ReviewedByPhil

Buy it at Amazon: ehomful SQ11 Mini DV HD Sports Camera [Affiliate Link]
Buy it at GearBest: ehomful SQ11 Mini DV HD Sports Camera [Affiliate Link]
Buy it at AliExpress: ehomful SQ11 Mini DV HD Sports Camera [Affiliate Link]

Takeaway: Compact, smooth footage, decent video, audio, and battery life; short range night vision.

You'll receive the mini camera, an alligator clip mount, a wall mount, a reset pin tool, USB charging/video cable, USB microSD card reader, and an instruction leaflet. The camera unit is super compact and lightweight measuring a little less than a cubic inch and weighing 3/4 oz. The exterior has soft-touch rubber coating and a single rainbow accent stripe sticker. On the front of the unit is the camera lens which is able to take 12 MP photos and 1080p video surrounded by a ring of infrared lights for night vision and motion detection. On the left hand side you have the 8-pin USB charging port, pin hole reset, wrist strap sling, and microSD card slot. Note that an SD card is not included, but the unit requires one up to 32GB to function. On top are two buttons: the power button and mode button and LED status light.

The unit has a 200 mAh battery inside that lasted a little over 90 minutes when recording continuously in 1080p. Charging the unit fully takes about 2-3 hours and the LED should be a solid red when complete. There are three modes: 720p video, 1080p video, and still photo mode. For each of the video modes you can also activate motion detection and/or the night vision IR lights. The battery saver feature shuts the camera off if it is not recording and no buttons are pressed for 1 minute. The quality of the video and audio is decent for such a tiny unit with a 30 frames per second frame rate that results in smooth object motion. There doesn't seem to be much difference between the 720p and 1080p video, maybe a slight increase in detail and obviously the dimension are different for the video file. The IR lights for night vision only reflect a certain distance, so the camera may need to be fairly close to the subject in order to get a clear picture (within 4 ft). For motion detection, each triggered video will be 1-5 minutes long depending on when the camera stops detecting motion in the scene.

You also have the option of using timestamps in your videos/photos but you will need a computer. After loading the SD card in the unit a text file will be created called TIMEREST.txt. To set the correct date and time, open the file and change the string of numbers to the current year, month, date, military hour, minute, and second. Then to turn this feature on the following character should be a ‘Y' or change it to ‘N' if you don't want it in your videos before saving the file.

The clip mount snaps onto the camera easily and lets you access all the buttons and ports while installed. You can then clip this to your shirt or backpack for easy carrying. It also works in conjunction with the wall mount which has a slight degree of angle adjustment via the ball head joint. Each one minute clip takes up about 100 MB so a 32GB card can store 320 minutes or just over 6 hours of footage before the card is full. One thing to note though is that the unit does get fairly hot to the touch while in operation. Also because there's no spring in the SD card slot you do have to pry it out with your fingernail which can be a little tricky. Overall this mini camera performed nicely and while from the front it's pretty obvious that this is a camera, without the LEDs on when it is recording, the camera is fairly discreet.

Buy it at Amazon: ehomful SQ11 Mini DV HD Sports Camera [Affiliate Link]
Buy it at GearBest: ehomful SQ11 Mini DV HD Sports Camera [Affiliate Link]
Buy it at AliExpress: ehomful SQ11 Mini DV HD Sports Camera [Affiliate Link]

Buy it at Amazon: Gongpon Mini Digital Handheld Video Camcorder HDV-G13 [Affiliate Link]

Takeaway: Low-res entry-level quality for novice or beginner, temper your expectations .

With this camcorder, you get the camera, a padded soft carrying case with belt loop on the back, a battery, headphone jack to RCA cable, miniUSB charging cable, power adapter, lens cap, remote control, and an instruction manual. The camera is pretty small and fits in the palm of your hand. It measures 5"L x 2"W and 2" tall and weighs 10.25 oz. The camera comes with a strap, pad and lens cap. The lens has a 24 MP sensor and two infrared LED lights for night vision. The battery and SD card are inserted in the bottom under a latched door. A memory card is not included with the camera, and it has no on-board storage. Note that when the battery is removed, the clock and date settings will reset, and you'll have to re-enter the date and time if you want accurate date/time stamps for your photos and video. There's also a ¼" mounting hole on the bottom of the camera for tripod mounting.

On the back, behind a rubber door are the AV output and microUSB port for charging. The record button is easy to press with your thumb when holding the camera with your right hand. On top you have the zoom control and shutter button for photo mode which are accessing using your index finger. Towards the front is the stereo microphone for audio capture, and there is no option for using an external microphone.

The LCD monitor rotates 270 degrees and locks in at every 90 degrees. The Camera will turn on/off automatically when the LCD is opened or closed. Pressing the menu key will bring up different options for the mode you're in, though some of these settings persist over both modes anyway. When recording during the day, outdoors the image quality of the video is somewhat grainy and lacks detail/deep color saturation giving everything a slightly faded look. There are occasional dropped frames which manifest as a flash of black or white. The quality is on par with old VHS tapes or flip phone generation cell phone cameras. Fast motion tends to be blurry and the zooming increments in hard "jumps" though it locks in at 2 distances: 9x and 18x zoom. From any distance the microphone sounds muffled and quiet, with the clearest sound only when the subject is within a couple feet from the camera. When filming in 1080p the footage is noticeably more choppy than 720p/480p because the frame rate is only 15 frames per second, whereas it's 30fps in the other modes. At 15 fps, the footage looks like stop motion and because there's motion blur when you move the camera, any increase in detail level from the increased resolution is canceled out by frame blending and choppiness.

In dark conditions, you'll need to activate night mode to see anything. The infrared light makes the images appear in black and white but you'll be able to see in the dark up to 6-8 feet away, even in pitch black conditions. Overall, the camera captures video at a fairly low resolution. If you want slightly better image quality, I recommend the next version up, the HDV-G5. This camera would only be suitable as an inexpensive fun camera for kids to toy around with. It's not going to produce super smooth or clear video at any resolution, and it doesn't capture fast scenes well. The night vision is kind of fun though.

Buy it at Amazon: Gongpon Mini Digital Handheld Video Camcorder HDV-G13 [Affiliate Link]