Drift HD

[strawjack]

that is a cool vid. the drift looked a little brighter to me (leaves on the trees) but that could be a setting? either way the drift and gopro look pretty damn good. although, personally i like the drift mount much better. i don't see many people losing them like the gopro.

[Donnyuga]

The big detractor from the drift was the size. Looks like that's fixed. Thanks for posting up the comparison pics. Seems to be right on par w/ the contour in the size department. I can't believe the 200ft fall and still filming! I'm upgrading from a gopro 960 this year. I was thinking contour for ease of use and size but after this......

[Ripzalot]

(xpost)

any early comparisons out there of the contour+ and the new drift hd?

http://pointofviewcameras.ca/contour-plus-camera.html

http://www.mypov360.com/countdown/

[angrysasquatch]

I am also looking forward to any comparison between contour+ and drift 170.

[skibum_jr]

Hey baconzoo, how much more do you like the hd (small one) compared to the stealth? I found a great deal on the stealth for $180 and the best price i found on the hd is about 360. Do you think it is worth that much more?

[Baconzoo]

The Stealth with the 4 hour battery is still the bomb for all day on the mountain. The HD is smaller yes, but the buttons are too. Going back to using the Stealth after using the HD, I was like: wow, this is easy to navigate. Both have their merits. My advice is to get both, a deal on a Stealth now and for all day on the hill, and a HD when you can afford a second camera. I use 2-3 cameras when I film. One always seems to be getting the timelapse.

[El Chupacabra]

I just got the HD170 "Stealth" (black) cam. The latch on the battery/SD card door seems really flimsy; it's just plastic.

Anyone have any issues with the latch failing? Other than that, this cam meets a lot of the criteria that I'm looking for.

[Baconzoo]

Anyone have any issues with the latch failing?

No, I've had cameras completely caked with mud where I had to pick debris out to get it to close. Still worked perfectly.

[El Chupacabra]

^^^ Good to hear. I guess I'll keep the cam then. (Was considering returning it.)

[skibum_jr]

Thanks for the response bacon. I'll get the stealth for now, but the hd will have to wait till i can save some more money.

[strawjack]

I just got the HD170 "Stealth" (black) cam. The latch on the battery/SD card door seems really flimsy; it's just plastic.

Anyone have any issues with the latch failing? Other than that, this cam meets a lot of the criteria that I'm looking for.

no issues with mine either. been using it a lot in the ocean lately and the WP pouch has worked well. i would like to see some tweaking with that though. i think it could be better in a hard plastic case. the dial opening/closing tabs get clogged up with sand and salt which can be a bit of a pain. no big deal really, just a small area for improvement. the surf board mount needs improvement also. the gopro's looks to be better.

[Ripzalot]

overall i am disappointed with the drifthd. some of the issues are:

- mount clip thingie broke off an arm for no apparent reason and it does not seem to be a standard replacement item. (found a couple from an ebay seller tho - about $30 for 2).

- back panel lost one of it's rubber plugs almost immediately which means i have to use the "solid" back panel. not a big deal but the one with plugs was much more convenient. i recommend putting a drop of glue on the tether end of the rubber plug to ensure that it doesn't come off so easily.

- the goggle mount looks pretty nice at first but in use the weight of the camera causes too much wobble and cause the mount to derail off the goggle strap. i had to rig up a leash as a safety.

- using the fixed mounts kinda sucks. if you mount the camera on top, you gotta get the mount right the first time because you can't adjust the camera up/down when mounted like this (only side to side). you can adjust up/down if the fixed mount is on the side but that's what the goggle mount is for so not really useful. i ended up having to buy an extra set of fixed mounts because removing the original to adjust the position lost it's sticky.

- when mounted on the side (goggle or fixed) you see too much helmet/goggle because of the extra wide angle lens. you can zoom in a little to correct this but every time you turn off/on the camera you lose this setting and have to redo it.

- no pole mount is available or possible. they sell a monopod but i'm a skier and don't want a third stick. there should be a mount to connect the camera to your ski pole.

- the remote sucks. it only stops/starts the video, it doesn't remotely turn on the camera. so i have to take my helmet off to turn it on (or off) each time i want to record. even the oldest Viosport POV had remote turn on/off. it wouldn't be so bad if they had designed the on/off button a little raised or larger so that it would be easier to feel for while on your head.

- camera batteries last about 2 hours. i think they claim 2.5 but i've never gotten that much video. of course, with the lack of remote off/on control, i lose a bunch of power with the camera on but not recording.

- playback and lcd off. the screen and playback is nice to have but when you have the "lcd off" set to 5s or whatever, the lcd goes off during playback. so if you want to playback on the lift, you have to go through the menus and disable the lcd off, playback, the enable the lcd off when you are done. PITA.

- since the lens is on the end of a cone, it is very exposed. this camera should come with a lens cap protector for transport. it's only a matter of time until it gets scratched up.

- sometime i get choppy video toward the end of a long shoot in low light. i don't understand the reason for it. it seems to be fine with the light levels up to that point. in bright light i can run a video as along as i want without any choppiness.


having said all that i guess it's still better than a GoPro since a) it has a remote and b) it has an lcd screen built in. but aside from that it's hard to love this camera.