So, mini review for the Akaso Brave 7 in case anyone is considering one.
I actually tried pretty hard to give Akaso my money, I tried three different models priced from $95 to $145 (Brave 7). I was hoping that my modest needs (1080p is fine for me) would allow me to have good results with a value brand. On Amazon, they seemed to be the only knockoff that was attempting to be a legit competitor - professional looking Amazon store, several models, decent reviews,etc.
So anyway, the Brave 7 is a no go for me due to the following:
Dealbreakers:
1. Internal mic is absolutely unusable inside a racecar - can't watch the video with the sound on - major distortion/clipping whenever not coasting. External mic is supported through USB-C, but I was already using that port for the "record on USB power" feature.
2. 4 out of 5 track session recordings happened as expected ( I was using USB power to auto start recording), but 5th shut off very early for no apparent reason.
3. The camera broke up the recording into a bunch of 3 minute files. Shouldn't be a huge deal, I have some freeware that I have used to join files before - takes maybe 20 seconds to process. But with the Akaso MP4 files, my freeware spun for an hour and was only 10% finished with the file join. So, I never determined if the files had a time gap when joined.
Other annoyances/not quite deal breakers:
1. There's no recording indicator light on the front of the camera, so no way to tell if it is actually recording if you can't see the top or back of the unit. Actually, the Brave 7 comes with a remote that does have a recording indicator LED and a time elapsed display. That seemed to work ok, but it just seems dumb not to have a light on the camera. I thought I had a great idea - put some foil tape on the latch to reflect the top LED. Worked great in the garage, could see the little Blue LED in my rear view, but couldn't see it at all outside in the sun.
2. Tried a few exposure settings, but the view outside (in strong sunlight) was always washed out. Really couldn't see anything more than a car length or two ahead. Inside the cockpit looked pretty good, lol.
3. The mechanical fit of the pieces wasn't that great. The little door over the USB and SD card did not want to stay latched. Also, I could not get the camera out of the camera mount ( a plastic skeleton that the unit snaps into) without removing the protective lens. Which is kind of terrible since the moment I am most likely to fumble it is when I am reaching through the cage and trying to pop it out of the mount.
For those still reading my ramblings, at this point I am still looking for a new camera option. A GoPro 10 or 11, or a DJI Action 3 are the front runners. I thought I had found a perfect solution with this Thinkware device - I mean 2 lipstick cameras recording to the same SD card and a wired start stop button with an indicator light! Wow, those Thinkware guys totally get me! Unfortunately, a couple of youtube reviews showed really weak video quality, so I think it's not the droid I'm looking for.