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GoPro or Contour GPS ? Anyone have either of these?

Nemo BrauchNemo Brauch
in General Training Discussions

I'm thinking about getting the hubby a helmet cam for our anniversary.  Between all the surfing, hanggliding, white water kayaking, windsurfing, etc stuff he does and the hiking, canoeing, sailing, etc stuff we do together- I figure it would be a fun toy for him to have (oh- and, sure, I wouldn't mind borrowing it once and a while for my bike rides) 

I'm trying to decide between the GoPro and the Contour GPS.  The Contour seems to be a sleeker design (less- box on top of your head sorta thing) and I think he'd really dig seeing the video alongside the GPS info (I know I would!).  But the wide angle is 135 degrees vs 170 on the GoPro.  So I'm trying to figure out if that wide angle difference is significant enough for the purposes we'd (oooops, I mean HE would) be using the camera.

Has anyone played around with one or the other of these? 

Comments

  • Tom GlynnTom Glynn
    I don't know anything about the Contour, but I bought one of my kids a GoPro for Christmas and it's a well used device. It's simple to use, all plug and play. The neighborhood kids make a variety of movies and post them to YouTube for fun. It's a pretty rugged device and it's seen a lot of abuse.
  • Coach RichCoach Rich

    I have the Contour GPS and ride motorycles with a lot of GoPro guys. My notes on the Contour:

    • Much lower profile, as you describe. Not a box on your head.
    • Not as many mounting options as the GoPro, unless they've added some since I bought mine. I think the popularity of the GP is in large part due to the wide variety of mounting options.
    • The laser sighting thing for the Contour is pretty cool (I have a LASER on my head!!) but the GP is easier to get how/where you want to the view to be, as it swivels around more, if that makes sense.
    • The GPS feature is pretty cool and I've heard there is software out there that can pair your GPS data with power data from a Garmin and you can add power and speed data to your cycling video? Of course this is for Joe so he wouldn't care about that.....
    • Contour has a very prominent record on/off switch which is very easy to activate on the fly. However, the power button on/off switch is a PITA to find and depress. Its a tiny ass rubber button on the back of the unit that you have to really really crank on and mine appears to be getting harder to activate over time.
    • The picture quality of each is top notch. Bandwidth on the upload and on the hosting site is more the limiting factor than the hardware/
  • Nemo BrauchNemo Brauch
    Thanks guys! Rich- I should have figured you'd already have one of these for the moto- thanks for the review.
  • samrittersamritter

    I have the GoPro and tried it on my helmet while riding aero.  Not too much fun.

    I'm looking for other mounting options.  I think I'll try the underside of my XLab Torpedo Mount and mount it upside-down as there is an option in camera, or software to flip the video.

  • Nemo BrauchNemo Brauch
    I ended up ordering the Contour Roam. I didn't think Joe would care about the GPS nearly as much as he'd care about having a surfboard mount and waterproof casing- so I traded the GPS functionality for the accessories. I'll let you know how well we like it after I give it to him and we test it out a little.
  • Nemo BrauchNemo Brauch
    I ended up ordering the Contour Roam. I didn't think Joe would care about the GPS nearly as much as he'd care about having a surfboard mount and waterproof casing- so I traded the GPS functionality for the accessories. I'll let you know how well we like it after I give it to him and we test it out a little.
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