GoPro Helmet HERO Makes Sports Videos Easy
Let’s imagine, for a moment, that you were an extreme athlete of some kind- a serious kayaker, a motorcross racer, one of those daredevils into mountain-top whitewater surfing on a dinosaur or something. You would likely wear a helmet, knowing the possible risks of head trauma, and also would likely be interested in filming your endeavors, mostly just so you could have a demo reel for your budding career as a stuntperson. You definitely wouldn’t want to haul your average digicam with you- some are too pricey, others too bulky, and few are waterproof to 30 meters. Enter the GoPro series of digital video cameras.
We’ve been trying out the Helmet HERO Wide, and while our heroics haven’t inspired anyone that we know of, it’s been fun nonetheless. Their sample videos are certainly better than ours, and show off the feature set nicely. Since we don’t actually know Tony Hawk, our tests were significantly less intensive than we would’ve liked. This is an serious sports camera after all; we wanted volcanoes and sharks but were mostly confined to biking on the San Francisco streets. The Castro and Lombard Street are pretty extreme, but we admit that “base jumping” and “biking on a very windy road” aren’t quite the same thing.
Anyway, the wide part of the equation comes from the 170º angle of view, creating an effect that you’ll either love or hate (or, more likely, love sometimes and hate at others). You can’t change it, unfortunately, but the wider perspective makes it easier to manage in some ways- you get a lot more in your shots and a much better view of any hijinks that ensue. The 5 megapixel sensor records 30 fps video at 512×384, so not HD and definitely pixelated, but generally good enough. It can also take photos at two or five second intervals, or on a timer. They call it wireless, but actually that just means self-contained: you pop in a 2GB SD card (maximum allowed at the moment, compatibility with 4GB versions is said to be coming soon via a firmware update), charge the batteries, and you’re good to go. The device quickly plugs in via USB to Macs or PCs, and offers TV out in PAL or NTSC even.
Our biggest frustrations were the storage and battery life limitations- you’ll have to purchase separately a 2 gigabyte card, limiting you to an hour of footage before needing to remove the card and erase or transfer files. That might not be just a huge deal, except that there is no screen on-board the camera, so you have to find a computer to do so. And you have to use your own AAA batteries; they recommend lithium rechargeables, but even with them you’ll get about 3 hours max (ours lasted closer to two before dying). There are reports that colder temperatures can drastically reduce battery lifetimes, but were unable to confirm for certain (placing in a freezer did indeed cut that time greatly though). Audio is also a sacrifice that must be made for super-sturdy housing, and audio results are poor at best. However, the camera is small, lightweight at 5 ounces, and durable- and we haven’t even gotten to the best reason to GoPro over, say, a Flip or another mini-cam.
The neatest part of the setup are the variety of mounts. Included are a vented helmet strap, a headlamp style head strap, and four quick-release adhesive mounts (two curved and two flat, all safe on painted surfaces and pretty stable). But if you want others, they make several to fit a variety of needs, and the ones we tried work well enough to make the flaws in the camera outweighed by the strengths in the system as a whole. We tried the chest mount harness, which looks and feels a bit awkward at first, but makes for nicely steady results at an interesting level and angle. You don’t have to worry about keeping your head in one place, as with a helmet cam, and viewers can see the action of your arms while you are skiing or paddling. At $40, it’s definitely worth it for the versatility it provides, as it can be used both forward and backward easily.
We also tried the suction cup mount, perhaps a bit expensive for what it is at $30, but they claim it works up to 200 MPH for non-impact activities- meaning you can attach it to your car, motorcycle, snowmobile, or cockpit as they suggest. The price of the camera itself is quite reasonable, even considering that you’ll need to get your own batteries and SD card, and runs about $150 online. Overall, the Helmet HERO Wide is fun, easy to use, and surprisingly flexible, and we look forward to GoPro updates bringing us new perspectives on sports and extreme activities of all kind.
