Here is a written review for those that prefer reading to watching
Ele Explorer Action Camera Review
Overview
Front panel graphics: "Ele", "4K Ultra HD", "WiFi"
Boot screen graphics: "Ele", "DARE TO BE", "Explorer"
The Ele Explorer is a cheapish Action Camera with a 4MP sensor which records decent quality video and takes reasonable quality photos. It is almost exactly the same size as an SJCAM SJ5000X, so a bit bigger than a GoPro.
It claims to record 4K Ultra HD, apparently as its main selling point since it is written on the front, but 4K Ultra HD video has 8MP and the image sensor in the Explorer is only 4MP, thus it must be inventing half the pixels, it is not a true 4K UltraHD camera. Also the frame rate for the 4K video mode is only 15 fps (frames per second), for an action camera 60 fps is desirable. So for most purposes, the 4K video mode is pointless. The mode most people will use is 1080 Full HD @ 60 fps and it does a decent job of that.
It also claims in the advertising to produce 16MP photos from a 16MP sensor, which is clearly wrong. With the sensor only collecting 4MP, 3 out of every 4 pixels must be invented for the 16MP photos. If you actually look at the 16MP photos zoomed fully in then they are quite blurry, however viewed on an HD monitor or TV they are of decent quality, an HD screen is only 2MP so the camera does produce higher resolution than required for HD, if you are just going to view the photos on your HD TV then it does a reasonable job, and a better job than most cameras of the same price range.
Ele Explorer: Price @ GearBest $65.70
http://www.gearbest.com/action-cameras/pp_265306.html
(The camera I tested was supplied for review by GearBest.)
Measurements
Weight 64.0g
Width 59.4mm
Height 41.4mm
Depth 25.5mm
Depth including lens 31.5mm
LCD Screen Diagonal 51.0mm (2")
It looks the same size as an SJCAM SJ5000X, in fact the case could almost have come out of the same mould, there are just a few small differences that are hard to see like the position of the microphone and speaker holes. However the Explorer is 0.85mm less tall which means it is a loose fit in the SJ5000X tripod/dashcam frame and the SJ will not fit in the Explorer frame, even though at first look the frames look identical! There is the same issue with the waterproof cases which also look identical until you look very closely, so you will probably want to use Ele accessories with this camera, although with a bit of padding the SJ waterproof case and frame will work, it will not fit in the significantly smaller GoPro and GitUp cases and frames.
The Explorer has a textured rubbery surface on the sides, exactly the same as the SJCAMs and a lot of other cheaper cameras. Gives good grip and appears of decent quality although it does have a slightly cheap feel compared to a GitUp or GoPro.
There is no lens cap which means you can't put it in your pocket without the lens getting dirty, but that is true of most of the cheaper cameras. The lens sticks out the end of the lens barrel so fitting a lens cap would be a problem, also the lens barrel is a different diameter to most other cameras so finding a lens cap that fits could be a problem.
It does come with a tripod/dashcam frame which seems better made than most, certainly more strongly made than the equivalent SJCAM frame which disintegrated while I was testing the Explorer!
Controls
The power button is on the front, the same place as most action cameras.
The shutter button is on the top right, the same place as most action cameras.
On the right side it has up and down buttons with the up also marked as a wi-fi button.
All the buttons work nicely with a positive click and also a click sound from the speaker to confirm.
The only issue I had with the controls is the time required to turn on and off, my Windows computer can boot up faster! From pressing the power button to starting a video recording takes 1/4 of a minute so there is a good chance of missing things, in comparison the Gitup Git2 takes just 5 seconds to start recording and the SJCAM5000X takes 8 seconds.
Connections
All connections are on the left side and include:
Micro USB for charging the battery and data connection to computer.
HDMI for connection to a TV/Monitor
MicroSD card slot.
Menus
The power button cycles through the modes, including a setup mode. Within the setup there are separate tabs for video, photo, general and system. Most of the normal settings are there but more advanced things like ISO and shutter speed are missing so it's not really a camera for photographers.
Most items are easy to understand and having the menu separated into tabs makes it more obvious what things are for than with many cameras, but it's still not as fast to change settings as the Gitup cameras which have context sensitive menus so you can change settings without leaving video or photo mode. (Enter the menu in video mode and you get the video settings.)
LCD Screen
It has a clear 2" screen with an excellent viewing angle, it's also reasonably bright for a 2" screen and you can see the image even with full sunlight on the screen. It is not as bright as the Gitup screens but otherwise is the most usable screen I've seen on an action camera. The only negative is that it has a flat back like the SJCAM cameras rather than an indented screen like GitUp cameras so is easy to scratch, although so far it hasn't steamed up in damp weather like the SJCAM cameras always do.
There are also blue and red LED indicators on the back for record and power (record is blue, not the conventional red, although the record indicator on the LCD screen is red!), and a yellow LED on top which indicates wi-fi enabled, although for some reason it doesn't always come on. The yellow LED is obvious but the viewing angle on the red and blue LEDs is very poor, you have to hold the camera so you are looking straight at it otherwise you can't see them.
Wi-Fi
This is turned on and off using the up button and is rather too easy to do accidently, although it is easy to turn off again and is far faster to enter/exit than most cameras.
The SSID and password are shown on the screen making it easy to connect.
Playback
The video recordings can be played on the LCD screen or via the HDMI and it works nicely, although it always has an on screen display showing playback information so it is not ideal for showing your videos to friends. It does work to check what you have recorded, but there is no delete function. Also it does not appear to play back the sound recording, even when plugged into a TV via HDMI, even though it does play the button clicks through the HDMI.