Today I’m bringing you a review of the X600 waterproof 4K action cam from Kaiser Baas. Prior to the X600 landing on my doorstep, I had never heard of Kaiser Baas, but I soon discovered that they are an Australian adventure tech company that also makes stabilizers, drones, e-scooters and dash cams.
The X600 is the first waterproof action cam that Kaiser Baas has produced, and it can shoot video up to 12m underwater. More of a snorkeling cam than a dive cam, but obviously useful for things like wakeboarding and jet-skiing too. In terms of video specs, it shoots 4K at 30fps, Full HD at up to 60fps, and HD at up to 120fps. It also has built-in image stabilization and a nice LCD touchscreen on the back. Other features include timelapse mode, a phone app and 14MP photos.
Unboxing the X600
Upon unboxing the X600 I have to say I was immediately impressed with the look, feel and build quality. It has a nice weight to it and a really nice matte black finish. It’s a pretty sleek and simple design with some nice embellishments on the front cover. There are two buttons, the power button and the shoot button and two covers, one for the battery and memory card compartment and one for the USB ports (mini B and C type) where you can charge and download your images. They’re not the easiest covers to open I have to say, likely because they are designed to keep water out.
One of the design features that I want to call out immediately and give major props to Kaiser Baas for is the menu system. They have clearly spent time thinking about their end users and have come up with one of the best and most intuitive menu systems I’ve used. You don’t even need a manual to figure this camera out—which is just as well as none is provided! Admittedly I’m someone who handles a lot of different cameras, but even my kids (9 and 11) had no problem figuring out the X600. There is actually a quick start guide included, but no proper manual exists even online. I know this because there is one menu item label ‘LDC’ which you turn on or off, and I have no idea what this does.
The X600 comes with a cover case which allows you to mount the camera using one of the assortment of mounts that are included. Without installing the cover case there is no way to mount the X600 to, for example, a tripod as there is no 1/4 20 mount on the bottom of the camera. In fact there is no mount included that would allow you to mount the action cam on a tripod, although that’s not really what this camera is designed for! Also included is a carry case which looks nice and is big enough to pack a few accessories in, but unfortunately it doesn’t hold the camera securely. It can flop around inside and potentially get scratched, which isn’t ideal.
Testing the X600 underwater
Obviously one of the first things I wanted to do when I got the X600 was test the underwater capability. And so I jumped off a dock into very cold water gripping the camera like my life depended on it (my future as a camera reviewer probably did). As you’ll see from the video footage, everything worked out in the end. Later on I took a few shots of seaweed in the shallow water that actually turned out quite well. Unfortunately the Date Stamp feature is turned on by default so the time and date was stamped on the bottom right corner. I personally would never want this so I’d prefer if the Date Stamp was off by default. On the upside, I had the resolution set to 1440P (2560×1440) so I was easily able to crop out the date stamp.
I discovered after my seawater adventures that I should have immersed the camera in fresh water in order to rinse the seawater out. Unfortunately some corrosion occurred under the covers which I think contributed to making them more difficult to open. This is definitely something I think that Kaiser Baas should warn users about.
One other usability issue I wanted to mention is the shoot button. I found that it was a little tricky to press, and this was particularly an issue when taking photos, which obviously isn’t the main intended use of the camera, but nonetheless it’s nice to able to grab a quick shot every now and then.
When I downloaded my files from the X600 I was pleasantly surprised to find that Kaiser Baas uses an innovative file naming scheme, whereby the name of the file indicates what type of file it is. So, for example, a timelapse file might have a name like ‘LPSE0015.MP4’. This might seem like a minor thing, but if you’ve seen how a big company like Sony can make a pigs ear of file naming, it starts to become something worth paying attention to!
Image quality
If you want to see some footage shot with the X600, be sure to check out my video review. I was pretty happy with the quality of the images, although the X600 does struggle in low-light situations. This is not a huge surprise though as small-sensor cameras always do. I didn’t have high hopes for the audio quality, but it’s actually not bad at all.
Conclusion
I think for the price point the X600 represents pretty good value for money. For the casual user who wants to capture some fun memories on the ski hills, this is a great option. I think the build quality is good enough to stand some rough-and-tumble and the image quality is up to par. I am a little disappointed about the saltwater corrosion issue however, so I would have to discourage buyers who need a camera for sea adventures.
Check out the full range of wearable and action cameras available at BestBuy.ca
