The Mtbr POV Camera Shootout

[Photo-John]

I've been working on a shootout with the top POV cameras and I finally finished it today. I built a special helmet rig so I could record video with six cameras at the same time for a true back-to-back test. It looks really silly and it's definitely not safe - but it gets the job done:



I confess, I'm not really much of a POV camera user. I prefer still photography and if I'm gonna shoot video, it's usually not POV stuff. But I really enjoyed the technical challenge of setting up this shootout. And I learned a ton in the process. I'd love to know what you guys think of the results.

Please post comments on the shootout page, too!

[CommuterBoy]

I read it with a lot of interest and a little bit of fear, because I recently purchased a Hero 3 Black edition... I didn't want it to lose! It appears that you confirmed what I had assumed about its performance based on what I could gather from specs and reviews.

Great shootout! And that helmet makes me feel a little better about riding through my neighborhood with my homemade 'unicorn' mount.

[Cotharyus]

I read the review, and thought the conclusion as far as best camera was a little predictable. Granted, it's not wrong. I wasn't expecting the Sony at all though. On the whole, that making the "best of the rest" at its price point is mind blowing. That said, if I was buying a POV camera, I'd probably still lean towards the best of the best, but my faith is a little shaken by all the problems reported with the early Black. Anyone know what the status is on that situation? Has a firmware update been released that fixes all the problems people where having with it?

[bsieb]

POV Action Cam Shootout – Which Camera Is The Best? | Mountain Bike Review

[CommuterBoy]

my faith is a little shaken by all the problems reported with the early Black. Anyone know what the status is on that situation? Has a firmware update been released that fixes all the problems people where having with it?

I got mine right around Christmas. It was the early release one without the firmware update on it, and it came with instructions to go to the website to update the firmware (to make the bluetooth work with the phone app, etc...). I apparently got lucky, because their website crashed due to the holiday overload with everyone trying to do the same thing. Mine updated just fine, works great, and I haven't had a single problem.

What happened to a (relatively) few people, was that the website froze up in the middle of the update process, or they got a bum update, resulting in a total crash of the firmware...some people were able to re-update and it worked fine, some people couldn't get it to work at all and had to return the camera. Some people don't know how to use the internet and thought it was broken when it wasn't.

As I understand it now, all the ones in stores have the firmware update already installed, and those problems are pretty much over.