Side by Side Comparison of: iON Camera vs Ion

 I've had this camera for almost a year now and have it mounted to my motorcycle helmet. The battery still lasts for about 2 hours of recording, and the 32gb sd card can handle about 4 hours of 1080p, 30fps video. This is plenty to record at least the interesting bits of a long ride, or to/from work, plus heading out to lunch. I do wish I could wipe the video without a computer though.About a month ago, I had a deer run out in front of me on the highway. I swerved left to go behind it, but it had the same idea. Either way, I survived and surprisingly enough, so did the camera with a few battle scars. The aluminum housing held up really well even though the impact of my helmet to pavement as I did a face first dive caused the camera to pop off. The faster spinning is after the camera popped off. Afterwards, it's like it had a mind of its own, capturing the scene for a few minutes until a police officer turned it off. I removed that part for the purpose of this review however.The wreck caused the bottom mounting plate to get ripped off, but somehow it's still able to screw right back in and holds tight. I guess I'll ride around until it falls off.I'm pretty happy with the video quality, especially at this price point. I prefer to keep it at 1080p in case i need to distinguish a license plate. I'm able to clearly see them from about 20-30 feet away, but I'm sure I could make them out at a little further distance if needed. I don't do much night riding, but you can see it worked pretty well just before dawn.

Great value. For $39 you get a full HD (1080p) action cam that can be mounted on a bike, a helmet, on your car's visor.....etc. This one also came with a WiFi attachment that I have not tried out, so I don't know how well the WiFi works, but I consider that a bonus. It records both audio and video and is VERY easy to use. The box comes with great instructions (a lot more than I expected) and there's a built-in EXE file in the camera itself (Windows) that you can run on-the-fly to set resolution, etc. For the price, this thing is a STEAL.

I have owned over 10 of these cameras. It has the very best audio an action camera can have. If you are concerned about that, you should be recording off camera anyway which I do. I have several DSL-Rs going, and a couple of Camcorders with premium mics. However with other brands I needed to overlay audio from other sources to sync with footage. Not with these. The audio is so good, I can sell these all day long. I have sold over 7 of these. I am down to 3 at the moment due to selling them off. I integrate the video into my YouTube videos with great feedback. I have mounted them on vehicles in excess of 2000 HP. They hang on for dear life with no problems at all. On roofs, on fenders, on windshields, on plexi-glass, you name it, I have mounted to it. I actually had a defective camera that won't turn off because I was being cutesy with it for Facebook post and dropped it on to a tripod that shattered the protective screen. When I have handled these in a professional, concerned, and deliberate manner, they have been great. I setup a kiosk for these at my events. I use Adobe Premiere CC to edit footage. It works like a dream. Using anywhere from 4 to 5 of these during any given event, I rename them as soon as they come off the camera. WWP on YouTube: [...]. My latest video with iOn ride on footage: [...]

This is a great little camera for the price. It does 1080p video at 30fps or 720p at 60fps. I use the latter to record motorcycle rides. The included handlebar mount is great for mounting in various locations on my motorcycle. This is older technology; the software is from 2012, but it still works great.I have had a few minor glitches. Once the camera turned off when I was on the road. I didn't notice until I got home and I'm not sure why it turned off. The SD card wasn't full. Another time the camera refused to turn on. I re-formatted the SD card and that solved the problem. I believe the manual suggests you do this when you first get the camera and I ignored the advice so that was problem the entirety of my problem.Also, you have to run the camera software off of the camera itself in order for it to detect the camera. If you download a new version of the software just copy it over to the camera and run it from there. The camera acts just like any other USB drive you attach to the computer.

The camera is awesome I went diving with it fishing with it hunting with it as it performed twice as good as any GoPro I extremely recommend buying this one is well worth the money

I had the GoPro, but found it very difficult to use and beyond what I needed. I wanted a camera to mount on my car windshield and film cruise events. This camera worked perfect! One button to start and stop. The vibration feature let me know it started or stopped. Solid picture quality. It did exactly what I wanted... and it was simple to operate!!

Video quality is spectacular and rivals what you'd expect from a camera costing 5-10 times as much. The camera appears to handle over- and under-lit scenery very well. Unlike a lot of cheap cameras, individual frames are clear enough to easily identify faces, license plates, street signs, etc. This is VERY important if you're using this for protection while riding! Audio quality is less impressive: wind noise is a problem, and audio occasionally cuts out.Unfortunately the apps leave a lot to be desired. The desktop fails to see my camera 90% of the time, and the mobile app is sluggish and always reports incorrect battery life (52%, even fresh off a charge). And because the WiFi module is such a battery hog, the mobile app is only useful for assisting with initial camera placement. Fortunately, the app is only necessary for configuring the camera. Once you set it up, you won't need to use the app again.The included mount will let you attach the camera to something solid, like a bike frame. However, all the vibration from your bike will carry through to the camera. The resulting video is so shaky that it's unusable. You'll want to upgrade to a helmet mount, which is sold separately.USB transfer speeds are pitifully slow. On every device I've tried, I max out just under 6 MB/s (about 45 Mb/s, or just under 1/10th the speed of USB 2.0). This is using the Samsung 32GB 95MB/s (U1) MicroSD EVO Select Memory Card with Adapter (MB-ME32GA/AM). It is much faster to simply remove the microSD and insert it into a reader, then copy the data that way. Otherwise, it takes about an hour to download a full 32 GB card.Battery life is as advertised. I went through two 60-70 minute rides with no problem.Despite these flaws, this is one of the cheapest action cameras you can buy. It's rugged and well-built, and video quality is outstanding. If that's all you care about, you'll be very happy. You might be able to find a cheaper camera, but you won't find anything with this quality for less.

Works well for me as a bicycle helmet camera--much more stable and aesthetically pleasing than my first attempt using an SJCAM SJ4000. This camera only came with a handlebar mount, as others have noted. I used a strap I from the SJ4000 kit to strap it onto the top of my vented helmet, and I used some Sugru to stabilize it on the sides. It stays put quite well (but can still be unstrapped). I haven't had the software glitch (hanging) problems that another reviewer described, and adjusting settings via wifi using the android app worked fine. Minor flaws: 1. I have to hold down the power button for about 4 seconds for the camera to turn on or off, which is way too long, in my opinion. 2. The wifi takes ~ 20 seconds to start up and you have to start the app after this--the app doesn't automatically try to connect. 3. I didn't see an option to automatically overwrite old videos when the card gets full--I have to clear the card manually.

This action camera has been a great buy. I have had it now for about a year and used it a dozen or so times. I mount it on the top of my windsheidl to record autocross runs. My favorite part about this action camera is the button layout and how it functions. I can press the power button and I get a vibration telling me the camera is on. I can use the record switch to start the recording without having to look at a screen or try to listen for a beep or look for a light, and it gives me another vibration telling me it's recording and when I stop. These functions alone make this so easy to use compared to other devices. In direct sunlight it's hard to see the lights and screens on some devices, and when you have 20+ cars idling and driving around it's hard to hear beeps. The camera also records in decent quality and the battery lasts a long time compared to the SJ4000 style cameras I have. I can leave it on for my whole heat which is about an hour of which I record about 5-7 minutes of. My SJ4000 requires two batteries in that same time span.My only gripe is with the wi-fi functionality. I use it to check my framing, but when I have used it to record I found that if signal is lost between the camera and phone it will stop recording, even though it's recording to the card in the camera and not the phone. Now I just connect to it to set up my shot, disconnect and turn off the wi-fi module and use the record switch.

 I like it based on it's price point and decent quality video. I've had issue from time to time, video went sideways for no reason once, one short clip had no sound. But over all considering it's price, compact size, good sound, decent quality video I still think it's worthwhile. Have used it on my street bike and also riding motocross, seems to hold up to abuse up to this point. One of my favorite things about this camera is you just push the button forward once and it's recording, no flipping through menu's or checking light cues, when it goes on it has a very solid vibration you can feel so you know it's on. Still pictures are pretty good too, has a fish eye lens effect to them but what do you expect?Also, thinking about it last night, the software sucks, have had a heck of a time getting the right app downloaded to my phone. The lens has such a wide view it's pretty easy to get it pointed in the right direction.

*** Update from October 2016 ***It doesn't seem like only eight months. I rode frequently through the winter so I've got several dozen hours on this camera now. I use it with the (optional extra) helmet mount while riding a motorcycle. Biggest issue in the material side is the awful sound. Once you get about 20 mph, there's nothing but wind and no way to block it (silence the camera). Annoying. But okay. I've had to pin-reset the camera probably five times in several months where it just decides to go buggy and not do anything. No loss of data though. I average 40 minutes a day. It records in both HD and FHD and you can't turn that off, so you get two files for every ride. Eats memory - roughly sixteen rides and its delete-time. Again, no big deal (and my purpose is safety and death-reconstruction, not videoing myself riding). The worst thing about it isn't the actual camera as much as it is the horrific app. There's two apps out there, one is the ioncamera plus app and the other is the ion camera app. They both suck but the plus app is so un-sized for iOS devices, you almost can't read the stupid words. I turned the auto-off ON to 3 minutes (was already on but when I hit the app, it got turned off on the camera) twice - have since deleted the new app and live with Apple's "your app won't be supported any more " message. The app is not friendly. The on-board software isn't exactly nice either. Don't try to manage this camera with any provided software,..just download the videos and do whatever without it. The camera itself doesn't appear to be wifi receive-capable, so you can't stream live even though it says you could (and then you've got to piggy-back it to get it on social media...not that I need to...So has the 3 of 5 rating changed? Yes, because the video is good and the camera is friendly although buggy and for the price I paid, its worth it. Might get another one to mount to the bike permanently. Just don't expect anything great from the managed software or applications.The description about the mounts is misleading - the helmet mount is simply - there is no mount for the helmet itself, but the pedastal is there. I also didn't get the pouch with mine. As soon as I order the mount, I might upgrade the review. Seems nice enough for the price.

For the price its great so far its my first day using it and it looks good when its in a well lite area but when its in a darker setting the camera doesn't do well at all. I would say it is even with the gopro 3UPDATE----- The cam fell out if my car doing 60mph and its still fine and it keep the video going the whole time during it rolling and getting ran over by a truck.

Bought this Ion camera for recording my paintball games.This camera is quite good for the price.The recording quality is usable, not amazing but good enough for what I wanted it for.Do not expect Go Pro 5 video quality for this price range.It's really easy to use, just turn on and start recording, stop recording without looking at your camera, one button slide.The smartphone app is not the best, but it's easy to use. The live view has some delay on it and you can not watch live view while recording.One bad point is that the camera lens/sensor does not rotate, I wanted to mount this camera by the side of my mask on the mounting bracket but realized the image was going to be sided.I do recommend this camera for budget project or really extreme sports you want to experiment on, without risking a 500$ camera.

it has been recording in 2 different formats... and idk how to make it just record in one format... its like a cellphone format and a full hd wide screen format. needless to say its hard to sort thru them and match up the hd footage to make a full length video. the hd looks amazing.. the other format is horrible.. to the point of it being actually pointless as a current format. but all and all it will be useful to use simply and another camera. and the fact that it doesn't cost 400 dollars is a huge plus.. I have a hero 3 black and I love it but way to expensive for non pro usage. BUT and this is big... it is NOT compatible with the go pro clips or mounts.. it has a screw on slide at the bottom that simply doesn't fit the go pro stuff... also it took me a while to find mounts I think would work do to the size and the mounting screw that pokes out from the bottom of the slide mount. I hope they improve greatly and come out with better newer models.. id buy again if it was more universal with go pro dimensions. kind of a no brainer.. don't understand why they would have made it non-compatible.... and say that it is when clearly I have both and its it not.

I have not found anything better than this for such a low price, but there are real limitations. The camera does capture 1920x1080 video when oriented properly but if it is rotated 90 degrees to either side the video is 608x1080 instead of the expected 1080x1920.The available mounts are fairly flimsy feeling plastic and I doubt they will hold up well.I bought this hoping that I would get good enough images to read license plates on cars if I encounter problems while riding my bicycle but so far I have not found a way of mounting the camera in a way that allows it to get that much detail with any reliability.

love this due to the fact that once you turn it on it will automatically shoot video, I hate the other ones I have that after you turn it on and wait for a second then you have to hit record. with this just turn the switch to on and point it and it will record after you turn the switch to off it will have a couple of minutes before it powers off so if you need to shoot more video powering on is not needed, it automatically shuts off too after a couple of minutes after you shoot the video. tested this under water and it worked flawlesly, downgraded my review due to bottom screw for tripos is plastic and now its messed up, i have another one that water got into it less than 3 months and first time underwater and i tried to get a warranty thing and the seller wont even do it and ion company does not respond to my emails

Okay, I'm writing this before I've seriously put the camera though the paces, so these are my initial thoughts. First, for point of reference, I'm a software engineer with a degree in Electrical Engineering. Out of the box, the camera was easy to get up and running. Initial video quality seems good, and the audio is about what I would expect from a body mounted microphone.As for the wifi interface and the app, the interface is seemingly simple, I have yet to get the camera to connect with my Samsung Note 5. It's easy to discover the camera, but I am unable to achieve a connection. If you go over to the Google app site, you'll find that a good majority of the reviews indicate that this is pretty common place. From much of what I've read, the app's best use is for verifying mounting/aiming. Secondary use would be for quick/remote upload of video.What is most troubling is the inconsistent documentation. Despite the fact that the camera is simple enough to use, I was a bit put off by the fact that included manual is missing information. Further, if you visit the website, the instructional videos direct you to other web sites which no longer exist. Ironically, the opening line in the video is "at Ion, we are continually trying to improve our products". On the main Ion site (versus the site mentioned in the video) there is a downloads section under support, however, I was unable to locate anything for the wifi pod or the Air Pro Lite.Now, despite all of this, the wifi is really a matter of convenience and the documentation/support may or may not be an indication of things to come. I am eager to mount the camera and do some actual recording. If the record times are sufficient, and the video quality is good, for the price I would still consider this a good purchase. I will also continue to investigate the wifi connectivity.

For what I paid (I got this thing dirt cheap), I'm happy with what I got:- Really good graphic quality- Very easy operation- Easy to carry aroundIt does have its issues though:- Setup can be a pain. If you want your videos and pictures to have the correct date/time stamp, you need to connect your camera to a computer and run a setup utility.- It needs semi-frequent resets...on days when I really have my heart set on recording sometimes I'll flip the camera on and get that never-ending vibration that tells you you need to find a paperclip and reset the thing- It needs frequent recharging...case in point, sometimes I like to video my bike commute to work, which is about 45 minutes. On the return trip if I don't recharge, I get maybe two, three minutes of juice.- This is advertised as a helmet cam. You get a decent number of accessories, including a wifi adapter. You also get a mounting kit that will seemingly help you easily mount the camera on your handlebars (and it works very well, just takes a LONG time to tighten the thing!) and the mount will work with seemingly EVERYTHING including your pet duck...EXCEPT YOUR HELMET. You need to buy a separate mounting bracket for your helmet EVEN THOUGH THIS IS ADVERTISED AS A HELMET CAMERA!- Having said that, the mounting bracket is metal, but the mount on the camera itself is plastic. If you're lucky, this will last you maybe ten uses before you strip the thread and have to hack in your own metal nut.But seriously, it seems like I have more complaints than positives, but the truth is, I'm still glad I have this camera. For what I paid (which must have been a "discontinued product" price) I feel I got a really, really good deal.HEADS-UP TO MAC USERS: To run the Mac software, you need to visit Ion's web site and download the Mac software. DO NOT RUN THE MAC SOFTWARE FROM YOUR COMPUTER: you will get error messages saying the camera isn't connected. YOU NEED TO RUN THE SOFTWARE FROM THE MEMORY CARD THAT IS IN YOUR CAMERA. And your camera must be connected. And the memory card must be in your camera. I've seen a lot of people trash this camera because they couldn't get the Mac software running, but if they would only READ THE DOCUMENTATION, they'd understand why it wouldn't work!!

Does not include the helmet mount as it states on the product description. Can't really even use this because that was the sole purpose of purchasing this item. Considering a return.

Ugh! was so hopeful for this product! its got a nice Metal body that seems rugged, BUT WHY DOES IT HAVE PLASTIC TRIPOD THREADS!? This camera has such potential, but it being an action cam and most people planning to mount it, it fails miserably because of the plastic tripod threads. They stripped the first time I used it, and I was being gentle! Had to return it, this product is useless without tripod threads! If it werent for that this would have gotten a lot higher rating! It got at least 2 stars from me because out of the box, the video quality and audio seemed decent for the price!

This is a pretty good camera for the money, but don't expect any support. All trace of documentation and support for this camera has been erased from the company website. A chat with the help desk on their site said "We are working on getting the documentation and support files for this discontinued product back on our site as soon as possible."Well... I've been looking for support for over a month and it's still not there, so whenever they get around to it doesn't help me now, and it won't help you either. This product was introduced at the end of 2015. That's a year and a half and they drop all support for it. That gives me little confidence in the newer products they're now pushing. I won't buy anything new from a company that won't support a product that I bought new 3 months ago.That said, this camera does take pretty good video and it IS waterproof as it says.

I used it for the first time on my bicycle yesterday. It records video quite well, and takes great pictures. I read a review saying it was better than then GoPro but I don't own one and can't make the comparison. It doesn't feel cheap, and pretty solidly constructed. I'm planning on purchasing the mount kit to attach it to my bicycle helmet.So far, my only gripe is the app you can install on your smartphone isn't very friendly with android. You're supposed to be able to sync it to your phone and then either send file to your phone or upload them to social media, but it won't do that on my Samsung Galaxy S7 active. It will sync to it and you can use the remote feature to take pictures and record video through it, and also view them.So far, I'm pleased with it, and will continue to use it. I may get one for my son if this one holds up.Update on review-7-4-17-well, I was riding my bike yesterday, and after almost 2 months of use, the threads inside the camera that screw onto the handlebar mount came out. The camera itself is ok, and still functions, but I can't attach it to my bike. I wonder if the manufacturers are looking into this. I'll continue to use it to take pictures and video, but I'm pretty disappointed in the quality aspect is this regard. I gave this thing 5 stars at first, but now just 2.

Picked up two of these, using them offshore on my kayak.Pros:; They're cheep, housing seems strongCons: Quality of vid is marginal, forget the Wi-Fi featureOther that the fact that their cheaper than some of the other cameras so if one goes overboard no big deal. I just want some vids or pics of my fish no big deal so their ok, in hindsight I think I would have been happier with an older used Go Pro.If you're a camera buff or want to make some real vids this isn't for you.

I had to give it only 2 stars because the product was defective and I had to return it. I do think it is a great camera for the price though. Had it worked properly I would of definitely kept it. two problems it had. 1. left it charging overnight and the battery would not charge past 64% (or so)2. Mounted the camera in my car to try it out and in less than 10 minutes, you couldn't even touch the camera anymore, it was EXTREMELY hot.I'm assuming both these issue are basically a bad battery issue and I just got a bad camera. But al in all , Don't be afraid to buy this camera. It's actually pretty nice for the price

My Daughter was wearing this when she was involved in an accident, a car crossed the road she was riding on and she T-Boned him.. when I tried to review the footage to see what happened.. all the MP4's were corrupted and irretrievable.. So in conclusion,,, the ONE TIME I needed this camera to do it's job.. it crapped out on us.. I would recommend that you look for another camera that will be able to withstand some sort of shock without destroying the footage.

Good camera, decent function, but 1-star for me as the mounting is not compatible with the basic go pro type mounts. It includes a mount but was planning on mounting it on a helmet. The mount it includes is plastic. WiFi range is acceptable but ony about 20 feet line of sight. It is well made, fairly rugged, mostly metal and glass, easy to use, software is acceptable.

I got the camera for Christmas and wanted to take it under water and so I did and let it dry out and everything. I moved the next day so I got my hands on it 2 days later but when I went to charge it I saw that it was all rusty inside and out because of water damage and I made damn sure that everything was lock tight

 Received it as a late birthday gift back in Jun this year, about 6 months ago now, being it was in my wish list. Used it a few times, recording my daughter in her bicycle cart, this summer. Video quality was excellent, awesome features, but the audio was pretty bad. Very quiet, tinny and would have sharp high pitched chirps. The main reason I wanted it was for snowmobiling, so I bought a number of mounting kits for it. Problem is I used it one last time with it suctioned to the front of my daughters sled, pulling her around in the snow for about 5 minutes, and as I turned it off, it would not stop buzzing. It did that for at least 5 minutes straight till I found something to hit the reset button. So I tired to turned it on again, same thing. Tried it on and off thought the day, and finally just let buzz till it died. Checked it in the morning, it just started buzzing again. Right now I have it drained to the point where it buzzes for 2 seconds, and nothing, but 10 minutes later, you can get it to buzz another 2 seconds. If you plug it in, it charges, but once you hit the power button or record switch, it just buzzes continuously. Not sure what to do. I can't register it for a repair, as I don't have a receipt, being it was a gift. Asked for the amazon receipt from my mother in law that bought it, and she is pretty computer illiterate, so ya three weeks have passed and I am doubting I will ever get it. So now I have a non working camera, used less than 5 times, over about 5 months, that now only vibrates.

An absolute piece of garbage with abysmal customer service. Mine worked fine for a couple of weeks and then started shutting itself off after a few minutes. I returned it (RMA authorized) and it fell into a black hole. I called repeatedly and was told it would be replaced, but no one could tell me when. Finally, after 2 1/2 months it showed up in the mail. I fully charged it, and it recorded for 8:02 minutes Then it shut itself off. Now it won't recharge at all, and it doesn't show up when connected to my computer. It gives a reassuring buzz when I push the power button, but the LED does nothing. Maybe I can just use it as a vibrator. I don't think they did anything other than put it in an envelope and mail it back to me. Avoid this piece of junk.

Camera failed after just 6 mths. I contacted customer service n they gave me instructions to reformat my SD card. My SD card was formatted per instructions. It just stopped working one day. I paid for 2 yr insurance also n nobody wants to fix or replace this camera. So I missed getting pics n video on my vacation, the reason I bought the camera. Until customer service steps up, I would buy elsewhere.