911racer

A buddy is looking at the Go Pro video camera for his car.

How good is the video. It looks simple to use.

What about the battery life. Kind of wierd that it does not run on rechargeables or that you can not hard wire it to the car.

Some feedback would be appreciated.

Thanks

Ed

mglobe

Fairly popular, and there is a motorsport kit that comes with a bunch of mounting goodies, but in my opinion the video quality is not all that great.

Gasser

I have one and tried to use it in my first race. I was not successfull in getting any video off to my computer. Some kind of glitch. Worked fine at home. Ill try again in the March TWS club race but so far its been a fiddle while getting in for a race. I plan on getting the new Traqumate system with the camera setup so the Gopro will just be an extra for fun shots like out the back or looking at the suspension durring a run. As far as the video quality, its worse than I thought it would be. Kind of jerky and poor resolution compared to my old Sony video camera that used high 8 tapes. I may just go back to using that old thing. Cant beat the video from that old thing. Battery life is just enough to record a 45 min session and no more. You can and should acording to the manual, use the rechargable AAA batteries. they recomend the Li rechargable ones. Its not a bad camera but I think there are better options out there and I probably not buy this one again.

Jeff

dmilzoff

I've been happy with mine for part of the past season. I hard wired it to the battery with a Radio Shack transformer to eliminate the battery life problem.
For my personal amusement, the quality is just fine. The ability to move the camera inside and outside (with a long wire for battery) makes it more interesting.

Gasser

Can you give me more info on your transformer. I think this would solve most if not all my problems. Any pictures of how to do this?

Thanks for posting!

Jeff

dmilzoff

I could not find the part on RadioShack's web site, but I know that I purchased it there.
It's a "Power Supply" (transformer) that plugs into the cigarette lighter and puts out 3 volts (the power needed for the GoPro).
I cut off the 3 volt output and soldered the wires to the battery terminals inside the GoPro.
I also hard wired the 12 volt supply through a toggle switch and then to the car wiring which is on at all times. This way I can have the camera on while in the paddock and turn off the power when I come in, instead of twisting around and trying to press the buttons on the camera which I cannot see.
The toggle switch has an internal LED light so I know when the circuit is hot.

Gasser

That sounds great. Ill go down to my local RS and see what I can source. I don't mind the lower video quality as its just for grins and protection in case of an on track incident ala 13/13.

Thanks for the info.

Jeff

mark kibort

Here is the video that is in full quality mode from the Vimeo site. sorry, its a BMW race
http://www.vimeo.com/927003
Mk


It works great for the rear cam.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qGqSJkmCyb0

life is around 55min.

Use recharable lithiums (edit: sorry, recharable Nickel metal hydride batteries AAA size)

mk

freescopesdad

Mark etal, where the heck are you finding lithium rechargeables in AAA size? I have been to Best Buy, Frys, Ritz Camera, Walmart, etc. and online, and they don't seem to exist. BTW the GoPro website recommends rechargeable Energizer NiMh batteries greater than 900 mAh capacity, or just lithium throwaways. Where did you find your lithium rechargeables?

Ron

mark kibort

I bought the ones i use for the go pro camera at radio shack. they are NiMh batteries. (nickel Metal Hydride) 700mah , andthey are green in color. I also bought a set from ebay that came with a charger. Dont know if they are as good, so i only use the radio shack ones for racing video activity.

I also made a charger out of one of those 4 pack AAA AA battery holders. then, just a 25 ohm resistor in series with the pack attached to any car battery. in 1-2 hour they are almost fully charged. charges at about 300ma so in 2 hours they are fully charged from empty. these last the entire race and then some.

mk

freescopesdad

Thanks! I thought i was going crazy looking for something that doesn't exist yet in the market. I picked up 4 AAA NiMH 1000 mAh batteries and a charger at OfficeMax yesterday for $16.00. Now all I need is the camera (tomorrow) and hopefully a dry day this weekend.

Ron

gums

I think the whole fun of the GoPro is to move it all around during the weekend, try lots of locations. Helmet, fender, rear window.....If you hard wire it, I'd think you'll lose this capability. I just use rechargeable DuraCells.
Have a look here and see what I mean, splicing between CamCorder and GoPro for multiple angles:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6pxBP6nXUG4

race911

Find my thread a few posts down where I mounted it on the Radical. First time I'd used it, and it's good enough for being on a car like that.

gums

Race, nice video. Always have and always will love Sports Racers. Will likely follow your lead and get in before this game is over. Also love Thunderhill, looks like a really nice circuit.