ACTIVEON CX GOLD Review

ACTIVEON CX GOLD Review

Action camera’s, seems like every manufacturer in the market has one and they are all competing with GoPro for market share. With all of them trying to live up to the performance offered by the GoPro and all of them falling short, their only edge has been in being less expensive. Till now you only had two options, the expensive and high performance GoPro, or cheaper and much less performance offered by any other manufacturer.  ACTIVEON only recently entered the market with the CX Gold, a small but powerful action camera with versatile options, software, and a pricetag to match. The CX Gold should easily be your next action camera, unless you like throwing money away.

Performance Beyond the Hype

The CX Gold is not all about the hype nor the price, this power packed product really delivers. An action camera is all about delivering video and stills to your screen so the most important aspects to be judged are the lens and video processing onboard. Let’s first look at the lens. The GoPro Hero 4 Black is currently the flagship of GoPro’s lineup and the lens on this $499 product is rated at an F/2.8 which in the world of photography is very good. The CX Gold a $249 product comes with a lens rated at F/2.4. Even ACTIVEON’s basic CX a $99 product comes with a F/2.4 lens.  When it comes to F Stops the lower the number the better.

In optics, the f-number (sometimes called focal ratio, f-ratio, f–stop, or relative aperture) of an optical system is the ratio of the lens’s focal length to the diameter of the entrance pupil. It is a dimensionless number that is a quantitative measure of lens speed, and an important concept in photography.

Ignoring differences in light transmission efficiency, a lens with a greater f-number projects darker images. The brightness of the projected image (illuminance) relative to the brightness of the scene in the lens’s field of view (luminance) decreases with the square of the f-number. Doubling the f-number decreases the relative brightness by a factor of four. To maintain the same photographic exposure when doubling the f-number, the exposure time would need to be four times as long.

Essentially the higher the F Stop the darker the image and in the case of an action camera usually the lower the image quality as we are trying to capture moving action. In the case of an action camera F Stop is of paramount importance as it directly relates to the camera’s ability to capture light at a fast pace. So when it comes to F Stop, the lower the better for action cameras.

Next we concentrate on the sensor picking up the light and processing the data. Both companies claim to use Pro-Grade sensors but the technical specs are very different and both have pro’s and cons.

Of course this is only a small table comparison of the full features of both cameras. It should be noted that the GoPro does indeed offer a huge range of additional options that the CX Gold does not. It should also be noted that these options are not accessible via a touch screen interface on the GoPro 4 without the additional sold separately LCD Touch BacPac. This is important to users who want an easier experience with their action camera and who don’t necessarily want to have to used their smart phone to configure the device or use a combination of buttons to achieve the function they desire. In the end the GoPro does offer more options but to achieve the desired effect you would have to spend significantly more than the CX Gold offers out of the box.

Technicals:

On the technical side of things the ACTIVEON is an action camera capable of Full HD video at 60FPS and photos at 16MP. These are impressive stats but what is the tech behind the numbers. Well we have some behind the scenes information for you. The ACTIVEON uses the ICATCH 6350 SOC (silicon on chip) solution for DSP and audio. This is a very capable chip of Chinese origin that is often found paired with the 4MP ov4689 image sensor, but not in this case. ACTIVEON uppped the ante and paired the 6350 with the Sony CMOS IMX206 16MP sensor.  Here we see the reason for that high IQ output of the ACTIVEON CX Gold. A quick look at the Sony specs for the IMX206 shows it capable of full HD at 60FPS while only sipping 270mW and 200mW during full resolution stills.

– Diagonal 7.77 mm (Type 1/2.3) approx. 16.35M effective pixels (4672H x 3500V)

– Pixel size: 1.34 µm unit pixel

– Support 16.35M-pixel imaging at 10 frame/s and full HD 1080p

– Newly developed smaller and thinner package 10.7 mm (H) × 8.5 mm (V) × 1.52 mm (t)

– Lower power consumption (approximately 270 mW at full HD 1080p output)

Interestingly enough the sensor is rated at F/5.6 which makes us question the F/2.4 rating of the CX Gold if the sensor can only capture at F/5.6. We have reached out to ACTIVEON for comment on this and will update our review as soon as we receive their response.

Testing and Actual Use:

The CX Gold is an action camera and meant to be used to capture on the go action footage to be shared. If the captured footage is shaky, lacking in color or vibrancy, then what good is it. I am happy to tell you that the CX Gold captures excellent footage and gives you easy access to finding the right kind of settings for your needs. Connect your CX Gold to your smartphone via the ACTIVEON App and get access to your camera as a monitor and gain the ability to change settings in an easy on the go type of setting. The changes are made immediately on the camera and visible via indicators on the screen. This means that once the camera has been mounted to your car, bike, drone etc you can make changes and see exactly what the camera is recording without having to unmount and make changes on the camera itself. This is extremely handy. Capture the exact footage you want, the way you want it.The app gives you access to every function and setting that the camera has as well as more importantly giving you immediate feedback on how that change affects your footage. If you make an EV, WB, or Program mode change, you can see the effect live from your phone. This allows you to set up your camera perfectly to suit different environments.Our first test of the CX Gold came during CES where we used it to capture time lapse footage of the CES show floor. If you want to see just how expansive the CES show is, take a look at our captured footage below.

Accessories:

As a consumer self I would pick up the CX Gold and make use of the GoPro Accessories that are compatible due to the similar form factor and mounting methods. I had the opportunity to look at and use several of the accessories made by ACTIVEON and I was very impressed. Especially impressive was the Roll Bar Mount.  Having tested several different implementations of this style mount made by numerous companies I can tell you that ACTIVEON’s version eliminates nearly all the vibration and leads to much more stable video. It is also extremely easy to use and made well.
ACTIVEON makes a good range of additional accessories but nothing as crazy as the amazingly extensive add-on’s by GoPro. In the end you aren’t forced to buy a GoPro camera to suit your needs as I mentioned the form factor and mounts are so similar that you can easily buy the CX Gold and then whatever you need from the GoPro accessories as it is most likely compatible. GoPro may have shot themselves in the foot by being the market leader with their lineup.

In our experience, we tested the Selfie Stick, the External Mic, Roll Bar Mount, and Bag of Mounts. We could not find the external mic accessory on their site but it should appear soon as we have retail packaging in hand. Other accessories to stay tuned for include the external remote and the Motorized Panning Head.

Conclusion:

The ACTIVEON CX Gold is everything you want from an action camera at a price that can’t be argued with. It is a joy to use and delivers excellent quality video.

We are happy to award the ACTIVEON Gold our Editors Choice Award. It exceeds all expectations, delivering excellent quality in terms of build, usability, value, and functionality.

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