Owenski
18-06-12, 12:39 PM
I thought I'd write this review because I took the decision to buy this camera very seriously, I wanted to make sure this was a "buy right, buy once" purchase. Although technically my second helmet camera the first (dogcam sport) was categorically an introductory camera, it wasn't a true piece of kit and considering it came without full HD support and had a terrible battery life along with a few other "niggles". It was apparent shortly after purchase that I would be restricted by the dogcam and so I started considering other more technologically advanced cameras.
The Purchase Pre-Reasoning:
Initially when I bought the dogcam it was because I'd started taking in new routes to work which involved a lot more pedestrian routes (ie not the motorway). This meant that I'd started to encounter a lot more junctions and stationary traffic, in turn that meant I'd started to have more WTF moments whilst riding. I partly wanted to document these for insurance purposes but also to be able to show friends/co-workers the footage of my experiences out there in city traffic. The dogcam was perfect for this, a cheapy little camera great for taking the knocks of daily use but anything longer than the commute and it ran out of battery or memory or both. Forget to recharge or delete and half of a journey would be missed, this got frustrating and even more so when friends and I headed off mountain biking I'd have to pick and choose the moments at which to record through the day and often missed the bets parts due to not having any clue something good was coming up.
Now I've got a motorcross day booked in August and I'd love to capture the whole day, with the dogcam that wasn't an option so I decided to bite the bullet and make a purchase.
The Choice:
If I thought deciding if to buy or not to buy was the hard choice I had another thing coming, once I'd made up my mind on buying a camera I then had to decide which ones to buy. I had one criteria "buy right, buy once" this meant looking through the market and ignoring price but instead just buying the right camera for me the following made my short list:
Contour ROAM
Contour GPS
Contour+
Drift HD 1080p
GoPro2 HD
Narrowing the search down a little bit I discarded the Drift because its very bulky and cumbersome, I also discarded the ROAM because it didnt have the tech or either the other 3 straight away leaving me with:
Contour GPS
Contour+
GoPro2 HD
So I began comparing the features of all three cameras, essentially the Contour+ and the GoPro2 are the same thing in a different package. I've never been a fan of the GoPro's looks but because of its reputation decided if I were to buy either of these market leaders it would be the GoPro (Im a sucker for marketing lol). So 3 became 2, a straight 50/50 decision between the 2 units. ContourGPS or the GoPro.
The image capture quality of both cameras is very similar but the GoPro just edges the sound side.
I decided that as opposed to comparing their similarities I'd be better off comparing the other features this is because I was not to be fooled by the contour's GPS function as I know Im rarely going to use it.
I thought therefore I would compare functions of the units to see which one I'd use to the fullest and in short this is what I concluded.
The Contour and GoPro are so similar that I started to question the extra £200+ and if it was worth it, the contour allowed for bluetooth connection to my phone so although it didn't have a screen as such I could still preview things via bluetooth. The software support for the Contour ensures that even as the tech progresses your camera does too, this was enough to convince me that the truth of me keeping the GoPro in the contest was purely because everyone says "get a gopro" answer me this though, how many of those saying it even own a gopro? VERY FEW is the answer or ZERO in my case. It seems odd that everyone knows you should have one but no one actually does... Anyway with that I started finding the best deal on a contourGPS eventually stumbling across this deal:
http://electronics.simplyelectronics.net/search?currency=gbp&country=GB&w=contour&asug=
The New Toy:
My bank balance is £220 lower but this morning I became the proud owner of this contourGPS:
http://www.drz400uk.org/download/file.php?id=2156&t=1
9mm longer than a standard credit card and exactly the same height I was amazed at how small it is, all the publicity images surrounding the unit show it to be much larger than it actually is. Coming in a package with 2 style mounts I immediately mounted it onto my lid.
http://www.drz400uk.org/download/file.php?id=2155&t=1
I used the flat surface rotating mount and I'm really happy with the placement of it, the rotating lens means it can be mounted in any orientation and still give you a perfectly aligned feed.
When the camera arrives you're required to format the memory card and for best results update the firmware, this allows me to make adjustments to the camera using my mobile phone details of which can be found online but this is bloody awesome to mess about with.
The camera location I selected was on top of my helmet with the camera laid flat:
http://www.drz400uk.org/download/file.php?id=2154&t=1
http://www.drz400uk.org/download/file.php?id=2153&t=1
This is because I'm hoping to be able to see things going on around me with out my helmet blocking the shot. I'm now all up to date and have the setup sorted.
Uploading/Viewing:
The bluetooth connection its a streaming upload, you cannot go for a ride and then watch the footage back on your phone (although you can with the contour+) instead in order to watch the video files you need to connect the camera to a PC via the USB cable provided. The patented T rail system means taking the camera off the helmet is really easy so no messing about and you're plugged in and ready to upload the footage to your computer.
Contour provide some editing software called Story Teller, this software allows a user to instantly upload and edit their video with handy editing functions and an "AWESOME" button which allows those who you share the video with to click straight to the best bit as determined by the uploader.
This is another reason I selected this camera, its a complete unit. None of this "yeah its £300... but you need this as well, oh and one of these, its pointless unless you buy this as well so that comes to 7billion pounds" bull**** you get with the gopro.
Once you've uploaded the footage you can quick share it with facebook users / friends, embed the code and also transfer it to youtube channels if you wish. Im yet to trial this out but Im hoping that if footage is kept away from Youtube the quality may not be as restricted as youtube generally makes it.
The Footage:
http://contour.com/stories/test3--23
Watch the video through the above link for better quality than youtube.
The Verdict:
I think for the money its a fricking steal, the ONLY fault I have with this unit is the lacking auxiliary external mic feature HOWEVER those with the auxiliary external mic all state "splashproof" this is waterproof... thats significant when riding my bike all year round and also if I bin it in a puddle whilst off roading.
If you can spare £250 for a camera then this is the best way of spending it.
The Purchase Pre-Reasoning:
Initially when I bought the dogcam it was because I'd started taking in new routes to work which involved a lot more pedestrian routes (ie not the motorway). This meant that I'd started to encounter a lot more junctions and stationary traffic, in turn that meant I'd started to have more WTF moments whilst riding. I partly wanted to document these for insurance purposes but also to be able to show friends/co-workers the footage of my experiences out there in city traffic. The dogcam was perfect for this, a cheapy little camera great for taking the knocks of daily use but anything longer than the commute and it ran out of battery or memory or both. Forget to recharge or delete and half of a journey would be missed, this got frustrating and even more so when friends and I headed off mountain biking I'd have to pick and choose the moments at which to record through the day and often missed the bets parts due to not having any clue something good was coming up.
Now I've got a motorcross day booked in August and I'd love to capture the whole day, with the dogcam that wasn't an option so I decided to bite the bullet and make a purchase.
The Choice:
If I thought deciding if to buy or not to buy was the hard choice I had another thing coming, once I'd made up my mind on buying a camera I then had to decide which ones to buy. I had one criteria "buy right, buy once" this meant looking through the market and ignoring price but instead just buying the right camera for me the following made my short list:
Contour ROAM
Contour GPS
Contour+
Drift HD 1080p
GoPro2 HD
Narrowing the search down a little bit I discarded the Drift because its very bulky and cumbersome, I also discarded the ROAM because it didnt have the tech or either the other 3 straight away leaving me with:
Contour GPS
Contour+
GoPro2 HD
So I began comparing the features of all three cameras, essentially the Contour+ and the GoPro2 are the same thing in a different package. I've never been a fan of the GoPro's looks but because of its reputation decided if I were to buy either of these market leaders it would be the GoPro (Im a sucker for marketing lol). So 3 became 2, a straight 50/50 decision between the 2 units. ContourGPS or the GoPro.
The image capture quality of both cameras is very similar but the GoPro just edges the sound side.
I decided that as opposed to comparing their similarities I'd be better off comparing the other features this is because I was not to be fooled by the contour's GPS function as I know Im rarely going to use it.
I thought therefore I would compare functions of the units to see which one I'd use to the fullest and in short this is what I concluded.
The Contour and GoPro are so similar that I started to question the extra £200+ and if it was worth it, the contour allowed for bluetooth connection to my phone so although it didn't have a screen as such I could still preview things via bluetooth. The software support for the Contour ensures that even as the tech progresses your camera does too, this was enough to convince me that the truth of me keeping the GoPro in the contest was purely because everyone says "get a gopro" answer me this though, how many of those saying it even own a gopro? VERY FEW is the answer or ZERO in my case. It seems odd that everyone knows you should have one but no one actually does... Anyway with that I started finding the best deal on a contourGPS eventually stumbling across this deal:
http://electronics.simplyelectronics.net/search?currency=gbp&country=GB&w=contour&asug=
The New Toy:
My bank balance is £220 lower but this morning I became the proud owner of this contourGPS:
http://www.drz400uk.org/download/file.php?id=2156&t=1
9mm longer than a standard credit card and exactly the same height I was amazed at how small it is, all the publicity images surrounding the unit show it to be much larger than it actually is. Coming in a package with 2 style mounts I immediately mounted it onto my lid.
http://www.drz400uk.org/download/file.php?id=2155&t=1
I used the flat surface rotating mount and I'm really happy with the placement of it, the rotating lens means it can be mounted in any orientation and still give you a perfectly aligned feed.
When the camera arrives you're required to format the memory card and for best results update the firmware, this allows me to make adjustments to the camera using my mobile phone details of which can be found online but this is bloody awesome to mess about with.
The camera location I selected was on top of my helmet with the camera laid flat:
http://www.drz400uk.org/download/file.php?id=2154&t=1
http://www.drz400uk.org/download/file.php?id=2153&t=1
This is because I'm hoping to be able to see things going on around me with out my helmet blocking the shot. I'm now all up to date and have the setup sorted.
Uploading/Viewing:
The bluetooth connection its a streaming upload, you cannot go for a ride and then watch the footage back on your phone (although you can with the contour+) instead in order to watch the video files you need to connect the camera to a PC via the USB cable provided. The patented T rail system means taking the camera off the helmet is really easy so no messing about and you're plugged in and ready to upload the footage to your computer.
Contour provide some editing software called Story Teller, this software allows a user to instantly upload and edit their video with handy editing functions and an "AWESOME" button which allows those who you share the video with to click straight to the best bit as determined by the uploader.
This is another reason I selected this camera, its a complete unit. None of this "yeah its £300... but you need this as well, oh and one of these, its pointless unless you buy this as well so that comes to 7billion pounds" bull**** you get with the gopro.
Once you've uploaded the footage you can quick share it with facebook users / friends, embed the code and also transfer it to youtube channels if you wish. Im yet to trial this out but Im hoping that if footage is kept away from Youtube the quality may not be as restricted as youtube generally makes it.
The Footage:
http://contour.com/stories/test3--23
Watch the video through the above link for better quality than youtube.
The Verdict:
I think for the money its a fricking steal, the ONLY fault I have with this unit is the lacking auxiliary external mic feature HOWEVER those with the auxiliary external mic all state "splashproof" this is waterproof... thats significant when riding my bike all year round and also if I bin it in a puddle whilst off roading.
If you can spare £250 for a camera then this is the best way of spending it.