and VHoldr's ContourHD 1080p
. However, the built-in color LCD here lets you do something you just can't do on either of those two: check your footage on the camera itself. Does this make up for some of the cam's other shortcomings? Read on to find out.Unboxing and first impressions
First thoughts on unboxing the HD170 is that this is one big mamma jamma -- relatively. It's about two full inches longer than the ContourHD and easily dwarfs the GoPro HD. It's the heaviest of the three, too, weighing in at 175g compared to the ContourHD's 127g and the GoPro's 100g. However, throw the GoPro into its polycarbonate case (required for mounting) and that jumps up to 169g. Still, any extra weight is magnified when it's attached to your head, and the HD170's size makes it a little tricky to mount in some tight areas. Its size and styling also makes it hard to miss, despite a design that has a lot in common with the rather more stealthy ContourHD.
Like VHoldr's offering, this camera is long and narrow, rather more aerodynamic than the tiny toaster design of the GoPro. It also offers the rotating barrel of the ContourHD, meaning regardless of the mounted angle of the camera at you can easily ensure a perfectly vertical image. This makes mounting on angled handlebars easy, a feature made even more useful by the integrated LCD, something neither of the others offer. Despite its First Class Forever size the screen is hugely handy... sometimes. If you're mounting on a rollbar or frame or the like you can turn on the cam and instantly tell whether you have it oriented just right. However, if you have the thing mounted on the side of your lid you'll still have no idea what you're filming until afterward. For this situation we still prefer the ContourHD's laser sights.
The LCD also means on-device reviewing of footage, so that you can ensure every moment of your last yard sale was captured in glorious detail, and provides a helpful UI for changing resolution, exposure, and other settings on the camera. This is a definite improvement over the clunky button presses required on the GoPro and the inability to tweak much of anything in the field with the ContourHD.
Flip open the back and you'll find room for the 1110mAh battery, an SDHC card, a miniUSB connector, and a second connector for the included component/composite video and audio outputs -- unfortunately no HDMI. Also included in the box are mounts for attaching to a helmet, affixing to goggles, clamping onto handlebars, or strapping on to just about whatever you like. But, sadly there's no suction cup mount on offer, and neither is there a standard, threaded receiver.
Finally, there's the remote control. Unlike the one on the Tachyon XC
it is not infra-red, meaning you don't have to worry about line of sight. But, there was an annoying lag between hitting a button on the remote and having the cam actually start filming. It was just a second or so, but enough to make us think it didn't register and so hit the button again -- canceling the first press. Once you get used to that it works very nicely, but we do wish there was a recording indicator light on the remote itself.Performance
The novelty of having a camera strapped to your head has largely worn off, so if that noggin-borne device doesn't capture good-quality footage it simply isn't worth having around. The HD170 records at a maximum of 1080p30 at about a 12MBps bitrate, matching the resolution and frame rate of the other two here with a quality that's comparable as well. We filmed most of our footage on an unfortunately overcast day, not ideal conditions for these tiny sensors, but the HD170 delivered footage very close to the other two in terms of ultimate brightness and color reproduction.
But, it added one thing not noticed on the other two: jelly vision. Some CMOS image sensors generate a perceived jelly effect when filming footage, something seen on DSLRs like Nikon's D5000
and definitely noticeable here, too. Check out the 40 second mark in the video above: a bogged engine and a slight bump in the road causes a disconcerting amount of rendered wobbliness. The other two cams show a bit as well, but it's nowhere near as noticeable. (Note: the shaky mount on the GoPro produces some excessive vibration, but relatively little jelly.) This effect is only noticeable when the ride gets bumpy, so if you're filming a road race you should be fine. However, if you're into downhill mountain biking this probably isn't your camera.Another area of disappointment is audio quality. We've already lambasted the ContourHD for its excessive wind noise and praised the GoPro for its clear sound seemingly regardless of speed. The HD170 is the worst of the bunch, distorting sound at any speed as if it were recording underwater. The deep rumble of a motorcycle exhaust is turned into an odd high-pitched squeal and, while wind noise is not much of a problem, that's mostly because everything sort of fades into the static.
This is probably due to the camera's "waterproof" nature and, while we hate to use unnecessary quotes, in this they feel appropriate because the HD170 is rated to survive a mere half-meter plunge. In other words: getting splashed with mud is probably okay, but whatever you do don't trip into a kiddy pool.
Wrap-up
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