Tachyon GunCam Review

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The GunCam mounted on a "Pray Hard, Shoot Straight" hat besides Dustin's XDM

Competitive shooters and firearm students know the value of recording their training and matches.  Watching yourself shoot is a great way to see what you did wrong, what you did right, and what you need to work on before the next match.

The GunCam mounted on a "Pray Hard, Shoot Straight" hat besides Dustin's XDM

The GunCam mounted on a “Pray Hard, Shoot Straight” hat besides Dustin’s XDM

For years I’ve used a GoPro because that was all that was out there.  But then I ran across the Tachyon GunCam and decided to give it a whirl.  I’m impressed, and I think you will be as well.

The Tachyon GunCam with bundled accessories and mounts.

The Tachyon GunCam with bundled accessories and mounts.

The GunCam is simple.  There isn’t a menu with lots of options and confusing numbers about resolutions, burst photos, etc.  It’s either recording, or off.  To record, you push the only button on the camera, it powers on and begins recording.  It’s that simple.  To stop, push the button again and the lights go out.

Next, the GunCam is lightweight.  It doesn’t even tip my cheap postage scale past 3oz.  GoPro cameras are a little bulky and awkward when wearing them on your head or firearm.  The streamlined GunCam comes with several easy mounting options.  The GunCam Bundle alone comes with a clip mount, rainproof cover, contour mount, tripod mount, scope rail mount, picatinny rail mount, shotgun barrel rail mount, and a shotgun magazine rail mount.  That about covers it!  And the tiny camera simply pops into the mounts at any 90 degree angle secured by 9 plastic dimples.  This way you can affix a mount at any angle, then just snap the camera in for recording.  For my past local pistol matches I just wore it on my hat via the clip mount and I even forgot it was there several times since it’s so lightweight.  I plan to use it this hunting season on my .300 Blackout AR rifle and hopefully will come home with some good swine slaying footage.


There are two switches on the camera, one for resolution, 1080 vs 720.  And the other switch to initiate a “Bike Cam/Dash Cam” mode which will begin recording as soon as the camera receives 12v power via your vehicle’s system.

Of course keeping the camera running as a dash cam would normally fill a memory card in a matter of hours, my 32GB card holds about 4 hours worth on 1080p.  But that’s the coolest part of the GunCam in my opinion.  The firmware is quick and easy to change and there are several versions available.  The “BikeCam” version fills the card in 15 minute video clips and once the card is full it deletes the oldest clip to make room for the new one.  So this camera now does double duty for me.  Instead of storing it in my office or range bag, it lives on the dash of my vehicle.  I just put the switch in “Dash Cam” mode and forget about it and now my last 3-4 hours of travels are recorded in case I need any footage or run into any excitement.  Heck, a 30 second viral video like this one could be worth thousands of dollars on YouTube:

I imagine I’ll be changing the firmware several times this season depending on what I’m doing.  At the moment I have the BikeCam firmware in looping every 15 minutes because I find the DashCam function very cool and useful.  But for matches I’m going to prefer the constant record with beeps to make sure I don’t accidentally delete any footage and for hunting I’ll want the constant record with no beeps or lights to ensure I don’t spook any game.

Finally, the quality of the footage is excellent.  Definitely 1080 HD.  The sound is muffled and leaves a little to be desired, but hey, it’s not made for audio but video.  It’s in MOV format so you can use the free GoPro program to capture all the footage you want without filling up your hard drive with gigabytes of unneeded footage.  It also captures widescreen angle without a weird Birdseye rounded effect.

If you’ve been looking for a camera to record your footage and hunts.  I think we found a winner.

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