PQI Air Cam Wi-Fi Sports Camera Product and Video Review – Sport Cameras Become Affordable

MOTORCYCLE VIDEO TESTING

Our immediate need for the PQI Air Cam is to document our almost daily travels through Canada and the US on our motorcycles.  As much of a benefit this is to our activities, there is a consideration that we knew we would experience first and foremost.  Our motorcycles are both Honda VTX sport cruisers, Karen’s being a 1300 while mine is the 1800 model.  These bikes are not the smoothest and quietest cats on the block when running.  We added a bit of music to this video but the inevitable shake is apparent, especially with the cam mounted on the highway bars.

Even though we found that the PQI Air Cam had a shake which was the result of the motorcycle engine, we had to wonder if there was additional shake caused by the mounting style itself.  This is something that we will definitely work on, however, a quick in cam car video should help things as seen here.

Our in car installation was much better, leading us to believe the RAM mount system, or at least the way we had it st up on the motorcycle, was not ideal.  As for video quality, HD video works fine in-car but we need to consider windshield reflections, especially when traveling towards the sun.  As a bit of a comparison with respect to in-car video alone, check out our recent Genius DVR-FHD590 Video Recorder Product and Video Review.

REPORT SUMMARY AND FINAL THOUGHTS

The PQI Air Cam is the first experience we have had with a ‘full fledged’ sport camera yet which is a bit amusing considering that, in the last year alone , our extremes included base jumping, zip lining, scuba diving, snorkeling, racing and some very muddy extreme foot competitions, in addition to the thousands of miles we spend traveling through the mountains down south on our bikes.  No longer will we be buying those $30 disposable waterproof cameras that give us less pictures than advertised with only one or two being adequate in nature.

This brings us to our next feat which will be a healthy comparison to the Air Cam’s closest rival, the Hero GoPro.  Although we haven’t had the GoPro in our hands yet, most of its digital features exceed that of the Air Cam, but then again, the Go Pro is twice the price and and its ratings with online e-tailers are pretty much balanced between it being a ‘five star’ camera (156 ratings)  and it being a very questionable ‘one star’ (150 ratings).  The Hero GoPro seems to be experiencing some concerning growing pains with necessary resets through freezing issues, lags in video preview, the SD card not being recognized, as well as a host of other complaints.  We haven’t experienced any of these with the PQI Air Cam other than a bit of a concern for camera shake which could really be our own doing.

The PQI Air Cam is a very compact sport camera that can be fitted to just about any need.  It includes a host of add-ons and its sport case is capable of withstanding the elements and is completely waterproof, all the while allowing easy access to full operations. Some definite positives that stood out were the caliber of pictures and video for a very value conscious camera, as well as the fact that the PQI Air Cam will accommodate a 64GB SD card, although specifications list it as being only capable of utilizing that up to 32GB.

As well, the ability to instantly stream pictures and video to your smart phone is a huge benefit and something that we both found ourselves doing at every stop in our juncture.  Experimenting with the abundance of modes that the camera could be set in (video, still picture, continuous timed pictures, 3xpicture and timer), there seems to be a use for every ideal and the menu included with the in-camera menu is very simple to understand and retain when using during sport activities.

If we could add but one feature on sport cameras, it would definitely follow in the footsteps of the Genius DVR-FHD590 with full TFT color LCD on the back of the unit.  It is a definite plus with motorsport activities.

Check Out Pricing of PQI Air Cam at Amazon! (It was 50% off at time of report!

Check Out Pricing of PQI Air Card and Air Drive at Amazon!

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