I have been wanting to get one of these small video cameras to record my flights and being a techno dummy, I really don't know alot about either of these cameras. Truth be told it is my wife that has been wanting to get me one so she can keep track of me. She isn't able to go on my flying excursions due to being halfway across the country. She has researched the Go-Pro Hero3_ Black and nearly bought one at the PX since the price is pretty good ($379) and no tax.

Anyone compared the Go-Pro to the new Garmin VIRB? I have read some reviews on the Garmin camera but since I am not into the tech stuff I really don't know the pros and cons of each camera. What say the BCP techies?

I have a Drift camera, and I think it works fine. http://driftinnovation.com/

Marketing for the Go Pro has been superb, and the Drift seems to be not very popular, but I'm not sure why......marketing is incredibly important in success of this kind of product, and Go Pro has marketed their product incredibly well.

The Drift comes with a remote control, whereas only the Go Pro III Black edition has a remote. The remote is REALLY handy in my opinion.

The Drift also has a rotatable lens, allowing you to mount the camera virtually anywhere, at any angle, then level the lens....and the camera also has a built in preview screen, so you can do that. I don't believe the Go Pro has a preview screen.

The Drift is waterproof, though they don't recommend using it for your scuba diving, as Go Pro touts.....I never thought underwater adventures with my airplane was a good idea, in any case. I have flown in substantial rain with the Drift, and it works fine. Battery life on the Drift is very good, though again, I don't know how it compares to the Go Pros.

Finally, the Drift is a little more aerodynamic in its basic shape, and I think it vibrates substantially less when mounted in the slip stream, particularly in the prop wash.

All that said, I know ZERO about the technical details of this stuff. The Drift does work well for what I want, however, at a lower price point. There are a bazillion fantastic videos out there taken with the Go Pro, in any case, so it's hard to argue with their qualifications.

By the way, Costco now has the Go Pro Black Edition for $329. At least hereabouts.....sometimes the PX isn't the best deal around.....

MTV

I have used many many Contours, Drifts, as well as GoPros all in a commercial capacity. GoPro hands down is the winner IMO. My only complaint is the form factor is a bit weird, but everything else is awesome.

No idea about Garmin, but I am skeptical about their entry into the video space with no background. (no basis other than my own wandering assumptions)

bigrenna wrote:I have used many many Contours, Drifts, as well as GoPros all in a commercial capacity. GoPro hands down is the winner IMO. My only complaint is the form factor is a bit weird, but everything else is awesome.

No idea about Garmin, but I am skeptical about their entry into the video space with no background. (no basis other than my own wandering assumptions)

Specifics would be helpful.

MTV

I had been wondering the same thing.

Here's a couple side by side comparisons. The Sporty's one is good, but the problem I see with that demo is that the cameras are seeing different things with the lighting, so its not exactly apples to apples.




I think this one gives the most fair comparison out of the three.



I think the video quality looks good on both cameras. It's really hard to tell in the comparisons because the settings could be different between the cameras in the tests creating a different product visually. Like in the last test with the car, it looks like the white balance may have been set a bit higher on the gopro than what the virb's setting was thus creating a bleached out look.

DISCLAIMER:I'm a total amateur when it comes to cameras and my experience is limited.

On the skydiving side by side it appears that the compression or resolution on the Garmin is not as good as the GoPro.

When looking at the edge detail of the divers and the ground features the GoPro seems to render a sharper image. This could be a factor of several things but compression codex and optical resolution would be my first two bets.

I also have a drift and normally record at 720p in order to get more on the memory card. Possibly not technically HD but usually good enough and having said that either camera in the side-by side is "good enough".

Folks who record for a living or submit for publication, recording at 1080p is essential and judging from this comparison the GoPro looks to be the winner.

In the last couple of decades my imaging world has been pretty much on the nanometer or micrometer scale vs the kilometer scale, so imaging with these cameras are not my strong suit.

TD

The white balance on the GoPro seems a little more spot on.

Thanks all for the feedback. I really appreciate the help and to me the Go-Pro does seem to have a little better quality video. Of course the all mighty dollar expenditure will most likely be the final deciding factor, there is not a lot of difference, cost wise.

The Go-Pro has one fairly big advantage. It has a ton of aftermarket mounts available. And with a $10 adaptor, you can use any of the standard 1/4X20 mounts as well.
I actually prefer my Drift cam for a number of reasons. Some of which have already been mentioned in a previous post.
The biggest reason is battery life. I can get well over 4 hours on a single battery using the remote.
My GoPro is lucky to last 2 and only if I use the remote sparingly. Also, I have been unable to get anything close to the picture quality with my new go pro that I get with my Drift.
I'm thinking it may be just my camera as I've seen a lot of great go pro footage. I've tried tweaking the settings and just using the defaults. But I still don't get the same quality that others do.
My Drift is a "set it and forget it" camera.
A friend of mine has the Garmin and it works quite nicely. It has some neat features related to GPS mapping. It seems to make excellent quality videos. Not sure about battery life on it.
It's really tough to go wrong with any of them.

How about other features such ease of use, setup and so on….

The Go-Pro is a bit more complex to use. Pushing the wrong button at the right time can screw things up in a hurry. The small display screen on the front is hard to see in daylight and the icons are fairly small for my old eyes. You can use bluetooth to connect it to your smartphone but that really sucks up the battery life. As does the remote that comes with it. The Go-pro has a whole bunch of modes with corresponding menus to set up. (I just use the defaults on most). Truthfully, I bought it as a video camera, not a still camera. So all the single frame modes are of no value to me. Others use them for some neat effects but I don't want to fiddle around that much. (lazy)
The Go-pro requires an additional lCD backpack to see live video or the Blue tooth link to your phone. (More $$ and less battery life) That make aiming somewhat of a guesstimate.
The Go-pro has an excellent selection of filters that are harder to find for the others. It is as durable as a hockey puck. And it is waterproof over 100 feet. I bought mine in Kona to film our dives. It worked quite well in that role. It has a larger profile so it has a bit more drag and wind noise.
They're all fairly simple if you use the defaults. Some are more complex when you opt for non-standard settings.
Realistically, if you spend a day or two playing around with any of them, you should have it figured out to a large degree.

I picked up a couple GoPro 3's and finally got a chance to practice with them yesterday, flying back from Chicagoland. Has anybody figured out how to stop the GoPro mic "rattle"?

Are you using the "locking plug"?
It's the little white nose plug looking thing that "locks" the 2 pieces of the mount together.
http://gopro.com/camera-mounts/grab-bag ... s-included
If you don't use it, the camera can rattle a bit with the free play in the mount and the mic can pic it up.

I'll have to look for that! Thanks!

Here is somewhat of a comparison of the Garmin, the Drift, and the GoPro 3. Same day, same flight.
This is the Garmin.

This is the Drift(outside) and the GoPro(inside)

I have to agree with some of the other posters here that with GoPros longer presence in the market and dominance of the action cam market I would be surprised if Garmin can have the same quality optics. The shots look good, but I think the GoPro looks a bit better. I still plan to buy a Garmin to do some testing myself and will likely wait for the Gen 2 if that comes out anytime soon.

Here is a link to a video test that was done last weekend using my strut mount on a Christen Eagle. All the shots are from my mount aside from the shots from the rear. The camera is mounted to the "I" strut.

https://drive.google.com/a/kraddyodaddy ... sp=sharing

looks like a fun ride...

Marc

I'm a video newbie and an average level techno-user. I've been using the GoPro black for a few months now, and the most difficult technical part of the process is getting video files from the GoPro onto the computer, then onto the internet. You won't be able to just shoot video and e-mail the files to your wife, they are around 100MB per minute, too cumbersome for e-mail attaching. I've got an older Mac, I had to upgrade operating systems, buy a USB card reader and sort through all kinds of software details that I can't remember. Editing software is another can 'o' worms. If you're not techno-dude, I recommend finding a skilled friend and buy the same kind of camera they use.

I bought the latest GoPro because of the remote, but as everybody else has said, it kills the battery so fast it's barely worth it. I use a big memory card and waste video instead of wasting battery. I just hit the start button, go fly then hit the stop button when I land. With editing software you trim the video down to manageable size. (sometimes I mount it on the strut and use my Missouri remote control; reach out the window and push the buttons)

I just saw a Gopro Hero 3+ at Costco for $370.00. Sounds like a decent deal.

TD

After reading handsdirty's post about all the computer snafu crap needed, my wife laughed and said, "Well, I guess that means you won't get the Go-Pro!" She knows me well when it comes to computer stuff. I have and can rebuild most any mechanical item, have done total restorations on cars, etc., but give me a computer and I am a total dummy!! I have a hard time grasping simple tasks.