Product review: Polaroid POLC3 Cube HD Digital Video Action Camera

Update: I am downgrading the rating from 5 to 4 stars. Recently I tried to set up CUBE to record continuously overwriting the old files. There is a setting which is supposed to enable this feature. It does not work. When the camera runs out of space it stops recording.  It records less than 1 day of video, how many hours depends whether the video is shot at night or during the day as night time videos are smaller.

 Original review:

I own a couple of small cameras and I am impressed with Polaroid cube. It stands up well to competition.

First and foremost the quality of the video and the photos is very good. It also has a sensitive microphone and captured the sound well. Second, it is intuitive to use. This camera has no display so an intuitive interface makes a big difference.

This camera has a unique magnetic mount. The magnet is quite strong. I put the camera on the roof of our car. At first I drove in the parking lot to build up confidence that the camera is not going to fly off as we drove and then we drove in downtown Boston which included hitting a couple of huge pot holes. I was worried that the camera would be gone by the time we arrived because the pot holes really jarred the car. When we arrived to our destination the camera was still there. We were impressed!

Attached video contains:
(1) Setup of the Polaroid camera
(2) Day time video taken by the Polaroid camera (mounted on the dash of the car)
(3) Low light night time video taken by the Polaroid camera (mounted on the roof of the car)
(4) The first 2 clips were taken on a grey day and at night, so the final clip is during a sunny day with a bright sky

SETUP
~~~~~
You can use the camera as is without running the configuration software. The configuration software allows you to change 5 settings.

♦ Whether the camera overwrites old files when it runs out of space (the default is no)
♦ Whether you want to see a time stamp (the default is no)
♦ The volume of the buzzer (the default is good if there is no noise around, if you are using a camera as action camera it might be too low)
♦ Light frequency (50 Hz or 60 Hz). Default is 60 Hz
♦ The date/time (default was in July 2014)

If you want to run the software you will need to attach the camera to a computer (Windows or Apple).

1. Format the memory card. If the memory card has some old stuff on it the camera will not load its software on it.
2. Power off and power on the camera and connect
3. The camera will load configuration software and will create directories for storing videos and photos.
The micro SD card will contain
At the tom level it will create DCIM directory and sub-folders 100PHOTO and 100VIDEO. Photos are stored in jpg format and videos in mov format.
At the top level Polaroid setup files PolaroidCube.app.zip for Apple operating system and PolaroidCube.exe for Windows operating system. After you run the software it will add two more files Settings.txt and Time.txt which will contain the setting you configured.

OPERATION
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There is one button on top of the camera that controls everything
♦ To turn on the camera press the button for 3 seconds (green light turns on)
♦ To take a photo press once (red light turns on briefly as it saves the photo)
♦ To start video recording press twice (red light starts blinking as it records)
♦ To turn of video recording press once (red light stops blinking)
♦ To turn off press to the button for 3 seconds (the light goes off)

In the back of the camera there is a water resistant cap which covers. The cap is opened by turning a coin in a slot. At first I thought "Shoot, I am going to loose this cap". But then I realized that it has a magnet and can be attached to the magnetic mount of this camera while the camera is opened. Cool!
♦ A slot for micro SD card. It supports up to 32GB capacity. Class card 10 and above is recommended (will work with Class 6 and above).
♦ Micro USB connection to charge the camera or to connect it to the computer
♦ A switch which allows you to switch between 720p and 1080p resolution

OUTPUT FORMAT / SOUND
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The video output is generated in .mov format (QuickTime/Apple) so for those who want to use Windows Media Player an extra step is needed to convert the files. The video can be converted either to .WMV or .mp4. Without the conversion there will be no sound when the video is played on the Windows PC. In my video I converted the .mov format into .mp4 and as you can hear in the clips I included the camera is quite sensitive to sound. Yeah, Boston drivers honk a lot!

GENERAL OBSERVATIONS
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
♦ This camera is very small. It is 1.25" cube.
♦ The lens on the camera is a wide angle (124 degrees)
♦ The battery is sealed in the unit and I don't see a way to replace it if I ever need it. At some point this will become a problem. When the camera goes down to 10% charge it beeps a warning. I am getting apaproximately 1.5 hours of continuous recording from it with the fresh battery.
♦ The camera can record while it is plugged in. This is handy if you want to have it permanently recording. The camera has an option to cycle, so it can overwrite old videos when it runs out of space.
♦ The camera has a magnetic mount (there is no 1/4 mounting screw). The magnet is pretty strong and hangs on well to anything metal. I was able to drive 35 miles an hour with the camera mounted on the roof of the car.
♦ The camera does not come with any other mounts, but the documentation states there will be additional mounting option available in the future. From the pictures it looks like they will attach to the camera magnet and provide grippers and suction cups.
♦ The camera comes without a micro SD card, you need to supply your own.
♦ The camera charges with a regular micro USB cable. It works in all my chargers include a car charger.
♦ The camera comes with a short data cable (rather than a charging cable). This cable allows you to transfer files from the camera to the computer. If you decide to use your own longer cable (which I am doing) make sure you are using a data cable not a charging cable (those often come with external power banks). In a charging cables the two data connections are shorted together (rendering the cable useless for data transfer), but this fools devices to see the cable as an AC power connection and thus the battery accept a higher current for charging. For moving data from the camera to the PC you need a data cable.

I like this camera! Nice quality video/picture and easy to use interface make it stand above the other small cameras I have.

You can find it on Amazon by following this link.


Ali Julia review ★★★★☆