In summary, it seems to be a well-built camera with excellent email support. The drawbacks as a tennis camera would be, in my opinion:
- the lack of any kind of display to check sd card and/or battery status,
- the inabillity to zoom in – the 155 degree field of view is just a little too wide for tennis.
- the price, at $99.00, would not seem to justify the lack of features when compared to the Muvi K-2 at $129.99
- much shorter battery life compared to the MUVI K2, and
- lack of any accessories
Here’s my thoughts on the Yi Action Cam. When I first received the box, I was surprised by how small it was! About the size a watch would come in. That’s because there are absolutely no accessories except for a 6”+/- long usb cord. So far so good though, because for tennis, you really don’t need any other accessories.
The camera itself appeared to be well-built, but one of the first things I noticed was that it doesn’t have any kind of external display. Later on I learned that you can get a glimpse of what’s going on by the use of flashing lights and also the wifi app. Which brings up a whole other issue for me – although I have worked with a lot of wireless cameras, this one took almost 2 hours to get it to where the app would work properly. I have to say that the email support was quick and the supporter seemed genuinely concerned with getting me going. I’m pretty sure my experience was out of the norm, and others will find the setup experience much easier. .
So, now I’m ready to film my first match with the Yi. Everything went smooth, until I went to download the files. There was nothing there! Turns out I neglected to insert the sd card. Sheesh! My fault, but here’s the rub. The Yi has absolutely no screen of any sort (unlike the MUVI), so I didn’t know until I went to download the files. I’m used to turning on the camera, hitting record and then mounting the camera. (With any of these action cams, Wifi is not needed to record a match, since the viewing angle is wide enough to forgive any small deviations from the calibrations on the pole).
On the second try, it turned out the sd card was practically full, so I only got 25 minutes of that match before it stopped recording. Again, some sort of display on the outside would have alerted me, while I was setting it up, that their wasn’t enough room on the card. Now, that’s not all blamed on the camera by any means. If I had followed my own rules for filming, I would have prepared the night before, or taken some extra time to double check the sd card by connecting with the wifi app. So, this would not have been an issue.
Third time was a charm, and I got some decent footage. This example is of a 10′ fence and 21′ setback.
And here’s a compariston of the Yi and the Muvi K-2. The first 1:29 shows the frames side by side and therefore appear to b somewhat small. Skip to 1:29 to see the MUVI by itself at “full size” and that will be followd by the Yi at full size.
In summary, it seems to be a well-built camera with excellent email support. The drawbacks as a tennis camera would be, to me,
1) the lack of any kind of display to check sd card or battery status, and
2) the inabillity to zoom in, and the 155 degree field of view is just a little too wide.
3) the price, at $99.00, would not seem to justify the lack of features when compared to the Muvi K-2 at $129.99.
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