Not something you will likely take out of the box and start using. Many set up options, not a point and shoot camera. While all advertising videos of the AKASO camera are shot in places that are wet, dirty and nasty for precision equipment, it creates the illusion that you can just turn it on and you get magic. You can get magic - if you are very careful to keep the camera protected and in a "clean room" environment when it's out of the case.
Suggestions:
Mentally prepare for a 2 to 4 hour session to update camera firmware and read manual and "play" with settings before you get to use camera.
Download the manual and read through it while waiting for the camera to arrive.
Think about what you want to name the wifi server in the camera and password if you want to alter the defaults, because this is done from the software update procedure which you don't want to repeat.
Write down the serial number from the battery compartment before you insert the battery or you'll be taking the camera back apart to do that to set up your download to update firmware and change name and password.
You are going to want to understand all the settings and capabilities and have it configured for your particular use.
Read the review on the camera at DPReview dot com (digital photography review). It will give you an idea of what the variety of video modes and camera settings will do for different kinds of shooting.
Punching though the settings menu is tedious and after awhile, you may get fast at it, but it's much faster to use GoPro's wireless application for your smartphone and scroll through most of the settings. So someplace along the line go to the wireless setup in the manual and get that app running to facilitate setting up the camera.
Have lens cleaner and clean microfiber cloths and a sheltered clean, dry place to work if you plan to charge or change batteries or download content since you cannot do it while the camera is in the protective case or via the wireless. And any dirt or water in or around the camera will compromise your investment and your hope to record magic.
Set it to shut down if you're not shooting or punching it's buttons to conserve battery.
Turn off some of the LED's and turn down the beep volume to conserve battery.
Wireless remote likes to be on - make sure you turn it off when not in use to conserve battery.
This is a wonderful miniature camera with exceptional capabilities as you can see from all the promotional videos. Just realize you are buying a technical piece of gear that requires skill, care and knowledge to get that kind of results.
This is my middle of the night review after slogging my way through the setup. Pictures come next. I'll update with reports on how the camera works in my real world. For now, it's a 3 - took a bit of time to get familiar, lots of tiny parts to get lost easily.
But then - it's a miniature piece of precision technology. Only the protective housing suggests it could be out there in the dirty world. After the learning curve is over, I expect it to be great fun and useful.
But it made me tired tonight. Confident that my rating will go up if the camera has no glitches in the real world. Not ready yet to say that with so many people encountering problems in many of the Amazon reviews. I can say that after setting it up in my office, all functions seem to work as they are supposed to.
