Contour HD is very good competition for the GoPro. May be slightly better quality video (mind you, the GoPro is awesome). GoPro has the wider lens
angle which is good for reducing vibration but bad for close up shots - you have to get REALLY close! There is also a Tachyon XC and the Drift
Innovation - I think Popeye is using one of these for his recent vids. Check out his youTube site, he has some reviews on it.
Not sure about water proofness of the other cameras - there's an accessory waterproof case for the Contour. The GoPro's stock case is waterproof.
GoPro is a bit 'clunky' in it's design, but I recommend it highly.
Just to seriously mess you up ... IMO the contest is between the Drift HD170 Stealth, The ContourGPS, the GoProHD and the OS ATC9K ...
Drift would be my first choice for quality and features but isn't water proof. I emailed them and they told me to put it in a zip-loc bag basically
The GoPro and the ATC would slug it out but the GoPro wins on audio quality (apparently) but loses badly for not having a built-in LCD and G-meter :o
Tough choice.
And while the Countour is a great camera it seems, there's no LCD and no option.
There's plenty of reviews around but be careful of the videos that compare them all side-by-side ... a lot of them look like the white balance etc is
set wrong.
I really like my go pro - still working through some issues with fogging but will see if some concept fixes I did recently may cure that. Fogging is
something to consider when getting a camera for what we are doing. If your going to be outside in a cold or wet environment you will want to know how
the camera you are planning on getting holds up and performs. As far as durability goes - here's a shot where my home made mount (my error) failed
and put the go pro through some punishment.
Mind you this a very short video (slowed down as well) compared to how long I dragged the camera - (10 minutes before I noticed what was going on).
At about 20 seconds in you can see clods of sand getting kicked up by the camera housing.
The slowed down shots are done with the go pro set on shooting at 60 fps compares to the usual 30fps. All you have to do to see the slow mo is run
the video file through a video editor and slow the shot down - the 60fps makes for a very smooth playback at 1/2 playback speed - you can also see it
by running the file through windows media player and selecting 1/2 playback speed.
(doesn't seem like the youtube version of this wanted to post - oh well - still a click away)
ECKS is a dealer but they are not on the website just yet. The down side to being a Dealer is that you have to purchase 6 at a time and that means you
have to carry alot of $$ in stock. Sorry.
On the up side I love my 2 gopros and the crew has 11 between us with no fog issues!
Any kind of desiccant will do - I bought a bunch of eBay for like $12 and just cut them up when I need them. The official GoPro ones are reusable -
you just cook them a bit in the oven apparently ...
I made a little cover for the back door out of chamois that worked when I went skiing, without any anti-fog spray on the lens. Fogging is pretty major
pain in the bum for me eh
)
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