TomTom Bandit Action Camera – Review
We’ve been waiting for this one for a while. Could TomTom’s new smart action camera be the one to rival GoPro’s domination?
First off, it’s hard to review an action camera without drawing comparisons to GoPro. As market leaders they have unquestionably set the benchmark for others to follow. As hard as I’ve tried to avoid the direct comparison and review the Bandit on its own merits the comparison does rear its head occasionally. Thankfully TomTom have approached the action cam world with a different take so there is something uniquely different about it. So, the TomTom Bandit…
TomTom are a Dutch company that have been making Satellite navigation systems since 2002 and are a powerhouse when it comes to mapping products. Now they have their fingers in multiple pies that utilise similar GPS and mapping technology – GPS Sports Watches being one of them, so jumping into the highly competitive action camera market and bringing their GPS technology to the party is a bold move.
The uniquely named Bandit is TomTom’s first foray into the action camera world and their fundamental aim, beyond making a camera that performs as well, if not better than a GoPro, is to make editing and then sharing subsequent footage as simple and pleasurable a process as possible. TomTom’s principle is simple and they have clearly set out their stall – action camera’s shouldn’t just be about great video quality, they should also be about what happens after you’ve captured the video. The Bandit combined with its Smartphone Application is not just an action video camera, it’s a sensor packed editing device. But more on that later. First and foremost it needs to function well as an action camera suited to the adventure sports world.
Aesthetic and Design
We really like the look of this camera, admittedly it does have a Star Wars droid aesthetic about it but importantly it has a surprisingly unobtrusive size, given its cylindrical shape. It’s a neat little camera, tightly compacted with a solid feel and admittedly weighty feel. We like the white and red design although we can’t imagine it would stay white for very long given its intended uses.
The minor issue (potentially major issue for mountain bikers) with its cylindrical shape is of course its seeming inability to be safely worn on your chest. Essentially it loses its Bandit tag in favour of the Bullet if you were to hit the deck with this sticking out in front of your rib cage, but we think that issue is more than made up for with the fact that its cylindrical shape lends itself to being worn on other areas of the body (intentional pause) such as the arms, legs, shoulder knees and toes… knees and toes. There will almost certainly be a myriad of accessories over the coming months and we can easily see this being worn on the shoulder or top of the arm to give a similar perspective that you get with a chest mount. It’s a far less obtrusive camera than a GoPro and certainly seems to be smaller in mass.
Its cylindrical shape also means it can utilise a really superb mount and adjustment system. The Bandit’s mount rotates around the body of the camera, which means you can position the camera at any point on a helmet and simply twist it to get the desired perspective. Initially we were concerned that this may just rotate itself when hitting some gnarly sections of trail but it’s equipped with a ratcheted system, which means it stays firmly in place and won’t work loose.
We also really liked the quick release mounting system, which utilises two spring loaded buttons which lock and unlock the camera from whichever mounting bracket you are using. This also means the camera sits closer to the mounting surface, again making it far less obtrusive than its rivals.
It does have its vulnerabilities as far as we can see however. Whilst the camera’s casing itself seems more than up to the job of protecting its internals the removable lens and menu screen seem particularly exposed. Though it would take some serious or awkward impacts to cause damage it doesn’t remove the fact it will be at the back of your mind that you could ruin a lens or crack the screen should the worst happen. Thankfully the lens is replaceable as is the protective screen cover. We doubt, however, that its clean white casing would stay looking shiny and white for very long and once it is bruised and battered, it’s staying that way.
The positioning and design of its control panel and on/off buttons are perfect. Utilising a 4 way directional pad to skip through menus we actually found it more than possible to use this blind when the camera was mounted on top of your head. With its ‘click’ tone for every time you press a button and unique pattern of beeps it’s pretty easy to recognise what you are doing without actually seeing the camera. The on/off, record/pause buttons are placed well away from one another and are easy to locate and compress when the camera is mounted out of sight. The monochrome interface is easy to use and navigate through and doesn’t require much in the way of trial and error to find your way through to the option you want.
In the box we got a couple of curved mounting brackets equipped with good old 3M tape and a universal mount which will work with existing GoPro brackets. The brackets are small and lie flat meaning once again they are far less obtrusive than others on the market.
It comes with a 1900mAh battery that in our test exceeded the claimed 3 hours HD recording time by about 15 minutes. The battery stick and Micro SD Card holder all slide out of the camera along with the Super-Speed USB 3.0. So no cables are included with the camera as you can simply plug the USB directly into your computer to charge and download footage. It’s a really neat and tidy addition to the camera and let’s face it, we could really do without more USB cables to shove in the backs of drawers.
The Tech
TomTom wanted to make a camera which takes the often agonising process of editing hours of footage to make a 2 minute video. Whilst uploading footage and pouring over it for 3 solid days and piecing it together into a couple of minutes is just as viable an option as with any other action camera on the market, the Bandit utilises some pretty impressive tech to make putting together clips and edits almost instantaneous.
The TomTom is equipped with a range of tech such as in-camera motion sensors, accelerometer, Gyroscope, pressure meter and GPS sensors which automatically tag moments based on speed, acceleration and G-force – essentially picking out the good stuff. Once you have finished your runs for the day you can immediately use the Smartphone App to pick out the automatically highlighted moments, shake your Smartphone (literally) and the app will begin to piece together an edit which you can then immediately upload to social media, YouTube and Vimeo. You can also add a soundtrack and overlay metric data of speed or distance within the app.
The phone connectivity is really easy to use as is the Bandit Mobile App. The real time viewfinder means you can line up your shot perfectly, select recording modes and start and stop recording all via your phone.
Undoubtedly the highlighting and self-editing feature is really smart, utilising some pretty clever technology. It did indeed work flawlessly well in highlighting the best moments of runs we did on the trails and makes it even easier by using symbols to identify a moment of particular high speed, acceleration or G-force. It’s definitely not a gimmick and its limitations are entirely user based – the more footage you capture, the more angles you utilise and the more ‘moments’ you have means the far better the self editing feature will work. You can of course go ahead and quickly tailor your edit but essentially it works in making short films for sharing with your friends a more or less instantaneous experience.
Video quality is as you would expect, capturing 1080p at 60fps and 4k at 15fps and taking 16mp photos. It also comes equipped with time lapse and slow motion features.
The video we have included is raw footage of a quick run down the ‘Surface to Air’ track at Aston Hill Bike Park in the Chilterns. We haven’t done anything more than chop the beginning and end using the Smartphone Bandit App. The audio is also untouched. The microphone ports are located right at the front of the camera so the sound of wind is deafening. This would obviously be seriously problematic in very high-speed applications such as motorsport where the camera is mounted outside.
The Verdict
It’s good. It’s really good. We wouldn’t hesitate in handing over £300 for one of these. We’d argue it’s one of the best action camera’s currently on the market and given this is TomTom’s first attempt we are expecting further big things from them in this market. That’s not to say it isn’t without its problems. Not being able to safely wear it on a chest mount being one and the lens and screens potential vulnerability being another, although we could be way off the mark on this one so we’re happy to offer the benefit of the doubt for now.
Despite those minor flaws they are well compensated for. Its none obtrusive and slim-line shape, size, clever rotating mount, menu and navigation buttons and the brilliant Smartphone app and connectivity options make it an incredibly user friendly and enjoyable camera to use. Its self-edit and sharing features work far better than we could have imagined and make sharing vids instantaneous when you are out on the trails.
It’s a competitive market in the action camera world but the TomTom Bandit unquestionably offers something that the many others out there simply do not. It’s a winner, even if the name isn’t.
RRP – Base Pack – £299.99// Premium Pack – Price – TBC
Photos by Beth Lacey