There was something that I wanted to get from Brando for a long time, but I just don't like the idea of buying something that expensive and shipping it through mail. So I was pleasantly surprised when I found this on sale in PC Fair.

If you haven't already guessed, it's one of those simple one button record cameras. I just happen to like the shape and size of the thing so I can use it to record stuff less noticable, and it'd make a better camera to use in paintball matches! So.. how big is this thing?

6 CM across. So it's quite small but you can't really call it a hidden camera. One nice thing is that the body ISN'T PLASTIC! It's some alloy casing, so it feels sturdy in hand. Feels about as heavy as a Rechargable Ni Mh AA battery.

On the left side of the camera is where the power switch is.

It's just a simple hard on-off toggle, nothing fancy, the camera itself will go into standby mode if it's not recording within 2 minutes. You can also see the lanyard hole on the top.

The other side of the camera is where the MicroSD HC card slot goes.

Yes the thing supports MicroSD HC cards so you can stick an 8GB card in it if you want to, but then you have to consider that the cameras recording format consumes 1GB per 40 minutes (according to the manual) while the internal battery only lasts for 2 hours. The manual says that the camera can record WHILE charging, which would make it MORE than just a simple toy cam. BUT I just can't get it to record while it's charging. The switch labeled VOX activates the Voice Activated Recording mode, basically the camera goes into standby and starts recording when it hears something louder than 65 dB (this is according to the manual) it'll stop recording 2 minutes after the sound level drops off. The manual says that the camera can sit in this sound trigger mode for 250 hours.

The top of the camera is where the record start/stop button is (the little nub)

And the little hole with a lightbulb symbol is the status led, which you'll need to consult the manual to decipher like a new single button Apple iPod Shuffle. It has 3 colors, red, green and blue. And depending on how they blink or stay on, they can mean different things. The grill teeth thing on the rim is where the microphone is, and that's also one of my main complaints about this thing. The mic gain is WAAAAAAAYYYYY too high, if you clipped this to your shirt and you started talking your voice would more likely than not be broken and distorted, If the person is slightly in front of you then it'll be better. Oh and the mini USB connector sits at the bottom of the device, I was too lazy to try and position it to get a good shot.

The camera comes with a number of accesories, first of which being a 2GB Micro SD card.

A 2GB UNMARKED Micro SD card! There's no sign of a manufacturer on it, in fact, they were so secretive about even the serial number that they stuck a reflective little sticker over the back where you see the numbers. I ripped it out cause the sticker wasn't perfect and nearly JAMMED the card in the camera!

They also included a silicon case (ie.. what is commonly known as the condom case)

It's like the creators knew people would use this in say.. jungle paintball warfare where there's a high chance of sand or grime getting into the SD card slot thus the case covers it up. They should have just covered up the mini USB connector as well though. There are holes in the back of the case for you to run a belt through so you can attach the camera on a strap or something.

I don't see myself using the silicon case a lot though, but.. this OTHER holder which they included.

Now this is more useful! A simple clip, but with this you can just clip it on your shirt and to most people it'd probably just look like an extra large bluetooth headset (tell them the lense is just the bluetooth sensor :P) The clip also serves another purpose because they included a multi purpose holder in the packaging as well.

Doesn't seem like much right now does it? Let me put the camera on it and you'll see how it works.

So the idea is to take the camera in the clip holder, and clip it to the grooved section of the holder. The holder base has a magnet on it so you can stick it to any metal surface, it also has holes for nails if you want to make a more permanent holding position. The box also comes with velcro shaped for the base so you can make a detachable holder. It's a great idea except for the fact that.

IT DOESN'T BLOODY WORK AS A BASE!

The main problem here is that the swivel joint? It DOESN'T LOCK and thus you can't make it hold it's position and the weight of the camera is already enough to pull it downwards. The strength of the magnet in the base? PATHETIC! I've seen fridge magnets that stick to the fridge with more power!

So that's the physical outlook, what about the results of the recording? Well first of all you can pick up the sample file here.

The camera video output is an AVI container, with a 640x480 19FPS MJPEG video stream and a poorly compressed PCM audio stream. Compression rates are poor given the quality of the output (hence the 1GB for 40 minutes rating) but is normal for devices in this class (the hey look at me I don't even have a BRAND NAME! device class).

If you can't play the file after downloading most likely you don't have the MJPEG video codec, personally I prefer FFDShow as my main DirectShow video codec provider. But if you're worried about fiddling with codecs on your system (and believe me.. it can get quite screwed up if you just keep installing every other video codec pack you find on the net) You can try VLC instead, VLC's codecs are self contained and thus you don't have to worry about mucking around with multiple DirectShow codecs on your system.

Finally the camera has one last trick up it's sleeve. You can use the darn thing as a WEB CAM! When you plug it into your computer with both the power and VOX switches turned on, instead of acting as a USB Mass Storage device, the camera reports itself as a webcam for all your video phone needs.

While it's not a HD camera, it's size does allow it to be used in some interesting situations. Duct taped to the helmet for paint ball, attached to an RC car for chase cam view, clipped to your shirt for a travel log, quite a lot of interesting possibilities. Video output is.. acceptable though audio is... ugh...