"Half the price of a GoPro HD"

Given the number of mounting bits included it's more like a third or quarter the price.
Add in the LCD screen and a usable menu system and it is quite a bargain compared to the GoPro HD.

Bob.

Excellent! Thank you for sharing that, Rory.

All things considered, I was impressed with the camera and the footage. And the price seems hard to beat.

I wonder if the flat lens housing mitigates the underwater blurring issue that plagues the GoPro...???

EDIT
Upon further inspection, I'm not sure this one is really intended for underwater use. I see a few others on the site that specify a depth. This one only says waterproof. If it IS an underwater camera and doesn't blur like the GoPro, I'll take a handful.

I just trashed a Kodak Playsport by swimming down about 10 feet underwater, so I know first-hand that not all waterproof cameras are created equal.

Underwater specs for this camera refer to 1 meter.

With the PlaySport, I was at some Florida springs near Homosassa, There was a spring with a bit of a passage way where you could swim into one hole and come out another entrance about 10 feet away. What I didn't realize is that it also wend down maybe 15 feet. Anyway, no big deal except that when I came up there was moisture in the camera. When I went home I disassembled it and put the pieces spread out under a lamp overnight with some packets of silicon beads tucked in for good measure, but no luck. It was dead.

The point is that I want a camera with a higher depth rating than I have (which is something like 20 feet on a good breath of air)!

Also, the GoPro lens cover is replaceable as is the rest of the outer case. This is a pretty big deal on an extreme sports camera.

The underwater focus problem with the GoPro is easily fixed with a 3rd party replacement front lens element which is part of the housing. My understanding is with that fitted the GoPro will not be correctly focussed out of the water.
The problem is none of these cameras have any focussing mechanism. If you want an under / above water camera then you need to spend more money.

The Crocolis is definately not an underwater camera. From the specs it should easily survive being rained on, splashed or the odd dunking. It is rated at IP68.

One thing no one seems to have picked up on is the battery in the Crocolis is easily replaced, the one in the GoPro is near impossible to replace. The Crocolis uses the same battery as the Fuji NP-120. These batteries seem easy to buy as is a battery charger. They may even be the same battery as the one in the GoPro, if they are that's going to be a bonus as we have 10 GoPro batteries that have never been used.

To me the other big bonus with the Crocolis is it has a standard 1/4" tapped hole in the bottom of the camera so it's easily attached to any of the available range of "things" we already have on hand. GoPro makes you buy another fitting to get that functionality.

Bob.

It definitely looks like a good camera. No question about that.

I hope so, I just ordered one.
If it's a dud I can blame it on Rory :)

Funny thing is it was AUD 209 deliverd by DHL. There's local eBay sellers asking over AUD 300 for one.

Bob.

Same here Bob. Some folks on eBay are selling them for $225 and you can order it direct from Chinavasion for $196.00 delivered.

Go figure.

Shot Bob let us know what you think as I wanted to get 1. 2.

I spotted that because I was looking for a focus screen that has an HDMI input, they have one that comes with a battery and cables that can last for …10 hours.
My current screen last 2 hours with a massive heavy battery = just not practical

http://www.chinavasion.com/lcd-monitors-tv/8-inch-oncamera-hd-dslr-monitor-1080p-hdmi-vga/
So I ordered one R1400 with everything and will let you guys know what I think, much cheaper than getting new eyeballs.

Hi Rory,
I for one (due to being well past my teens) would very much like to hear what you think of the R1400 monitor. If this screen lives up to its own hype, it would be a great addition for me as like you, the only other alternative is new eyeballs (or perhaps Laser surgery).

Also, (to Rory, Bob & others) I like many, I'd love to hear your views re the performance of the Crocolis HD, although given the price I'll probably just take the plunge and buy one anyway - just call me a lemming.

Regards,

Duncan

Hmm, I have ordered their (Chinavasion’s) YouTube 3D camcorder. And now they keep sending me two emails every day, trying to convince me to become an importer, even to travel to China to make personal contacts!

Are they doing it to everyone, or do they just think I must be a millionaire?

Wow, Rory, you posted it here and now the Crocolis is temporarily sold out!

Note to self!!! Buy the thing first ……then post.

"Note to self!!! Buy the thing first ……then post."

Mine is in the air :)

Bob.

Wow, another must have toy. Great find. Been wanting to strap a camera (s) to a car for ages but never wanted to put anything expensive on there. Want!

Paul.

Hey, looks like I’m being promoted to a samurai because I ordered more than $200 worth or merchandise!

A Samurai made in China. What will they think of next?

Yes, I thought it funny, too. Besides, it looks more like a jedi pen than a samurai pen.

Mine arrived today.
Not going to do the full review thing as Techmoan has most of it covered.

Mine came in a printed box, wow.
There's a lot of bits and pieces. Factor in some kind of case to store them all in.
You don't get a SDHC card, factor in the cost of one.

The clip on attachments are very solid and take a fair amount of force to unclip.
The camera has a 1/4" tapped brass insert, great, fits tripods and all the other standard mounting gizmos we all have in the kit bag. The bad is the handlebar mount that comes with this camera is very heavy and has a 1/4" steel thread to screw into the brass insert. The one I got has a slightly defective thread. If I'd persisted with forcing it into the camera the tapped insert in the camera would almost certainly have been damaged.
Not such a big issue for me, I'll get a 1/4" tap and recut the thread on the bolt. Still this is bad engineering and poor QA that could cause many users of this class of gear grief. I said bad engineering because the most difficult to replace / repair part should be made of harder material than anything that screws into it. That way if the user does mash something it'll be cheap to replace.

The little buttons on the back do require a decent push to operate. This could be a smidge of a problem if the camera was say mounted on a helmet. Probably better a bit too stiff than too soft I guess.

The camera offers a number of choices for Resolution. From what I can deduce only FullHD gives 1920x1080 but it is at 29.970 fps progressive. The 1080p25 option records 1440x1080. Not a big deal but Vegas gets this wrong and thinks it is 1.00 PAR. Easily fixed but annoying when every media player I tried reads the PAR correctly. The good news is the footage plays back smoothly at Best / Full on the office PC with only an i3 CPU.

As I got the camera late in the day not enough time or daylight to really test image quality but from the quick tests it looks pretty darn good for the money. Being able to offset the autoexposure might be a real boon as I don't like the way all of these cameras tend to blow out the highlights althought I have to say the shot I took with late evening overcast sky and the back of my house showed the autoexposure does have a good stab at getting it right, certianly very good for a camera at this price.

In summary so far I'm very happy with this new toy. The wide field of view and the barrel distortion is going to be limiting but again for $200 one cannot complain.

Bob.

[edit] Techmoan's review claims that the "Charge" LED does nothing, just stays red. Well mine just went blue to indicate the battery is fully charged.

I wonder if this is the same camera from a supplier who charges $2 more but offers free shipping and seems to have it in stock. I have never dealt with that supplier just found it browsing the web right now).

It is a bit odd that it is listed on a web page with the URL for a smoke detector, but it shows the camera instead.