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Outrageous Helmet CamThis helmet cam is outrageous. The GoPro Hero HD professional wearable helmet cam is one radical little camera! I use it all the time on my bike and can't believe the quality of the video. I was blown away by the engineering that went into it.
It shoots the most stunning HD video I've seen from something so small. It will fit in the palm of your hand because it measures only 1.6” x 2.4” x 1.2” (42mm x 60mm x 30mm) Now that's tiny so be careful not to loose it. Attach this baby to your helmet with the curved or flat surface adhesive mount, (there are two of each provided) or mount directly to your bike and get ready to capture your ride in the best format available... True HD Video.
Trust me, you'll be amazed with the stunning video, ease of use, and as the folks at GoPro say: The "Shockproof, Bombproof, Waterproof" Housing. With multiple resolution options, you can manage the quality you desire, memory use,(I recommend purchase of 32 GB SD Card) and power consumption. The Hero shoots in 720p, 960p, and 1080p at 30 or 60 fps. In all, there are five video resolution settings:
Are you worried about jittery video? Well, fear not. Whether it's mounted on a helmet or handlebars, it shoots video that is smooth and unaffected by vibrations, bumps, or motion. When I finish the ride and look at the video, I have to laugh out loud because I'm so tickled at the quality from such a tiny device. I can't tell you how much I love this helmet cam! Oh, it also comes with a rugged polycarbonate housing that's totally waterproof down to 180 feet so you can use it in the wettest environments. For bikers, that means it is totally safe to use it in the rain. As for the housing, it appears to be almost indestructible. The helmet cam is held firmly in place and I imagine that you could drop it from four or five feet without it suffering any damage. I purchased an extra skeleton housing for use on sunny days with no threat of rain. This housing is the same size as the waterproof housing, but it has holes cut out on the sides for access to the USB, TV, and HDMI ports, as well as the SD Memory Card.
This is important to me because I like to leave the camera on and recording all day. The approximate life of the fully charged lithium-ion battery is only about 2.5 hours so I just plug the USB cable into the camera and keep it charged from my cigarette lighter plug. I also got the extra handlebar mount to change up the view from helmet to fixed. It fits any diameter of 0.75" to 1.4" (1.9cm – 3.5cm). The kit includes a polycarbonate handlebar clamp and a three way adjustable pivot arm so you I get the angle that I want. The GoPro Hero helmet cam comes with an assortment of goodies: First, you get the 5 megapixel helmet cam with the waterproof housing and lithium-ion battery. And then there are 2 curved surface adhesive mounts and 2 flat surface mounts.
I've used the two curved surface mounts on my helmet. There's one on top and one on the left side. They have been on there for many months and still stick like glue. The mounting hardware consists of a Three-Way Pivoting Side Arm Assembly that attaches to the Quick Release Buckle. (2 ea) This allows you to mount the camera to your helmet then adjust it to almost any angle. There is also a helmet strap to mount it to a vented helmet. If you would rather wear the camera, there's an elastic head strap with the mount to wear the cam like a headlamp. This strap is really neat and I've worn it hunting to get that cool point of view. For charging, whether on the go or at home, there is a USB cable. I plug mine into my cigarette lighter adapter for all day charge. There are also two component Video cables for HDTV and Video/Audio out. GoPro offers a wide array of extras that can be purchased at a surprisingly reasonable cost. For example, the Skeleton Housing and the Handlebar clamp mount. However, they recently released a few really cool add-on items. For 50 bucks you can get the battery BacPac to which almost doubles the battery life. Also, for 80 bucks there's the LCD BacPac which allows you to view as you're recording and to playback afterwards. This one is on my wish list and I hope to have it soon. Both these items plug right in to the back of the cam and both include larger waterproof and skeleton doors to accomodate the BacPacs. There was only one little thing that disappointed my about my helmet cam. Rather, about the sound while recording. When I record with the cam mounted on my helmet there is terrible wind noise. Now, GoPro claims that the sound quality is excellent with little or no wind noise but this isn't the case while the cam is mounted to my helmet. However, to my relief, the sound quality is better when the cam is mounted in a fixed position on the bike, like on the handlebars. Man, what a difference. The sound quality is way better when the cam is mounted. I get some wind noise but I think that is due to the skeleton housing. It has holes on the sides as well as in the back door. I haven't tried it yet, but I think I'm going to use the waterproof housing with the supplied back door that is open to allow more sound to reach the microphone.
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