Amazon.com: Customer reviews: Tomtom Bandit 4K Action Video Camera

Great video, but don't use the waterproof lens cap if you want audio!

Reviewed in the United States on March 25, 2017

Style: Bandit Action CameraVerified Purchase

Very nice camera for videos. I made a mistake and used the waterproof lens cap when videoing our Disney vacation and we found that there was barely any audio (you may or may not get the special waterproof cap in your bundle). Made sense after I looked at the lens cover/cap. It covers up the mic to waterproof the area. Don't use the waterproof lens cap when using it for everyday video taking. Remember to go online to get the latest software update for the camera. Just download the app and connect your camera through WiFi (It's easy to do). It will update the software so you can shoot in 4K, 2.7K and anther one I can't remember. For the money, It can't be beat!

One person found this helpful

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Daddio

Tom Tom - you really need to rethink some elements of this potentially great action Cam!

Reviewed in the United States on May 31, 2017

Style: Bandit Action CameraVerified Purchase

Overall, I like this action cam, especially after a firmware upgrade, I had a number of new options including 2.7 & 4k rez though I prefer the excellent 1080p / 120 fps - video at this level is very clear with action flowing, clear and smooth - colors are rich and contrast good!

I have some issues, the biggest of which may not have anything to do with the Bandit but need stating anyway, that being I have yet to find a level 10 MicroSD card for this cam that does NOT begin failing after a few hours of recording... I always buy the 128GB Ultra or Extreme SanDisk, Samsung and other brands, none have survived. I don't mean they fail and are unusable, I mean recording stops and I get the message on the cam to check SD card - I press down, go to general, to storage and Repair Storage... takes a few seconds and then I can record again but usually for only another minute or 5... Something I think that may be exacerbating this issue is that the camera gets quite hot even though nicely mounted on the right hand side of my helmet (I do a lot of ADV riding) even with wind chill getting into the 40's a couple of weeks ago... I should also mention that the 1st MicroSD card I got for this was the SanDisk Ultra 128 and it did function the best, flawlessly working until I reached about 70% or so of it's storage capacity, then it went to constant stop, run repair mode...

Completely uncertain what to do about this except to try different SD cards hoping I find a winner. Maybe I need to start using smaller SD cards or something... In spite of this, the Bandits overall video performance is really quite good. The external mic works well when NOT moving and I bought the proprietary mic cord and power plug in for this camera and am still wrestling with how to do quality ride commentary while I'm moving at speed...

Another minor annoyance is while the sticky camera mounts do stick very well, you only get a flat one and slightly curved one for helmet, no doubt but that's it - and you can ONLY buy more of these thru Tom Tom for the absurdly high cost of $25 and often there are none in stock - the power and mic cords were also absurdly costly at around $25/per also - the trouble with proprietary stuff like this... Really put a damper on me buying any more of these... considering I plan to get 3 more action cams for various angles while on the fly... Tom Tom - you really need to rethink some elements of this potentially great action Cam!

4 people found this helpful

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Binta

This action camera is awesome. I am an avid snowboarder and the thing ...

Reviewed in the United States on February 5, 2017

Style: Bandit Action CameraVerified Purchase

This action camera is awesome. I am an avid snowboarder and the thing works like a charm. The image quality is great and its packing a lot off features that stem from TOMTOM's GPS technology. Love the mobile at that allows me to edit the footage wirelessly while the SD card is still mounted in the Bandit BTW, the price is fantastic!

2 people found this helpful

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Rick Angelone

Nice, but think twice.

Reviewed in the United States on April 18, 2017

Style: Bandit Action CameraVerified Purchase

It is a great little camera but with a few flaws, thus I am returning it.

First the flaws that I see; difficult to charge (it asks for a 'Charge to Update') all the time, have to say it runs warm to almost hot for my liking.
Recommend to manufacturer/sellers: raise the price if you have to but add in the charging cable ($60 really?)

The plus: even though no screen the APP was easy to install and worked every time via WIFI and gave a great image, the viewing software worked great also and was easy to use.

It's too bad this is a great little camera with good imaging and little what I call flutter while moving.

One person found this helpful

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Amazon Customer

Great camera. For the price

Reviewed in the United States on June 24, 2017

Style: Bandit Action CameraVerified Purchase

Great camera. For the price, it is extremely good value for money. The only draw back is the recording quality at night, but like me if you rarely record in the dark, this camera is hard to fault. . . Can be connected to almost all the gopro mounts with the adapter. I also purchased the external mic and this improved the sound quality, especially when i take it with on my motorcycle. Tracks your gps co-ordinates, speed and g forces.

One person found this helpful

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Michael Urzen

Software out of date - No accessories available

Reviewed in the United States on January 29, 2022

Style: Bandit Action CameraVerified Purchase

Camera will NOT conntect over BlueTooth or WiFi - No longer supported.

Very difficult to install software.
Software is out of date, so Windows does not like it. I had to over ride several Windows settings to get it to install.

Accessories are no longer availble for this camera.

Camera works well, Support SUCKS.

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Amazon Customer

and have gotten great results. I took it with me to Costa ...

Reviewed in the United States on August 31, 2015

Style: Bandit Action CameraVerified Purchase

I bought the TomTom camera about a month ago, and am very impressed with it. I'm an experienced still photographer, but don't have much experience with video. I have done various time-lapse shots of storms, driving around, etc. and have gotten great results. I took it with me to Costa Rica a week ago, and being able to transfer files to my cell phone without use of a computer is a great feature while away from home.

I *should* have bought the full package at first, but didn't realize that it didn't come with the underwater lens cover which is something I wanted. So, I ordered that separately from the UK and it was here when I returned from Costa Rica. I played with it in the pool once, and was very impressed with the clarity and lack of distortion. I look forward to doing some more underwater work with it.

3 people found this helpful

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Amazon Customer

Good camera

Reviewed in the United States on April 27, 2017

Style: Bandit Action CameraVerified Purchase

Great camera. GoPro adapter doesn't work because it doesn't have a screw to attach, but maybe that's something I should have known. It's my first camera so I just thought it would attach by default. Except for that it worked great. I love the ability to change frame rate since I use it to film my racquetball games and I needed to find something that could keep up with the ball going over 100 mph. Rotating body is very helpful when you've got it mounted, but it needs a slight adjustment. Plug-in stick makes it easy to transfer video. Don't be suckered by the app automatically putting together videos for you. Marking highlights and stuff is a pain. I don't really care since I import and edit everything, but if that aspect was a selling point then you'd be disappointed. The bluetooth is a little iffy (sometimes connects and sometimes doesn't), but when it's working your phone basically works as a viewfinder so you can frame your shot (I recorded myself in the car). Anyway, I'm very satisfied with it. Seems a little pricey, but I couldn't afford a GoPro with the video quality this has so I'm guessing it's good for the money. I don't care about sound since I add my own in editing so I don't have any comment on that.

One person found this helpful

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will

A solid non-action camera for the price but fails the test of any action due to a severe flaw in the mounting system.

Reviewed in the United States on May 15, 2017

Style: Bandit Action CameraVerified Purchase

The quality for the price is pretty on-par however there are a few faults that make this camera border on non-functional and can see why it was discontinued and marked down so much.

It all revolves around the mounting system. The circular rotating metal mount that spins is a very nice feature however it is flawed for certain uses. For me it doesnt function at all on a bicycle and will be similar in any sort of activity involving a lot of movement.

Essentially having a mounting bracket that is separate from the camera enclosure causes a significant amount of shaking. The camera is attached to the mount then the mount is attached to whatever mounting device you are using. If you are using the gopro adapter that's a whole other level.

So picture it like this.
Camera -> mount -> gopro adapter -> bike mount.

A gopro camera is this
Camera -> bike mount.

Double the connections and a lot more area for shaking. Now i have it attached to a specialized road bike with zertz front fork, a shock absorbing raod bike so I have even less vibration through the front handlebars than most bikes ever will on pavement and even still the video is just a shakey mess.
Unfortunately, any real time video is just too much of a mess to be useable. You have to speed up the video to 2x or faster to sort of drown out the shaking and make it watchable.

Now an even larger flaw is the audio. The metal mount attaches to the camera right on the microphone. Even the smoothest of brand new flat paved road that gives very little shaking to the video still vibrates the camera so much that all audio is drowned out by the metal shaking. You dont hear this while on the bike but being that they put that mount on the microphone it's massively amplified. No audio comes through but the metal on metal clanking.

The video file itself is also awkwardly formatted. The tomtom software you can download adjusts quality in post to look nice and vibrant but if you export the video into any other software the adjustments are poor and you'll need to do a lot of tweaking, mostly to gamma, to make the quality acceptable. Just adds another step to any video production, If you dont have a high quality video editing software which will allow you to adjust video settings (most free ones dont) you'll have to import it into tomtom, then export it through there (and that's an annoying process as that software is overly simplified and exporting a whole video is actually really tedious and long process, it was designed just to allow for quick exports of few second highlights, nothing more) THEN you can import that file into another program like gopro software or garmin's and actually do some real editing.

So in the end, the picture quality is great as a standstill camera but it does not function as an "action" camera unfortunately unless you consider a casual walk action as anything more just doesnt work due to the flaws in the design

8 people found this helpful

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Christopher Ryan

let me say that the video quality is great (for a camera in this price range) but stabilization ...

Reviewed in the United States on February 14, 2018

Style: Bandit Action CameraVerified Purchase

So this is a hard review for me. First off, let me say that the video quality is great (for a camera in this price range) but stabilization is weak. With that framework being laid, I was very happy with this camera as it fit my budget and provided me with a fun waterproof 'toy' to document some of my adventures. That lasted about a month.

One day while floating the Gunnison River, I hit some mild chop and the camera mount released the camera! It had been there just fine for the 30 minutes or so prior but upon touching this rougher section of water it simply let go and my camera disappeared into the froth. Needless to say, I'm glad no one else was on that section of river as blood-curdling profanities spewed from my mouth with venomous rage.

After the anger subsided, I was hit by sadness for the loss of a, albeit short-lived, good new friend. Anyway. Dramatization aside, the camera quality is good for the price but the mounting mechanism needs work. It's BS that a relatively tame river would be the death of my device.

For my part, I should have bought the $20 float-jacket for the camera, but it doesn't excuse the latch from not latching. : ( Since it stayed on for many other trips on calmer water on days prior, as well as half-an-hour-or-so on this fateful day, I can only presume that I'm not too ignorant to use the mount properly and that it did, indeed, fail.

Pros:
* WATERPROOF!
* Good quality
* Decent firmware and interface
* Premium package includes a remote control for starting and stopping the recording
* Works with GoPro accessories so that you don't have to buy a whole new set of accessories (or you can buy accessories "anywhere", depending how you look at it...)

Cons:
* Could benefit from some 'fancy' video editing software to compile the action videos
* Fell into the water! Latching mechanism needs improvement
* Poor stabilization... this thing needs a gimbal

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