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TomTom enters the sports camera market with the Bandit

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If there's one market that's revolutionized right now, it's the action camera market. GoPro, which watched its competition quietly from the top, is finding that rivals are coming at it from all sides. In addition to the low-cost models coming from Asia (with the Xiami Yi as the leading exponent), it's now facing new products from major manufacturers.

If last week Garmin introduced the new VIRB X and XEWith the Sony Action Cam already on the market, TomTom now arrives and surprises us with this model, repeating precisely the same design as the Sony Action Cam and the old Garmin VIRB.

This Bandit is TomTom's first foray into the industry, not only in action cameras, but in photography and video in general. As you would expect with GPS functionality, we couldn't expect anything else from a leading brand in the industry. But what we care about is performance in recording video and taking pictures, which can be summarized in the following list:

  • 4K video recording at 15fps and 2.7k at 30fps
  • Full HD video at 30/60fps
  • Video 720p at 120/60fps
  • Slow Motion Video 480p at 180fps
  • Timelapse Functionality
  • Camera 16 megapixels with burst mode 10 photos/second
  • Support for Bluetooth sensors (currently heart rate)
  • IPX7 certified (up to 30 minutes at a depth of 1 meter) Submersible up to 50m with a lens accessory

TomTom Bandit

The TomTom Bandit has its differentiating factor in the mobile application. TomTom has focused most of its marketing efforts on highlighting the simplicity of video editing. What the Dutch are looking for is to create a simple way to edit your videos so that you can share them as soon as possible, without the need to use specific software on your computer, simply from your phone.

And in a way they're right, because unless you have a filmmaker inside you, the worst part always comes with the editing, it's always the most laborious part. Cutting, pasting, adding audio, encoding... Making a 20-minute video can take 3 hours of work.

To do the automatic editing, the TomTom Bandit will use all the sensors from which it can obtain data:

  • GPS
  • Barometric altimeter
  • Gyroscope
  • Accelerometer
  • Pulse sensor (external, with chest strap)

What these sensors allow is to detect changes in behaviour. A sharp deceleration can represent the moment when you have hit a tree and cracked your head open. The altimeter will be able to detect rapid variations in height, which can mean that you have fallen off a cliff. With each of these events, the Bandit will create a mark on the recording and will be noted for future editing (and be able to go directly to the precise moment where you have broken your tibia).

TomTom Bandit

When you connect your phone to the camera (via WiFi, Bluetooth connectivity is reserved for external sensors) you can access the library, where you'll find the complete videos or main moments. With the automatic creation function, you can have a video quickly by simply shaking your phone. It will take all those clips that have been marked as main moments to make a montage.

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We'll have to see if this automatic video creation mode helps with the editing and reduces those hours of work to just minutes. I can't tell you more about it until a unit falls into my hands so I can test it out.

This doesn't mean that videos taken with the TomTom Bandit will only be compatible with your application - you can edit them in the traditional way with any video editing software.

TomTom Bandit, availability and price

The TomTom Bandit will arrive in stores very soon, before the end of May, and will be accompanied by a wide range of accessories and frames. As for the price, 429 euros will be what you will see on its label.

Support this siteYou can do this by buying your TomTom Bandit through Amazon.

https://www.amazon.es/dp/B00WV69ZI4&tag=c1mes-21

Eduardo Mateos

I've been surrounded by electronic devices of all kinds for more than 25 years. Using them, testing them, taking them apart and dissecting them. Long distance triathlete: I swim, run and cycle for a long time. Maybe too much.

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