The Ultimate Apeman A79 Review!
As more and more action sports enthusiasts start to realize that there are a large number of bargains to be had in the entry-level action camera space we have noticed more and more people reaching out with specific questions about cheap GoPro alternatives. Now, the Akaso range used to dominate the space but times are most definatley changing. Akaso seems to have become complacent after dominating for so long leaving brands like Apeman and Campack to innovate away and overtake the Akaso range.
We have seen a number of people reaching out specifically for information on the Apeman a79 over the last few weeks so, for today’s article, we are going to be taking an in-depth look at the camera in our ultimate Apeman a79 review. Now, before we go any further with our review, we just want to make our readers aware that the newer, better Apeman Trawo is now available on the market that blows the a79 out the water while being retailed at a very similar price point. Since its release, the newer Apeman Trawo has managed to build itself a great reputation amongst the community that just keeps on getting better with each passing month.
That said though, the Apeman a79 can still be a solid little action camera that is very cheap and ideal for anyone on a very strict budget or just wants a cheap action camera. In its own right, the Apeman a79 has also managed to earn itself a decent reputation amongst the community that keeps growing even though the a79 is starting to show its age.
Due to this, we are wanting to still take a more detailed look at the a79 for any of our readers who are still considering adding it to their accessories over the Trawo. We have noticed a distinct lack of content available for the Apeman a79 for some reason so we are hoping that our article will be able to help as many of our readers as possible as it is able to capture some solid image quality for its price point in the market.
Performance And Functionality
For those of our readers who don’t know, many of the cheaper action cameras on the market do not support full, native 4k video footage and capture their videos in a lower resolution before having to digitally upscale the video footage to 4k standards. Not only can this have a strange effect on the image quality produced but it also rapidly depletes your battery while potentially generating a ton of additional heat that can cause overheating problems too.
Thankfully though, due to the Apeman a79 offering full native 4k, the video footage captured via the camera’s sensor is 4k and has no need for the digital upscaling process. Apeman has further improved on their tech with the Apeman Trawo to perfect the native 4k and produce some of the best image quality available in the sub-one hundred dollar action camera bracket.
As you would expect in this day and age, the a79 supports a number of different video resolutions at a number of different frame rates as follows. Native 4k at thirty frames per second, 2.7k at thirty frames per second, 1080p at sixty frames per second, 1080p at thirty frames per second, and 720p at one hundred and twenty frames per second. We are pleased to see that Apeman included the 720p settings on the a79 as many brands are starting to miss it out of their feature list but the high frame rate is perfect for slow-motion video footage for your b-roll or action sports and in our opinion should be included as standard until 1080p at one hundred and twenty frames per second is commonplace in this price range.
If you are planning on capturing a large amount of 4k video footage with your Apeman a79 then we would highly recommend that you use a memory card that has a minimum transfer speed of 90MB/s. This ensures the camera is able to save the footage at an optimal rate and can reduce the chances of the camera overheating. The a79 is able to support cards that are between 8GB and 64GB meaning that you can have plenty of space available to capture your content while on your adventures.
The camera does come with build-in electronic image stabilization as standard that is fine for sports like skateboarding over smooth terrain like in the clips above. If you are planning to take part in a more vibration heavy action sport then a cheap action camera gimbal like the Feiyutech G6 will likley be the best option and our article going over the best action camera gimbals can offer some solid insight into their performance and levels of image stabilization.
The Apeman a79 uses a Sony camera sensor ensuring that you get the best possible resolution for your photographs. The camera can capture stills in 16MP, 12MP, 8MP, and 5MP to allow you to tweak the performance as required. That said though, if you are using a memory card that is large enough to store 4k video footage, there is no need to downscale the image quality of your photographs below the 16MP mark. If you do plan to be capturing a bunch of photographs with your action camera then the Apeman Trawo is definatley the better option due to the better camera sensor and 20MP image quality.
The microphone on the Apeman a79 is excellent and performs very well in all fairness and easily beats the audio quality of many compeating entry-level action cameras on the market right now. There are even higher price point Vivitar action cameras that the a79 blows out of the water when it comes to their audio quality.
The time-lapse mode allows you to capture a frame every 1, 5, 10, 30 or 60 seconds making for some quick and easy b-roll of the sights you see that offer a more unique look at the footage. The burst mode allows you to capture a burst of three or five photographs allowing you to capture the action while out and about and the selfie timer has intervals of two and ten seconds.
Moving onto the battery life of the Apeman a79, as the camera offers native 4k rather than digitally upscaled 4k it offers a decent maximum battery life for each full charge of the battery. The camera uses the standard 1050mAh battery and comes with two included so you can carry a spare with you to extend the usage of your camera if needed. You can expect around two hours of recording video at 1080p and just over an hour of footage at 4k.
If you think that you will need more battery for your adventures then you are able to invest in a USB power bank to allow you to charge your spare battery while out and about. This can pretty much keep you going indefinitely and make sure you always have the juice you need to capture the content you want over a full day of your action sport of choice.
With all of these features resulting in some great levels of performance, it is easy to see why the action sports enthusiast community has posted so many glowing, independent reviews of the camera body. As we mentioned though, the Apeman Trawo offers better performance for a very similar price point on the market and also has an absolute ton of excellent reviews making it the better option for most of our readers.
User Interface And Control System
On the flip side of this though, if you are more of an advanced user then the Apeman a79 also offers some advanced features and camera modes that we mentioned above. This ensures that the a79 as well as the rest of the action cameras in the Apeman A range as well as the Apeman Trawo is easy to learn for anyone new to using action cameras while also having all of the features that a more advanced user will require.
The camera is also fully compatible with the wireless 2.4g protocol and comes with a wrist strap remote control too. This allows you to capture photographs or start/stop your video recording on the go via the wireless remote control. This can ensure that you always have at least one dedicated hand for something like downhill mountain biking to maximize safety while using the other hand to control your action camera.
Apeman has put a fair amount of money into improving on their touchscreen technology for their action cameras too. Their touchscreen system is much better than their older action cameras and works pretty well relative to its price tag if your hands are wet or cold. With so many action sports involving either water or snow, this can be one of the main issues with entry-level action cameras. To be clear, the a79 still has its issues with wet or cold hands but it is better than what some of the competition offer.
The actual navigation menu itself for the a79 is set out in a very similar way to what the other action camera brands are using in all fairness and does not score or lost it points over what the other brands are using. The navigation menu is easy to work through and all of the settings that you may wish to tweak are easy to find without having to waste your time.
All in all though, we feel that Apeman has done a great job on their more recent action cameras when it comes to the control interface. The improvements to their touchscreen along score it points over similar price point camera units from the competition although the Apeman Trawo is still the better option due to the actual image quality improvements that it has over the a79.
Build Quality And Design
If your action sport of choice does need you to travel around on a regular basis then the lightweight of the camera allows you to quickly and easily add the a79 to your camera bag without coming close to knocking you over your baggage allowance. This is a solid little feature for such a cheap camera as you saw the level of image quality that it is able to produce for such a low price tag while also being so small and light.
The waterproof case that comes with your a79 is able to protect your a79 down to a depth of around one hundred and twenty feet for any waterbased action sports too. If you are involved in scuba diving then there are a number of third-party cameras that can protect you down to a deeper depth if required but we would imagine that the case that comes with the camera will be enough for the vast majority of our readers anyway.
Another solid thing about the Apeman A range of action cameras is that all of their mounting units that come with the camera as standard also have a great build quality. Some compeating cheap action cameras come with low-quality mounts that are essentially a waste of time but the various mount types that come with the a79 are solid and perform very well.
Our Verdict
That concludes our Apeman a79 review and although it is a pretty solid little action camera, we would definatley recommend that our readers add the Apeman Trawo to their collection of camera accessories instead. Not only does it blow the performance of the Apeman a79 out of the water but it is retailed at a very similar price point in the market making it the obvious option in our opinion. The Trawo has also managed to earn itself an excellent reputation amongst the community since its release too.
On top of this, we also have our own review of the Apeman Trawo online where we take a more in-depth look at camera and the level of performance that it is able to provide for you. In addition to this, the Trawo also came in at first place in our article going over what we feel are the best action cameras under $100 too. Although a few compeating brands have tried to knock the Trawo off the top spot for its price bracket, to date, none of them have been successful and actually managed to do it.
