Review of the Drift Innovation Stealth HD170 POV Camera

This is a pretty cool little video camera that allows you to 'wear' it and video what you are doing hands-free.

I've read the reviews and compared this camera to the Go Pro and Contour.

Go Pro looks wonderful, but the bulkiness of it and the price kept me from purchasing it.  I needed something small and easy to work with.  The Contour was a piece of cake..push forward to record, push the lever back to stop.  But...there is no way to preview what you have done in the field.

The Drift on the other hand has a remote that you can keep in your pocket or wear on a wrist band.  There is a small preview window so that you can take some test shots and see if your camera is aimed where you want it.

This camera is getting replaced by a newer and more compact version so I was able to by the 'discontinued model' at a really great price. What can I say?  I snatched up the slightly larger camera.

What don't I like about it?

The sun creating glare on the video.  [I may try to make a lens shield for that.]

The microphone on the camera is not the best, but you sure can hear me yell at the dogs in this test video.

The camera shoots in .MOV mode.  Which may cause issues with Windows Media Player as it is a Quick Time  movie file.

But don't despair.  I was able to directly load the video clips into Windows Live Movie Maker and edit and save.  The file then became a .WMV file.  I kept the editing quite simple.

Don't shoot in SD mode and try to watch it on an expanded screen.  It flickers like mad.

SD mode however, is a smaller file and this is the mode I tested it in.

I don't have many dislikes on this camera other than the sun flares.  I think with a bit more experience [2 days of experimenting], it will prove to be a handy hands free video cam.  I plan to mount it to my helmet while we are brush busting with the mules and sliding down hills.

The wide angle lens is actually pretty clever.  You can go right up to something and it doesn't lose focus.  

I shot this little video inside with one lamp on.  I put it in night mode and upped the exposure value 1 step.

Do shoot in 720 at either 60 frames per second or 30 frames per second.  You also have the option of 50 fps.

There is a 1080 mode also.  I have not tried that yet.

If you want more specs see this link.

Mostly I have likes regarding this camera.  It even has the option of taking stills at 5MP and of shooting time lapse sequences.

I am thinking of putting this baby on a tripod and using the time lapse on a day when the clouds are flying by!

If you do outdoor sports, this may be a great little camera to have along.


Update on 4-24-12
The following is a better sample of using the helmet mount while riding in the woods.  The video flickers a little bit and the sound was not that interesting so I just dubbed music over the clips of riding.