Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I don't write a lot of reviews but since I tested out three similar body cameras, I thought it might be helpful to people to go over the pros and cons of each one. I'm not LEO and my primary use is for when I'm hiking with my dog. I'm not looking for 4K, action cam type video, just something to record my interactions when I come across hikers with other dogs (CYA). The three models I tried are: CammPro 1296P 64GB (weighs 6.2oz) Rexing P1 64GB (weighs 3.9oz) Patrol Master 1296 P 64GB (weighs 5.9oz) First, some common notes about the cameras: As of this writing, all three cameras are priced similarly (~$125-$140). The video quality on all three is okay, not terrible but not earth shattering either. I did a side-by-side comparison of the Rexing and the Patrol Master and the Patrol Master seems to be the best of the three. All of them exhibit pixelation in lower light and/or fast motion. Still-image quality on all three cameras is sub-par, especially compared even lower-level smart phones these days. That isn't a big deal to me because I don't plan on using it for still pictures. Another thing to note is that on both the CammPro and the Rexing, the USB connector on the camera was spotty, and if I barely touched the cable while plugged in, they would disconnect and then re-connect. This does not appear to be an issue on the Patrol Master, and the USB cable is firm and it doesn't disconnect if I pickup the camera while it's plugged in. Here are some notes about each camera individually. CammPro This was the first one I tried and it's the biggest, heaviest, and most feature-rich of the three. It is the only one of the three that has GPS, which is nice to have but not a requirement for me. The CammPro also has the biggest clip (necessary due to it's size), but it covers the entire rear screen while attached. It also comes with a separate charging base while the others only have a wall charger/USB Cable. This camera does seem the most rugged of the three. When I purchased this camera, there was a section of the description that said it had a 170 degree field of view, and another section that said 140, but it looks like that's been corrected now. One complaint I have about this camera is that it plays a LOUD sound when it's turned on and I see no way to disable that. Rexing I REALLY wanted to like this camera because it was the smallest and lightest of the bunch, but I really cannot recommend it for several reasons. First off, when I plugged it in to my PC, it tried to install a virus. Luckily my virus software detected it and removed it, but that is not something that should happen. Also, the description is not accurate. It claims the video format is H264 MPEG, but it's actually uncompressed MPEG in an AVI format, and the recorded video files are about 2.5x bigger than the CammPro and about 2x bigger than the Patrol Master. This effectively reduces the storage capacity compared to other cameras with the same amount of storage. It also takes much longer to copy the videos from the camera to your PC. Furthermore, the description claims the camera has GPS but it does not. The description also says the battery can last up to 10 hours, and while I didn't test it, I would be surprised if that was accurate. The manual menu descriptions do not match up very well with the actual menu options on the camera. On the plus side, this camera has a 21x zoom. It says optical zoom but I have a feeling it's actually a digital zoom, but I'm not 100% certain. Patrol Master After not being too thrilled with the CammPro and the Rexing, I decided to order and try out the Patrol Master. This is the camera I have decided to keep. It is not as small or as light as the Rexing, but it is smaller and lighter than the CammPro, and it has pretty much all of the same features (minus the GPS), and I felt it was the best combination of size and features for my needs. It also has a sound that plays during boot-up but that can be turned off in the settings. The buttons have a nice feel and the camera came with two clips. The files are H264 video in a MOV file type. The menu options and manual of the Patrol Master are the most clear of the three (though still not perfect). Battery life seems good so far but I really haven't tried to see if I can get 10 hours of record time. In summary, all three of these cameras are capable of performing their intended function. I would have likely kept the Rexing if it had not tried to infect my PC with a virus, and if the description was accurate. The CammPro was nice but really bigger and heavier than I prefer. The Patrol Master is a good balance of features/quality for the price.