When
it comes to filming wakeboarding and trying to achieve the POV look or just
filming from the water, the first 2 cameras that come to mind are the GoPro HDs
and the Contour HDs. Go pros have been around for the longest but Contours are
becoming a great competition with their rotatable lenses, light weight and the
most important thing: they float. Anyone who`s ever used a go pro before would
know that without the little floatation device attached, you better hope you
don’t drop it cause it’ll sink before you can say good bye go pro. On that note
the contours not only float, but also have Bluetooth and GPS built in them.
With the GPS you can track your ride and the Bluetooth allows you look through
your IPhone, Ipad or any other device that has Bluetooth, giving you the ultimate
viewfinder. Another major thing about the contour that I like is that you can
never be mistaken if you`re recording or not. They have an unmistakable way of
hitting record/stop, by sliding a piece on the camera forward revealing the
word “REC” with big red letters. I’ve used both cameras before and I can safely
say that me personally, I prefer the contour HD family for their low weight,
easily exchangeable LI-ON batteries and their tiny micro SD cards that can hold
up to 2 hours of 1080p footage.
What Wired
Says: The tech magazine gave the ContourGPS
the coveted Editor’s Pick stamp and an 8 out of 10 rating, the highest of the 4
cameras tested: Vio POV.HD rated at 7, GoPro HD Helmet Hero rated at 6 and
Looxcie rated at 3.
And for anybody on a budget, the new ContourROAM offers the best value in hands free
video cameras, period. It offers incredible image quality at a bargain price by
leaving off a few bells and whistles. Outdoorgearlab.com gave it their best buy
award: ”It was a tough call to decide which one (vs. GoPro) got the
Best Buy award, but ultimately it went to the Contour because of the better
image quality which is same as the Contour+ which costs an extra $300.”
Overall:The GoPro HD Hero and the Contour HD
cameras are very good at what they are designed to do (shoot close-up HD action
footage in a variety of conditions). The Contour HD is a little more stylish,
and it’s out-of-the-way mount is more convenient as well, but the GoPro is more
adjustable in the field and has more accessories available to enhance your use
experience like the LCD Bacpac, various mounts, etc.