Akaso V50 Elite Review

The V50 Elite is one of Akaso’s best camera. It has quite a lot going for it: decent 4K with stabilisation, acceptable audio quality and a touch screen UI, so how does it stack up compared to other cams in its price range? Well, on Amazon, there are few other cams at this price that hold up to it in terms of video quality so let’s take a closer look at it.

Akaso V50 Elite Amazon Coupon Code: 10DrekiTech (Amazon US).

What’s in the Box

Included in the box with the V50 Elite is a fairly standard kit of action cam accessories: waterproof case, mounts, adaptors and straps. Akaso gets huge bonus points for including two batteries and a dual USB charger. There’s also a remote which does voice controls, a pretty cool addition.

Design and Build Quality

Build quality is identical to the original V50, plastic but solid enough to do the job. It’s this nice lighter grey plastic that makes it stand out among other black action cams. There’s a bright silver front faceplate that advertises the cam can do 4K 60.

It also looks almost identical to the original Akaso V50 and the ThiEYE T5 Edge. As a result of the designs being so similar, accessories and batteries are compatible between these cams. The way it looks is pretty nice but the touch screen is smaller than the V50 Pro, and it could have been extended across the entire back instead of having these huge black edges.

One nice touch about the design is how they kept the buttons so there is the option to use the touch screen or the buttons. That way if the camera is in the waterproof case or you are wearing gloves, it is still possible to change modes or settings unlike touch only cameras.

User Interface

The user interface of this camera is pretty straightforward. On the bottom there’s the buttons for playback, mode switching and settings. In the settings menus there are tons of options for resolution, basics like setting the date, turning stabilisation on and off, and turning off the date stamp. Do that first.

Occasionally it can be a bit slow to respond to touched, and there is no way to hide the UI elements when recording so that you can only see the video screen like on the Firefly 8SE. The date and time also appears to reset every time the battery is removed from the camera, which is a hassle.

Video Quality (Day)

This camera has several different resolutions so let’s start with the top end and go down: 4K at 60 FPS. This is the highest resolution the camera records in and does not have stabilization. To be honest, this resolution is kind of a gimmick. In order to get 4K 60 on this hardware Akaso uses a MJPG codec, which results in blocky video that does not have a lot of detail compared to 4K30. Also, with 4K60, you may find yourself limited in recording time by the heat the camera produces. Inside of the waterproof case it can get quite hot and I did find it would pause recording until it cooled down.

As a result, it is way better to use the 2.7K 60 mode instead. It has more resolution than 1080p and none of that compression noise, as you can see. There is also an unstabilized 1080p 120FPS mode that looks pretty great and a 720p 240 mode. Akaso did not skimp on resolution options here.

The highest resolution with stabilisation is 4K 30 and this is the best resolution that the camera offers. 4K 30 has lots of detail, bright vibrant colour and decent stabilisation. On another positive note, unlike other cameras Akaso offers, this one has a flat colour mode so if you don’t like the vibrant and saturated default colour mode then you can always switch to that instead. The video from this cam is more of a finished product, meaning there is less room to edit the colour in post production. As a result, sometimes highlights and shadows get crunched and end up pure black or pure white without much detail. But for most people (especially those who do not want to edit their video) this high contrast, vibrant colour profile will look more appealing than a neutral colour profile, even if it is not as true to life.

The camera also offers 2.7K 30 with stabilisation and 1080p 60. Looking at 1080p 60, it’s pretty good too and much better than the original V50 was in terms of the actual detail it produces. It’s the same for bright vibrant colour and it is a decent bitrate so everything looks great. It’s also super cool that you can use the digital zoom while recording, even if using that option has no stabilisation.

Video Quality (Night)

In low light this camera is not super bright and there is a good amount of noise. However this camera is better than many cheap action cams for one reason: with image stabilisation turned on it locks the cam to a faster shutter speed so there is not much blur caused by the IS. And if brighter video is required, turn off the image stabilisation and the cam produces a brighter picture without much blur. Overall this cam isn’t too bad in low light relative to other action cams but like any action cam it is still limited by the sensor size and lens size so don’t expect miracles.

Audio Quality

By default audio quality is pretty good. Just like the original V50, there is no setting for the mic volume, so be sure to not talk too loud or it will peak a little bit. But overall for the most part the audio quality is loud and fairly clear. There’s a wind noise reduction mode that seriously reduces the quality of the sound but honestly… it isn’t really needed. Audio quality is fine and wind noise is not as significant as some of the other cams on the market. Watch the video for a sample of the audio quality.

Still Images

The cam claims 20MP still images, but they are not actually that high resolution. Most action cams are based on 12 or 14 MP sensors, so it’s likely just an upscale. Nonetheless the still images look decent, with a similar vibrant and warm colour profile to the video. Overall, not much bad to say.

Where to Buy

• Amazon US ( and use this 10% off coupon! 10DrekiTech )
• Amazon Canada
• Amazon UK

Conclusion

The Akaso cam is a pretty decent value, especially when it goes on sale for around $120. It used to be difficult to recommend a camera in the $100 – $150 range on Amazon US but the V50 series has changed this. As with any product it’s not perfect but I do think that the vast majority of people will be happy with how this cam performs and those who aren’t should probably be buying something more premium like the SJ8 Pro or perhaps a GoPro.