SJCAM SJ9 Strike 4K 60P Action Camera

GoPro has absolutely been dominating the action cam market for quite some time, especially since the launch of their GoPro 7 Black Edition. However, not everyone can afford to put down that kind of cash on an action cam. Thankfully, they have had their ups and downs, allowing competition to catch up to them, leading to formidable opponents at a much catchier price tag.

One of those opponents is SJCAM, known for its likeness to GoPro but at a reasonable distance in price. This is the case with their new SJ9 Strike 4K action camera, once again proving that GoPro can’t take a moment to relax anytime soon.

The SJ9 Strike is a flagship from SJCAM, providing similar specs to the GoPro Black series, including 4K@60p video, excellent video stabilization, and a fully waterproof body (no shell needed). At around half the price of the GoPro Black series, this camera makes for quite the alternative.

It features an all-black body (plastic) with a 2.33″ IPS touch screen on the back that is quite responsive to the touch and easy to navigate. The front-side features a smaller LCD (non-touch) that is used for current status details (resolution, battery life, mode, etc).

The side features a hatch that leads to a USB-C connection that is used for charging the camera, as well as connecting an external microphone if you want to use something better than the internal mic. Which, of course, would sound way better, as action cams don’t always sound that great when it comes to audio. It doesn’t come with a microphone, so you would have to buy into a mic that supports USB Type-C, or into a USB Type-C to 3.55mm aux adapter (and a mic to connect to that).

There is nothing on the other side. Just a blank side of the body. However, this side comes with a neat hidden feature that really helps to sell the camera. Wireless Qi charging. You can place the camera onto a wireless charging pad (on its bare side) to charge the camera’s battery without any cables. I mean, everything is better with wireless charging, right? This feature works great outside of the fact that the charging pad has to be perfectly flat (no angle to it). Sitting the camera on this side places the lens on top, therefore it gets front-heavy and can easily tip over if it isn’t perfectly straight up and down.

The bottom side of the camera features another waterproof hatch that leads to the battery compartment. Along with the battery (hidden to the side of the battery), is a MicroSD slot for adding a card to it. Like other action cameras, a MicroSD is required to record anything. Also like most action cams, it does not come with one, so you’re on your own when it comes to the card. You will want to buy into a card that has a fast write speed if you plan on recording in 4K@60p. So a card that says 90MB/s on the front (or faster) will be required.

There is also a threaded input for attaching the camera to a small tripod or using a thread-to-mount adapter (sold separately) so that you can connect it to whatever you want without the frame.

The top side of the camera simply features a single button that is used for powering the camera on and off, taking pictures or triggering video recording to start or stop. A one-stop button since the touch screen on the back does most of the heavy lifting.

As for the frame, it is an optional piece that surrounds the camera and provides a mount at the bottom for the accessories and clips to connect to. If you manage to buy a thread-to-mount adapter for the threads on the bottom of the camera, you technically won’t need this. However, it comes with the frame already, and it is easy to get on or off. So there is no real reason to buy into the adapter.

You get a decent amount of accessories to go with the camera, including 4 bases you can clip into (2 curved, 2 flat). These are great for things like flat surfaces, or helmets. You get extra double-sided sticky pads, and some random items like a cleaning cloth. It’s enough to get you started, but you will likely find yourself buying into an accessory kit to expand on the many ways you can mount the camera to things (unless you already have some from a previous model). You can also make use of GoPro mounts and accessories as well.

The image quality is really good for this price range. As mentioned, you get up to 4K at 60 frames per second. You can also take images up to 12MP. It supports timelapse, image stabilization, and slow motion. It offers burst mode for images, and you can stream all of it live to one of your favorite social networks like Facebook or YouTube (your smartphone is required with the app).

Of course, you do lose certain abilities within certain modes. For example, image stabilization is pretty good. Not as good as the GoPro 8 Black, but quite good for the price range of this model. Especially if you include the usage of a handheld gimbal for added support. The catch though is that you lose full 4K at 60p when you enable the stabilization. It forces you down to 4K@30p. It still looks fantastic, but it would have been nice to get stabilization and 4K@60p. Hopefully, the next model delivers this.

You also lose resolution if you switch to slow motion. It automatically drops to 1080@30p. Again, the video still looks amazing, but it would have been nice to get slow motion at 4K (even 30p would have been nice).

As mentioned though, the stabilization is pretty good and highly worth enabling, despite losing the ability to shoot at 60 frames per second. Helmet or selfie-stick approaches or using a handheld gimbal work the best for stabilization. We felt that chest-mounting the camera could make your audience a little sea-sick the way it tilts left and right from your steps. You can see all of this in the video above.

Another great feature is the fact that it is naturally waterproof. There is no need to stick the camera into a plastic case. You get up to 10 meters of water protection just with the camera itself. You can, of course, extend this to 30 meters if you did want to buy into a case (sold separately). The fact that you don’t need it is a big selling point since plastic or anything else in front of the lens is going to degrade the image (regardless of how noticeable it is).

Our Conclusion

In the end, we found this to be a wonderful action camera. Full of features, extremely user-friendly and wonderful image quality. It’s 4K at 60p is really sharp and enjoyable, and it’s image stabilization is pretty good for what it is, despite being forced to drop down to 4K@30p to use it. Slow-motion looks great, although once again, it would have been nice to not lose resolution in order to use it. It fires back though with features like wireless charging and a waterproof body. It works well underwater, and water acts as a natural stabilizer of sorts, so you can sometimes turn off stabilization so that you can make use of the 4K@60p. It isn’t the perfection action camera, but we have yet to really find a true “perfect” option anyway. So for what it is, and how much it costs, this is a very formidable option that really knows how to stick it to GoPro. If you want something close to the GoPro Black without spending that kind of money, look no further.

*Average price is based on the time this article was published

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