Argus Green Bean Reviews?
April 29th, 2008 at 12:58 pm by Bob Weber (Tech)
I was in a local Best Buy last week with my brother in law. I made the comment that I need a new camera. My good old Kodak Easy Share has been a great camera but I broke it last year when we were in Nebraska. Tried to put it under the seat of my Warrior and broke the screen.
My desire is for a rugged camera. I don’t need a lot of features, just something that’s easy to use and will withstand all of my trips to Moab, Walden and other off road destinations.
Amazingly enough, in the very aisle we are in I found the Argus Bean. It has an integrated clip, and a rubberized exterior, marketed as an outdoor camera. This camera appears to be exclusively available at Best Buy, and is reasonably priced at $59.
My question to you, gentle reader, is how good is this camera? Does anyone have one? Any thoughts, reviews, comments? Any other options on a reasonably priced, rugged, outdoor camera that would fit my needs?
If you have any information on this camera, or any others, please feel free to comment.
Popularity: 22%
adam said,
May 4, 2008 at 10:19 pm
I picked one up today to use on a construction job-site.
Seems like a good design, somewhat ergonomic, lightweight, screen is recessed/protected, strong flash, 5MP.
Very good controls - though the labels on the buttons are quite small, its intuitive enough to make up for it.
Picture quality is pretty good. The flash recharge is somewhat slow at around 4 seconds between shots.
Not a huge fan of the built-in rechargeable battery - especially for outdoor use, it makes more sense to carry along a few sets of AA batteries. Not sure what the battery life is like yet.
The only thing I think it lacks is water resistance. The Argus Sprout (vga resolution) is like the miniature version of the Bean and it sports water resistance. I imagine the Bean is more water resistant than most cameras, but its not advertised as being water resistant.
Overall - for $59, its a steal.
eric said,
May 16, 2008 at 12:11 am
It says that it is water resistant on the bottom left of the package
LB said,
May 24, 2008 at 9:45 pm
I got my son this camera and after less than a week the function light came on and would not go off. I tried the charger and all button combinations but no change. There are no troubleshooting entries in the manual. I would rather have something other than an internal rechargeable battery. This problem could be a fluke.
I submitted the problem via the “Contact Us” online form and will wait for their response. Interestingly, the page references an “Instant Help” icon on the screen but none exists.
I’m a bit disappointed with the problem but other than that, the pictures are decent, but the icons on the screen are too small for these ancient eyes.
LB
Edie said,
June 14, 2008 at 4:17 pm
Hi, I am intresting with this camera. Do you have the pictures shot by this camera?
Bob Weber said,
June 16, 2008 at 11:22 am
I don’t have any pictures show with the camera, in fact, I don’t have one of the cameras yet. I may go pick one up this week and take some pics with it for review.
alex said,
June 16, 2008 at 1:32 pm
Hi I was just wondering if you can take pictures underwater such as fish? and how clear are the pictures taken by the argus bean 5.0 mega pixel camera.
Jeff said,
June 20, 2008 at 9:58 am
I’m headed out to pick this camera up this afternoon and take it rafting with us this weekend. I’ll try to post some pics on Monday and let you all know how it faired in rough conditions!!
Jeff…
Brad said,
June 20, 2008 at 9:45 pm
I had a similar question to alex’s and this was Argus’ response:
“The camera is water-resistant but not water-proof.
Argus Support”
Not very descriptive, but I’m guessing that it’s not submersible. Not really a deal breaker for me, but good to know it’s limitations.
peace,
Brad
Brad said,
June 21, 2008 at 7:52 pm
Hey Jeff, if you’ve got some pictures that you’ve taken with the camera and don’t have a place to host them, I could upload a few for you. Just send me an e-mail (not sure if it puts a link the address since I put it in the field above).
peace,
Brad
Jill said,
June 22, 2008 at 7:25 pm
I want to buy this camera, but I also want to get Wii Fit. Which one should I get first?
Brad said,
June 22, 2008 at 7:49 pm
Having not owned either (though used digital cameras and played on the Wii), I will probably always say that there is nothing that beats the real thing. If you’re a hiker, climber, or any sort of outdoorsy person that already has a lot of the equipment for that activity, then definitely get a sturdy camera. But if you aren’t too overly into outdoor activities (unless you have the desire to start in which case a camera will definitely encourage you to do more stuff outdoors), then perhaps go with the Wii Fit.
In all other respects that I can think of, the two aren’t too easily comparable, but nothing beats a cool evening while watching a beautiful sunset from a cliff and then reliving that moment when you run across those pictures later in life.
But that’s just my opinion.
peace,
Brad
Dave said,
June 23, 2008 at 12:36 pm
I purchased one of the Sprouts for my neice for $19. While it says it’s a 0.3MP, the photo pictures are 100x better than my 1.3MP digital camera. When transfered to a PC they are pretty big pictures with a default resolution of 72dpi, but I can’t remember the dimensions in pixels.
Also as an FYI, the sprout is “water resistant” but I can vouch for it being OK submerged in a few inches of water for a few seconds, my neice tried taking pictures of her fish. It worked and took pix underwater, but they were totally distorted but it’s supposdely working fine now.
I’ll see if my sister can send me some pix and I’ll post a link. Considering how cool it was, I was thinking of picking up the Bean to hook on my bike for mountain biking treks figuring it can take a beating. It has to be worth $60, but I’m not expecting anything that rivals a Canon CMOS processor image or anything like that. Just something that can get beat up and get some water and/or mud splashed on it and still be able to take a couple pix out on the trails.
Dave said,
June 23, 2008 at 12:37 pm
Ooops, just noticed a typo…they’re 100x better than my 1.3 MP CAMERA PHONE. My phone looks like 0.0MP when I email the pix to myself.
Bob Weber said,
June 23, 2008 at 1:42 pm
If anyone does have pics from either a Sprout or a Bean that they would like me to post here, just let me know. I’d be happy to put them on the site.
Thanks!
Bob
Alex Ayers said,
June 24, 2008 at 8:26 am
Hey Bob I have some pics that I would like to put on can you please help?
Jeff said,
June 24, 2008 at 11:40 am
Ok guys, following up on my previous post.. the Bean rocks! Performed much better than expected and gave me some great photos on the Delaware river. Check out the shots here http://www.flickr.com/photos/themaven/sets/72157605750253124/
As far as waterproof vs. water resistant?? I jumped out of the boat with the Bean clipped to my swimsuit and submerged it by accident for about 10 seconds.. After that the camera would not shut off and the area between the lense and the protective cover fogged up terribly. I took it apart, let it dry out for a day and cleaned the lense… and thankfully it is working once again.
So Water resistant..yes!! Waterproof.. No!!
Anywho, I’m still thrilled with the results and recommend this little gem to anyone. By the way, the image sensor is a Zoran Coach which is used in something like 50 other commercial brand named cameras including Samsung.
Hope this info helps, feel free to email me with any questions.
Brad said,
June 24, 2008 at 3:12 pm
Not bad. It looks like there’s a little distortion when you were in the boat moving versus on land, but not much.
Overall, I think that I’ll eventually have to get one. At least before my next trip.
Thanks Jeff,
Brad
Alex said,
July 17, 2008 at 12:32 pm
hey jeff after your argus bean got wet did the flash stop working becaus i droped mine in a deep puddle and when i pushed the joystick right to turn on the flash it would not work.
Laura said,
July 22, 2008 at 7:14 am
I would like to know the battery life. I’ll be out in the woods without electricity for 5 days. Has anyone taken this for an extended time without recharging?