BentMikey
Rider of Seolferwulf
- Location
- South London
A good helmet camera?
- Thread starter Peter91
- Start date
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I like the GPS. It makes it simple with some extra software (Dashware) to put up a speedo. Yes you can get a rough figure from frame measurements (although if your head is moving at the same time, then it makes it very inaccurate), but the GPS figures are harder to argue against.
As for sound, Mike, I do a few sound tests on the day time videos. Again I think the Contour was the winner. The GPS mic position copes very well with wind coming towards you, and okish with crosswind.
As for sound, Mike, I do a few sound tests on the day time videos. Again I think the Contour was the winner. The GPS mic position copes very well with wind coming towards you, and okish with crosswind.
gaz
Cycle Camera TV
- Location
- South Croydon
I do have a garmin, i don't have the contourGPS.
It is of course easy enough to work out speed from the frame rate, but a pain in the arse compared to taking it out of an XML file.
If i can get my arse into gear and fix my speed and cadence sensor, then my garmin will actually read the speed off my wheel rather than from GPS point to point. Although the accuracy on this is determined by how well i measure the circumference of the wheel.
That is what the VIO has had over the gopro, contour etc. is that you can use an external mic of very good quality and it makes for good viewing.
The microphone might be the downside to the contour+ as the internal one is being moved to the front slanty bit, where as at present it is underneath the main body if you stand it up right.
I'll second this. I've had quite a few issues with the GPS and their firmware does seem to be getting better but it's still not right yet.
The main issue is the camera hanging after powering on. This means I've got to pull the battery to reset the device so unless I stand around waiting after resetting it I don't have a GPS lock before I set off.
gaz
Cycle Camera TV
- Location
- South Croydon
Point of view cameras have done a comparison of contour+ with contour GPS
[media]
]View: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5zFu8-Ad74I[/media]
[media]
]View: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5zFu8-Ad74I[/media]
gaz
Cycle Camera TV
- Location
- South Croydon
Looking at the GPS footage, that seems to be pre-version 1.15 firmware and even then, mine looked better than that. Contour+ looks nice but I would be interested to see 720p footage for it - the 170 degree fov risks some serious fisheye unless they've countered it in the camera processing.
While my GPS camera is returned for replacement, I've a ContourHD 1080p camera that was £166 new from Amazon. It's an interesting contrast to the GPS. The 720p footage is better than the GPS currently and 1080p is on a par with the GPS (with 1.15 firmware). If the colour balance for the GPS is tweaked as promised, it will be better. The ContourHD 1080p is pretty good value - its only downside is that it is quite slow to respond to changing brightness conditions and you can see it stepping up and down in variable light.
I've been really hacked off with the GPS camera - this will be my second replacement - but Contour's support is superb and they are gradually working their way to a good product, one that was really a beta imho when released.
John
There is variation within the 1080p camera's, my original 1080p, over a year old, is better than my new one which I bought a few months ago. There are slight differences such as LED light colour and the beep sound, but the main thing is my original is better with changing light conditions or surfaces.
I'm actually having a lot of problems with the GPS a the moment. Freeze ups, battery charge problems, etc. I've written to contour here. If this doesn't get solved soon, I'm close to dumping it.
Most of this camera's lock-up and general recording glitch problems (not all) seem to be card-derived. It just seems to be fussy about what cards it works with, particularly 'no name' brands at 16 and 32gb. To make things worse, all cards must be formatted in the camera first, not by Windows or as supplied, and the method for doing this is not in the supplied manual.
Incompatible or Windows-formatted cards can cause it to either lock up with all lights on, have the record light stay on when off or produce truncated or unreadable files.
To be fair to Contour, it's clear that Ebay-derived cards are behind some of the Contour forum complaints - not only cards reporting fake sizes but ones with real sizes but fake big brand names and speeds.
If you're getting problems, first try the 2gb card supplied by Contour with the camera, and re-format it in the unit. If the lock-ups continue, then it is definitely something else responsible.
Not all lock-ups are due to the card used - there do seem to be hardware differences that may account for end users experience not being those of the firmware developers, and some firmware revisions introduce glitches that weren't there before. The most reliable firmware is 1.09 but this has a long gps lock time, no bluetooth functionality and, compared to version 1.15, poor image quality.
To give an idea of what is possible, I've continuously recorded 75 mile and 100 mile rides on one 32gb card using a home-made cable and external battery pack with no problems at all.
John
I've got Kingston 16Gb card from a reputable dealer (I've been stung before) and I didn't have any major problems until after 1.15. Mind you the fact that it is fussy about cards is in itself a problem. You don't hear of issues like this (at least to the same extent with other cameras.
I certainly did follow the correct procedure in formatting the card. If the 2Gb card is all that would work, then I'd be gubbed anyway. My commute uses more than that. (I know your not saying that is all that works!).
Again if there are hardware difference across the contour GPS then that too is pretty poor. I understand that there can be hardware upgrades over time. However, if some have serious problems that should be sorted out with a recall.
Anyway, I'm hanging in there a little longer, to see if it can be resolved.
Mind you, it's sold as a camera that is plug and play. At the moment, it certainly isn't.
I certainly did follow the correct procedure in formatting the card. If the 2Gb card is all that would work, then I'd be gubbed anyway. My commute uses more than that. (I know your not saying that is all that works!).
Again if there are hardware difference across the contour GPS then that too is pretty poor. I understand that there can be hardware upgrades over time. However, if some have serious problems that should be sorted out with a recall.
Anyway, I'm hanging in there a little longer, to see if it can be resolved.
Mind you, it's sold as a camera that is plug and play. At the moment, it certainly isn't.
I'm not sure. Drift was too big and bulky for me. POV was disapointing for the cost, especially at night, and the DogCam had too narrow a field of view.
I am testing the DogCam HD wide, which is better than the standard version. It's a bit dearer though and not quite up to the others in terms of resolution.
I'm a bit stuck at the moment. The Contour is the best camera IMO when it works.
