
  • Pricey

Filed in categories: Geek Toys, Reviews

Tagged:

TEC Accessories Orbiter fidget toy review originally appeared on on March 1, 2017 at 6:21 am.

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MGCOOL Cam 360 action camera review

Typically, the videos we capture stimulate our eyes and ears and that’s usually as far as it goes. But with cameras like the MGCOOL 360, watching videos captured with this camera can be an interactive activity rather than a passive one.

MGCOOL is Elephone’s newly-established sub-brand covering sports cameras, intelligent wearable devices, and other gadgets. Their flagship products are sports cameras and 360 degree cameras. The MGCOOL 360 is a camera equipped with two 220° panoramic lenses that record simultaneously capturing footage from both the front and rear of the camera. The aperture of the lenses are f/2.0 and the focal length of the lenses are 1.1mm. The physical dimensions are 2.36” x 1.93” x 1.26” inches (6.00 x 4.90 x 3.20 cm) and the camera weighs 0.120 kg or 4.23 oz.

On the top of the camera is a small LCD screen where you can read the status and Menu items. Along the edge of the LCD screen is the Power Button, the Wi-Fi Button, and Record Button, and also a pin hole for the Reset button.

On the side of the camera is a small flap which covers the MicroSD card slot as well the MicroUSB port. From the micro USB port, you can charge the batteries of the camera. The MGCOOL camera supports MicroSD cards up to 32gb. Make sure to use at least a Class 10 MicroSD card or you will not get the camera to read the MicroSD card properly. If you can afford a more expensive UHS (ultra high-speed) MicroSD card then go for it. When I first unboxed the camera, I had a Class 6 card laying around that I popped in the camera for a quick test but I couldn’t even get the camera to record with that card in it. So, then I switched to a Class 10 MicroSD card and it started recording as soon as I hit the Record button.

Overall, this is a set it and shoot camera. Just attach it to your tripod, mount, or whatever you want to use with it and start recording. Naturally, you can hand hold this camera but I find that having the camera mounted securely makes for better viewing footage. On the bottom of the camera is a threaded screw mount for tripods, extension poles, or selfie sticks. This is a nice feature to have in case you don’t have or want to use one of the included mounts to secure this camera down.

There aren’t any manual settings to change such as exposure, ISO, or frame rate like on other action cameras such as a GoPro or a SJCAM cameras. However, there is a setting on the app to change the white balance. The recorded image was pretty good in bright sunlight as well as a cloudy day. I haven’t had a chance to record anything at night yet so I can’t comment on the low light factor.

The MGCOOL camera has a built-in 1500 mAh Lithium-ion battery with an average battery life of an hour. This is about the same as other action cameras I have used but the thing about this camera is that you can’t swap out batteries. However, I have read that the company has plans in the future to have a removable battery. 

Since having two camera lenses doesn’t leave any room for a monitor, the only way to frame or review your footage is through the camera’s app on your smartphone. I didn’t have any issues of installing the app nor did I have any problems using the app. The app worked just fine for me and I was able to use it right after the install on my phone. You connect to the MGCOOL camera via Wi-Fi. And on top of the camera is the Wi-Fi On and Off button.

The camera and my smartphone synced and communicated with one another flawlessly. I was happy that I wasn’t spending a lot of time trying to connect the two so I got to test out the camera right from the start. Right away you can rotate the view on your phone and experience the camera’s ability to capture the 360 footage around you.

Capturing footage on the MGCOOL camera is only half the battle because there is going to be a point where you want to share your video and have others see and experience your video too. Unfortunately, you are not able to just share a video by uploading it to YouTube or anywhere else. You have to convert your video first and then upload to YouTube. That’s fine for me since I like to edit and tweak my footage before I upload it but the majority of people probably would rather just want an easy Share button. However, for quick and easy videos I wouldn’t mind having a convenient Share button that could just upload to YouTube but at this time there isn’t one.

You can download the smartphone app as well a player for your PC or Mac here: App and Player

Also, when you take photo with this camera you will get an image with two spheres.  Unfortunately, there is no photo editor provided with the camera so you will need to get a software to stitch the image. If you want to share photos to sites like Facebook then you will have to inject the metadata into the photo as well for Facebook to identify the photo as a 360° image. You can’t just upload photos from the app to Facebook or other sites. You will only upload an image like the one above. The MGCOOL camera takes photos at a 3008 x 1504 resolution.

Since the manual doesn’t go into detail on how to get your footage uploaded correctly to YouTube I will share the method the was easiest for me through research on the internet. First and foremost you need to download and install the 360 Converter app or get it here at EnterVRWorld .

And you also have to also download and install the 360 Video Metadata app for YouTube. This Metadata app creates a 360 enabled video file and lets YouTube know that your footage is a 360 type video.

The first thing was to copy the footage I recorded from the MicroSD card onto a folder on my computer. Then you have run the footage through the 360 Converter. Once that is done, you take your newly converted footage and run it through the 360 Metadata app. There are instructions on the YouTube site for the settings that you need when you run your footage through the 360 Video Metadata app. It’s basically making sure that one of the check boxes is checked only.

I trimmed my footage in Premiere Pro and exported the video using the YouTube export settings. After the export, I ran that footage through the 360 Converter. Then when the 360 conversion was done, the last step before I uploaded the video to YouTube was to run converted footage through the 360 Video Metadata app. It seemed like this was a lot to go through to upload the captured footage to YouTube.  I think since the camera only records at 1080 x 960 (@30fps) the was a black circle at the top and bottom of converted footage where the footage was stitched.

I was concerned about the clip I uploaded to YouTube since the video seemed softer and not as sharp as the video clip on my computer. This is weird because the clip I exported from Premiere Pro was significantly sharp but when I view it on YouTube the footage to me isn’t very desirable. See for yourself below.

The MGCOOL 360 camera comes with a manual, Reset pin, MicroUSB cable, bike mount, and a couple of other mounts. I do wish that it came with a few more mounts like SJCAM provides with their cameras such as the SJCAM X1000. At least the X1000 includes a waterproof housing, whereas this MGCOOL 360 camera has their waterproof housing sold separately.  You can read my review on the SJCAM camera here: SJCAM X1000.

To learn more about the MGCOOL 360 camera, you can go to these sites: MGCOOL Site and MGCOOL Facebook.

Source: The sample for this review was provided by MGCOOL. Please visit their site for more info and order one at Amazon.

 

Product Information

Price: $99.99
Manufacturer: MGCOOL
Retailer: Amazon
Pros:
  • 360 degree footage capture.
  • Includes several mounts.
  • Ease of use.
  • Dual lenses.
Cons:
  • No manual settings.
  • No photo editing software included.
  • No video or photo share option.
  • Waterproof housing not included.

Filed in categories: Camera Gear, Reviews

Tagged:

MGCOOL Cam 360 action camera review originally appeared on on February 28, 2017 at 8:45 am.

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