The Ultimate Akaso Brave 6 Review!

Anyone who has been using entry-level action cameras over the last few years has likley heard of the older Akaso Brave 4 that is one of the best selling cheap GoPro alternative action camera that has ever been made. It has one of the best reputations amongst cheap action cameras and set the bar for the competition to meet. Fast forward a few years and the Akaso Brave 6 is available and we have noticed more and more people reaching out for advice on the Brave 6 as they consider purchasing it and adding it to their collection of camera accessories.

Due to this, we have decided to publish our full Akaso Brave 6 review to try and help as many of our readers as possible who are in the market for a decent little action camera that does not break the bank. Now, although the Brave 6 is definatley growing its customer base at a solid pace and has managed to earn a decent reputation for itself amongst the community we feel that Akaso have actually fallen short compared to the communities expectations as well as what the compeating brands are releasing.

In our opinion, the Apeman Trawo is a much better option that sells at the same price range as the Brave 6 while beating its performance in a number of areas. The Apeman Trawo is probably the best sub-one hundred dollar action camera on the market right now and it has a massive customer base with an outstanding reputation that just keeps on getting better as the month’s pass.

We just wanted to make our readers aware of this as early as possible rather than waste your time reading our full review only for us to recommend another cheap action camera at the end over the Akaso Brave 6. That said though, we know that some of our readers may still be focused on the Brave 6 or just want to know why we would recommend the Apeman Trawo over the Brave 6 so we still have our full, in-depth review below for our readers.

Performance And Functionality

So, getting stuck right into our review of the Akaso Brave 6 as well as the first area where we feel the Apeman Trawo instantly starts scoring points for itself over the Brave 6 is with its performance and functionality. Now, we would suspect that a large number of the people reading this will likley be wanting to use their new action camera to capture video footage way more than they will be capturing photographs with it and the Brave 6 does offer some solid video resolutions.

It is able to support 4k video resolution but unfortunately, this is not native 4k and is actually a digitally upscaled video that is very common amongst the entry-level action camera space. The camera basically records the actual video footage in a lower resolution and then puts it through a digital process to upscale it to meet the requirements to be listed as 4k footage. Essentially what this does is require more power from the battery during use while also generating additional heat that may lead to overheating issues during use.

On the flip side of this, the Apeman Trawo supports native 4k video that in turn allows for a longer battery life and less heat to be generated. The Akaso Brave 6 also only supports its digitally upscaled 4k at twenty-four frames per second where the Apeman Trawo offers native 4k at thirty frames per second too. Both cameras also offer 2k at thirty frames per second as well as 1080p at sixty frames per second too offering some middle ground between resolution and battery life while recording.

That said, the Akaso Brave 6 does not support 720p at all. Now, depending on what you are planning to do with your new action camera, this may not be an issue at all for you but we know many people love to take advantage of the usually higher frame rates of the 720p resolution on the compeating cameras. The Apeman Trawo supports 720p at one hundred and twenty frames per second meaning that it can be used to capture slow-motion video as well as for smooth video footage in fast-paced action sports. Again, another ara where Apeman are leaving Akaso for dust.

The Akaso Brave 6 supports the industry-standard 20MP camera sensor allowing you to capture some beautiful photographs but in this day and age, the 20MP camera sensor on cheap action cameras is standard and expected. With Akaso choosing to use a lower frame rate for their 4k as well as from 720p support completely, we would have like to see some advancements on their camera sensor but unfortunately, this did not happen.

Another thing that is pretty standard for action cameras in this price range in this day and age is the fully adjustable lens. The Brave 6 supports 170°, 140°, 110°, and 70° fields of video allowing you to tweak the performance of the camera for your photographs as needed. This allows you to go from a decent selfie at 110° or 70° to being able to capture epic landscape vista views at 170° within seconds. Again though, this is standard for this price point in the market these days and does not serve as a unique selling point or advantage over the competition for the Brave 6.

The brave 6 also offers the standard six-times digital zoom too but as you may have guessed, this is an expected feature in this day and age with the compeating action cameras offering this same functionality too. Although the zoomed-in content of the Brave 6 is not as grainy as some of the compeating cameras, the Apeman Trawo definatley holds it’s own making it the better option in our opinion.

The video clips above have been captured using the Akaso Brave 6 and offer some solid insight into what you can realistically expect from the camera during use. As you can see, the camera does offer some solid video and audio performance but nothing really stands out enough to make you go with the Brave 6 over some compeating action camera.

The electronic image stabilization technology on the Brave 6 is also not as good as what the Apeman Trawo offers too and shows in the sample video footage above. If you are planning on still going with the Brave 6 at this stage and want butter smooth video footage then a decent action camera gimbal is going to be an essential camera accessory. We also have our ultimate guide to action camera gimbals that may be helpful to you too if you are planning on adding a gimbal to your camera accessories too.

Another area where the Apeman Trawo blows the Akaso Brave 6 out of the water is when it comes to its maximum battery life. As we touched on earlier, the digital upscaling on the Brave 6 rapidly eats its battery life when using 4k with the Apeman Trawo offering almost double the battery life of the Brave 6 for 4k video. If you are lucky, you may get around forty minutes out of the Brave 6 with 4k whereas the Apeman Trawo can be closer to an hour and a half with ease.

The battery life issues of the camera can be overcome by also adding a decent USB power bank to your collection of action camera accessories too. In this day and age there is no reason to be out in the middle of one of your adventures and end up running out of juice and not being able to record content. USB power banks are much cheaper than they used to be and can make a great addition to your camera accessories no matter what action camera you use.

The waterproof case on the Brave 6 also meets the standard of being waterproof down to a maximum depth of one hundred feet. Although this does make the camera usable for sports such as swimming, surfing, or diving as well as any other water-based sports, it does not score the camera any additional points over the competition that it so desperately needs.

The camera also supports a number of popular camera modes too that include burst photo/ self timer/ time-lapse video/ diving mode/ special effects/ white balance/ loop recording/ driving mode/ and motion detection. Although we doubt many of our readers will be using all of these camera modes, a number of them can be very useful and help add that extra level to your content or make your life easier.

User Interface And Control System

Just like all modern action cameras, the user interface for the Brave 6 is done via its touch screen and the whole process is actually pretty smooth and we feel that Akaso have done a great job of building on the weaknesses of the previous generations of camera. The whole navigation menu has been redone to make it as user-friendly to use as possible to ensure that anyone purchasing their very first entry-level action camera can learn the system within minutes.

The Brave 6 also comes with a number of popular camera modes as well as full voice activation with commands such as “Akaso, Take Photo” or “Akaso, Video Start” helping you control the camera without having to touch it. If you have the camera mounted to your helmet or a chest mount then this can be a great way to quickly and easily control the camera without being able to touch it with your hands. This allows you to use your hands as required to maximize your safety during your action sport of choice.

As the Akaso Brave 6 also supports wireless technology a wireless remote control wrist strap is also included with your purchase. This just offers another way to capture photographs or start/stop your video recording as required without having to touch your actual camera. Depending on your action sport of choice this can be a great bit of technology and does a great job of allowing you to use your camera wirelessly.

Although the Brave 6 has been designed for optimal use with the entry-level action camera sports user in mind, it does have a few advanced features for anyone with more experience behind them. On the flip side of this though, the Apeman Trawo takes the lead again when it comes to the advanced features available on the action camera just pushing it further and further ahead of the Brave 6.

Build Quality And Design

Akaso has kept to their reputation of building very robust action entry-level action cameras that can easily take the punishment that use in action sports will bring to them. The Brave 6 is very tough and can easily take more than its fair share of bumps and the included protective case just increases its toughness even further. Again though, in this day and age, this is expected of any action camera company, even at this price point in the market with all of the compeating cameras on the market being just as tough as the Brave 6.

On top of this, a fair few of the compeating action cameras are also lighter than the Brave 6 making them the better option in our opinion, especially if you are planning on using your camera with a gimbal stabilizer. The lighter the camera the better when used with a gimbal to help ensure that you get the best quality image stabilization possible without running into issues.

Our Verdict

That brings our Akaso Brave 6 review to a close and as you may be expecting, we would not actually recommend that our readers purchase the Akaso Brave 6. In our opinion, there are much better cheap GoPro alternatives on the market such as the Apeman Trawo that we would highly recommend over the Brave 6. The Apeman Trawo also has one of the best reputations amongst the cheap action cameras that is just getting stronger with each passing month. We also have a dedicated review of the Trawo online that may be helpful to you.

In our opinion, Akaso became overconfident with the huge success of their Akaso Brave 4 that dominated the niche a few years back. As we mentioned in our review of the Brave 4, back when it was released onto the market, we thought that it was an excellent little action camera but Akaso stopped innovating while their competition kept working and for the foreseeable future, Apeman is going to dominate the entry-level action camera niche. We also have our article going over what we feel is the best action camera for less than $100 too that you may find helpful if you are in the market for an entry-level action camera.