A good helmet camera?

[Origamist]

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.

I'm thinking about the DC HD wide as a rear cam - post up the results when you've finished the test!

 

[BentMikey]

Shame Mags, sorry to hear about your troubles.

 

[gaz]

I'm a bit stuck at the moment. The Contour is the best camera IMO when it works.

How about the contourhd 1080p camera. I've not had any issues with mine and it must be around 8months old.

All issues it did have seem to be ironed out.

 

[magnatom]

How about the contourhd 1080p camera. I've not had any issues with mine and it must be around 8months old.

All issues it did have seem to be ironed out.

The problem is I like the night time capability. I suspect it is better on the GPS than on the HD. It'd be interesting to compare that.

 

[magnatom]

I'm thinking about the DC HD wide as a rear cam - post up the results when you've finished the test!

I think it would be good as a rear cam. I have some slight concerns over it possibly switching itself off occasionally. Might be I haven't fully charged so I'm checking that. If that's ok I'd want one myself for that!

 

[magnatom]

Shame Mags, sorry to hear about your troubles.

Och, in the grand scheme of things it's not a biggie, but it would be nice to get it sorted. I'd have had some fabulous footage from this mornings commute. Miles of stationary traffic in HD! I have some on my DC HD which I'll post at some point. There is some signing in it. Luckily I had the waterproof cover on that muffles the sound!

 

[Rezillo]

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!)

The 2gb card is more or less guaranteed to work by Contour so it is a useful test, nothing more. If it works with the 2gb card but not with your own then chances are you need to try another card. I've one 16gb card class 4 that locks up with it, and one 16gb pny brand class 2 that is fine.

John

 

[magnatom]

The 2gb card is more or less guaranteed to work by Contour so it is a useful test, nothing more. If it works with the 2gb card but not with your own then chances are you need to try another card. I've one 16gb card class 4 that locks up with it, and one 16gb pny brand class 2 that is fine.

John

I realised that was what you were saying, I'm just grumpy that it is so pernickity. It should, if designed correctly be able to cope with all reasonable, within spec cards. It should certainly be able to cope with the Kingston card.

 

[Rezillo]

I realised that was what you were saying, I'm just grumpy that it is so pernickity. It should, if designed correctly be able to cope with all reasonable, within spec cards. It should certainly be able to cope with the Kingston card.

I agree - at the very least there should be a list of tested and working cards. I think that integrating gps data into the video text track is causing some write problems that are unique to this camera. Having said that, the non-gps version can also be picky about cards!

John

 

[gaz]

I agree - at the very least there should be a list of tested and working cards. I think that integrating gps data into the video text track is causing some write problems that are unique to this camera. Having said that, the non-gps version can also be picky about cards!

John

Is there not on the contour forums? I know there was 2 years ago when i was looking for a new card for my 720p version.

 

[mummra]

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.

I've just added my frustrations to your posting on the Contour forum.
I wish I could narrow it down to a specific thing I was doing but sometimes it works sometime it locks up.

Most of this camera's lock-up and general recording glitch problems (not all) seem to be card-derived.

I've got a Kingston 16GB card purchased from Amazon so hopefully they aren't ripping off their customers (Amazon I mean )
The 2GB card isn't big enough for my extended summer commute but Contour are promoting the camera as accepting upto 32GB cards. Their support do say that a class 2 (from what I remember) card should work fine. I woud really hope that the camera wouldn't have any issues with cards from a well known brand such as Kingston.

I'm kinda hoping that it is just a firmware issue and they can fix it.

 

[Rezillo]

I've got a Kingston 16GB card purchased from Amazon so hopefully they aren't ripping off their customers (Amazon I mean )

It's not necessarily just a fake versus real issue - it seems some size/brand/speed combinations don't work consistently. If you can borrow a card from a mate it's worth trying to see if it behaves differently.

There must be some hardware differences, though. Before my camera failed (the format switch broke off), the beta firmware I was testing simply didn't record at all on my 32gb card but was ok with a 16gb one. The new replacement camera (it arrived in less than three days from Seattle!!) works fine with the same 32 gb card.

I have to say that Contour's support is excellent and there seems to be a genuine commitment to improve issues with the gps version.

John

 

[mummra]

It's not necessarily just a fake versus real issue - it seems some size/brand/speed combinations don't work consistently. If you can borrow a card from a mate it's worth trying to see if it behaves differently.

John

I've tried 2 different cards as I tried an 8GB card that is now in my phone.
Some issues.

I think I'm going to have to try the 2GB card for a quick ride this afternoon to see if I have any issues.

 

[Rezillo]

I've tried 2 different cards as I tried an 8GB card that is now in my phone.
Some issues.

I think I'm going to have to try the 2GB card for a quick ride this afternoon to see if I have any issues.

This utility is good not only for revealing fake capacity cards but giving an indication of speed as well:

http://www.heise.de/software/download/h2testw/50539 (it has an English option).

Remember to delete the test file after use.

I've found, though, that in terms of absolute speed, a lot depends on the card reader you use. Provided you use the same one for testing different cards, though, it does provide some comparison information and it's noticeable that the couple of problem cards I have test lower than the ones that work ok and that Contour's stock 2gb cards are pretty fast. It's not that straightforward or consistent as being a speed issue, unfortunately.

John

 

[mummra]

This utility is good not only for revealing fake capacity cards but giving an indication of speed as well:

http://www.heise.de/...d/h2testw/50539 (it has an English option).

Remember to delete the test file after use.

John

I saw a posting on Contour's forum about 30 minutes ago about this and am currently doing it already on the 16GB card.