MUSON Action Camera

The MUSON Action Camera is the latest in a long line of budget "GoPro-esque" cameras, and it gives the competition a damn good run for your money.

Straight out of the box, you are greeted with a professional looking carry case which contains a staggering array of almost every conceivable fixing that allows you to mount this camera on pretty much anything you can think of. If you're a complete camera novice it really is just a tiny bit daunting.

There are 9 different mounts to attach your camera to tripods/selfie sticks, dashboards, cycle/crash helmets, and harness/clothing. Whatever you are planning to do, MUSON have provided the attachments to get you started. They have also thrown in a spare 900mAh battery, which was a welcome bonus.

I was disappointed that the camera doesn't have any on board storage, but for a camera this cheap the manufacturer had to save money somewhere. So you will need to provide your own Micro SD Card with a maximum of 32Gb - MUSON suggest a "Class 10 Micro SD Card". If you aren't sure what a Class 10 SD Card is, just get a SanDisc Ultra 32Gb.

There are 4 camera functions:
Video (720p @ 60fps or 1080p @ 30fps)
Photo (Single shot photo)
Burst Photo (Series of photographs)
Time Lapse (Series of photographs at set time intervals)
The camera can record on a loop with an optional Date/Time stamp, so is ideal for use as a Dash Cam.

The MUSON MC1 is WiFi enabled and comes with a companion app, Ez iCam App. It is clear that this app was an afterthought as it is basic in its functionality, and none of the cameras in the connectivity menu look like the MUSON. I couldn't get my Android phone to connect with the WiFi no matter what I tried, however it took me seconds to set the WiFi up on iOS with the iPad.
Once the WiFi is set up, the app allows you to mirror the camera's LCD screen on your mobile giving you a massive touch screen record button. I could see this being a useful function to Vloggers.

Picture quality is quite possibly the best I have seen in this price range. It's not as vivid or sharp as some of its higher priced competitors, but it's ideally placed for the extreme sports hobbyist, or someone who wants a very good and inexpensive dash cam or helmet camera.

Should you buy a Fitbit or Pebble this Christmas?

With the announcement that Fitbit are lining themselves up to acquire smart watch maker Pebble, should you buy a fitness tracker this Christmas?

If you don't know who Fitbit or Pebble are, where have you been?

Pebble are the darling of Kickstarter. They've put themselves up for crowd funding no less than 3 times and, aside from Oculus, are the most successful start up on the planet.
Fitbit are the big name in fitness trackers, with products ranging from wearable wrist trackers, sleep monitors and scales.

It has been touted in the media that Fitbit will buy Pebble for their intellectual property and discard the rest of the business. This is a smart move for Fitbit, who obviously need to branch out from the limited market of fitness wearables. The easiest way for them to do this is to diversify themselves into the mainstream of app enabled smart watches to allow them to compete with iOS and Android.

So with Christmas only a few weeks away, should you consider buying or gifting a Pebble or Fitbit?

Well, I would say yes. Business acquisitions take a long time to finalise, so you're in no immediate danger of your device becoming obsolete over night. Having said that, I imagine that should the takeover go ahead, then as soon as Fitbit take control they will quickly abandon support for Pebble devices.

One thing is for certain, it will be interesting to see what Fitbit can do with Pebble OS and 2017 looks to be an interesting year for the wearable technology market.