Wasp 9907 4K - Review 2022 - Garcia Sounedithe

The Wasp 9907 4K ($329.99) suffers from an identity crisis. Its captures solid 4K video and is waterproof without a case—two big pluses for an action photographic camera. But it disappoints in other areas. Information technology'southward physically uncomfortable to open, its digital stabilization doesn't really piece of work, nor does its Wi-Fi organization. If you're looking in this price range, get the GoPro Hero5 Black instead. If you're happy with a less expensive pick, the Sjcam SJ6 Legend is your best bet.

Design

The Wasp 9907 4K is a small, black camera with a waterproof design. It measures 3.i past 2.three by 1.nine inches (HWD) and weighs about four.0 ounces. The human foot, uniform with GoPro mounts, is built in. It looks like you should exist able to unscrew it and remove it, but it'southward permanently attached. Information technology'southward also quite tight—I had to push on it very difficult to reposition it. The screw that holds the foot in place should plow to conform tension, merely information technology'south but there for testify.

The pes's durability is dubious. My Wasp got stuck in its mount the first time I used it, and one of the prongs snapped as I attempted to remove information technology. Considering the foot isn't hands removable, as it is with nearly waterproof cases, this is something to be careful nigh.

There'due south also an accessory mountain rails on the left slide; it can have standard GoPro feet, so yous tin can mount an boosted photographic camera to the Wasp if you are so inclined. Only more likely you'll use it to go creative about positioning and securing the camera.

The photographic camera is rated for depths of about 100 anxiety (30 meters). That'due south better than you get with the GoPro Hero5 Black, which can only go 33 feet deep without a case. Merely the GoPro is smaller, at 1.viii by two.4 past ane.4 inches.

On-camera control buttons are black, with etched icons directly on them to let you know their role. The carving isn't painted in, and so it'south difficult to see what each push button does unless there's ample light. The ii top buttons—Ability and Record—are square plastic and piece of cake enough to press. You practice have to hold down the Power button for longer than you'd expect, well-nigh 3 seconds, to turn the camera on. You'll know you've waited long plenty when the Wasp splash screen shows on the rear LCD.

Just the rear buttons are all covered in rubber and require a significant amount of pressure to activate. At the left of the LCD there are Thousand (Manner), Bill of fare, and OK buttons. To the correct you get Wi-Fi, Left Arrow, and Right Pointer. Both sets are bundled in a column. Left and Correct command the camera's digital zoom function, and are as well used for menu navigation.

The rear LCD is very small, just 1.5 inches in size. It'due south acceptable for framing up a shot, merely rather tiny to read the text in the menu system. The carte is difficult to navigate, equally you accept to press hard on those rear buttons to cycle through settings, and information technology's non always clear which button will confirm, dorsum out of, or move to the adjacent page in the menu system.

There are some other design decisions that exacerbate frustration when using the Wasp. The case itself is difficult to open. The summit latch is very tight, and y'all have to depress a switch while pulling it back to open the dorsum. There's no worry about opening it accidentally, thankfully, simply I managed to pinch my finger in the clamp when showtime trying to set up the camera, a painful feel.

Opening the camera provides access to the microSD slot and battery. The card slot is under the battery, and is the style that uses a metal clamp to keep the menu in place, which is also a flake of a pain to open.

Connectivity

Wasp 9907 4K : App The Wasp doesn't use a standard micro USB connector. Instead its tiny USB port, which supports charging and data transfer, requires the cable that ships with the camera. I've seen this style of connector on other devices, but you won't be able to utilise the same cable you utilise for your smartphone, which is an inconvenience. The cable is protected past a watertight plug. You'll demand to unscrew it to access the connexion.

I had issues transferring files from the camera to my computer. My iMac didn't recognize the Wasp equally an external disk drive when connected. I opened the Prototype Capture application and information technology establish the photographic camera, but could merely transfer images, not video. I concluded upwards using a card reader to offload videos. Usually this isn't a hassle, merely given the difficulty of accessing the card slot, I establish information technology to be a nuisance.

In that location is built-in Wi-Fi. Normally you could employ it to offload images and videos to an Android or iOS smartphone, and then motility them over to a reckoner if that's part of your editing workflow. But the Wasp'due south Wi-Fi is barely functional. Fifty-fifty with my telephone right next to the photographic camera, the Wi-Fi wouldn't stay continued. This was with the current version of the app—there'south also an older one floating around in the Apple App Shop, with outdated code Apple warns will slow down your phone.

For the brief times I could go on a connection live betwixt the camera and phone, I noted that you won't get a live feed from the lens if the camera is set to 4K. At lower resolutions the feed comes through, but in that location is several seconds of lag time between reality and what you run across on the phone screen.

Yous become about 65 minutes of 4K capture on a fully charged battery, which is a solid number.

Video Quality and Features

The Wasp 9907 shoots 4K video at 24fps and a 25Mbps bit charge per unit. The video quality is actually quite good, albeit with the limited dynamic range we're used to seeing with 4K footage captured at this bit rate. You can see this in our driving test footage; the sky is bluish, with clouds, and while the photographic camera did capture that properly for some of our ride, other sections show the heaven every bit completely washed-out white. The Sony FDR-X3000, which doesn't cost that much more than, preserves the blueish sky at all times, thanks to its much higher 100Mbps capture quality.

The Sony as well offers optical stabilization. The Wasp 9907 supports digital stabilization, even at 4K, but it's non constructive. The first section of our examination video was captured with it disabled, and y'all can see the jitters and jumps in the handheld footage. The 2d section had stabilization turned on, but the results are not much better. We come across better quality stabilization with the Sjcam SJ6 Legend.

Other available recording options include 1440p at 30fps, 1080p at threescore or 30fps, and 720p at 120 or 60fps. There is also a time-lapse option, as well as a video looping function. There aren't multiple field of view options; instead you need to use the digital zoom function to get a tighter shot. The Wasp adds a date and fourth dimension postage to videos and images by default. You need to plow information technology off if you don't want your video to accept a 1980s camcorder-style branding at the bottom.

Photo quality is just okay. The photographic camera shoots JPGs at 12MP resolution. Detail is a piddling fuzzy with shut-up subjects, and afar subjects are blurred. You tin can have better snaps with your smartphone.

Conclusions

The Wasp 9907 4K delivers decent video quality and can go underwater without the need for an external housing. But the actual design is cumbersome and sometimes painful to operate physically, digital stabilization is ineffective, and the Wi-Fi system barely works. At $330 it's priced at the higher end of the activity cam price range, and you can exercise a lot amend for your coin. The GoPro Hero5 Black is our favorite premium model, and information technology too is waterproof without a case. Our favorite budget selection, the $160 Sjcam SJ6 Legend, offers better digital stabilization. It requires a case for waterproofing, just it'south an included accessory.