For $35, if used as a spy pen for discrete recording in the right situations, it's not bad. It's no replacement for vlogging, but if you recording somewhere it's normally not allowed, you might get away with it.
I agree for $35.00 this is a steal. I was expecting a picture show or just potato quality and I was shocked. For something that is used to catch people in an act of theft or attacking you this would be all you need for proof to the cops or lawyer, etc. If you are looking for a camera that can be as good as dslr's you just can't due to size. When it comes to camera sensors bigger is always better and like I said you just can't in a pen body.
@@M.C.D.Technologies I want one to record video of when I'm in the audience of the let's make a deal game show. I want to record what the experience is like. They don't allow recording so I want to include the pen as part of my costume because you have to wear a costume when you go to let's make a deal and the pen would blend in well with a nerd outfit
imagine you someone just happen to be in there with this pen thing and they're like wooow we need to use these more.... well not it's not SPY camera anymore thanks to you cops using it
I agree, this cheapo camera pen is better than the keychain cameras from the early 2000's. I was trying to find a way to ditch my smartphone and I got a standalone data plan for an Apple watch SE 2 via Tmobile. Plan costs 20 a month for 50gigs of 4g data and unlimited talk and text. Watch is 6.87 a month because I got it for half price and they waived the 35 dollar activation fee. However, I want to still be able to take pictures since I am a travel nurse who must take pictures to verify my timecard hours upon submitting them via email to the payroll department. I could just bring my phone to work only on Fridays just to snap a photo of the timecard, but since I use a pen anyway to fill in my timecards, I thought I could kill two birds with one stone and just have a camera pen. Doesn't look like I will be taking macros with this, so maybe not. Perhaps I could find a keychain camera with a small display so I do not end up with blurry pictures. Seeing the capture is definitely a must. It is amazing how much stuff is out there. Just type it into the search engine and likely you will find it these days.
I am a conceal carry gun owner. I keep this on me at any time that I leave home and am armed. If anything happens, this will protect me from anyone claiming foul play on my part. I mentioned in another comment on here that I use a pocket sized power bank while in use and it lasts over 30 hours straight of record time. I have a $120 CamPro police cam too but it's a bit obvious and only records 12 hour loops.
Honestly, for $35 this is very, very good. Assuming everyone gets something of similar quality (Generally lower cost stuff has worse QC). This would be perfect if you need to record some inappropriate behavior in an office or something of the sort. It definitely would get the job done with some practice.
Yep, I remember the spy pens from less than a decade ago, and we were talking 640x480 video, and absolute trash compared to this pen. All that for $100+. For $35, I'm floored we've come so far. Pretty sure that video is better than my old S3 phone.
Trick is how long will it keep working as for $35 and coming with the cap already loose and rattling around, I'm betting it was cranked out in China and will fail within a month.
The pen isn’t meant to record an informative review it’s meant to capture something someone shouldn’t be doing. The video and audio is decent enough to hear and see what you need. I would have tested it against other hidden cameras like it’s is meant for not a go pro
But even when he did a proper test (like the one in the park), the mic quality was still shit. So you wouldn't pick up anything useful anyway. Might as well put a glass against a wall and listen through that. Or paper cups with string.
@@Paradox-es3bl honestly im calling bullshit on that. Theres no way you were getting that audio quality 20 years ago from spy glasses, let alone the picture quality. I think you are drinking a tall glass off exaggeration.
It's unfortunate that you can't set the pen to motion detection mode. Sort of a low power stand by mode where it could last weeks, only detecting and recording when people are moving about the field of view and not the entire time. But too set it up in an office to try and capture sticky fingers, 70 minutes doesn't cut it.
Even with a motion detection because of it's size the the battery is small, very small. Thus even on motion detection it would only last a couple hours....you're probably thinking it could function like a blink camera but those have a separate tiny sensor for sensing motion that is very low power consumption but that one turns on the camera that is dormant. That's why they're so big also
I think it's interesting, that they included - not just replacement ink cartridges - but several ink cartridges, as if they actually expect people to use this as a pen, on a regular basis.
@@yasirkadhim2940 who pays that close attention? unless you're needing to write or sign something in the moment, & you either pull out another pen, or ask someone for one, I doubt anyone will notice or care
@@lauranolastnamegiven3385 imagine if someone said....hey smile for the camera and holds the pen out....the first thing i think of is that scene from spongbob that runs through the persons head that the camera wearer said it it "hey buddy you just blow in from stupid town??"
The video quality is in fact very good! It would have been considered a wonder in the era of Roger Moore as James Bond. And the price is very low too, almost ridiculous. Due to the very small lenses it has some flaws, like not being good at counter light.
I have this pen cam. Here is a trick that I use to extend the battery life. 1. Put in the 256 Memory Card 2. Leave the pen section off of it. 3. Plug it into a Power Bank (pocket sized) 4. Clip it to your pocket (clipping it to a jacket pocket is straighter and keeps focus ahead instead of above) with the power bank in your pocket with it (or another pocket with the wire hidden inside the jacket or shirt going to the pen) By doing this, I got more than 30 hours of straight record time and still didn't even use up nearly a quarter of the memory card. Actually I don't even think the power bank was dead yet because I only stopped it to see how well it did. Could have went a lot longer ....maybe even 48 hours (total) or more.
For $35 and its size, it's not bad, and comparing it to a GoPro camera (which costs more than $35) wasn't quite fair! Perhaps best used as a stationary spy cam rather than walking around with it in a shirt pocket. The audio wasn't bad, perhaps useful to record something that you're not supposed to. The whole concept of a spy cam is to record things undetected, and this pen does it!
A number of amusement parks don't allow guests to take their phone or GoPro or other video recording devices on any of the rides, but there are roller coasters enthusiasts who enjoy vlogging their rides for their RU-vid channel. A spy pen camera would not be a good choice in such circumstances because an anti-shake feature is a must on a roller coaster. Some good-quality spy sunglasses are the ideal solution. I wonder if James would consider spy sunglasses for a future review.
To get the voice recorder (dictaphone I believe they call it) you need to click the button three time quickly while its on then click it again to turn it off
Honestly, I would have tried it in the pocket. Some people clip pens onto their pockets, including myself. It may not get the best audio, but I'd test the video aspect with that method. All in all, better than I expected.
he said he tested it in his pocket and the camera was never able to stay straight because you are walking. maybe you should have watched the whole video
I was having problems with a manager and the store owner gave me this same pen to document what the manager was doing. Saved my job and got a better manager
This would be good for someone who conceal carry’s. If an your in a bad area or there’s a sketchy person hanging around and your practicing good situational awareness, it would be a good idea to have one of these and have it record. Should you ever be forced to defend your life, this could help you defend yourself in a court afterwards. Or more commonly, if you get into car accident and your worried the other driver my get aggressive. Even if you have a dash cam, it may not capture anything, or could even be damaged if the crash was bad enough. So this would be great to capture what happens AFTER the accident. For these reasons I just purchased one myself. Should arrive by the end of the week
I think you were a little unfair with the review as the pen is meant to be used in situations not meant to be recorded. For that purpose I think the pen did great. Still enjoyed your review.
When you have a t-shirt with no pocket, but it's button up like you wore, I've seen people slide a pen in sideways. I think that might actually be the best "face time/face forward" position.
At work on a Friday, a guy was making fun of my family. He was making fun of my girlfriend's religion and of where she originated from, she's Muslim and from the Middle East. He then made fun of my little African-American niece. I had the worst weekend ever thinking about the horrible things he said. Monday morning when I walked in the doors at work, that piece of crap was there and yelled out "GOOD MORNING" to me. I didn't return his greeting. He in turn ran to HR with tears rolling down his cheeks, crying like a baby telling the HR director that I ignored him. They pulled out the policy book and there it was. I committed a "hostile work environment" by ignoring a co-worker. I was summoned to HR. There I was asked why I did what I did. I told the lady. The antagonists racism, xenophobia, Islamophobia, and hate is ok. I was told that when I hear that stuff there at work, to "just walk out of the room" and ignore it. BUT my ignoring someone's greeting is a terminable offense. I got suspended for two weeks. I asked my lawyer pal about all this. I confronted the HR lady about policy and how I was done wrong. She denied what she said for me to do when I'd hear or have hate speech directed there at work at me, to leave the room and ignore it. If I had a pen like this with me, I'd have been able to win a huge lawsuit against that evil company. Its video and audio quality aren't that good but it could have its uses and could serve a purpose for some people. I wish I had that pen/camera with me that day in HR.
sometimes the quality was amazing sometimes it was like a 90s camera. if it was consistently good it would actually be a decent product. the audio is bad but not bad enough to not be useful
The lens and sensor is very small so this camera is incredibly dependent on there being a lot of light. In the daylight scenes with direct sun things looked pretty good, but lowlight situations makes for grainy and objectively bad image quality. to tell the truth I'm impressed it's not worse.
It WAS consistently plenty good enough for what it is intended to be used for. If you suspected someone was up to no good and you recorded them with this, you would very easily be able to make out their face and hear what they said or did.
I mean.... Aside from the rattling that you fixed with a simple piece of tape.... It's pretty good! I'm impressed for a "spy cam." Because in my experience they NEVER work. Not only does that work, but I can see what I'm supposed to be looking at.
Random question. What do you do with all the stuff that you buy that doesn’t work out? Do you send it back? Do you have a massive guest room filled to the ceiling with past purchases? Do you have epic garage sales? Maybe a storage unit? Do you own a fork lift? Do your neighbors steal your shit like mine do?
Click it 2x quickly and it fires a stun dart 😀. (That was for fans of Johnny English 😄) But seriously, for a pen cam it's not too bad, but it's no Go-Pro. I didn't even think it would be that good...the sound was also muffled. You have to be right on top of it to make out words.
It honestly seems almost good, and maybe if they made a 2.0 with better quality parts and stuff, and kept it around $50, it could actually be good. But there are so many other "spy" products on the market... and I feel like a spy teddy bear or something is easier to stick all the necessary parts in, seemingly is better quality, etc. or spy glasses/sunglasses... I don't really know why anyone would go for a pen? And I'm not sure if it's worth it for them to double the quality but not the price.
I think this is the same thing Swann sold, just upgraded over the years. 720p, same crappy sound, and the battery doesn't last. After 4 years of some use, dies in just 2 minutes after a full recharge. The way I had it aim properly (at least looking out) was I attached it to my pocket, but a plastic card underneath for stability. I also had a 1/4" square machine key attached to the bottom of the card on the pocket side, to tilt the camera forward. Getting it it to aim straight ahead was a lost cause, usually was off to the right (sometimes left). Now I use something totally different with better results, at least in showing what's intended.
@@TonyMontanaXx Currently "Mallpocolypse" videos, but initially used a Flip one day just to show how nuts a grocery store nearby (dubbed "The Zoo"), people loved it, did it every year until Covid. Post Covid, I don't use the pen, as it quit the year prior.
Man, for the purpose it serves, I like it! price is reasonable too. Makes me want to see you do a comparison of reasonably priced budget spy gear cameras. It would be cool if you could do micro-adjustments on the camera angle. And you’d think the company would of provided better customer service, especially for a RU-vid reviewer, first impressions are everything. Thanks for the good review. 👍
“Man this spy pen is so cool! I’m recording everyone and they don’t even know it!” Everyone: “uhh why is that guy walking around with a pen in his shirt? It’s not the 80’s anymore..”
This would really come in handy for me. I’m security here in Vegas and One of my jobs is going to alarm responses. Seems like it would be good enough for that
You can't expect SLR camera quality from a $35 dollar camera pen, for what you get and the video and sound quality, I think it did a decent job, great video James 👍🏼👍🏼🇦🇺🇦🇺🦘🦘Cheers from Melbourne Australia
I think that is the exact same pen body of a shock pen I saw once. As for the quality of video and sound I really think this is to catch someone saying or doing something, it isn't to make movies with.
Good uses for this would prob to gather evidence for your attorney where recording would seem sus or where it’s not allowed. Another would be to just document a delivery guy when they hand it to you or when you drop something off at the post office. Insurance type recordings,
Considering I grew up watching gaming videos for like 10 years. I don’t know how but I’ve watched every one of his videos for the last couple years. I don’t think I’ve ever committed to one channel this much before. But I just enjoy them so much
Couple of things.. does it have a motion record feature.. like if it's in an office or something and you want it to record when someone walks in. Or could you record just audio?
The audio is somehow still better than the Wyze Cam V3. Lol. It seems like there is a new model of this pen that is all black and does have a motion detection feature. Would be awesome to see a review of the new model to find out if it's actually improved!
Sound is not great, but the picture is WAY better than I expected. You could shoot a sort of cinema-verite movie with it. Start a new trend! Spy Pen Theatre!
I don't think anyone would realistically expect more from a $35 spy pen. It certainly exceeded my expectations but maybe i've been watching your reviews too much.
It is what it is. My experience with stuff like this is that while it works well enough initially, it inevitably stops working at all quite quickly as you've got to figure that most if not all components were made in China, something you should probably mention so that we'll know overall quality and durability. The fact that the cap was loose and rattling tells me it will likely stop working and/or fall apart inside of a month.
Looks like a more modernly packaged version of the spy pen I received for Christmas around a decade ago. Same quality video and audio too. I only tried it once and thought that the blinking red light while recording kinda takes away the spy aspect.
Sad to say, the video quality is many times better than most bank security cameras! The quality of moving video is comparable to $5,000 video cameras, depending on the situation.
to counter the pointing up normally what i'd do depending on the setting is put the pen in the middle of my shirt on the collar of my neck so that way it's right under my chin and it'll either point straight or down some in the pocket because of the chest area it'll point upwards BUUUT as long as it gets the audio (if your being a courtroom sneaky like the one video from audit the audit showed) then it doesn't matter to much
I'd love a spy camera for my job as a Train Conductor to record violent bad behaviour of passengers. I'd call my video 'One Year as a Train Conductor' and publish it to RU-vid.
I'm actually shocked how well it did his job, the picture wasn't perfect. For mostly close-ups within 10 ft or so look pretty clear, the color might have been off a little but still clear. Looking towards the mountains might have been just a tad blurry and maybe color was off or just the Sun. Audio seem pretty good but you have to be within probably 5 ft and not that loud, but not bad if you're doing up close stuff. It might be good for like the office thing like at home or work or any kind of job, just have it propped somewhere or inside of a writing utensil holder. I received the volume right be issue for stuff like that, but having it in your pocket and being close up. I think it's pretty decent for $35, or whatever how much they actually paid to make it. With all the extras you get included not bad for the quality
What is the f stop, format, or other technical information on the sensor and software side of the pen? On the individual files right click the properties. Wouldn’t the f stop help determine the distance, close up?
I feel like you could put something else discreetly in your pocket to help aim the camera lens down a tad bit for the perfect shot. 70 minutes of footage for $35 that is bad. I can't believe anyone would suspect your pen being a camera either. Very nice!
The manufacturer asked for your Amazon order to verify if you purchased from their store or through a third party Chinazon seller selling a Chinese knock off of the product sourced through Alibaba for cheap. It is a major issue on Chinazon and other online marketplaces.
I'm surprised that you didn't try to record a face to face conversation, it seems like the shirt pocket position would be great to capture video and audio of a person you're talking face to face with.
I've use a lot of different spy pen cameras. They all have the same issue with lens flare. The video quality of your pen is very high. I bought all my pens via eBay. It can be hit and miss for quality and even the controls an be different from the same sellers. I've had the same issue with audio files. Sometimes I thought I was recording a video, only to find it had just recorded the audio. The text document usually has "Y" written after the time and date. If you change that to "N", it means "no", so it won't show the time and date on the videos or photos. Years ago, we used to have a fair few undesirables coming into the shop, which is why I had the spy pens. I'm sure there have been a couple of other people who recognised what the pen actually is.
Yes, aiming these spy pens are terrible because as you found out the shirt pocket is not perfectly vertical on our bodies. Also while walking the direction of the camera could be all over the place because of how loose it is in the shirt pocket. I use mine around inside the building sitting vertically in a cup. I get good recording results doing this. Also dont aim these little spy cameras at windows or up at the sun. you will get allot of glare and the videos will be washed out because of the glare. This is kind of general rule with any video cameras, aim away from windows, not at them.
They are very good idea especially for vlogs ... It beats having a go pro stuck to your head or security saying you can't record your bonus 🙄 but sadly the quality isn't there what so ever but if it was I wouldn't mind paying a few hundred ... I feel like the Ray-Ban stories did the best. It's just too bad they can't record for at least an hour