KIT&GEAR: MAROMX UPDATE

NIGHT TO DAY... ELITE STYLE!

OVER THE PAST FEW MONTHS WE’VE BEEN EVALUATING THE UNIQUE MAROMX DAY AND NIGHT CAMERA TO SEE IF IT WILL REALLY WORK IN AN AIRSOFT ENVIRONMENT! WE’VE TALKED ABOUT IT TECHNICALLY AND AS A STANDALONE PIECE IF TECH, BUT WHAT REALLY HAPPENS WHEN YOU PUT IT INTO THE HANDS OF A MILSIM PLAYER? JASE TELLS ALL…

Placed in my hand is a box from the beloved leader, Bill (only marginally despotic…), who says to yours truly “I want you to take this on your MilSim in September and give it a good run out”. ”Sure thing, no problem” I reply…

In the box is a MaromX Elite camera. Now I’m not shy when it comes to using an action cam as I have made a number of home movies for my family and friends on my GoPro, but this little adventure should have me out on a MlSim battlefield giving the MaromX a solid field test.

Jump to a wet and windy October evening and there I am, in the local woodland with my best buddy Andy. Out in the cold, wet and windy mercy of the woods and above the roar of the tree’s blowing in the wind I hear a very disgruntled “Remind me why on god’s earth why are we out here again?” Yes that’s right reader, Calamity Jase had struck again, due to me putting my back out in late August, I could not get to my MilSim event to test the MaromX. So with

“THAT’S RIGHT READER, CALAMITY JASE HAD STRUCK AGAIN, DUE TO ME PUTTING MY BACK OUT IN LATE AUGUST, I COULD NOT GET TO MY MILSIM EVENT TO TEST THE MAROMX. SO WITH A PROMISE AND DEADLINE TO KEEP I FIND MYSELF IN WHAT I WOULD SAY WERE SOME GREAT TEST CONDITIONS.”

a promise and deadline to keep I find myself in what I would say were some great test conditions.

What I had planned for this test would have me using the MaromX camera and my personal NVG to see how the camera could be used at a MilSim to capture footage for the player or to gather intel for the event itself.

Now AA’s own Jon had informed us back in issue 130 when he had been testing a pre-production camera that “The Elite camera captures razorsharp 1440p QHD video and 5MP snapshots under daylight to total darkness utilizing its built-in infrared illumination.” So I was going to be very interested to see what the footage came out when downloaded to my Mac. Another very cool feature that MaromX tell us is that “When night falls or while entering dark structures, the ambient illumination sensor automatically changes the shooting mode to night vision”

IN THE FIELD

So, with the Elite in hand and the Great British weather pouring down onto us, this test should show me that the camera’s IP rating should be good enough to keep the camera rolling for three hours of the night if needed on task, along with the claimed nine hour of day time battery life, although I couldn’t test this to its full potential but I was sure that my Viper Tactical Jacket I was wearing would be up to keeping me dry!

As I paced back over to the large oak tree Andy was taking shelter under, I offered him the camera and asked him to head off into the darkness and take up a position for me to try and find him. In an ideal scenario the camera would be either attached to a RIF or helmet, as in the box there are these fittings. The camera had been set to manual mode and the IR Illuminator had been switched off so we could test a few settings. After about 5 minutes I set off to find Andy. I donned my lip and pulled down my NV and switched it on, go time. The rain had now started to subside and the cloud was becoming patchy with some amazing stars peeking out from behind. If you have never seen a starry sky through NVG’s you’re missing out, it really is a sight to behold! So after about five minutes or so, I could not find my subject and shout out for him to put on the camera’s IR Illuminator and with the click of a button, Andy’s location was given away, a small section of woodland was lit up like a Christmas tree, just as I had expected but this was all part of my test.

All in all we had stayed out for an hour, running through a few functions before finally calling it a day. As we wandered back to the car discussing our feelings and findings of the camera, we used the camera’s bright white dual LED light to help us on our walk.

RISK V FUNCTION

So to our findings the next day; with the footage all loaded up onto my Mac we sat and watched back all that we had filmed. As Jon mentioned in his write up in issue 130, the camera does have good quality in the daylight and we agree that the auto IR function is very good at detecting when it has entered a dark location and implementing its IR light, within a second at least which I think is impressive, very much like an autogating NVG. The night time footage with the IR

light on is again, impressive with good clarity right down to things like facial features. With these things in mind, I think that this camera might have a place at a MilSim event but as I’m sure some of you are coming to the conclusion as I did before I set out on the test, this might not be the right bit of kit to be using at certain times in an event.

Let me explain my theory and why I turned off the auto-IR feature when out on my test. Without prejudice, most that frequent the MilSim scene will have their own NVGs (or rent some) and the point to this is so the player can obtain as much concealment to the night as humanly possible (i.e. no white light) and rolling about with your squad with the Elite camera’s IR Illuminator on will NOT score you any brownie points when trying to move covertly, trust me, I’ve been there.

The case in point here was when Andy popped

on the Elite’s IR when I asked him, lighting up his position like that proverbial Christmas tree. So filming those sexy night-time manoeuvers might just not be possible (because at night and without the IR on you won’t be seeing much at all unfortunately) or unless you get to a stage where you can use the camera to its full potential, like when the fire fight kicks off, at this point I think you might be able to get some great footage as it might not matter if you’re running the Elite with the IR on. I have seen on youtube the camera used well in a CQB environment and this is where the airsoft community might find the MaromX Elite fits in well. I have enjoyed my time so far with the camera and like it’s performance, and do actually look forward to getting out onto my local indoor CQB site in November to give it another test, so for now, I’ll leave it there… AA “THE CAMERA DOES HAVE GOOD QUALITY IN THE DAYLIGHT AND WE AGREE THAT THE AUTO IR FUNCTION IS VERY GOOD AT DETECTING WHEN IT HAS ENTERED A DARK LOCATION AND IMPLEMENTING ITS IR LIGHT, WITHIN A SECOND AT LEAST WHICH I THINK IS IMPRESSIVE, VERY MUCH LIKE AN AUTOGATING NVG.”