The two big players in the industry are GoPro and Contour but any other vendor alternatives should be included too for comparison purposes.
Here's my $0.02 worth of input on the ContourGPS (http://contour.com/products/contour-gps) and why I bought it:
I've always been impressed with the video footage from the GoPro cameras but the wind noise was unacceptable when driving topless so I held off buying one.
The new GoPro Hero 2 has an external microphone which should help eliminate/minimise wind noise and I was all set to buy one when someone pointed out that Contour has a couple of cameras with in-built GPS.
A camera with in-built GPS is exactly what's needed to record track video and the "Dashware" track software (cheap at US$50) can display this as an overlay on the video so I decided to buy the Contour GPS model - the Contour+ model was $200 more expensive.
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Initial impressions:
This is a tiny, quality-built camera, no cheap-plastic bits that look like they'll break off at any instant.
The first thing I did with my camera was to update the firmware since it came wth 1.09 and the latest firmware is 1.18 so there have been a lot of changes. This was a 2-stage firware update since it first had to be updated to 2.13, then to 2.18 - the Contour "Storyteller" application automatically selected 1.13 for me but I updated 2.18 manually. The Contour site provides good instructions on how to do firmware upgrades.
The next step was setting up my Android phone to use the free Contour app. This application allows the camera settings to be configured via Bluetooth and can display camera footage at 1Hz (Bluetooth is too slow for streaming video) which is useful to align the camera. The camera has two laser sights that can be used to align it but it's much easier to do it via the phone. Unfortunately you cannot view video while the camera is recording.
The default day-time camera settings were supposed to be OK so I left them alone.
The camera has two modes which are configurable (you can record at 1080p, 720p 60Hz/50Hz/30Hz/25Hz, or take time-delayed snapshots) and can be toggled beween via a button on the rear of the camera. This button, like the USB port, is hidden behind the rear cover.
I borrowed a friend's suction-cup mount while I waited for my roll-bar mount to arrive.
Video quality is excellent as you'd expect these days.
Wind noise is still an issue - when I had the suction cup mounted to a flat portion of the roll bar you could still hear wind noise but you could also hear the engine and what I had playing on the stereo (old-school hard rock, none of that techno/rap crap).
The Contour GPS microphone sits below the lens and picks up all ambient noise.
When I mounted the camera on the windscreen there was NO audio at all - lots of camera shake though.
If I used the camera as a cam-corder and narrated what I was shooting you couldn't hear that either - it seems like the microphone would be best placed somewhere inside the cabin, well behind the dashboard to pick up engine noise.
Here are the major differences between the next model up, the Contour+, and my ContourGPS:
- Laser Alignment (no laser alignment on the Contour+)
+ iPhone Connect View Card included (not needed for Bluetooth connectivity with Android phones)
+ Mini HDMI port
+ Live streaming via Mini HDMI
+ External Microphone Jack
+ 170* Viewing Angle (vs 135* for ContourGPS)
+ 270* Lens Rotation (vs 180* for ContourGPS)
+ 4Hz GPS Update Rate (vs 2Hz for ContourGPS)
If you have an iPhone, the Contour+ is the better package since it includes the Connect View Card needed for Bluetooth connecticity. This is not needed for Android phones.
The higher GPS rate on the Contour+ is useful for more accurate track plots. Some people have modified their camera's configuration files to record at 4Hz but it's not recommended by Contour as it leads to GPS inaccuracies.
The viewing angle I'm not fussed about, 135* is fine for a track video given that I won't be involved in any door-door racing.
The external microphone jack is definitely required to eliminate wind noise when driving topless.
It seems that my big gripe with the original GoPro cameras, wind noise, is also a problem with my ContourGPS and in hindsight maybe I should have forked out the extra $200 for the Contour+
