Nrth16

Do the drift cameras operate on AA batteries? I have not looked very close at them.

Lcdel

guess it's a question of whether you want you or your vids to look better

CheeseForSteeze

No, the operate on a proprietary LiB. The extended battery gets over 6 hours in temps as low as 0F.

Extremo

Picture quality is equal between the two with any half decent editing program. I have the contour, it's dope. Stack footage all day, view it when you get home, color correct the stuff you want to edit.

poutanen

Not sure about the Contour + but the roam is waterproof to 1m without the fishbowl case you have to use with the gopro. Plus I'm just not down with the teletubby look.

I got my roam a week ago will get some vids up soon. I'm learning that there's more to it than it looks, mount stability is critical, and a lot of POV stuff is just plain boring (even when I'm doing 80 km/h and passing everybody in sight). I'm trying a few different mounting locations that I haven't seen on videos yet and we'll see how they turn out. For me it's something I think I'll have fun with this year, and use it kayaking a bit this summer, then probably sell it.

jello24

Yeah, basically. Although I don't know any girls that would give a Youtube video their phone number.

That being said, you can look good all you want, but if you can't back up your style with some good riding then it's pretty much a moot point then.

The111

Photography does not work that way. Quality originates at the lens and sensor.

It may be a true statement that both cameras have sufficient quality for the user's needs, but it is not true that post-processing makes all cameras equal.

I have the GoPro 1 and 2, and while the 2 has much better low light quality, it eats batteries quite a bit faster, which you WILL notice on the mountain. A simple test I did shows that just powered on in standby, the GoPro1 drains a battery in 3h50m, while the GoPro2 only lasts 2h50m (I used the same battery in each test, and both cameras ship with the same battery). Obviously both of those numbers shrink a lot if you are recording. For most of the day (i.e. not right at sunset), unless you are riding deep in trees, the GoPro1 is probably good enough on its quality related to the lighting... and it is also a LOT cheaper right now. After our last time on the mountain with the GoPro2 dying on us way too soon, we decided to use it only for SCUBA from now on, and use the GoPro1 for snowboarding.

Raines

Interesting to know... never read that before but is an important aspect

poutanen

Again I can't speak for the Contour +, but I had the Roam out last saturday for about 2 hours. Since it's never in standby mode (just slide it on and it turns on and starts recording all in one) it only drains the battery when you're recording. I took 19 videos each about 5 mins long and when I got home the battery was about 50% when I plugged it into the comp. This was recording in the "tall HD mode" 1280x960 @ 30 fps. It can record in 1080p but it's upscaling to get that, and I wanted a good portion of the nose of the board in my shots for some perspective.

CheeseForSteeze

This is true. This is like the "enhance" functions you see people use on TV and the movies. There are interpolation algorithms that can enhance picture quality but they also are prone to interpolation error. The best media can look (or sound) is limited by its original source and any "bottle necks" in the processing history.