Upon opening the packaging of the TomTom Bandit GPS action camera, your first instinct will be to show it some real action. You won't however find the real action in shooting extreme footage while racing along a track or skiing down a slope. The real action comes post-shoot — in editing.
After bicycling through the streets of Queens, New York on a hazy summer day – capturing HD-quality footage with the device clipped onto my helmet – all that needed to be done was to download the TomTom Bandit app and sync the device to my smartphone.
From there, I opened the app, clicked on the viewfinder icon in the upper-left corner and selected the "Create A Story" editing function, which prompted me to shake my smartphone. It also provided the options of adding highlights such as a soundtrack or an overlay.
Shaking your phone with TomTom's app almost magically splices the clips together in a ready-to-share edit about 60 to 90 seconds long. Here's what the mashed-up, quick-edit highlights of a brief bicycling trip look like.
The Bandit's GPS and motion sensors automatically tag highlights of each recorded action clip, based on peaks of acceleration, speed, rotation, G-force and altitude. You can also tag highlights by manually hitting the tag-highlight button opposite the camera. Heart rate can be a highlight tracker as well, if the Bandit is synced to a TomTom fitness watch.
TomTom's app and software literally make editing a simple shake, taking about two seconds. Either that — or you can edit the painstaking, old-fashioned way, if you prefer. The Bandit's cable-free battery stick in the back of the sleek but durable unit can be removed with a painless counter-clockwise twist. The end of the stick has a USB built in, which plugs directly into your computer or laptop.
The Bandit shoots 1080p at 30 and 60 frames per second and 720p at 60/120 fps. There's also timelapse, cinema and slow-motion features to choose from. The Bandit is 4K capable and takes nice 16-megapixel stills as well.
The device provides up to three hours of nonstop filming and carries a $399.99 price tag. While the video quality isn't as good as the GoPro, its shake-and-bake editing makes this little camera stand out — ready to handle whatever action you may throw at it.
