Panasonic HX-A100 Wearable Camcorder – Hands on

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Posted on 23 May 2013 at 05:12, by Seth Barton

While checking out Panasonic's new range of conventional camcorders we also got to try a new concept device - at the time titled the 'Stylish Wearable Camera' it's now been officially named the Panasonic HX-A100 Wearable Camcorder. Rather than being some way out there prototype though, this was a highly polished design and one that should be on sale come March.

The small and lightweight lens unit weights just 30g and is connected to a 115g main unit by a 60cm cable. This makes is rather different to the popular GoPro HD, with a smaller sleeker lens unit but at the expense of having that cable and the main unit to accomodate. it certainly looks less intrusive, and comes with a lightweight head mount that allows you to use it without a helmet and mount, but it's less neat somehow, as the cable could limit your movements and you'll need to find somewhere to place that main unit on your upper body - an upper arm holder is provided.

Wearing the camera with the feed going to an Android tablet

The lens's 160 degree viewing angle is certainly suited to recording sports activities, plus there's Wi-Fi support and even Ustream live broadcast - so if you're activity is within Wi-Fi range you can stream it live over the net. There's over two hours of battery life from the built-in battery, which should be plenty for most casual uses. The whole device is rated Ipx8 - and so can withstand sea water up to 1.5m in depth.

It's not subtle to wear, but it's more friendly looking than a Go Pro

The idea is to expand the current extreme sports niche for such devices into light sports and daily use. Beyond sports it could be useful for police or engineers. The experience of using it, especially when paired with a tablet via a downloadable app is exactly like watching your own version of Peep Show .

We're not completely sold on the design yet, but we're looking forward to giving it a go when we get for review soon.