Apeman TRAWO A100 Review (2020) | Is it still Great?

Apeman Trawo A100 Review

The Apeman TRAWO A100 is a GoPro alternative and very impressive for its price. Apeman is a successful action camera brand that most people don’t know about, this model, the Apeman TRAWO A100 is one of the most sold action cameras, in this review we discover why it’s so popular. It offers 4K quality and 20MP pictures.

The definition, focus, and detail is good quality. It comes with a multitude of accessories so you can use it to get better footage.

The Apeman TRAWO A100 is a GoPro alternative from the brand of Apeman with an affordable price and decent video quality. The Apeman TRAWO A100 lets you take photos up to 20MP with 4K recording, and allows you to use other cool features as well as record underwater with the case and use the many accessories it comes with.

The Apeman TRAWO A100 is waterproof and comes with 2 batteries. The protective case is waterproof and impact-resistant, which makes it possible to shoot videos underwater up to 40m. It also comes with 2 rechargeable 1350mAh batteries to never let you miss a wonderful time and an external charger.

But before we talk about its features, what comes in the box of the Apeman TRAWO A100? It comes in a small box with many accessories inside such as 2 batteries and a wrist-remote for your sports cam.

Apeman TRAWO A100 also comes with a 128GB SD Card and a foldable backpack which is a very nice touch from Apeman TRAWO A100 which most action cameras don’t come with.

Apeman TRAWO A100

Pros

4K Camera quality
Voice control
Remote control
Gyro 4K stabilizer
Good battery time
MicroSD card support up to 128GB

Cons

Battery life could be better
Needs waterproof case to go underwater
Doesn’t fit some GoPro accessories

Design

The Apeman TRAWO A100 is well built with good quality plastics and it has a black color with some orange next to the lens. It feels pretty durable and with the waterproof housing, it can go underwater up to 40m (130feet). All attachments are sturdy and the waterproof case is made of high-quality plastic which makes its waterproof level up to 130 feet and protects the camera from damage in normal use.

On the front, we can see the lens, two LEDs. On the upper side, there is the start recording button similar to most cameras, on the left side, there is the microSD compartment slot and the settings button and on the right side, there is the Micro-USB cable and the mini HDMI cable.

The dimensions of it are 2.6 x 1.8 x 0.9 inches and it’s weight is 1.1 pounds (500g).

Specs

It uses a Panasonic MN34120 with the Hisilcon Hi3559 chipset. It can record 4K 30fps and 20MP photos using a 170° super wide-angle 7G lens with an opening of F1.8. It uses an advanced gyro stabilization function (EIS) that supports 4K gyro anti-shake.

It also comes with a smartphone app and Wifi and enjoys hands-free control of your camera via simple voice commands or conveniently controls your action camera 4K remotely.

In the back we can find the IPS LCD 2 ″ screen of 320 x 240px resolution, the screen is pretty good but it’s not a touch screen. Here we can also find two other extra LEDs, which will mark the power of the camera and whether or not it is recording video.

Battery

The Apeman TRAWO A100 uses a 1350mAh 3.7V battery which is quite good, not having a touch screen or front LCD panel, it will save us battery. The battery can last up to 180 minutes recording 1080p Full HD video, with the WiFi and screen turned off. In the case of capturing 4K video, battery life will drop dramatically.

The battery is situated at the bottom, where there is a cover that gives access to the battery. The Apeman TRAWO A100 comes with 2 batteries so you can change them quickly and keep recording whenever the first one runs out.

Stabilization

The Apeman TRAWO A100 uses Electronic Image Stabilization, built-in Electronic Image Stabilization (EIS) that detects the position and motion changes when the camera moves or shakes, which is impressive to gets rid of the horrible jerky jumping most action cameras have.

The sensors use a cross-border image compensation algorithm to compensate for the change and shooting of glass and stable images when the camera moves or shakes.

The (EIS) stabilization can go up to resolutions from 1080p FHD to 4K video, being the first models of cheap sports cameras that can stabilize 4K video.

Photography

As for the photography, the Apeman TRAWO A100 can take pictures up to.

20MP (4928×3264)
14MP (4320×3240)
10MP (3648×2736)
8MP (3264×2448)
5MP (2592×1944)
2MP (1600×1200)

The quality is good and also taking into account that we have the possibility to change the ISO and the exposure time with some other settings, with patience we can work interesting images.

The A100 also has the option of Time Lapse in Photo mode and other picture features, something I greatly appreciate and the possibility of putting the resolutions of the pictures in 4:3 or 16:9 format.

A downside to this camera is that it is not capable of taking pictures in RAW format.

Video

It’s capable to record up to 4K full HD to 30 frames per second, and it’s able to record for 180 minutes. The videos captured with this action camera are stored in.MP4 format under the H.264 codec

The Apeman TRAWO A100 can record in native 4K Ultra HD which is amazing for a low-budget action camera, it uses a 170° super wide-angle 7G lens to provide video and 20MP photos even in low light.

The Apeman TRAWO A100 also comes with some video features to get better footage, for example, single shooting, to photo burst, to time-lapse, to self-timer, to slow motion, to aqua mode, to long exposure, to distortion correction.

The video resolutions of the Apeman TRAWO A100 are the following:

4K a 30fps
2.7K a 30fps
1080P FHD a 60fps/30fps
720P HD a 240fps/120fps/60fps/30fps )

Should you buy it?

This is one of the best medium-budget action cameras, with great quality on its pictures and videos. It can record up to real 4K and 30fps which is amazing for a medium-budget camera along with many other great features.

The Apeman can also have multiple ways of control to enjoying a hands-free control of your camera via simple voice commands. Or conveniently control it remotely. Moreover, you can edit and share your special-effect pics with ThiEYE Cam App on your Android or iOS devices instantly.

It’s compatible with most accessories like all of the GoPro accessories. It uses pretty cheaply but decent quality batteries which can last up to 180min.
The negative thing is, it doesn’t have a touch screen which is becoming more popular every day with an action camera and it doesn’t do well in low-light. The camera can also go underwater very deep up to 40m (130ft) with the waterproof case.

I definitely recommend getting this camera if you’re looking for a good quality-value action camera. Being a medium-budget action camera don’t expect to have GoPro quality or high-end brand quality. If you wanna check some other action cameras, medium and high-end click here!