Xiaomi Yi Action Camera Long Term Review | Best Action Camera under $100 for Moto Vlogging & Outdoor Sports

Writing this review after using it for last one year.

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Asif Ahmed
Asif Ahmedhttp://techtippr.com
Founder and Cheif Editor of Techtippr, Get in touch with me on Twitter or Enjoy my Stories on Instagram. I think they are interesting. :-)

So I had bought the basic Action Camera from Yi, the sister company of Xiaomi. It’s the normal non 4K Camera without the screen.

I bought this one because I was not shooting and editing in 4K neither I had the budget to buy the 4K variant as it was 3x the price of this one (and it still is).

Check out the Unboxing I did on my YouTube Channel

This action camera is available on Amazon.com for around $49 (half the price of what I paid last year) and the 4K variant is now selling for $169.

Note: They’ve launched another 4K Action camera which is actually a Budget Camera priced at $99. While the Yi Action Camera (non 4k) is still a pretty great action camera, you might consider buying this lite version of 4K. Read the review to know why. 

Though these Yi Action Cameras are popularly known for being a GoPro Alternative, because it’s cheaper and all the accessories there are for GoPro can be used with Yi Action Cameras as well, it’s still the best quality action camera after GoPro.

How Good an Action Camera is, that costs $49?

The Market for Actions Cameras was not really populated last year, but in just one year, a lot of new and small players have come into the scene.

And they can go as cheap as $30, but I am really not sure what type of quality they will provide.

Anyway, talking about this Action Camera, I haven’t really used it in any kind of sports activity, which is the reason it has been created, but since it’s a Camera in a very small body (and also no very expensive) you can experiment with for creating Interesting POV videos.

And because of that, I was able to create some really nice videos in last one year. I’ve also used it for creating Food Recipe Videos for our Food Channel (Now we use Canon 750D)

We initially were using a Microphone Arm and wanted to hang a camera that would be light enough and could be charged while being used. It worked.

And if your question is, is it really worth $49 (I bought it for $100) Indeed it is.

The Downside of this Action Camera

While there is no doubt it is worth $49 you’ll spend on an Action Camera, you really should buy the Yi Action Camera 4K Lite if you can spend $99.

Because the the touch screen will so much of your time in changing into different modes on this Camera.

For the Yi Action Camera, I had to connect it wirelessly with my Phone for changing the modes. It gets connected easily, it’s an extra step for a simple task as changing the frame rate or capturing a time lapse.

Because the true potential of Action Cameras is the ability to capture videos in higher frame rates.

Specs of Xiaomi Yi Action Camera

  • This Action Camera can record Full HD Videos at 60 Frames/sec, HD at 120 Frames/sec and 848*480 at 240 frames/second.
  • It has 16MP CMOS image sensor from Sony.
  • Bluetooth (4.0BLE low power consumption) and Built-in (802.11 bgn) Single band 2.4G Wi-Fi
  • 1010mAh Battery that can give video recording of 2 hours (drains drastically when connected to the phone)

Final Verdict

Not going too harsh on this, but one year ago, this was the only choice if you cared about quality on budget. But this year you can Yi Action Camera 4K Lite, which has a touch screen.

Watch my Long Term Review in vLog Style

📌 Best Buy Links

➤ Buy Yi Action Camera from Amazon.com 

➤ Buy Yi Action Camera 4K Lite from Amazon.com

 Buy Yi Action Camera 4K from Amazon.com

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