This isn’t the best action camera. Nor is it the most durable. But it might be the perfect action camera for you — good enough to capture the video you want, durable enough to last as long as you need it, and cheap enough that you won’t care if you lose or destroy it.
In other words, the “best” action camera isn’t always the best.
We’re fans of any product that falls this sweet spot between usefulness and disposability. Consider phones — you can either buy a “burner” phone for a few bucks that does basically nothing, or a brand new smartphone for a few hundred bucks that does everything. But the best choice might be an older or cheaper phone that can perform important functions at a price that won’t hurt you viscerally if you drop it in a lake.
Buying the high-end version of any product is a recipe for anxiety and stress. Either (a) you’ll spend a great deal of time and mental energy ensuring that nothing befalls it or (b) something befalls it. Neither option promotes happiness and well-being.
Owning a Lamborghini would be fun in theory, but consider the constant anxiety you’d experience while driving it. The merest bump could cost you tens of thousands of dollars.
Driving a 1999 Toyota Camry, on the other hand, is virtually stress free. It’s a reliable car that probably won’t cause you many problems, but if you do get in an accident or experience engine trouble — who cares. The car is only worth a couple thousand bucks so it’s, as the kids say, "NBD.”
This conundrum applies across the consumer universe. Many of us want to live in a mansion, but large houses require more cleaning, landscaping, property taxes, inflatable Christmas lawn decorations, etc. A studio apartment, on the other hand, provides few stressors. It’s as though money were positively correlated with problems.
You could spend a few hundred bucks on a fancy action cam (The Wirecutter’s “budget” pick costs $200) and bemoan the loss when you misplace or break it. Or you could buy a cheap, waterproof action camera and drive it into the ground (literally).
