[Closed] Helmet cam... Advice and choice

only to options... gopro or contour 😀

Or the Drift HD170

Gopro still the best... All those 3 have really good image quality, almost interchangable. Gopro beats Contour in bright light and for transitions though, but has that pronounced fisheye effect. But they're all excellent.

Gopro just plain wins on the mounting options, there's nothing better than chest mount for allround use. The others look less silly on a helmet mount but they don't actually work any better, and the goggle mount really isn't very useful.

So, get the Gopro 960 and a chest mount. IMO of course 😉

The Gopro's white balance looks off in a lot of vids I have seen, and sometimes over saturated. The Drifts colour reproduction looks a lot more natural.

Northwind - Member
Gopro still the best... All those 3 have really good image quality, almost interchangable. Gopro beats Contour in bright light and for transitions though, but has that pronounced fisheye effect. But they're all excellent.

You can buy a polarised lens that sits behind the lens for the Contour and fits the GOPRO too.
I personally have the Contour 1080 HD and had two Dud Go Pro HD,s and found the GO Pro help
totally crap with an F in front of it.

Angle of view this is a personal one I prefer the Contour has not as wide
The Go Pro chest Mount is a FAB view but i do like the sleek small Contour
with its rotating lens and so simple to use.

I do wish the Go Pro had worked but after two going wrong i will never go back
Contour have a FAB web site forum and the guys give fantastic help and feel they want you
to get the most out of your Cam.

I have seen the Contour 1080 HD on Amazon today for £ 162.00p
Cheaper now as there pushing the same unit but with GPS built in.

grantway - Member

Contour have a FAB web site forum and the guys give fantastic help and feel they want you to get the most out of your Cam.

See, my experience of Contour's customer service was when they launched their first camera to the paying public as basically a live beta, it just didn't work ... Couple of mates of mine had them, after 6 months the patches meant that they actually could record and save video fairly consistently but still often switched off mid video or desynched the video (rolling shutter defects). I had an Oregon at the time which was awful but at least it worked.

Eventually they launched a revised model which fixed the hardware issues, but refused to replace the original ones and stopped supplying patches for it. All the while, deleting any critical post off their website. The Superstar of the camera world 😉

But I won't knock the current camera, it's very good and I'd be happy with one.

Yeah the first VoldR was totally bugged and even worried about that
But a lot of Contour r & r regarding the past units was put to rest.
Unsure but there may have been a buy out.

But GO Pro they just had no idea what was going wrong I told the problems
of both units and went through there and mine ideas on putting things right
then they did not bother getting back to me.

i admit I must of had two of the first Go Pro units in the country at the time
and just may be a rushed out batch, but i just found there lack of response
and left in the dark non acceptable.

I have not heard any bad things or problems with both units at the moment.

Ah, if there's been a change of ownership then that'd make a big difference. I'd no idea how they kept trading this long tbh!

I'm currently camera testing.
So far, only tried a GoBandit. Don't buy one...
Contour GPS next week.

mate of mine got the Drift HD170 and it's amazing!

Loads of reviews out there and here's a nice comparison video.

Contour GPS now comes with smart phone app so you can use that to adjust settings on the fly and as a view finder.

I had the Contour HD1080, which was great, but traded up to the GPS version, which was a big mistake.

There are a lot of people having problems with the video quality on the Contour GPS, just have a look at their forums for more info. Also, the Bluetooth app, which is why I bought the camera in the first place, seems to be causing problems for a lot of people.

Also, the build quality of the Contour GPS doesn't seem to be as good as the HD1080 and you get a lot of movement on the mounts, which means the video is always a bit wobbly, especially on bumpy trails. The lockable flat surface mounts are the worse. One knock when they're locked and you immediately get 2-3mm movement in the mount that can't be fixed.

The goggle mount and the handlebar mount also transmit a lot of vibration to the camera - I think the rail system, being plastic, wears as you use it and the camera then wobbles on the mounts. Okay for skydiving, but not for mountain biking where vibration is an issue.

Contour customer service was okay at first, but when a lot of people started having problems with the GPS unit, especially the video quality, it all went very quiet and people started getting frustrated.

I gave up on it in the end and bought the GoPro HD. Much better mounting options, much better stability on the mounts and the chest mount just works so well for mountain biking. So far I've been very happy with it.

If you can get the Contour HD1080 for £162 then that's quite a bargain, but I still think I'd spend the extra on the GoPro. I picked mine up brand new off eBay for £229.

I've been pretty underwhelmed with my contour 1080. It's the mounts and the vibration that are the biggest issue. I've fitted rubber "dampers" under the bar mount clamp and a "bung" between the cam and the mount. That does greatly improve things but it's just a faff. The bar clamp is also just a nasty piece of plastic tat.

Using the goggle strap mount when skiing it's a choice between make the goggles so tight your eyes bleed or suffer it rotating when you hit bumps or land.

Does that sound damming? Well when it works it's very good, but it's the far too frequent disappointment of crap footage (quality rather than gnar in my case) because of the mounts that spoils it for me.

There is a new Contour that is being or has been released. Contour+.

Love my GoPro. Not had any problems at all and my kids love using it around the skate park 😯

Good deal here with free chest mount (my favourite method of mount for mtb'ing) http://www.roughrideguide.co.uk/mtb-gadgets.html

So if I buy a gopro from a shop in the states, how much import duty will they put on it?

[url] http://www.jensonusa.com/store/product/CD266A00-Gopro+Hd+Hero+960+Video+Camera.aspx?sc=FRGLUK&cc=GBP [/url]

Work on 25-30% for import duty.

Hmm, they also suggest they might not ship outside the states. Even if they do with import duty and shipping it's not such a good deal.

Last daft question from me then, how good (or bad) are the normal non-HD gopro's? I'm not convinced I need HD to be honest. Singletracksurfer's link has the original for 100 nicker, seems like a deal to me.

Bought my Go Pro HD from pinkbike for a very small amount - think it worked out at £180 (free shipping). Also have the LCD bacpak so i can preview stuff. Have had loads of massive crashes on it and its not suffered at all.

Lots of recent footage [url=

aaah, I see, only 2GB, that's a bit pants then

Yeah if you get caught for duty I think it generally works out more expensive. Some people get away with it, some don't. Could be an arse dealing with overseas if things went wrong too.

Sorry haven't used the non HD, but I've heard good things about it.
Quality is superb on the HD - more than I need really. If it's just for the t'internet the standard should be fine.

get camera, silicone cover and cleaning kit for £100!!

Contour have released new firmware this week sorting the picture quality and bluetooth connection issues for the GPS model.

another thread going on this if you want any more info etc http://www.singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/gopro-camera

Looking at the Contour forum it seems the new firmware for the GPS has only made minor improvements to the sharpness, at the expense of colour reproduction.

I get the impression the Contour technical department is focussed more on the new Contour+ rather than fixing the problems with an "old" model.

I think I'll stick with my GoPro thanks.

samuri - Member

Last daft question from me then, how good (or bad) are the normal non-HD gopro's?

They're alright. Very good for what they are but if you can afford a HD one, it'd be daft not to. They're low resolution but really do get excellent results despite that. More natural colour balance too, I agree the HD is slightly "accented", gives it a bit of a made-for-tv feel. Personally I consider that a plus point, you can tune it out in your editor but really accurate video tends to be a bit drab.

If on the other hand you want to buy a used one 😉 Email me on andrew@blackjack.f9.co.uk

wheelz - Member
I get the impression the Contour technical department is focussed more on the new Contour+ rather than fixing the problems with an "old" model.

Maybe it's the same management after all!

How much do you want for yours Northwind?

Is it a 5 wide?