AKASO
AKASO Brave 7 LE
Six years old and still selling, because a dual-screen 4K camera with an external microphone jack under $150 does not otherwise exist. The front screen is the reason people buy it: at this price nothing else lets you frame yourself, and the mic input means a lav or shotgun can replace the tinny built-in audio that ruins most budget footage. What you accept is a 4K ceiling of 30 fps, so no slow motion above 1080p, and an IPX7 rating that means splashes rather than swimming — the 40 m case is not optional if it is going near water. Treat it as a cheap talking-head and travel camera rather than a sports one.
Sensor area against the rest of the catalogue
Derived from the standard optical-format table rather than copied off a spec sheet, because makers print a fraction that hides it. The table and the arithmetic.
Specifications
Features
- ●Dual screens with a 1.3-inch colour front display
- ●External microphone input, rare at this price
- ●4K30 and 1080p60
- ●Two 1350 mAh batteries and a remote included
- ●IPX7 splash resistance, 40 m in the supplied case
- ●GoPro folding-finger mount
Strengths
- +Cheapest camera here with both a front screen and an external mic input
- +Two batteries and a wrist remote included
- +4K30 is genuinely usable in daylight
- +GoPro folding fingers, so a helmet or chest mount you already own fits it
Drawbacks
- −IPX7 only — it is splash-proof, not swimmable, without the case
- −4K caps at 30 fps, so slow motion means dropping to 1080p
- −No horizon lock and only basic electronic stabilisation
- −A 2020 sensor and processor, unchanged since launch
- −Micro-USB-era design with no internal storage and no GPS
What owners say
Summarised from owner discussions and published long-term reviews.
The Brave 7 LE keeps selling because a dual-screen 4K camera with a microphone jack under $150 does not otherwise exist. Owners shopping for a motorcycle camera or a family holiday camera in that band name it repeatedly, usually alongside the V50X and the EK7000, and usually with the caveat that all three are compromises.
What owners actually use is the front screen and the mic input. Framing yourself is impossible on most budget cameras, and the built-in audio on this whole tier is poor enough that a cheap external microphone is a genuine upgrade rather than a refinement.
Where the discussion is blunt is stabilisation. AKASO's electronic stabilisation gets described as cropping the frame without removing the shake, and that is the difference owners notice most sharply when they eventually handle a DJI or a GoPro. As a camera for recording a holiday, it does the job; as a camera for a bike, it will disappoint.
What owners like
- +Owners looking for a motorcycle or family camera in the $100–$150 band consistently name the Brave 7 as one of the few worth considering
- +The colour front screen and external microphone input are both unusual at this price and both get used
- +Two batteries, a wrist remote and a full mount kit come in the box, which the major brands charge extra for
- +Owners recording family trips, water parks and pool days report it doing the job they bought it for
Common complaints
- −Stabilisation is the standing complaint across AKASO's line — owners describe it as cropping the frame without actually removing the shake
- −The IPX7 rating is splash resistance, not swimming, so the supplied case is doing the real waterproofing
- −4K caps at 30 fps, so there is no slow motion above 1080p
- −Owners moving up from one generally describe the jump to a DJI or GoPro as much larger than the price gap suggests
Questions owners keep asking
Is the Brave 7 LE waterproof without the case?
How good is the stabilisation?
Is it good enough for family holiday videos?
AKASO Brave 7 LE, head to head
Cameras people look at alongside it
More from AKASO →
AKASO
AKASO V50 Elite
AKASO's long-running budget workhorse, and the cheapest camera in this catalogue that shoots 4K at 60 fps rather than 30 — which, on a bike or a board, is the difference between footage you can slow down and footage you cannot. Voice control is unusual at the price too. Everything else is what $149 buys in 2026: a 1/2.3-inch sensor, electronic stabilisation that smooths a walk and not much more, no bare waterproofing at all so the supplied 40 m case does all the work, and a camera design that has not changed since 2019. AKASO does not publish a weight, a bitrate or a runtime for it, which tells you something about the documentation standard across the budget tier.
AKASO
AKASO V50X
Under a hundred dollars with a touchscreen, electronic stabilisation, 4K30 and a 40 m case, which is roughly the floor of what is worth buying at all in this category. The honest framing is that this is a snorkelling and holiday camera: put it in the case, take it in the water, and accept that the footage will look like $99 the moment the light drops or the mount vibrates. Against the V50 Elite it loses 4K60 and voice control for fifty dollars. Against a GoPro HERO at $179 it loses on image quality, stabilisation, and the fact that the GoPro needs no case at all — which is the comparison most people should actually run before the price tag decides it.
AKASO
AKASO Brave 8 Lite
Drop the front screen and the 1/2-inch sensor from the Brave 8, keep the 4K60, the 48 MP stills, the two 1550 mAh batteries and the 10 m bare waterproofing, and take eighty dollars off. That is a reasonable trade at $199, and the wristband remote AKASO ships instead of the front screen is arguably more useful on a helmet than a screen you cannot see anyway. The sensor drops to the 1/2.3-inch chip most budget cameras use, so low light is where this gives up first. What it is genuinely good at is being the camera you take somewhere you would not take a $400 one: two batteries, a full mount kit, a case rated to 40 m, and nothing to cry about if it comes off a handlebar.