GoPro's High Definition offering has been praised as the best helmet camera since it was released 5 months ago; here is a detailed review of the camera that's got riders everywhere talking.
---
Words and Photos by Fraser Britton
One of the biggest action sports products as of late, is the helmet cam. Be it surfing, snowboarding or mountain biking, helmet cams have started to come out of the woodwork. Where there was only 2-3 choices of low end, grainy, miserable looking POV cams 2 years ago, athletes and media outlets now have a good half dozen options, all in stunning HD quality.
One of the brands making a big push into action sports in general, but also specifically mountain biking, is GoPro. The boys and girls at GoPro have sponsored more than a few MTB riders in the last 2 years, the most visible of which is probably Brian Lopes of the United States.
The GoPro HD offers a slew of different modes to satisfy your needs. Besides the obvious video, it does still images, time lapses, motor-drive stills and more.
For video you have the choice of 1080P HD at 30fps, 960P HD at 30 fps, 720P at both 30fps and 60fps for some sick slow-mo, and 640x480 in 60fps. Although not a standard video mode, 960P is great for MTB as it gives you a taller image, giving you a bit more bar/stem while still seeing the trail.
In all modes but 720P and 1080p, the camera is a full 170deg fish angle view, fantastic for seeing the trail and getting an idea of speed. In the HD formats, it?s 127 degrees, great for following another ride.
You can also flip the image in camera, allowing you to use the camera itself upside down for more mounting options without having to adjust in post processing, a somewhat timely rendering process better avoided if possible.
The HD model eschews the AAA batteries used in the SD version, and now includes an 1100 mah Li-On battery pack. We haven?t been able to kill it so far on an entire day?s shooting, so it seems much nicer than the batteries that would last 20 minutes on their SD camera.
We have had the opportunity to try most of the helmet cams on the market, including offerings from Vio Sport and both the SD and HD offerings from Vholdr. While image quality on all of the cameras is very good, the Go Pro shines in 4 specific areas in our opinion.
1 - Waterproof. The Go Pro is entirely waterproof down to 30m. That means you can take it swimming, surfing and scuba diving with you. It also means you can take it out for a ride in the crappiest of conditions without worrying about it.
2 - Audio. The audio on most helmet cams is where their true deficiencies show through. Usually all you can hear is the wind whistling and not much else. GoPro offers 2 doors for their housing, 1 is the sealed one mentioned above, which keeps the camera dry, but deadens the sound. The HD model now ships with a second housing door with holes cut in the back above the mic. Although you lose the weather sealing, the audio is superb with this door allowing you to hear all of the sounds of the trail clearly, without the rush of the wind.
3 - Mounting options. The GoPro offers the biggest variety of mounting options currently on the market. From the auto-sports suction cup mount, to the surf board mount (very cool) to their roll cage and handle bar mounts. our favorite is the extremely popular chest mount for moto and MTB. The chest mount gives MTB and Moto riders an extremely cool view of the trail, the bars and the controls. It?s almost a riders eye view and makes for a unique view that we haven?t had the opportunity to see before Go Pro came to the market. The standard sticky mounts are great as well. They come in curved and flat and stick to pretty much anything. We have used them on chainstays and down tubes without ever once losing a camera. Make sure you wipe down the surface first though!
If you are in the market for a helmet cam, the $299 MSRP of the Go Pro HD is a great option, particularly if you like to get creative and mount the camera in odd places!
For more info go to: http://www.goprocamera.com.
