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I've never used an Action camera and would like to get one...the three I see a lot are:

Drift Innovations
GoPro
Contour

from comparisons they all seem fairly comparable but thought I'd get some opinions from people that have actually used them maybe there's one I haven't even heard of yet!

Thanks in advance

I have a GoPro Hero 2. I am very happy with it. I have never tried another one.

My brother uses a go pro and it works well. I didn't want to spend that much and I bought a bullet gt. It works well but only have used it a couple of times. We will see if it will last long enough to get my $100 bucks out of it.

Is the contour the one that has the built in GPS that maps out the trail and speed and elevation as you ride and when it is played back it has a little map in the corner of the screen? I forget what the name of that one is but it is amazing. I watched a video of a guy riding on the ice and it mapped out the track and as he was riding you could watch the elevation and see when he was pulling a wheelie! Also had the speed that was cool too.

The guy that told me about the contour said something about GPS he taught skydiving classes and preferred the contour I didn't realize he meant the GPS was art of the camera that would be cool!

Contour does have a GPS enabled version, as well as one without GPS. I have and use a Contour2 and it is a great camera. It has a much better form factor (IMO) than the GoPro, it sits nice and flat, the lens can be rotated to adjust recording angle, it's waterproof without an external case (as in you can ride in the rain and stuff, don't go scuba diving), has better battery life than my GOPro3 Silver. The GoPro3 (as I said I have the Silver Edition), is a little clunkier to mount, and I find I get less battery life. However, it has more resolution options (1080p@60 FPS compared to 1080P@30 on the contour), and it is pricier. I got my COntour on Ebay for just over 130$, the silver ran me 200$. GoPro has more mount options (mainly because it's a clunkier form factor). Where the contour mounts to the side of your helmet and is fairly indistiguishable, with the GoPro you suffer the TeleTubbies Syndrome. Either way they are both great cameras, and they see equal (and sometimes concurrent) usage on all my exploits, from riding to rock climbing, mt. biking, kite surfing, paragliding. The Drift I have never used, but have not read good reviews on. Sony has an action cam now that has stabilization built in, but it lacks a little in the performance compared to the other two.

That's great information I really appreciate the help companies can say whatever they want so hearing from people that have used 2 or 3 is great!

what are you guy's thoughts on this one ?

http://grandrapids.craigslist.org/pho/3903166123.html

I've got a GoPro HD Hero 1, it's been great. I normally only film in 720p @60fps as the field of view is wider than at 1080, so it picks up more of the surroundings. With the extra battery I get about 4 to 5 hours of recording - my card fills up before the battery runs out.

The weight with the extra battery was a bit of a pain at first, especially when mounted to the side of my helmet instead of on top, but I've gotten used to it and don't even notice it anymore.

I read everyone's recommendations and ironically went and bought the drift 720. The Go pros look awesome but the drift 720 goes on ebay used with a guarantee for around 50$ so I decided to try one. I've only used it once so far but I like it a lot it has a pretty good picture it can switch between 25 and 30fps so not as fast as the go pro mentioned above but it did great for me in the woods. I put it on my google strap and I didn't even notice it there fairly light weight waterproof to 8 meters I believe has an lcd screen replaceable lens it can take still frames also came with a wireless remote to start and stop recording on the fly. so far so good Ill post a video as soon as I get something worth showing lol.

To me for 50$ it can't be beat.

The only issue I have seen others comment on about the Drift is that it tends to wash out if you go from mostly light or dark to the opposite. So if you are riding out in the open and then drop into the woods it takes a few seconds for the image to come back into focus, likewise if you go from in the woods to like the top of a hill where you're looking at mostly sky the image tends to wash out. But for 50$ like you said can't beat it. And any video of your ride is better than no video!

It did seem to do that I'll have to look again and see how long it took to refocus i shall return!

FWIW, I just ordered a contour roam
should be here in the middle of next week so expect a quick video of me terrorizing the streets

diymirage wrote:FWIW, I just ordered a contour roam
should be here in the middle of next week so expect a quick video of me terrorizing the streets

Can't wait! Glad you didn't get the epic I was just talking to a friend that said the epic has an extremely dark picture except in very sunny conditions

I did a lot of looking online what others found best (there are quite a few comparisons/reviews out there now)
the roam had very good reviews and IMHO looks a bit better/concealed than the gopro
on top of that it is a very basic cam that does have several options but those are only accessible by computer so you need to decide what you want to record before you head out BUT once you get to the trail it is a one button affair

since we are on the subject, how do the sticky pads on the helmet mounts hold up on these things?
I feel a bit weary about entrusting a 150 dollar camera to a sticky pad

I'll post a pic of my mount I don't use the sticky pad I us the goggle mount

Plate on the left just slips on to my goggle strap then the camera just clips in place!

I see
that does look like the best way to go so I ordered one :)

the contour version actually comes with a little lanyard so even if the camera does pop out it shouldn't get lost

As far as the sticky pad goes...I was riding the Desert 100 this year, had my cam mounted to the top of my helmet, there is a trail along the river that has a [willow?] tree hanging over the trail. In the video I can watch as the tree "grabbed" the camera and just about ripped my head right off! The camera stayed on and stayed at the correct angle, well were I pointed it, no problemo. Those stick on mounts work like crazy!
As far as the camera choices goes...webbikeworld.com has some great reviews on helmet cams. I have a very hard time paying the high prices for these cameras, so this is what I did;
I bought a super "elcheapo" vivtar camera for $40, just to see if I would be interested in recording my crashes...errr... riding. I liked it enough that I knew I wanted to get a better quality camera and seriously considered the Go-Pro and the JVC camera. After I put together the cost of everything that I would need to buy to make the camera a desirable purchase, I knew the G.P. WAS OUT! it would be something like $550-$600 for a complete kit. Later that week I saw a woot.com add, selling a Swann action camera, it's very similar to the G.P., it can even use some of the G.P. mounting hardware (which BTW is TOP NOTCH). The kit included a huge assortment of mounts, the water proof case (which uses a tri-pod mounting system), an attachable LCD screen (can't use it in the waterproof mount), remote control and blah blah (um, some other junk). Woot sells this camera (when they have it) for $100 + $5 shipping.....I figured "wtf" way cheaper than anything else with the specs....bought one, used it...trail riding w/my kids, riding the Dez, and riding w/my friends.....love the camera, good picture, good light scaling, doesn't seem to "skip" much at all. My only complaint so far, well 2 complaints, are 1)The sound is terrible, I mean Really bad! 2)I HAD to buy a G.P. mounting system in order to use this on more than one helmet....Swann doesn't "support" this camera with individual accessories. BUT, it was a $105 camera with everything that would put a G.P. over $500.

I have the Contour mounted to the side of my helmet with the sticky pad, and it has survived a couple of crashes on it and not one problem. I don't have a goggle strap around my helmet (use a Roko Quick Strap) but I loop the lanyard through the mount point on the sticky pad and have no worries. The laser level and rotating lens are nice for getting the FOV set up too. GoPro has the mount system figured out, they have like 100 different ones for everything you can imagine, wheras the Contour just has a few basic ones, but they work for what I do. Would like to see some video from the Swann Freestyle 1080P as it looks to be the GoPro guts in a slightly different case.