GoPro cam questions

i may go ahead and move this item up to the front of my wanted list.
i'm looking at the GoPro "Hero" and the mount kit for the handlebars. is this the cam kit everybody is using? is this a wide angle type? do i want the wide angle? it says it requires a 2gig sd card...is this the best size or do i need to get another while out spending? same on the batteries...any recomendations on the batteries i should get/use?

thanks in advance for any info......there's alot of ya'll on here making some nice vids.

I have that, and you can't use anything bigger than the 2gb card. I can get almost 2 hours of vid between 2 cards and a set of batteries. I love it.

SheWolf wrote:

I have that, and you can't use anything bigger than the 2gb card. I can get almost 2 hours of vid between 2 cards and a set of batteries. I love it.

kewel! thanks...do you have a type or brand of battery recomendation?
also do you use the handle bar mount kit or is there something else i should be looking for?

i like the view in the videos from that point the most.

I have the handlebar mount... but it does NOT allow you to release the camera with ease, so I seldom use it...

I use GP rechargeable batteries... coupled with 15 mins charger

mtb wrote:

I have the handlebar mount... but it does NOT allow you to release the camera with ease, so I seldom use it...

I use GP rechargeable batteries... coupled with 15 mins charger

ok,thanks for the info.....so the handle bar mount is questionable.
we were just talking about getting a rechargeable battery set-up just the other day for other battery eating devices we have around the house.

i have a 8.1mp samsung pocket camera that i've thought about trying to mount at the handle bars,but it kills the battery fast in video mode and it would be unprotected.

I have Vholdr's new HD helmet cam (Contour). Nice and easy to use, and doesn't look funky like the GoPro. More mounting options too. You can run up to a 16gb card.

Longview wrote:

I have Vholdr's new HD helmet cam (Contour). Nice and easy to use, and doesn't look funky like the GoPro. More mounting options too. You can run up to a 16gb card.

thanks for the info....i guess i had better look at the info on this one too. lol,i was pretty much set on the gopro. my dealer actually has a decent price thru the yamaha accessories catalog on the gopro...it's $125. & the handle bar mount is $13.00

i thought it looked a little funny/odd when they first came out,but so many people are using them now that it seems normal.

Energizer Lithium AA batteries are the only way to go. I am still on the original set of batteries in my GoPro. I have shot well over 5 hours of vids with these batteries and they are still going.

The mounts that come with the GoPro are cheap plastic, and you will end up breaking them sooner or later. Get an extra set if you can. The only good mount they supply is the suction cup mount assembly. It is made of a different plastic that is not so brittle. I adapted the arm of the suction cup mount to fit my setup on the handlebars. It's been working out nice so far.






I originally used the plastic mounts that came with the cam and stuck it on the front of the master cylinder. It worked great until the cheap plastic mounts broke...

thanks again for all the info from everyone.
i'm probably still going for the GoPro just for the price factor point.

I have mine mounted to either the top of the MC rez on the handlebars or my skid lid.

i went ahead and fabricated a mount for my digital camera to play with until i can get a gopro.
it's still so dar n hot here that when i get home from work i haven't really cared to go out to my garrage to do much,but i think what i've got will work good when i do get back out there.

but ultimately a gopro is what i want.

dirtytrixx400 wrote:

same on the batteries...any recomendations on the batteries i should get/use?

http://www.thomasdistributing.com/

This is THE battery place. I use a lot of AA's... I like 2900 mAh AA's!

Jäger wrote:

dirtytrixx400 wrote:

same on the batteries...any recomendations on the batteries i should get/use?

http://www.thomasdistributing.com/

This is THE battery place. I use a lot of AA's... I like 2900 mAh AA's!

thanks ....that is a really good source. looks like they cover anything you might need.

The GoPro uses AAA NOT AA. There is no AAA Lithium rechargeable is there?

boogn1sh wrote:

The GoPro uses AAA NOT AA. There is no AAA Lithium rechargeable is there?

i did a quick search on that link .....AAA lithium in energizer...non-rechargeable is the only lithium shown.

dirtytrixx400 wrote:

boogn1sh wrote:

The GoPro uses AAA NOT AA. There is no AAA Lithium rechargeable is there?

i did a quick search on that link .....AAA lithium in energizer...non-rechargeable is the only lithium shown.

My bad. I meant AAA. And no, I don't think there are any rechargables in that size. I paid a wee bit over $9 for a 4 pack at Wallgreens. Hardly worth ordering them online at that lower price. Once you add in the shipping, it'll be more than buying locally.

I wouldn't buy the handlebar mount, it is the flimsiest floppiest noodle of a bracket I ever used, i wouldnt trust it in the wind or rough terrain
I did the same as Shewolf and stuck it to my front master cyl cap
I think the best point of view would be to mount it right on your chinguard so you would see the bars and gauges in the video, I dont know how you would do that though
Mwakey has a good idea with the little lanyard in case the camera comes loose it wont fall off
GoPro should have thought of that

0007onWR wrote:

I wouldn't buy the handlebar mount, it is the flimsiest floppiest noodle of a bracket I ever used, i wouldnt trust it in the wind or rough terrain
I did the same as Shewolf and stuck it to my front master cyl cap
I think the best point of view would be to mount it right on your chinguard so you would see the bars and gauges in the video, I dont know how you would do that though
Mwakey has a good idea with the little lanyard in case the camera comes loose it wont fall off
GoPro should have thought of that

thanks for the info/heads-up on it.

I'm thinking of getting one of these chest strap mounts. Seems like that would give a good cam angle while riding. You could also wear it backasswards and get a rear view shot.

GoPro Chest Strap Mount

For all of you that have the GoPro and broken mounts, send them an email they will send you free replacements, they had a batch of bad plastic from the vendor, the replacement ones I got are much better. They have doen this for me twice with no questions asked, the second time I was away from home on a wrok trip, broke the mount of my helmet snowboarding, and within two days I had a whole new set of mounts and arms...for free....they have very good service.

well,i finnally got a chance to mess around with the mount i made for my digital camera....(i'm doing this till i can afford the gopro)....it worked out pretty dar n good,or at least i thought. i took these pics with my cell phone.




i have a little vibration showing up in the higher revs...like right before shifting,and it picks up wind noise a good bit after speeds of around 50 on up. the next real problem i have is to now figure out how to compress and convert the avi format into a decent looking wmv format. it downloads a really sharp and clean video from the camera in the avi format and as a really large file size too.....i was thinking that i would only compress it enough to fit on photobucket(100mb max size) and i tried that,but it looses so much quality it's not worth doing that.
i also tried youtube(2gb max) but it estimated a 4.5 hr download time!
i guess i need to chop and edit my original file some ... 780mb size.
maybe i need to set my camera at a lower quality setting? i chose the highest it has at 30fps with a picture size of 640x480....any ideas?

Just use this FREE converter... it works

CLICKY

I hope it doesn't rain much there

PS: Their customer service is AWESOME! even for us who are outside the USA

mtb wrote:

Just use this FREE converter... it works

CLICKY

I hope it doesn't rain much there

PS: Their customer service is AWESOME! even for us who are outside the USA

thanks for the link....i actually have all the editing software i needed,i just did not know exactly the best format to end up with.i have now learned to do the color and brightness etc. adjustments and then resave as a .avi file....then use windows movie maker for the final chop and editing and final wmv format and compression. on youtube i used the 720p hd wmv file as my final result for uploading there....seems to be the best split between file size and quality...and it can be seen in full screen hd if desired.

as far as rain is concerned....i can remove it in a matter of seconds....only one thumbscrew.
like i was saying this is only a temporary deal,till i can get a gopro.

i finnally bought a gopro....it's the new hd version. just got it this evening,hopefully i'll have it in use for this weekend.

anyone else using one of these here?

thought i'd post up a quick review on this GoPro Hd camera i bought recently.
simple and to the point i'm really liking it....it does exactly what i wanted it to do for taking ride video. so far i've only used 2 mounts...one on my handlebars and the usual top of the helmet. when i'm using it on the handlebars i put it in the 720p wide angle mode and on my helmet i'm liking the 960p tallest mode...it makes the wider angle from top to bottom instead of side to side.
on the editing end of it,i discovered that my windows pc (vista) was missing the H.264 MP4 codecs needed for using movie maker or the live movie maker version......i found the missing codecs i needed in a free codec package from cnet downloads...

http://download.cnet.com/Media-Player-Codec-Pack/3000-13632_4-10749065.html?tag=mncol

this HD version has a rechargeable lithium ion battery like most digital cameras and supports up to a 32 gb sdcard.
i had just bought a new 4gb sdhc card at x-mas that's a class2 type(most common) and it works great in this camera.
class 4 cards are recommended for the best HD quality. i'm probably going to get a 16gb class 4 in the near future ......the 32gb cards are too expensive!
overall i'm pleased with it and i'm still in a learning curve on the editing end of it,but it's nice to have alot of good clear video to work with.

my youtube page is... https://www.youtube.com/polaris499 and i've uploaded a few clips from the past two weekends using it.
it's been another very wet winter here in alabama....lots of mud and slick hill's.