It says in the specs 3.3 feet or 1 meter.
[QUOTE=infamouz209, post:13, topic:417223]
Every vid i’ve seen so far, the Drift HD falls so far short in image quality opposed to the Contour Roam2 as well as the Hero3… so im not sure why that was even mentioned lol.
I wouldn’t call it far short, image-wise. I have only experienced somewhat objectional quality in low light, which few people end up needing anyway. Also, the small display has saved my recording from a bad camera angle on many occasions! I just put it out there for another option for a decent (sale) price.
The 3M stickers are one time use. And that’s really how you want them. The last thing you want is for reusable tape to come undone while you’re using the camera. So yes, you would want a mount for any location you’d like to use the camera.
It irritates me to no end that the GoPro has become the de facto standard for these types of cameras. I’ve had both and the Contour wins hands down for usability, at least for what I want to do. I use mine on my motorcycle, and the form factor of the Contour is so much better for this. Add in the laser leveling and a big button you can activate with gloves on and Contour knocks it out of the park.
WELCOME! Your first Quality Post too! Way to rock it!
Been looking for an action cam for snorkeling and free diving. With only a 1 meter depth rating, unfortunately this will NOT work. Looks like GoPro it is…
Exactly my thinking…with my prime membership and for $10 more, I could have it in my hands in 2 days through Amazon. Through woot, the item doesn’t even ship for 1-2 days.
Contour has a waterproof case specific for the Roam that’s good for 60m.
(And yes, another Contour fan here)
Apply and they are permanent.
How can you watch these videos on a TV? Doe it have a wireless transfer method or what?
The big plus on the contour compared to gopro is that the contour lens can be rotated.
This allows you to hard mount the camera and then adjust horizon.
I use the goggle mount on my motorcycle half helmet.
Also have the stick on for my full face and a suction cup mount for the truck.
+1
Rotating lens is the best feature, I have a Roam & 2 Contour+2’s. The other great feature is that it is less obtrussive visually - so if you are also shooting the action from another traditional camera the Contour doesn’t stick out as much as a GoPro. Although the GoPro has become so ubiquitous and we’re used to seeing them, that it doesn’t look as goofy as it originally did.
Image quality wise it is decent but probably more in line with the GoPro Hero2 instead of the Hero 3 or 3+.
Okay this has to be the Woot equivalent of DejaVu - I was just bemoaning the closure of Contour last night and find that someone’s unshuttered them and may have a better business model to boot.
I originally got a second-gen Contour in the mid-2000s when they were giving GoPro a pretty good run for their money (I now have three different models). The company had a pretty cool blogging/board system you could share with other users and people were using these because the image quality was better than GoPro and the form factor was much less intrusive (no dorky box standing up on your helmet) and you could rotate it in-housing to get a level field of view. There were a couple of spendy box-and-wire setups with broadcast quality video, but these two were the real standouts in terms of modular use, value and great video.
Here’s a contour example: White rooming on Vimeo
The camera is all that (even though my deep skiing will never be on par with this guy’s).
These days GoPro has very good image quality - I think they’re a generation ahead in their “3” models’ sensors, and is the darling of the business/investment set because they’ve partnered with Red Bull (and are partially owned by FOXCONN, whose $200 million buy-in has accelerated the GoPro brand into nearly everything). The dorky boxes seem to have won center stage.
Contour still does a bang-up job for the buck and is simple to use - just slide the switch, and off o you go. I miss the community-effort vibe of the older website though.
Lots of aftermarket mounts are available for various things, and a pressure housing (#3320/3325) good to ~60 meters (I’ve taken mine to ~30 meters and its fine) and recommended for anything else seriously deadly (hanging the camera behind the wheels of a car throwing mud/gravel etc).
Do know that the Roam2 has a fixed battery so that once it’s gone you’ll have to charge it in place. The pricier +2 has a swappable battery and comes with a waterproof case.
Here’s an interesting essay on the crash of the company and the realities of the action camera market from Bloomburg:
http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-08-21/three-lessons-in-the-wipeout-of-contour-cameras
With competition coming on from a lot of manufacturers, both low and high end, in a lot of form factors, one hopes that “new” Contour will not simply make the old models until there’s no more demand - they had the best product at one time and could do so again.
So,
how does the picture quality compare? it looks like the FPS is 60 shooting at 720, but to get to 1080, you have to drop the FPS to 30. Is the quality bad at 1080/30? I know the new Go pro shoots 120 at 720. and 60 at 1080. Don’t you need at least 60 to have smooth images?
Annnd… CamelCamelCamel has it listed as 163.32, so I guess the Momship jacked up the price for this sale…
http://camelcamelcamel.com/Contour-ROAM2-Waterproof-Video-Camera/product/B009CN8VRK
edit: Amazon had it for 163.32 - but are sold out… It’s higher at the 3rd party seller for 174.90.
if you want to see any gopro or contour go watch paintball videos on youtube.
PRICE DROP!
O-M-G and W-T-F! What just happened? The price changed! By golly, it did. It’s now $149.99. You should go buy 3!
Small Print: If you already purchased, that $10 will come flying back to your accounts soonish.
Uhm, it doesn’t work that way. Amazon has all these magical ways of watching prices and adjusting. We’re an independent subsidiary so we have no say in their pricing. We wish we could coordinate that way but it doesn’t work that way.
One other question, it does not show pics of the mounts that are included. It shows two mounts, but what are they and where can they be mounted?
The first is the Rotating Flat Surface mount, which (as the name implies) allows rotation on flat surfaces
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B005Q314XS/
The second is the standard Profile Mount, which is shown (but is hard to see) in most of the photos.
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B009CN8VNE/
They’re adhesive, one-direction mounts that can fit somewhat curved surfaces.