At under £100, the GoXtreme Endurance promises 4K capture and offers a range of accessories in the box, but can it compete with high-end action cameras? Find out in our review.
Pricing and availability
Carry on reading to find out if the GoXtreme Endurance is worth the £74.99 price-tag.
Design and build
Like most action cameras in the market, the GoXtreme Endurance is small in size. The grey-and-black action camera measures in at a relatively small 59 x 24 x 40mm and 59g, making it around the same size as the likes of the SJCAM SJ7 Star and the GoPro HERO5 Black. Though unlike the aforementioned action cameras, the GoXtreme Endurance features a plastic body that feels pretty cheap in the hand – but what do you really expect for the budget price? You’ll notice the 2in display on the rear of the camera, but this isn’t touchscreen-enabled. That means you’ll also find a variety of buttons on the camera – one on the top, two on the side and one on the front. These all offer multiple functions depending on what you’re doing, and can admittedly be a little confusing when you first use the camera, but it’s something you get used to fairly quickly. You’ll also find a microSD card slot, a microUSB port and a micro HDMI port on the side of the camera. The microUSB port is used not only for charging the camera, but also for transferring your photos and videos to your PC or Mac, while the micro HDMI port is there to showcase your awesome holiday action cam videos on the big screen without the need for any other devices. It also offers Wi-Fi compatibility to complete the connectivity trifecta, but that’s something we’ll go into more detail about below.
The GoXtreme Endurance comes with a case that, admittedly, makes it bulkier, but also makes the camera compatible with a host of mounts – many of which are included with the camera. You can find mounts to attach the camera to your bike, helmet, tripod, monopod, a backdoor (for security purposes) and a clip mount to attach the camera wherever you desire. That’s not something you’ll find from big-name brands, and it’s a nice touch from GoXtreme to include so many for no extra cost. Oh, and the waterproof nature of the camera also means that you can record underwater up to 30m deep, or in the pouring rain, with no repercussions.
Features and spec
Let’s delve a little deeper into the specs of the GoXtreme Endurance. First up, you’ll find a 4Mp sensor behind a 170-degree wide-angle lens capable of recording in several modes: 4K@25fps, 2.5K@30fps, 1080p@60fps, 1080p@30fps, as well as a photo mode for still photos (upscaled to up to 12Mp). Unlike other action cameras on the market, you can’t change the FOV on the Endurance – you’re stuck with 1080p no matter what mode you select. It’s also worth noting that the camera doesn’t offer image stabilisation capabilities, meaning that your action cam videos may look a little shaky when compared to footage captured by more expensive action cameras. This may be a deal breaker for extreme sports fans that want to capture mountain biking, surfing and other high-octane activities, but might not be an issue if you plan on using the camera as a static camera (i.e. on a tripod or attached to a wall). Along with different recording modes, the GoXtreme Endurance also offers a burst photo mode and a time-lapse video mode. Both are fairly self-explanatory, and each offers customisable options via the Settings on the camera, or via the iOS and Android app.
That’s right, the Endurance features Wi-Fi capabilities and an accompanying app for iOS and Android that not only provides a live feed of the camera (ideal for getting the composition just right) and a way to download videos to your phone, but also allows you to tweak the settings of the various shooting modes. You can also add Instagram-esque filters to your camera, providing the option to record in black and white, sepia and more. But while the app is a cool addition, it’s not perfect. Due to Wi-Fi limitations, you won’t be able to view or download 2.5K or 4K footage – for that, you’ll have to plug your action cam into a PC or Mac using a microUSB cable. In terms of battery life, you’ll get around 90 minutes of straight capture time before the Endurance will need a charge. That’ll depend on several factors, including the format of recording, the framerate and the temperature of the environment too. The good news is that the 1050mAh battery is removable, so you can always buy a spare to swap out at the half-way point. The bad news, however, is that the camera takes a whopping five hours to fully recharge once dead. Ouch!
Video quality
Though the GoXtreme Endurance boasts 4K capabilities, not all 4K cameras are created equally. While the colour representation is fairly accurate (though slightly washed out), the overall quality of the video depends on the resolution and contrary to belief, in this case, less is better.
Simply put, 4K performance isn’t great. Though it’s technically being recorded at a 4K resolution, it’s achieved through interpolation and is noticeably so. The frame rate is low compared to other action cameras and it’s noticeable, and we haven’t even mentioned the over-aggressive noise cancellation algorithm that makes detail look soft. And with no image stabilisation, it’s jittery and generally not great. The camera performs better when recording in 2.5K, and looks a little smoother thanks to the 30fps frame-rate. You can still notice the noise cancellation at work at 2.5K, but unlike at 4K resolution, it’s only really noticeable in darker environments.
But it’s at 1080p that the camera performs best. Along with providing 60fps capture (ideal for fast-paced video capture), the noise cancellation algorithm that curses the other modes is barely noticeable at 1080p. Images are generally sharper, and videos look smoother, though not as smooth as what’s captured by cameras that offer OIS, or even EIS. In summary, while it does offer 4K recording capabilities, we’d stick to 2.5K or 1080p capture for the best quality results. Lewis Painter is a Senior Staff Writer at Tech Advisor. Our resident Apple expert, Lewis covers everything from iPhone to AirPods, plus a range of smartphones, tablets, laptops and gaming hardware. You’ll also find him on the Tech Advisor YouTube channel.
