Has anyone used one of these for riding vids?

What is the pic quality like?

Are they unobtrusive to fit on your helmet or would a bullet type be better?

In HD mode, what size SD card do you need?

Any feedback at all would be brilliant as one of these may be on the way to my sweaty mitts for Xmas if I give the word.

I’ve got one, and it’s really excellent. The self-contained box is way better than a bullet cam for helmet use (no cables, no digging around in your pack for the recorder, etc). The weight and size is noticable but not terrible- it’s about the same as my helmet light. Though I generally use a chest mount, I think it gives better results.

When I first got it I was using 4gb cards and they do fill up.. Switched to 16gb and they’ll record several batteries worth so ideal for weeks away etc.

Pic quality is very, very good. The footage on their website is legit. Haven’t got anything much of my own yet to show as I’ve been trying to find an editor I like, so unfortunately all my uploads are pretty lossy.

I think it’s the best of the bunch for now- the Contour is as good quality wise and has better ergonomics for helmet mounting, but the selection of mounts available isn’t anything like as good and it lacks the chest mount option. So for that alone the Gopro won out for me.

The new 960 looks very good, doesn’t have all the functions of the original HD model but it’s about half the price.

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=seP82FoaUzQ[/video]

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YwBQS-WYFiA[/video]

the first one is the chest mount for the gopro non hd and the 2nd one is the bar mount. the bar mount was filmed last year. i cant see the point in HD with the picture i get IMO

I have used a go-pro for a bit now, they are realy good. The image quality is great in HD but if you publish anything on youtube etc even in HD the quality is no wear near as good as the original as the video gets compresed quite a bit on website uploads.

I use a 16gb card, more than enough space as the battery goes flat before you run out of memory. The go-pro has many good mounts and this makes it a winner IMHO. I have used it for skiing, MTB’ing and lots of other things. Dont really bother with you tube etc so i only have 2 vids i post on there. Click on the 720p option for the better quality

1 is MTB’ing in Penmachno
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X3UzWJTJw_Y

the other is skiing in Val disere
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5bQ6y1HT5S0

1 thing i would say is head mount gets a bit boring when watching vids, so it best to use different mounts to brake the footage up and provide interest. The weight is noticable but as others have said no worse than a helemet light.

Sorry, i only know how to post links up for the vids and not the vid itself like above so you will just have to click on the link to see the vid.

Contour HD user here. But put your vids on Vimeo better quality.

Here is some test shots ignore the shaking as the mount was not tight

[video]http://vimeo.com/16864448[/video]

forgot to say, the only thing ive found with the go-pro is because it has such a wide angle of view. it creates a mild fish eye effect and inturn this flattens things out. So steep hills up or down basicly
look flat. For anything to look mildly steep on the vid’s in real life you can guarantee it was bloody steep.

Nice one guys…. the HD looks as if it will be overkill then. The 960 looks like a good compromise.

Rubs hands together in anticipation!

Consider this as an alternative:

http://www.singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/hdmax-extreme-helmet-camera-test-and-review

I’ve ordered one but won’t be able to try it out until Xmas. Was going to get the go pro but this one seems so well thought out, it seems too good to pass up. Comes with loads of mounts as well as having a tripod thread so you use all sorts of after market mounts and clamps.

Uses the same internal as a go pro apparently.

I saw this in their product description… “The HDMax by CamSports uses the same high quality video electronics as the GoPro and Contour HD cameras “

Those 2 cameras don’t use the same electronics 😕 So unlikely that this new one uses the same as both of them. Still it does look a nice bit of kit despite fluffy sales stuff. Fixed angle though (the Gopro has 2 angle options, one of which is a fair bit wider and the other slightly narrower)

Oh, a tripod-thread adaptor is available for the Gopro.

Northwind – Member
the Gopro has 2 angle options, one of which is a fair bit wider and the other slightly narrower

Which angle is the one used on Cubemeup’s clips?

Is there much of a difference between the 960 and the 1080 apart from £130?

Ta

JohnClimber – Member

“Which angle is the one used on Cubemeup’s clips?

Is there much of a difference between the 960 and the 1080 apart from £130?”

Don’t really want to speak for him but since it’s the older low-def one it’ll be 170 degrees (unless it’s an even older one but I don’t think it is).

I’ve not used the 960 but the Gopro website says “Missing from the HD HERO 960 are 720p @ 60fps, 1080p video, and the HERO BUS expansion port in the rear of the camera that will let you take advantage of GoPro’s forthcoming BacPac accessories – LCD screen & Battery Extension – both important features for filmmaking hobbyists & professional videographers that are compatible with the original HD HERO camera.”

Now, the BUS thing seems to be vaporware, it’s been “coming soon” since day one. Maybe they’ll get the screen out now that a competitor has one but I doubt it, and the battery pack is pointless. So that’s not something I’d worry about myself.

You do lose the high quality high speed mode so if you want to do slo-mo, that’s a loss. And you lose the highest quality mode, but the lower ones are still very good.

So it’s not as good… You lose some options and some high end. But it’s a lot cheaper. So it’ll depend on exactly what you’re after but for my use (hobbyist, never any more) it’s definately more than adequate.

Northwind, i bought mine about 18 months ago so i just have the std one. cant see the point is upgrading, what difference would i see for the extra money and would it be worth it?

TBH if you’re happy with the quality, you’ll get little benefit, in some ways it’s less good- you’re stuck with the specific battery and the video is harder to work with.

Cubemeup – Is this the same as yours but with the chest strap?

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=60549

ive seen the HD Max at the bike show in London
All i can say this is BIG and would not want this
on my head. And its only 720 HD

Ive searched for a long time I went for the GoPro HD first but
both never worked and then bought the Contour 1080 HD from
Tredz for £ 200.20p and been spot on

Theres only two cams worthwhile thats the Contour HD and Gopro

What would be the PC requirements for the HD version to operate smoothly against the 960 version?
I’ve done a lot of reading today on the GoPro & Contour & wonder if my PC is up to it.

My old Dell Inspiron laptop is well below the recommended spec for viewing the MP4 output, and the pictures run slower than the sound. However once transformed to windows standard vid files, (WMV) it’s not so bad and the quality seems to be retained. I have to transform them anyway as the Windows Movie Maker software, which is all I have at the moment won’t handle the MP4 format. It’s a 960 by the way, and I use free Format Factory to do the formatting.