"The Smallest 720p Camcorder in the world"
Saturday, April 16, 2011 at 6:48PM 
After being impressed with the 720p HD 808 #11 camera I decided to see if I could find another mini 720p camera, but one that wasn't designed as a covert spy camera. It's still early days for mini HD cameras and the choices are limited but I found a few Chinese eBayers selling a camera called the Y3000. I thought this camera would be an interesting one to compare with the HD808 because the 808 records its video in the .mov format whereas the Y3000 records as .avi. This meant that the cameras were definitely different internally from one another.
The design of the Y3000 is clearly a copy of the Chobi Cam One Camera, albeit with a number of improvements, the most notable of which is HD rather than VGA recording. I was interested to find out if the lens on the Y3000 could be swapped with one of the optional Wide Angle or Fisheye lenses designed for the original Chobi One.
When the specs are compared against the HD808, the most notable difference is that the Y3000 features cycled recording. This means that the camera splits its recordings into short file segments, in this case 3 minutes, and then re-records over the oldest file whenever the memory card is full. Depending on your requirements this could be either an essential or an undesirable feature.
[EDIT] - Now available from Dealextreme - Product Link Here for approx £27
I suppose most people just want to know if this is a better camera than the HD808. Well it's a little bit less clear cut than that, so I'll try and present the case for both cameras and let you make your own mind up.
My video review is below.
I've got a gallery of re-sized pictures taken with the camera HERE
Below are a few thumbnails of these pictures which link to FULL SIZE unmodified originals.
;)
;)
;)
Reader Comments (19)
hi, great site and great review. i was wondering what the field of view was like compared to the other cycle record camera you reviewed, the DVR D011? thanks
@James. The FOV is much better on the Y3000 compared to the D011.
The Y3000 and the HD808 have pretty much the same FOV. The D011 also had the same FOV as the DVK808 #3 I tested. So in a long winded way I'm saying if you watch the HD808 #11 review where I compare the #11's FOV to the #3's you can see how the FOV of the D011 would compare to the Y3000.
Hope that makes sense.
Thank you for taking time to make this comprehensive and informative review!
It really helps to make the right decision about purchasing one of the cameras.
Keep it up! :-)
Great review, as always. Thanks for sharing!
I really mistake your voice for James Mays of Topgear...aswell as your style! (take it as a compliment!!)
Great reviews, I had to watch a bunch of them, even though I didnt really care about some products :)
Recently I stumbled across this little camera http://cgi.ebay.de/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=260696163189&ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT so I ordered it yesterday, lets see what it will do. The format is Motion-JPEG, so I took the plunge and wait to be surprised. Do you have any experience? Does it look OK in your opinion?
Thanks, keep up posting great quality reviews, bye
@ Lukas - you'll have to let me know how you get on. I have a stills camera that records video in m-jpeg (a Panasonic LX3) and the files take up a lot of room, so you can't fit much on a card. The looping video and motion detection functions are both useful - I wonder if you could just leave it permanently attached to a USB power supply and it would auto start and stop whenever the car moves - that's a feature a few people would like to have. Please report back when it turns up.
Have you tried this camera with the class 10 card yet, if so, how did it perform?
Can you add the content of the CD as a download? My disk was completely cracked when I got it. Thanks.
great review it helps aaaalot/THNX
Wide Angle Camera Mounted on Firework POV below/great recordin' shows the potential this camera has!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hUCbETKaIfs&feature=player_embedded
Hi
How do you get rid of the date in the y3000?
(In my camera it was on when I got it)
Thanks!!
Just curious if you've ever had this cam not go into video mode? I've had mine for a week and recorded one 33 second vid just to test. But after that I've never been able to get into video mode, only picture mode. I've even hit the reset button while the cam was on and off with no luck.
miniinthebox.com offer them for under 25 pounds (28€ / 39$) free shipping
Great review, thank you. I have bought the y3000 camera too. When it's connected to the power supply it could not record video. In your review you show that with a different usb lead it works fine. What kind of USB connector has the y3000 camera? It is smaller than micro and mini USB, and I cannot find the right USB lead. What is the name of the connector? Where can I buy a new lead? Thank you.
@bob69 Unfortunately there's more than style of Micro USB lead. Have a look at this article on Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USB#Mini_and_Micro_connectors
I haven't got the camera around at the moment to look at, but hopefully this will point you in the right direction.
Please could anyone explain how can I get rid of the date in the y3000?
Thanks.
@Ovo Ono. To set the time and date of the Y3000 you have to put a text file in the root of the SD card. The name of the file must be TIME.txt. The content of the file a string like this:
2011.11.25 08.12.00 Y
which means "set the current time and date to 25th November, 2011, 8:12am, and ("Yes" ) show the date". If you put instead
2011.11.25 08.12.00 N
it means "set the current time and date to 25th November, 2011, 8:12am, and ("No" ) don't show the date".
So, open notepad, write the string, save to the root of the SD card as "TIME.txt". Put the SD card in the Y3000 and power on the Y3000. That's it.
@bob69
thank you so much, I did everything according to the instructions and the date is no longer on photos and video clips...
Is it possible to turn off the flashing led when recording a video ??
thx !
I have the Y3000, but have missplaced the cable. But that cable isent a micro-usb is it? Or at least cant get my mini or micro USB leads to fit. It is smaller and also apperes to have more than 5 pins(7? to small for my eyes to see).
What cable is it? anybody got a hint, I need to get a new one.