VIDEO. The Activeon CX Gold takes good video. Pictures were a bit soft, which means it will be difficult to make out tiny details and very subtle patterns in the image. In low-light situations, the video was good: quite viewable but not as bright or clear as the better models. It captures full HD video at 1920x1080. At 60 frames per second (fps), progressive-scan (p). It has an above-normal frame-rate mode 1280x720 at 120p fps. It also has a super-high frame-rate mode, 848x480 at 240p fps.
AUDIO. It captures good audio in mono, better than most.
PHOTO QUALITY. In photo mode, it captures at best 16-megapixel stills with good quality.
LENS. The lens has a fixed-focal length; it has no zoom capability.
IMAGE STABILIZER. Shooting in well-lit scenes, this model did a good job of minimizing the effects of camcorder shake.
ADDITIONAL COMMENTS. It survived our repeated-drop test. It survived being dunked in 3 feet of water for 30 minutes when used with its waterproof enclosure. It has a wireless communication feature. It can be controlled by a smartphone or tablet PC. It has a large 2-inch touchscreen LCD, which has good quality that lets you compose your shots and has decent playback of video. This model is about average in size and much lighter than the average action camcorder.
