Best Action Cameras Under 150 Dollars

When you are considering the best Action Cameras under 150 dollars, you’re getting into the territory of low-end cameras by big, recognizable brands, and away from the lesser-known brands that came after as competitors.

That said, the cheaper brands are able to pack in more and more specs and don’t have such high price tags, but people often prefer to pay more for a brand they are more familiar with, even if they don’t want to pay more for the newest models.

Brands like Sony and GoPro can be purchased at this price range with some of their not-so-recent models on offer after being refurbished or have come down in price since new models took the top spots.

Table of Contents

1. Our selected products
   1. AKASO V50 Pro
      1. It offers a lot
   2. YI 4K Action Camera
      1. Customer service seems to be a priority
   3. SpyTec GIT2 Pro Edition
   4. Sony HDRAS50/B
      1. It’s not recent but it still has its strengths
   5. GoPro Hero3 White Edition (refurbished)
   6. Sony HDR-AS15
2. Best Action Cameras in this price range

Our selected products

There is an interesting mix of different cameras at this price range, many with features not previously seen at lower price ranges, and some lacking better specs, due to it being an older model that has come down in price.

We also see a shift from some brands towards bullet-shaped cameras, rather than the box shape that is popular with cheaper brands as they can make them compatible with GoPro accessories.

Comparison table:

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AKASO V50 Pro

Main features:

• Supports external microphone
• 6 axis gyroscope enables image stabilization
• 20MP photos

AKASO is a big player in the budget-friendly action camera game, with a range of cameras that won’t break the bank but still deliver a lot of the specs that you wouldn’t expect from such a small camera.

The V50 Pro is a step up from their cameras at a lower price point and has a few main points for choosing it over one of its predecessors.

This camera has a wide range of video options, from high-quality 4K and 2K at 30fps and the option of 120fps at 720p.

This means you can capture footage at a high frame rate to create incredible slow-motion footage without sacrificing the quality as you slow it down.

Unfortunately, 720p is not the best resolution for situations where you plan on showing the footage on a large screen, but it won’t lose quality on smaller screens like mobile phones.

You can compromise and shoot at 1080p with 60fps which will still give you the ability to slow down your footage and display it on a large screen.

It offers a lot

Another advantage of this camera is that it can use external microphones. This is an uncommon feature amongst products in lower price ranges and often sound quality is jeopardized when the conditions are anything less than perfect with the inbuilt microphones picking up a lot of wind noise.

By using an external microphone, the camera can pick up the sounds that it should instead of all the muffled, and often annoying, background sounds.

Having a 6-axis gyroscope for image stabilization is also a great feature to have on an action camera as it will help you create steadier content which you are likely on the move while filming.

There’s nothing worse than getting motion sickness when you rewatch the footage you just painstakingly shot.

It also allows 20MP stills which are a huge advantage for someone who does not want to carry around a bulky, expensive DSLR but still wants to capture amazing photos of their adventures.

Pros:

• Great range of video options
• One of the cheapest options in this price range

Cons:

• None

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YI 4K Action Camera

Main features:

• Electronic Image Stabilization
• Waterproof housing allows filming at depths of up to 131ft (40m)

The Chinese tech company YI has been producing action cameras for a number of 5 years now. They have a limited but impressive range to cover the hobbyist videographer/adventurer.

The YI 4K action camera comes with an array of features, notably the ability to film underwater with an external housing at depths of up to 131ft (40m).

This gives divers greater freedom to capture their nautical journeys, and with a battery life of 120 minutes, which is more than enough for a dive excursion.

Customer service seems to be a priority

It is apparent that the company cares about its customers, as almost all bad reviews on Amazon are met with direct replies from the company to resolve the issues, but many of them are trivial.

Customers rave about the ease of use and image quality of the camera. It does also have in-built wind noise reduction, which is quite rare for a camera at this price range still.

If it’s important for you to have sound in your videos, then this is something you will be considering as it’s more important in certain scenarios.

Pros:

• Long battery life

Cons:

• Only comes with one battery

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SpyTec GIT2 Pro Edition

Main features:

• 16MP stills
• 1080p at 60fps and 720p at 120fps

This camera comes from a more unique company; one specializing in spyware. Along with their hidden cameras, nanny cams, and dash cams, SpyTec also offers this handy little action camera.

It perhaps doesn’t have the same specs as products from other companies, it still offers 2K video shooting and 16MP stills. These aren’t the most impressive on offer but 2K is still high definition footage and 16MP stills give it the ability to rival many standard cameras.

It also has the option of shooting at higher frame rates. Like the AKASO V50 Pro, it can shoot 1080p at 60fps which is a great resolution to shoot at, and 60fps allows you to slow the footage down enough to get really beautiful slow-motion videos.

If you want to slow it down, even more, you can drop the resolution down to 720p and get double the frames per second (120fps) but as 720p is not so high resolution it will not display very nicely on larger screens.

Pros:

• Range of shooting resolutions and frame rates

Cons:

• Fewer functions than other cameras at a similar price

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Sony HDRAS50/B

Main features:

• 1920p/1080p footage at 60/50/30/25fps
• SteadyShot image stabilization
• Waterproof up to 197ft (60m) with external housing

Sony comes into the low-budget action camera market with the Sony HDRAS50/B, a bullet-shaped device and one of the few in this price range.

A lot of manufacturers stick to the box-shaped cameras that resemble GoPros to ensure recognition and familiarity with customers and to give them the option to use either GoPro accessories or some from other brands that do compatible accessories.

The bullet shape is more reminiscent of traditional handheld action cameras, though much more compact.

It’s not recent but it still has its strengths

While the Sony HDRAS50/B lacks the 4K shooting capability, it can still shoot in 1920p or 1080p which are still high-definition resolutions that will produce beautiful footage.

Another point for this camera is that these resolutions have frame rates as high as 60fps, allowing slow-motion or giving the footage more of a “reality show” look.

Sony’s SteadyShot image stabilization gives the footage a much smoother appearance and allows users to film in situations that would normally result in shaky footage, like while walking or swimming.

Customers trust a brand like Sony as they have a huge foot in the camera market and have the ability to develop features like the SteadyShot across a range of their products to give them an edge. If you prefer to buy from a trusted brand then this camera is a decent option, though might not have all the features that lesser-known brands offer.

Some other features worth noting are an impressive range for underwater filming, with a waterproof housing it can reach depths of up to 197ft (60m), which is almost double what the majority of cheaper cameras offer.

It also has live streaming capabilities which would be great for travel bloggers wanting to share their adventures with followers, or simply keeping the family updated while you’re out traveling. While it doesn’t offer 4K shooting, it does have a 4K timelapse.

Pros:

• Many options for filming at a high frame rate
• Live streaming

Cons:

• Does not offer 4K which is common among cheaper cameras from other brands

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GoPro Hero3 White Edition (refurbished)

Main features:

• Reputable brand
• Great underwater capability

Even with many newer models from GoPro entering the market in the last few years, you still won’t be able to get your hands on a brand new GoPro for under $150 even though the prices have gone down.

You can, however, opt for a refurbished Hero3 which will be as good as new. If you really can’t look past the brand name and need to get a GoPro but are on a budget, you’ll be sacrificing a lot of features that cheaper cameras can offer.

One of the biggest features this camera lacks is high-resolution stills; it can only take up to 5MP photos.

This camera offers decent video quality though, 1080p/30fps, 960p/30fps, and 720p/60fps so you can film high-quality footage and get slow motion.

It only comes with one battery but that will last up to two hours which should be substantial to record a great deal of adventuring.

Like the Sony HDRAS50/B, it can reach amazing depths for underwater filming (197ft/60m) with its waterproof housing which is one of the things GoPro is renowned for.

Pros:

• Decent video shooting specs
• Long battery life

Cons:

• Low photo quality

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Sony HDR-AS15

Main features:

• SteadyShot image stabilization
• Waterproof up to 197ft (60m) with external housing

Another offering from Sony at this price range that isn’t brand new is the Sony HDR-AS15 which was impressive in its time but has since been overtaken by newer models of Sony and cheaper alternatives.

This camera still packs enough punch to be a good option for an action camera but like the GoPro, there are a few limitations. Mainly, the megapixels for still photos – the Sony HDR-AS15 only takes 2MP photos.

The video formats are much more substantial with 1080p at 30fps and 720p at 120fps, offering both high definition footage and high frame rates, which allow for smooth slow-motion videos, even though 4K is not an option.

It features the same SteadyShot image stabilization as the other Sony model as well, to remove shake from the footage.

It is also bullet shaped which makes it more streamlined than the box-shaped alternatives on the market. As with the previous cameras, it also has impressive underwater capabilities with external housing (197ft/60m).

Pros:

• Decent video shooting specs

Cons:

• Low photo quality

Best Action Cameras in this price range

I hope you have enjoyed this article and are ready to choose a great action camera. The quality you can get in this price range is amazing.

If you’re in doubt about what to look for when getting one of these products, please check out Action Cameras Buying Guide.

Didn’t you find your ideal product here? Check out our other articles:

• Action Cameras under $50
• Action Cameras under $100
• Action Cameras under $200
• Action Cameras for Underwater Recording
• Action Cam with Image Stabilization