Ya, I sure wouldn't invest in GoPRO. Their days being able to charge $400 for their cameras are numbered.
--Previous Message--
: Let me start by saying I am NOT selling
: anything. The information below is
: provided for those who race and may be
: looking for a cheaper alternative to a
: GoPro.
:
: My father-in-law no longer vintage
: races. However, we wanted to capture
: some of his track time so several years
: back we bought one of the first 720P
: resolution, wide-angle GoPro cameras.
: We liked it... to a point. We were
: disappointed with its resolution and
: the wide-angle lens seemed to
: straighten out turns so the viewer had
: no idea why a part of the track might
: be difficult.
:
: When the GoPro failed to improve with
: lens changes we gave up on it and I
: started mounting very inexpensive 808
: spy-cameras on the car. These are very
: cheap, small cameras based on older
: cell phone camera technology. They
: were cheap enough that we mounted some
: on the front torsion bar tube of his
: Formula-Vee to get a really nice
: perspective of the track and what the
: driver sees. We also tried a more
: expensive Mobius camera on the car with
: good results. The Mobius is a lot more
: expensive than the spy-cams but its
: higher resolution was worth it. The
: drawback to both the early GoPro, the
: spy-cams, and the Mobius is/was that
: they have no screen. You cannot see if
: you are recording or what you are
: recording. WIthout a screen you also
: cannot review a video. You have to
: download the video files to a laptop or
: something else to view the file.
:
: I saw recently that a lot of GoPro
: clones have entered the market. Even
: though no one in the family is racing
: anymore I read up on these clones and
: decided to buy one just to play with.
: I chose the SooCoo C30 which is about
: $65 on Amazon. You have to provide an
: SD memory card. My first impressions
: are very favorable. The resolution and
: frame rate are selectable as is the
: field of view. The camera includes a
: small LCD screen on the rear which
: makes configuring the camera easy and
: relatively fast. The camera also has a
: built-in gyro for image stabilization
: and comes with a lot of mounting
: hardware and a waterproof case. I
: decided this morning to configure the
: camera as a dashcam and mount it in my
: daily driver for the drive to/from
: church. The videos were amazingly
: clear and stable.
:
: If anyone is looking for an inexpensive
: dashcam or action cam for the track,
: consider giving the SooCoo C30 a try.
: So far I have been impressed with what
: I got for $65. Is it as good as a
: GoPro? I cannot say. But it is
: certainly good for the price. It is
: also inexpensive enough that you won't
: be too upset if something happens to it
: on the track.
:
: Doug L.
:
:
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