PRAISE - Contour UK (Cameras)

Help & Advice Praise or Shame
1

Me and Lewis went to the NEC on Sunday with the aim of buying a couple of cameras. We ended up buying the Contour Roam, and this is why:

We wanted GoPros as we thought they were the best ones. Then someone showed us Drift, which had some great features that GoPro did not.
On our way back after deciding what to get we saw the Contour UK stand.

The Model we bought (Roam) has taken all the best bits from the other 2 cameras, it has a slimmer profile than the GPro, you can turn the horizon so you have a straight picture after mounting, It has a laser sight so you can set the horizon more easily (this is wicked), it has loads of mounts available and rotating mounts, is HD and the best bits…

You slide the rubber slider on, it records… no fiddly buttons, it has a light that tells you it is recording.
It is waterproof, and they still gave us a waterproof case
It has 8 hours of recording life (GPro, and drift have about 2-3)

We love it. And worth the money

Aftersales:

We got an email the next day as they thought they may have given us the wrong waterproof casings (they had not) they offered to send us out some more adhesive mounts, which i’ll update the post with once rec’d… they are obviously on the ball with customer care, i got a reply to my email within a few hours.

UPDATE: they sent us 2 t-shirts :slight_smile: and 2 Rotating mounts, we didnt expect those ones, so well pleased :smiley:

We’d use them again, and they have a facebook page where you can win one if you like them. Definitely worth a go, considering the price of one of these bits of kit :smiley:

https://www.facebook.com/ContourUK?sk=wall

2

Hey Mel.
I have the older ContourHD1080
I’ve watched a few reviews on that Contour Roam and it looks great with the handy battery & memory status lights. Also it has an instant “on & off” via the sliding record button unlike the ContourHD1080’s silly standby mode.

If anyone is interested you can pick them up on eBay imported from the US for £125 (that’s before a possible import tax)
They seem to cost around £190 in the UK.

3

I’m always a bit wary of ordering from the uk, always scared customs charges will sting ya! :slight_smile:

I would say think about upgrading we are well and truly sold on our ones, can you tell? :hehe:

4

So the roam is pretty much the same as the hd and gps?

Amazon £133 posted

5

There is a review of bike cameras in RIDE’s latest issue.

6

Roam is the ‘base’ model. The GPS model records your route/speed etc and you can download an appt as a viewfinder (which turns off as soon as you record) We deemed that a waste really. We know how fast we go and dont want it all charted nicely on a map for the essex coppers to view. Roam is also HD.

Instant recording from teh slide of the swtich, no delay, no fiddly on/off and record buttons, clear lights and great mounts. Well happy.

7

ah so its the “new” rebranded hd1080 but now waterproof to 1 meter. so instead of buying this new packaged one just buy the hd at the above price

8

Nice one! How mud-resistant are they? :smiley:

9

Very, got an offroad clear plastic case for it. Cant wait to get out there and use it.

its also FOG-proof! lol

10

I think the Contour GPS is pretty gimmicky and isn’t worth the extra premium… especially when all smart phones these days have GPS logging apps freely available.
Also phones have AGPS which uses cellphone towers & wifirouters to get your rough position even if you have bad GPS signal coverage.

11

Hence why we didnt bother. Gimic.

Took it out today on both helmets and different mounts on the bike. WOW.

quality is amazing and the 170degree lense works a treat. Looking forward to greenlaning and finchinfield lanes!

12

Is that battery life or memory?

What’s the sound quality like?

13

8 hours battery which they said is the recording life of a 32gb card!

Sound is ok. Not fantastic, but Lewis had it in the off roading mount. Cut all the wind out and you could hear the bike quite well. Won know definitely until he gets out there practising like your videos!

14

Cheers.
I’ve looked on the website now, so I’m a bit more clued up :wink:

Previously I’ve been interested in the Drift HD170, but am considering this one if I can get it sent from the US with no duty!

15

Be careful what micro SD cards you use in the Contours - they can be a bit fussy, has to be class 4 minimum, but if you have any problems Contour will recommend you use the supplied 2GB card which is pointlessly small. I’ve had problems with mine (GPS - yeah, the gimmicky one ;)) probably going to send it back to Contour for a replacement.

16

I love my contourHD 1080 excellent bit of kit. My mate just bought one instead of the roam from amazon for around 110-130 after seeing mine. But there are slight differences as you can see from the pic. His one doesnt fit my waterproof case either which I was under the impression the contour HD & HD1080 have the same case. Any ideas?

Top - mates Bottom - mine

Left - mates Right - mine

17

I’d assume the GPS would be more snowboarding or something…

18

Hopefully Contour will have a stand at the Excel bike show as I’m definitely looking to get one but would like to see it first.

19

I have also just purchased the HD and I was really debating to go for the old 1080pHD or the new one… decided to go for the old, why? Well for one the battery is not internal which is great as you can replace it or have spares if you run out of juice and 2 it records at 60fps something the new one doesn’t.

The HD is still waterproof… or better said shower proof so unless you go diving or are in a proper downpour then you dont’t need it… if it is pissing down that badly get their waterproof casing and have it in your bag at all times.

20

They did not have the contour at the MCN show so have ordered the roam from Amazon. Should arrive in the next few days.

It’ll be interesting to compare what you think of the HD Vs my view of the roam.