The GoPro HD Hero on The Slopes
Posted April 1, 2010. Filed under Product Demo.
On the first day of spring, five of The Camera Store staff including Jordan, Stephen, Clayton, Daniel and I hit the slopes in Banff, Alberta toting an HD GoPro Digital HERO. We brought the HERO camera skiing, snowboarding and tubing down the mountain with the little rugged camera attached to our helmets. Although this tiny plastic camera looks very low-tech, it was able to capture very impressive HD footage.
The HD HERO is a small plastic camera that fits inside a mountable waterproof case. There are many variations of mounting accessories available depending on what you want to attach it to. We used the helmet camera strap, which was simple to use and stayed firmly attached to our helmets all day long. It was also remarkably fast and easy to switch the camera between our helmets, so we were able to share one unit.
The camera shoots at 1080p HD and can record at 30 and 60 fps (60 fps in 720p). It can also shoot automatic photos at 2,5,10, 30 and 60 second intervals so we were able to focus on skiing and riding down the slopes while capturing 5-MP stills. The battery lasted about 2.5 hours, which was enough to shoot video footage and stills periodically throughout the day.
I love this camera for the quality of the footage, the simplicity and the durability. The functions are extremely basic and completely automatic, which is good if you are trying to minimize distractions during your activity. My only real beef with the HD HERO is that it does not have an LCD screen on it, so it was hard to know if we captured what we wanted until we uploaded it to a computer. However, GoPro will be releasing a clip-on LCD accessory later this year called the LCD Bakpac.
Even though it is an extremely simple device, the HD HERO is the best performing wearable camera in its price range. You can get the GoPro HD Helmet HERO kit including helmet mounts, a vehicle attachment and a head strap for only $336.47. The HERO is also compatible with other HERO mounting accessories for activities such as biking, surfing and more.
Click here to watch the video footage we captured using the HD Hero.
