Competitor to the GoPro

There is a fish eye lens for the Playsports. 

Are you using either of those lenses(wide or fish) yet Jeff?

Gonna order the wide angle now, i'll do a  product review after i use it.

Are you using either of those lenses(wide or fish) yet Jeff?

Gonna order the wide angle now, i'll do a  product review after i use it.

Yep.  I use the fish eye lens - got it from amazon.  You can see a few of my videos use it.  There are some very important mods that need to be done to it before it sees action though.

1.)  I put a small ziptie around the base of the lens with marine goop.  I tied a section of 40 lb. test to the ziptie and to the other end of that I tied a section of tuna chord, then tied off the tuna chord to a Scotty clip.  This leash is really important because the thing can fall off easily if it's knocked by something.

2.)  The whole thing needs to be greased well and often.  It rusts fairly easily. 

Also, I don't dunk it in water because I don't think it is water tight. 

Good tips! thanks.

I use the GoPro, but only because it is compatible with my most-used mount...

 http://gopro.com/p/livestock-mount/

I use the GoPro, but only because it is compatible with my most-used mount...

 http://gopro.com/p/livestock-mount/

 

I use the GoPro, but only because it is compatible with my most-used mount...

 http://gopro.com/p/livestock-mount/

 

Lol. That makes me want to strap one to my dog!

Wow, talk about ideas floating around in the ether, just waiting to be plucked... LOL!
Yesterday as i was finishing up the latest outfitting on my Tarpon, I was looking at the large rear well thinking that if i should get a dog, it would be cool for it to ride back there while I'm paddling on the estuary.  Then I imagined strapping a GoPro to the  imaginary dog, on top of its head, so that the view would be wherever the dog is looking.  Then I could start a blog, and call it something like, "Travels with Bowser," and all the shots and vid would be only from the dog's point of view... Only problem might be getting the pooch to wear a helmet with a hedcam.

I use the GoPro, but only because it is compatible with my most-used mount...

 http://gopro.com/p/livestock-mount/

 

Lol. That makes me want to strap one to my dog!

Wow, talk about ideas floating around in the ether, just waiting to be plucked... LOL!
Yesterday as i was finishing up the latest outfitting on my Tarpon, I was looking at the large rear well thinking that if i should get a dog, it would be cool for it to ride back there while I'm paddling on the estuary.  Then I imagined strapping a GoPro to the  imaginary dog, on top of its head, so that the view would be wherever the dog is looking.  Then I could start a blog, and call it something like, "Travels with Bowser," and all the shots and vid would be only from the dog's point of view... Only problem might be getting the pooch to wear a helmet with a hedcam.

I use the GoPro, but only because it is compatible with my most-used mount...

 http://gopro.com/p/livestock-mount/

 

Lol. That makes me want to strap one to my dog!

Plenty of room back there for a medium sized dog. It can be interesting when they decided to dive off though!

Oregon Scientific makes a couple of nice small waterproof video cams. The ATC9K and the ATCMini-S both perform very well.   I've been testing them on local WW river runs the last few weekends and have found they both provide excellent quality images.  The field of view is a bit smaller (ie, not as wide of an angle lens at GoPro uses) so everything seems more in scale than with a GP.  The brackets are easy to adjust and there are a multitude of mounts available.  Check www.oregonscientific.com.  All products are available on Amazon.com.  DISCLAIMER: To be clear, the agency I work for represents this line so I could be perceived as being biased

Ok. So I ordered the Swann Freestyle from work to "try it out". Here's my review...
If you're even remotely interested in buying this "camera" you'll read this review and learn from my mistake.
I actually ended up getting 2 of these as I thought the first one i bought was a dud. Not the case. They are all horrible. I don't even know where to begin.
There is no software or customer support for this camera. I tried calling Swann customer service and was astounded how incompetent their reps were. All I wanted to know was how much a spare battery would cost in the event that I wanted an extra battery. The rep kept trying to explain to me that I don't need an extra battery instead I should charge my existing one. After 3 attempts trying to explain to him that I knew how to charge my existing battery, and that I just wanted to buy a spare, I finally got pissed off and hung up on him once he tried telling me it was impossible to remove the battery from the camera (which of course isn't true as I was holding the battery in my hand while on the phone with him). 
The quality, not even remotely close to HD. That's probably why YouTube only has a handful of videos recorded from a Swann Freestyle. Its so grainy it's ridiculous. The "1080 HD" looks like it was recorded on a shoulder mount vhs recorder from 1989.  Probably one of the crappiest features is trying to export video to a Windows computer. The video will transfer over, however if you try to play the video back on the computer it skips, freezes, and lags so much it looks like a series of still photos patched together in a sideshow. The owners manual states that if this happens (and it will), the workaround should be to watch your video on the detachable 1 inch screen or connect your camera to your tv and watch it there. Seriously!?!!! That's the workaround!?! That pretty much means that video editing is pointless even If you can find compatible software to edit your footage.
The sound quality is so bad it might as well not even have a mike. It scratches and clicks and makes a high pitch squealing noise.
The only two good things about this camera is the remote control and the waterproof housing (which appears to be constructed well).
In conclusion, STAY AWAY from this camera. I returned both of these. Tomorrow morning I am marching my butt over to REI and gladly shelling out an extra $100 for the GoPro Hero 2. The quality of the camera and video/photos it produces is unparalleled. You really do get what you pay for. In the case of the Swann Freestyle what you get is a $175 decroded piece of crap.

The freakin-end.

Paul

I think the Hero2 is a quality product and a safe bet. However I have heard of some heat issues when recording more than 20 minutes of video.

I have a GoPro HeroHD with the extra battery pack (which I always check before heading out), an older Olympus Stylus 1030 (not hd), Playsport 3 with the wide angle lens (and it's own floatation device and similar mods as Rawkfish) and I just picked up a Nikon D7000 for a special project. I like the them all for specific reasons. I am looking at the Replay as well as the GoPro HD2 because I want to record some decent audio.  I am hoping to test the Replay for the company and if so, I will post some results. I watch a lot of videos from many of you (I think a NWKA film and beer festival would be a hit) and I see a lot of GoPros. From the research I have done, the GoPro is still the standard for personal action cameras although Contour is making some headway. I think you could save a few dollars by buying a HeroHD instead of the Hero2.

Good luck and I look forward to watching the vids.

I have the gopro hd and hd 2.  I gotta say, so far i think the upgrade wasn't worth it. In my testing of the camera I discovered that with the battery back I get 1.5hrs less video time at 720p 30fps (same as gphd). With the HD i got 5.5. Now I get 4. Sounds like a downgrade to me.

First trip out the thing kept shutting off randomly. Perhaps those are the heat issues you were mentioning. The second day I got 10min before the battery died. I charged and checked the night before and it was 100% full!

Finally, i'm kind of bummed they didn't upgrade the capacity to 64gb.

Anyway, if I keep having issues i'm gonna sell it and just use the gphd. I previously used the zx3, which was decent, but the gphd is the closest thing to a set-and-forget camera there is.

This morning I went to REI in downtown Portland and picked up a GoPro Hero 2 Outdoor edition. I never ended up using my 20% off coupon before it expired on April 15th so I asked the clerk if I could still use it on my GoPro (figured it couldn't hurt to ask). The clerk shrugged his shoulders and said "sure. I can do that".
It brought the the price down from 299 to 239.
I stinkin' love REI.




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Staples has the Kodak playsport Zx5 on clearance for $99.95!  Got today in Salem store.

Best Buy has the ZX5 on sale for $72.  I picked on up to practice with before getting a GoPro.