Polaroid XS100 Extreme Edition Action Camera
Polaroid makes a comeback! At this time, the company introduced a new product in the action camera ‘department’. The new camera is known as the Polaroid XS100 Extreme Edition HD. Without an iota of doubt, Polaroid XS100 Extreme Edition is an expensive camera in the field of sports cameras.
In this Polaroid xs100 review, we have shed some light on the product from different angles, such as design, usability, performance and value. The camera is waterproof as long as you don’t go deeper than 30 feet, and can take Full HD videos. Besides, it features a sturdy shock-absorbing box and a gyroscope sensor. The camera comes with handheld mounts. Its wide-angle lens is capable of capturing 170 degrees view field. In short, the model of the cam is runs circles around costly GoPro cameras.
Design: 6/10
The packing box has two sections: plastic top and cardboard bottom. The top section is the plastic pedestal the camera is screwed on. You can easily see it by taking a closer look at the device.
As you may know that no matter what action camera you want to buy, it should come with different mounts. These mounts make it easier to use the camera and take photos and videos without any problem. As far as mounts are concerned, we think, Polaroid XS100 runs circles around all the similar products available in the market.
The box contains lots of accessories, such as HDMI Cable, Mount-lock, USB cable, Carrying pouch, mount-lock key, Manual, secure string, handlebar mount, and helmet mount. So, you have all the required accessories with the cam, and you don’t need to buy them separately.
The hardware kit lets you mount the cam on your helmet, chest, or on any flat surface of a car or board. And yes, you can install the cam on your bike as well. So, you don’t have to worry about this thing either.
Usability: 6/10
Before first use, you need to configure the Polaroid XS100 cam. In order to do this, you should insert the MicroSD card and then pair the cam with your computer via the USB port. Please note that if the sliding button is on Stop mode, the cam will not get recharged. Once you have set it to Rec mode, the device will connect to the external memory. Once you there, you should look for the file named Polaroid.exe. clicking on the file will show up a window allowing you to change the configuration. For instance, you can choose a shooting mode, adjust sleep timer, adjust time and date and enable the automatic rotation of photos. Besides, there is an option to change the resolution for video modes.
The camera has it what it takes to challenge the AEE MagiCam SD21 or the GoPro cameras.
Apart from this, the only thing that can be changed right from the cam is the recording format; you can choose either HD or Full HD. For this, you have to pair your cam with your PC or laptop, and run the Polaroid app. For instance, if you want to set the picture shooting interval, you can do that with that app. Other that this, you cannot change anything from the camera. Actually, the company gives you the app to deal with advanced settings. If everything were changeable right from the camera, the cam be larger.
Performance: 5/10
On a PC, the Polaroid file will get installed form the cam automatically as soon as you have connected the cam. But if you are on a Mac, the app should be downloaded from the official website. I use Linux, so the app didn’t get installed automatically and I had to download the file off the official website of the company.
The great thing is that the cam comes with an HDMI cable allowing you to get access to the content stored on youor SD card. The good news is that you can use the same HDMI cable to get access to the content of your TV, which is a great option for you if you spend a lot of time watching TV.
So, as far as performance goes, the cam does a decent job, and this is in comparison with other brands out there. Both people make their buying decision based on the performance of the device, and this will be more likely to be in your good books if you also are on the lookout of a device that performs well.
Value: 6/10
The Polaroid XS100 leaves out all the shortcomings of the GoPro. First of all, the design of the cam is much more streamlined than that of GoPro, which makes bike ride awesome. The cam comes with tripod threads making it easier to attach with a tripod with ease. No matter what type of helmet it is mounted it, it is very ease to operate. It vibrates when in recording mode.
Apart from this, a big rear cover is there unlike the small covers and hatches the GoPro comes with. Without a waterproof housing, this cam cannot be used as deeper in water as the GoPro, but 30’ is enough if you want to swim in a swimming pool.
I didn’t have any issues connecting the cam to my PC for downloading stuff, but I did have some issues with the GoPro 3 Black Edition. Besides, the XS100 has no Wifi, but the one on the GoPro was troublesome and drained battery pretty quickly. If you ask me, I have had the cam on my bike helmet and had recorded FHD videos as well as time lapse photos, and guess what, the quality was really impressive. At $150, it is a steal. And is much better than most of miniDV camcorders out there being sold at much higher price point. Hope you liked this Polaroid xs100 extreme edition HD 1080p review.