Swann FreeStyle 1080p Action Cam

“Gadget Guy” review can be found here,

Another from “BikeRadar.com” that was origionaly published in, “What Mountain Bike” magazine.
http://www.bikeradar.com/mtb/gear/category/accessories/gadgets/helmet-cams/product/review-swann-freestyle-1080p-hd-camera-12-46282

The Manual
http://www.swann.com/webfiles/download/1635freestyle_hd_sports_v1.0.pdf

Swann SWVID-SPORTL Freestyle 1080p HD Waterproof Wearable Sports Video Camera - Price Comparisons

Woot Today = $119.99 + $5 Shippping
Today’s Woot price is $40.50 Under next lowest deal found

Amazon = $160 + $5.49 Shipping
http://www.amazon.com/Swann-Freestyle-Waterproof-Sports-Camera/dp/B005EROCLC/ref=?ie=UTF8&m=A39883M1435A4Y

ebay = $139.00 + Ships Free
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Swann-SWVID-SPORTL-Freestyle-1080p-HD-Waterproof-Wearable-Sports-Video-Camera-/121042024870?_trksid=p3284.m263&_trkparms=algo%3DSIC%26its%3DI%26itu%3DUCI%252BUA%252BP%252BFICS%252BUFI%252BIIUM%26otn%3D3%26pmod%3D360491991301%26ps%3D54

Adorama = $198.99 + Ships Free
http://www.adorama.com/SWNVIDSPORTL.html

**NOTE:
Dealers and prices above found using a random Google search. Your own random search may find differing and/or lower prices.

WOW that is a pretty good Bag"O"Crap if I do say so myself. Congratulations and have a great Christmas.

Just an FYI, the battery has changed for these (at least the last sale here). I got one from Amazon and it doesn’t fit. Called Swann to get part number and this release is so new that the secondary sellers don’t have proper bateries yet. Only Swann has them and they couldn’t give me a part number. Asked me to send email photos of each with receipt and they will send me one free.

don’t know about the CMOS but i saw this in the manual—

WARNING: since the tape provides a strong adhesive, expect that it cannot be removed. Attempts to remove it will very likely damage the mount and the surfaces to which it was attached.

Hmmmm—

Has anyone worked out a way to head strap mount this? Possibly with the Go Hero strap? Thanks.

Bought one a while back and have been very happy with it. Still shots looked decent and video was crisp and clear above and below water. In the case it’s pretty rugged. Mine got used like a pool toy - thrown into the water, between kids then out onto the concrete side without any scratches or wear.

Cons: Like others, I would have liked the case to be able to handle the LCD. The camera was left filming for long time at one point and we didn’t notice till much later that the memory card was full and we’d missed a bunch of pictures.

Indeed. I was not basing my purchase off of such (and have indeed purchased one). I was just curious if anyone had tried one out, that’s all.

In example, my Samsung Galaxy SII is spec’d to support a maximum of 32GB microSDHC cards, however my 64GB microSDXC cards function perfectly.

This might be a stupid question, but does anybody know if this has live video out? I want to transmit the video signal from an rc plane to a pair of video goggles on the ground… would the HDMI or A/V jack supply a live video out?

Read The Fine Manual (linked above): p. 27 says "A flexible feature of the HD Sports is the ability to view a live feed of what the HD Sports camera is seeing by attaching the LCD screen or connecting the camera to an external TV or monitor. "

So it looks like the answer is yes, the camera will put out live video, from both the AV and HDMI jacks according to p. 27.

Do NOT buy this camera! I bought the camera for its great value compared to a GoPro, only to be extremely disappointed. I mounted this camera to my snowboarding helmet according to the provided instructions. It fell off less than halfway down my first run, and I hadn’t even fallen! Of course someone picked it up before I could find it, so there’s $120 down the drain. I called swann to see about a replacement and they told me that since the adhesive was made by 3M they wouldn’t do anything about it. When I asked to speak to a supervisor, the guy took my info and nobody ever called. Terrible customer service! It doesn’t matter what the picture quality looks like if the camera won’t even stay on your helmet! Save your money!

I got one of these for a bit more a few weeks ago. It’s 90% as good as a gopro for 50% of the cost. It’s not perfect, but for what I paid, I have no complaints.

Be aware that the field of view is quite a bit wider at 720p than at 1080. If there’s too much “fisheye” effect for you, then switch up to the 1080 recording mode. If you need the wider FoV, then switch down to 720.

I have a flat one on a curved surface of my scooter so it’s only making about 33% contact and in the last couple months of use hasn’t even budged…

I got one of these back in October. I have to buy a adapter as the one that came with it was not an American plug.

You have to let the sticky sit for 24 hours, buddy.

Let me just say that I love this camera. It comes with TONS of extras that ends up costing loads of cash for the GoPro. And, honestly, if the adhesive does somehow manage to come off, the Freestyle comes with 2 extras.

This is absolutely worth the price.

If you have a GoPro already with the mounts, you should be able to use this with any of the GoPro mounts. There is a 15 dollar helmet strap (only for helmets with vents) and a 15 dollar head strap for this that you can find on the Swann website or on Amazaon. There’a a GoPro helmet strap for 8 bucks on Amazon I believe and a GoPro headstrap for 15.

Thanks for shipping this so fast with 1 day shipping woot! UPS notified me that it will arrive tomorrow in time for Christmas despite the ‘not in time for Christmas’ tag the item had!

I’ve had some experience with this 3M adhesive, and it also really needs to be applied at 60 degrees or warmer. If you tried to put it on with snow on the ground, I wouldn’t be surprised if it fell off. I usually hit it with a hair dryer on low for a few seconds before applying it just to warm it up. Keep pressure on it and wait 24 hours, it will likely never come off.