Yi Action Camera – Reviewed by Cyclists

I have been obsessed with Xiaomi since they launched here in Malaysia. At one point – I was totally hooked on buying their phones and PowerBanks because it was so challenging to be able to secure products on that particular date and time the products would be made available. I would buy and sell the products to friends who were unable to make their purchases from the Xiaomi website. I sold everything to them at no mark-up. The only condition was for them to self collect the items as I was not making money from the sale of the items.

Fast forward to the present…we managed to secure a Yi Action Camera  (Travel Edition with Selfie Stick) + Yi Action Underwater Casing for our cycling team – Team Possum. Yay – to not staying glued to the PC in order to make a purchase. Xiaomi graciously sent us a unit to review.

All Xiaomi’s products have very compact packaging styles. Almost similar to Apple. So the Yi Action Camera’s packaging did not fall below expectations.

The unboxing pics below were shot by Team Possum’s Fisherman Ian Ho:

Unboxing was a breeze. We were all amazed with the weight, feel and compactness of the Yi Action Camera. The selfie stick felt very good and solid! It was very easy to figure out the on/off button. Much to our dismay the whole manual was in Mandarin. We are a bunch of bananas in Team Possum, unfortunately. But not to be deterred, we knew we could figure the camera out without a manual!

The unboxing video shot on Xiaomi Note by Team Possum’s Jeff Liew:

Next – we downloaded the app. And to our relief – an English user manual was in the app. All of us in Team Possum wants to offer free English copywriting services to Xiaomi in exchange for gadgets!

We had a bit of a challenge trying to connect to the camera at first. Did a hard reset as per the manual. Later on – we figure out that there were just simply too many of us around with our bluetooths on. Once we turned off a couple of our devices – we could connect easily with the Yi Action Camera.

Once connected, you can control the camera’s settings. And since the Yi Action Camera does not have a view finder – you can use your phone as a view finder. The app and the Yi Action Camera works beautifully on iOS devices.

The first action video:

Here’s how the camera mounts onto one of our bikes (Images provided by Team Possum’s Sam  Fuji/Colnago/Pina):

image1 IMG_1793

We have also tested out the camera during our night ride! And we were all pleasantly surprised the camera worked very well under low lights.

 

Without a doubt – the Yi Action Camera is a fantastic camera. I personally almost bought a GoPro – but now – I’ll forgo the GoPro and stick to the Yi Action Camera.

The only drawback thus far is the battery life. We shot our cycling videos continuously on 60fps and the battery only lasted for 45 minutes. So Xiaomi, can you please send more batteries to us?

We haven’t tested out the waterproof casing fully yet. However, the case is very crucial to us during rainy rides. So far, there has been a slight down pour during one of our rides. The waterproof casing worked!

Here’s a pictorial summary of the Yi Action Camera prepared by Sam Fuji/Colnago/Pina:

Summary

We definitely need more Yi Action Cameras (with extra batteries) so we can mount a camera on everyone’s bikes in Team Possum! Here’s to hoping Xiaomi will hear us and send us an early Christmas gift. Thank you again to Xiaomi for giving us a chance to test drive the awesome Yi Action Camera!

Special thanks to Sam Colnago/Fuji/Pina for all the videos.

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About sl

I shop, I hoard! Bad combination. I am on a daily journey to learn the art of letting go instead of acquiring more!
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