"Hero" camera

[rickyboy]

I just found out about a scream'in deal on one of those "Hero" cameras. If you haven't seen one or heard of them have a look at...

http://www.goprocamera.com/index.php?area=2&productid=1

You have to look at the videos.

I got mine for $140. US, plus U.S.P.S. shipping to Canada.
If I was in the U.S. of A. the shipping would be incl..
They are about $250. Cdn up here in the local Kawi dealer. I'm working on seeing if I can get the same deal for any of our members that might be interested in getting one. When I find out, I will post more info and who you will need to contact. Stay tuned.
Feel free to say if you would be interested and then I can give the contact the info. on possible numbers. Non committal. ::)

BTW, if you go to the site,...it IS NOT the H.D. camera

Dan Lund this is the one for you!!! Check out the videos !!!

[glwilson]

That is definitely one of the "coolest" cameras I've seen out there. Bookmarked the site for a future purchase. Be sure to let us know if any discounts become available!

[ringadingh]

Thats a great little camera, you could do a lot with that one.

[AlabamaNomadRider]

How much recording time do you get? I guess it would be pretty neat to have.

[rickyboy]

Steve, after ruining a camcorder from vibration,.... riding two yrs. ago. This thing is apparently shock proof, and a welcome addition for me. Good price for us Canadians.

Gene
depending on what size card you have and what batteries you use, it's 2 to 3 hrs. of video. Of course it takes still shots as well.

[strobe]

This is a good price, but it runs on batteries, no way to power it off the bike, so I think you are limited to 2 hours on the battery life is the real world numbers I saw or up to 3 hours with more expensive LIon batteries. I almost bought one this spring, but was not liking the AAA battery idea. For Canadians you can buy the Motorsports kit with some mount options included for mounting to the bike here with free shipping, they also sell just the Camera for $154 CAD:

http://pointofviewcameras.ca/go-pro-...gree-lens.html

or the US site:

http://pointofviewcameras.com/go-pro...gree-lens.html

I pre-ordered the GoPro HD a couple months ago, while not as nice a price as the standard one, the sound and video improvements from the demo videos are incredible. More importantly for me, this one has a LIon battery and can be charged while in use. It is supposed to ship this week I hope.

[fish]

very interesting

[rickyboy]

Originally Posted by strobe

This is a good price, but it runs on batteries, no way to power it off the bike, so I think you are limited to 2 hours on the battery life is the real world numbers I saw or up to 3 hours with more expensive LIon batteries. I almost bought one this spring, but was not liking the AAA battery idea. For Canadians you can buy the Motorsports kit with some mount options included for mounting to the bike here with free shipping, they also sell just the Camera for $154 CAD:

http://pointofviewcameras.ca/go-pro-...gree-lens.html

or the US site:

http://pointofviewcameras.com/go-pro...gree-lens.html

I pre-ordered the GoPro HD a couple months ago, while not as nice a price as the standard one, the sound and video improvements from the demo videos are incredible. More importantly for me, this one has a LIon battery and can be charged while in use. It is supposed to ship this week I hope.

Good point Cory, about the recharging aspect of the HD model. Although it's rechargeable can you run the camera while recharging or do you have the option to run the camera directly off the 12 volt plug on your bike?
For me,... I'll buy a battery charger and have a set or two ready to switch out. {do I need to tax my elec. syst. any more?}
The HD IS NICE ! but is it worth the extra bucks? To some I guess it would be.

I am going to order the handle bar/seat post mount though. I don't want to apply those stick-on pads to the paint on the bike. Maybe my helmet for a different view, but not the bike. They say they are removable, but anything that can stand up to the force applied to it ,like these can, can't be real easy to remove. Maybe a heat gun would work. But right away I think about what it might do to the paint.

I'm going to check right now and see if "the supplier/dealer" will extend the grp. buy price offer on the Hero "wide" camera for a longer period, for the members of KawaNOW, and if they'll offer a deal on a grp. buy for the HD model.

If anyone is interested at all in either of these,.... post it here so I can say " I have X number of guys/gals interested. ... thanks.

[glwilson]

I would be interested.

[rickyboy]

I just finished getting off the phone with Millington Yamaha in TN..
Apparently I was the last person to get in on the grp. buy I was alerted to, by a friend who frequents ST-owners.com The order went out late yesterday from what I understand.
Any way,.... I spoke with the owner and asked if it was possible to set up another "grp. buy" and post it on KawaNOW for our members. I was told that the grp. buy was a limited time deal and it wasn't going to be repeated, and that they had reached their quota that was set out by their supplier. So if you do want one of these cameras, I'd go to the web sites that Cory {strobe} posted above. Still a good deal from where I see it. Like I said before,... my dealer here in Langley, BC wants $250. Sorry I couldn't pull it off for us.

[glwilson]

Thanks for trying!

[bundyrumandcoke]

I have one of these cameras. On a 4 week trip earlier this year, I ran it every day, using the one shot every 5 seconds setting. I had 3 sets of rechargable batteries, and 3 2gig SD cards. I was getting around 1500 shots on each card. Basically at each fuel stop, we changed card and batteries. Each night, we recharged the batteries and downloaded the cards to our laptop. I think I ended up with in excess of 80000 shots.

I tried various locations for the camera, on the handlebars wasnt brilliant, unless you wanted shots of the road ahead. Better still was it mounted on my helmet, that way it took pics of what I was looking at. But even better still is on a pillions helmet, as the pillion can watch something on the roadside for much longer than a rider can, as they have to continually look forward again and keep their eyes on the road. This sometimes meant I missed shots we wanted, as I turned away just as it was taking a shot.

[glwilson]

That's a good idea... I hadn't thought of that.

[lw]

Cyclegear also carries these cams, and likely has them in stock if you have a storefront closeby like I do. I forwarded the link to Frances as my single item Christmas list.

[bundyrumandcoke]

Im currently uploading a couple of vids, one taken with my Hero camera, to show what quality it gives. I will link them when done.

The good part about the 5 sec sequence shots is, if you make it into a rapid slide show, it is almost like a movie of the ride.

Edited to add links to 2 videos, the first is one taken in outback Australia, not taken with the Hero camera, but it happens to show our Nomad and trailer rig as it was when we toured earlier this year. We did 8200km in 29 days. It also gives a bit of an idea what some of our countryside is like. The videos and pictures were actually part of a year 3 elementary school geography project, for a class of kids from Mars, Pennsylvania. I was asked if we could help the kids out with this project, we were only too happy to help. It also explains the green frog mascot ont he handlebars. The kids followed his adventures around Australia.



The second video is taken with the Hero camera, mounted to the side of my helmet. It shows our departure from Sydney, and us crossing the Sydney Harbour Bridge. One thing it does really show is that putting the camera on the side of my helmet wasnt really such a brilliant idea, as I had to continually look forward whilst riding. It would have been better on my wifes helmet, as she could pan and watch whatever we were trying to film for a longer time.



Enjoy

Cheers
Bundy