COOAU Native 4K Review
If you are adventurous and looking for a cheaper alternative to a GoPro or a DJI action camera this might be the one you are looking for. You undoubtedly know that it’s not a good idea to take a normal camera with you while doing sports or other activities which might ruin your camera. A good way to avoid this, but to capture all the adventures and fun moments you have when you go diving, surfing, climbing, cycling, or whatever you enjoy doing in your spare time, is to invest in a sports camera to film your adventures.
The best sports cameras in the market are GoPro’s but their price is pretty high, however, if we need a good camera for extreme sports we can find good action cameras and functional equipment at a much cheaper price.
One of these cameras is the COOAU Native 4K a better version to its predecessor the COOAU 4K. So we decided to review this sports cam and see why it’s becoming popular, especially in online sites such as Amazon.
This camera has been equipped with 4K up to 60fps with WiFi connection and being able to go underwater up to 40meters (130 feet). And another interesting point, by being like most action cameras in shape the accessories available for GoPro’s will be completely valid for the COOAU. And yes, it’s also compatible with the mount for GoPro gimbals.
Pros
- Record videos with a resolution of 4K at 60 fps
- It includes an external microphone
- Supports SD Cards up to 128GB
- Decent battery time
- It comes with a stabilizer.
- It comes with Wifi.
Cons
- No touch screen
- Doesn’t support H.265 video codec
- It needs a waterproof case to go underwater
Specs
The COOAU Native 4K uses the Sony 20MP sensor which produces great results. It can record in 4K 60fps/, 1080P 120fps, 720p 240fps/ and more with a 170-degree fisheye effect.
The COOAU Native 4K mounts fisheye lens with f/2 filming in 4K, 4K video quality requires higher class memory cards, U3 grade memory cards are highly recommended, the COOAU Native 4K supports microSD cards up to 128GB.
This camera also comes with 20 accessories including a remote control to satisfy most of your needs and get unique filming angles, all GoPro accessories will also be compatible with this action camera.
A cool feature about the COOAU Native 4K is that is has a lot of settings, which some people who want to tweak settings are gonna appreciate it. You can find settings such as shutter speed, ISO, white balance, metering, and many more.
Like most recent action cameras the COOCAU Native 4K has a WiFi connection, it comes with a smartphone app, the new COOCAU Native 4K has WiFi connectivity that allows us to connect through the App for Action cameras.
Design
The COOAU Native 4K is well built with good quality plastics and it has a black color, it doesn’t look any different from most action cameras and is very similar to the COOAU 4K. It feels pretty durable and with the waterproof case, it can go down up to 30m. Its dimensions are 9.3 x 4.9 x 3 inches and it weighs 1.25 pounds (560g)
On the front, we can see the lens, two LEDs, one for turning the camera on and off, and the other for recording and the mode change button or the accept button. On the upper side, there is the start recording button similar to most cameras, on the left side, there is a microSD compartment slot and the settings button and on the right side, there is the Micro-USB cable and the mini HDMI cable.
It also comes with great packaging with all of the features written on the box. The COOAU Native is inside of the box in its waterproof case, the box also contains a lot of different accessories as well as the charging cable
Battery
This action cam uses a 1350 mAh lithium-ion battery, which is higher than that of other camera batteries within the same price range. The COOAU Native 4K comes with 2 batteries and also comes with a battery for remote control.
The battery can last up to 2 hours recording in 1080p 30fps and about 1-hour recording in 4K which is really good and will give you plenty of time to record your adventures.
The battery is situated at the bottom, where there is a cover that gives access to the battery. With both batteries, you can easily change them whenever the first one runs out or buy extras to get even more battery time.
Stabilization
The COOAU Native 4K comes with an EIS stabilization setting located in the menu to help stabilize the footage, it uses an Intelligent EIS stabilization and RSC function to enhance high smooth videos. With the image stabilizer, you can get videos and images captured in motion with great quality.
If you want to record with a very smooth and stable recording we recommend getting a gimbal. The gimbal is the ultimate stabilizer of cameras. So when you are recording a video, it will be perfectly smooth. You can easily move and record without having to worry that the footage obtained will not be stable.
Photography
As for the photography, the COOAU can take pictures up to 20 megapixels, 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, in addition, the 170º angle provides an enlarged view so that the images and photographs obtained to achieve a realism worthy of much more expensive cameras.
The COOAU also has the option of Time Lapse in Photo mode, something I greatly appreciate and the possibility of putting the resolutions of the pictures in 4:3 or 16:9 format.
It’s also capable of taking pictures in RAW format in or in JPEG format. With the HDMI output, you can see your photo and video files on the TV.
This action camera has the ability to 8x zoom as well as using an adjustable lens distortion and wide-angle correction. With the 8x zoom, you can record freely and zoom into your subject easier. LDC offers improvements in image distortion and helps capture the most vivid and real video. The viewing angle can be adjusted between wide, medium, and narrow. It is now easier to get the best view of what you are doing.
Video
It’s capable to record in high-quality in multiple resolutions and pretty good bitrate, it’s able to record up 4K-60fps max. It also comes with an EIS stabilizer that can work with that resolution.
The audio on this camera is decent but the Native 4K comes with an external microphone which will help with its wind noise reduction function, with this function you will get natural audio quality even at break speed.
It can capture sharp images with vivid color and pixel detail and comes with many settings that let you change the picture configuration such as ISO, shutter speed… This action cam comes with slow motion, time-lapse, self-timer, photo burst, Dash Camera Mode, Auto Low Light, incandescent, fluorescent, snorkel, snow mode, and many more functions.
The COOAU Native 4K comes with 7 automatic white balance modes: auto, cloudy, daylight, incandescent, fluorescent, snorkel, and snow mode. The COOAU meets most kinds of needs you may want while recording your videos and vlogs.
The video resolutions of the COOAU Native 4K are the following:
- 4K – 60fps
- 2.7K – 60fps
- 1080p – 120fps
- 720p – 240fps
Should you buy it?
This is a great medium-budget action camera but also with great quality on its pictures and videos. It can record up to 4K resolution which is resolution a lot of cheap action cameras lack as well as shooting up to 60 frames per second and 120fps with 1080p quality for great slow-motion videos.
The COOAU Native 4K comes with two batteries that the camera includes when purchased. With both, you could reach up to 4 hours of recording without any problems. Which is a great thing they incorporated along with the many accessories it comes with.
In addition, the wide-angle correction removes the GoPro fisheye look so that the images and pictures obtained to achieve realism worthy of much more expensive cameras.
I definitely recommend getting this camera if you’re just getting started with action cameras or recording in general or if you’re upgrading from one that was worse but being a medium-budget action camera don’t expect to have GoPro quality or another high-end brand quality. If you wanna check some other action cameras, medium and high-end click here!
Review Breakdown
Video support up to 4K. It has 1350mAh batteries and is waterproof up to 40 meters, with many more modes.