Recently, we have been talking about buying an action cam to use for the blog but we didn’t want to invest several hundred dollars in a GoPro until we knew this type of camera would work for us. We did some research and discovered the Vivitar DVR 787HD 12.1MP Action Full HD Camcorder. Most reviews for this unit praised its functional features and durability but what people liked most was the price tag.

When the 787 was released, you could find it at most Walmart stores with a ton of accessories for under $60 bucks. I’m not sure what happened between then and now but we had difficulty getting our hands on this little camera! The Walmart deal is no longer offered in store or online. As a matter of fact, you can’t get the 787 at all from Walmart. I found the unit on Amazon and made the purchase for just under $100, with fewer accessories. We also purchased a monopod so we could easily manipulate it while shooting on the road.

We’ve been using the camera all summer and overall, it’s fun and easy to use but there are a couple of things that could be improved:

• The display is very difficult to see when taking video outside in bright light. Even without the screen protector, we were unable to see what we were recording.
• The remote doesn’t turn the camera on.