iON Camera 1046 Lite SnapCam Lite

Please read, this is not a rash reactionary response. This is a great concept, but very bad delivery. I first bought one from Best Buy for my daughter for Christmas, it was the non-wireless one called the Ion SnapCam LE, it would never work correctly and sometimes would turn on and sometimes didn't. The double tap to record sometimes works, but most of the times it doesn't.I bought this Ion Snapcam 1045 wireless version from Amazon and the exact same problems, except that it is also very hard to pair with my computer or my Galaxy S5. On top of that they are both very finicky with the SD cards. I had to buy an obsolete one that's two years old to make it work. The quality of the video was very acceptable, but it only recorded on two instances but then refused to record after that. I have given it many chances but now won't even turn on, no matter how well charged it is.Do yourself a favor and skip it all together, you'll save yourself a lot of frustration and time. It's too much of a coincidence that both Snapcams I bought were finicky.

These are actually good little cameras for the price. There seem to be allot of misunderstandings about them. Many of the negative reviews here are for another camera model that is commonly mistaken for this. I have not tried the other wifi version of the camera but I understand that it has a different button system that is hard to operate. However, this camera doesn't have those issues and is actually very simple to use and is very reliable. Again, this camera (iON 1046 SnapCam Lite) is a good camera. This camera is not an action camera or a high speed camera.Its a very compact, reliable, easy to operate camera with very basic features.Size: If you want a very small camera this seems like the best bang for the buck in a tiny form factor.Image quality: The image quality is not super high quality, but for the size of the device and lens I think it does very well. One thing I find awkward is that it has a g-sensor to orient the camera upward, but the image becomes very tall when the camera is sideways, like on a phone. Its not bad but it is hard to predict since the camera is square.Battery Life: This camera will actually take about 3000 images on one charge at 30 seconds per over about 25 hours. Yes ONE CHARGE. That doesn't mean it will record 25 hours of video or let you take a pic every 3 seconds for 25 hours. It is a tiny device with a tiny battery. That said, it seems very well engineer if you use it as designed. Test: I charged the device to full, put a formatted microSD card in it turned on the time-lapse function and left it to sit. It lasted about 24 hours and took 2700+ images. I say 2700+ because I also shot some short videos and a few extra images during the same time frame and charge. Personally, I was impressed that it can last all day.Operation: This camera is about as easy to operate as it gets. Anyone who says otherwise is either referring to another model or has some serious mental shortcomings. Basically, the camera has 3 functions: Single shot, Video(start/stop), and a Time-Lapse.Time-Lapse is toggled on and off with a switch on the side under a silicone flap. When time-lapse is "on" the camera will take a picture every 30 seconds until the card is full or the battery dies (about 3000 images per battery). Note: You CAN still start and stop video AND take extra pictures WITH time-lapse enabled, however, this will use more battery and storage obviously. The time-lapse resumes on its 30 sec. timer after a video stops or user activated pic as long as the switch is on.Single Image: To take a single image you just press the button. It beeps and a blue light flashes. You KNOW when it takes a picture.Video: You press and hold the same button untill the blue light comes on solid. You KNOW when its shooting video. Repeat to stop video.The item is small, light, and seems well designed. That said, it is a very basic device with only a 5MP sensor and a tiny camera type lens so don't expect to outperform a DSLR. However, I think for the price its a great little camera.

My main point of comparison is the original Narrative Clip, Narrative Clip Wearable Camera (Gray), which has a similar form factor and time lapse photo function.Pro:Timed photos are what I wanted it for, and that works nicely.Good at knowing which way is up (without use of an app); very little need for rotation.Brighter colors in the photos than the Clip.I already had some 32 gig MicroSD cards on hand.The blinking light makes it very clear when it's taking pictures.My partner and I got some great honeymoon candids. ;) We clipped it to a lamp and adjusted the aim, so it was still for this. (Still some blur when we were in motion when the camera snapped.)Excellent battery life and storage for time lapse photos -- I left it running all day without running out of either. (This is with a week of use - not sure how the battery will do after a year+ of regular use.)Both the red and blue skin are attractive, and relatively easy to switch out.It beeps and blinks angrily when you try to take time lapse photos without a MicroSD card in.At the time of my purchase, very cost-effective compared to cameras of similar size and features.Con:There is visible distortion from the lens shape.Doesn't have the vigorous anti-blur features of the Clip.I have to manually move the pictures to my computer; there's no native sync tool.All the photos are taken with the same date. I have initialized the date as instructed by creating a file with the current date and time, but it's a) not good to have all the photos have the same creation date, and b) I have to change the file name every day.The blinking light is very, very bright. Not too bad during the day, but distracting in a darkened room.You could clip it to your shirt, if your chest is straight up and down. Not so great for D-cup and above. (Clip has the same issue.)