Let’s welcome yet another player to the consumer wearable camcorder marketplace. The EPIC Action Sports Camera from StealthCam is an entry level helmet camera that directly competes with the GoPro Hero and the Oregon Scientific ATC Series. The form factor is similar to the ATC2K series, but differs in that a waterproof housing is available. There are 3 mounts included standard with the EPIC: A waterproof housing (no depth rating), Strap Mount (helmets, etc), and a Shock Resistant Saddle. The retail price is $149.99. Overall this is an inexpensive but fun helmet cam mostly targeted at very entry level videographers and YouTube’ers.

The video frame size is 640 x 480 and the still shot mode claims 5.0MP. The product manual claims 30 frames per second, but the sample videos on their site shows what appears to be a variable frame rate. The EPIC Stealth Camera uses a CMOS sensor and most likely does not perform well in low light situations. The manual states a Camera aperture of 2.8mm- which is not considered wide angle, probably comes in around 48 degree field of view. Interesting to note, all of the sample videos have a white box watermark at the bottom with “Epic Stealth Cam (Date Time Stamp)” stamped on each frame. We’re not sure if they did this for marketing purposes after the footage was captured, or if the unit itself does. The product manual does not mention this feature. No mention of the video codec being used to compress and deliver the video. The audio on the sample videos is audible and quality is ok. The unit does have a internal clock that can be set with the 2 buttons, but the manual notes that when batteries are removed/changed that the clock will reset itself. The unit connects to PC’s and MAC’s via standard USB connections to transfer video, or the standard SD memory card the unit uses can be removed and inserted into a SD card reader. The unit takes AAA batteries, and reported runtimes are around 1 hour on a fresh set.

VholdR makes “the location” of your video easy to share.

Press Release - Seattle, WA (August 5, 2008) – VholdR.com, a video community enabling people to share life from their point of view, introduces video GeoTagging. Users are now able to relate their video adventures to the locations where it the action is captured. The launch of GeoTagging on VholdR.com adds a new dimension to the growing shoot and share VholdR community.

Powered by the VholdR wearable camcorder, VholdR.com becomes the first video community to embrace video GeoTagging as a focus of the community experience. VholdR users share video from exciting locations including running with the bulls in Pamplona, Spain, skiing steeps in Jackson Hole, biking slick rock in Moab, and motorcycling winding roads in the French Alps.

“VholdR users live life leaning forward, capturing video from within the action in the most amazing locations,” said Marc Barros, CEO of VholdR. “VholdR.com offers a whole new perspective on ‘real life video’ by making it easy to share the action and the location with the click of a button. GeoTagging is just the beginning in bringing ‘real life video’ and community together.”

Members of VholdR.com enter the GeoTag of their video either right out of the VholdR wearable camcorder or during the upload process. Visitors to the Web site are able to search for videos based on location through an interactive Google map.

Viewers are then taken into the action from the participant’s point of view and able to simultaneously view the location on a map while the video plays. Location meta data helps to establish VholdR.com as the user generated video community with the best riding, skiing, boarding, and biking locations from around the world.

The award winning VholdR wearable camcorder broke the mold of a traditional camcorder, by removing the need for your hands to record the action, while making video sharing easy. Just connect the VholdR camcorder to any computer and video uploads to VholdR.com with the click of a button. The camera weighs just a few ounces and features a completely sealed, brushed aluminum protective body that allows the camcorder to work in the rain, snow and mud. A single on/off button makes VholdR unbelievably simple to use.

Visit www.vholdr.com to experience amazing locations first hand.

The HC-1, sold exclusively by helmetcamera.com, is a helmet camera system pieced together from analog and digital components. The HC-2 system is exactly the same as the HC-1, except that a waterproof box is included, along with a slim rechargeable camera battery that fits in the box. All in all, it’s a heap of wires and batteries, with lackluster video quality. The included DVR is a typical generic digital recorder, similar to the Archos AV 500, which was not designed for rugged wearable video applications. Rather, it is a basic handheld digital recorder, which can function completely on its own. What helmetcamera.com has done is package this general-purpose camcorder along with a lipstick camera kit, necessary cables, a memory card, and power options. The external camera plugs into the recorder’s auxiliary input, causing the integrated camera to be bypassed. Keep reading, as we share our thoughts on this product offering.

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Just kidding…. Really this is all about the New York Times giving props to helmet cameras.

If mass media outfits that did product reviews were apples, then the New York Times would be a big one. Known worldwide for its career making/breaking book and movie reviews, the New York Times has now given proper respect to the hobby of helmet cam-ing with its recent rave reviews of two our hottest selling helmet camera systems: The POV.1 and the VholdR. Their reviewer James Bogner tested the systems out on mountain bike trails in Queens and in Upper Manhattan (believe it or not). His review of the POV.1 unit, while perhaps not as in-depth as our own, never-the-less had very good things to say. Mr. Bogner praised the waterproof, shock-resistant and dustproof POV.1, saying it “inspired confidence” by being both “easiest to set up” and “painless to use”. He favored its design and the included software with a “quick” boot time. He also said the POV.1 videos, stored on an SD card, were “natural and appealing”.

The VholdR was also pleasing to this New Yorker’s highly refined palate: Sayeth Bogner about its wireless design: “simple all-in-one ease”. As to his impressions of the video that he pulled off of it: “natural and smooth”. Indeed, the video clips attached to this New York Times online article did look smooth and as natural as can be expected considering the mountain biking was done inside New York City limits. Here at HCC we are very excited to see these products given the attention they deserve, especially by such prestigious publications as this one.

We recommend that you take a look at this product review/slideshow, not for the wealth of information that it contains, but for the side by side video comparisons and for the consumer confidence that a trusted source of information like this one can provide.

Click here to read the story over at the New York Times - make sure and click the “Next Page” arrow in the upper right-hand corner of the pictures to read the full 5 page article.

As of May 1st, 2008 the all POV.1 systems will include the new Wide Angle Camera Head as standard fare. There is no price change for the POV.1 system and the Wide Angle Camera Head is also available as an accessory for $149.95. The Shop @ Helmet Camera Central is accepting pre-orders on the new Wide Angle systems and will shipping them on May 1st, 2008.

Have a look at some actual footage! Click here to download some sample RAW, untouched Wide Angle video footage of kayaking on a sunny day. You will need the industry standard XviD Codec to view this - Go here to download the XviD codec for PC or Mac’s.

The wide angle has approximately a 98 degree horizontal field of view (or 110 degrees diagonal) as opposed the 78 degrees on the standard lens. It is wide enough to get more into a shot horizontally, but not so wide that it distorts the image like a “fish eye” lens does. Also, the new POV.1 wide angle camera head has infinite focus capabilities, meaning objects both near and far in the same picture frame will be crisp, as opposed to the standard camera head having a focal range of approximately 5 to 30 feet. The wide angle will give better “perspective” to action filming. Capturing a wider field of view can give context to the action by including other subjects in the picture (ex. fellow motorcycle rider racing neck and neck with you off to side) or can simply make more of the natural landscape visible (ex. the left and right bank of a river while kayaking.) Lastly, the wide angle can also help a bit with bumpy or shaky footage, making it more enjoyable to the viewer. This is due largely to the wide open feeling of the wide angle shot which minimizes the shakes in your video. We’ve also noticed that the wider angle lens allows more light into the CMOS sensor which helps improve overall color capture. All in all we are very impressed with the new camera head!

The original narrow view camera head (could also be referred to as the zoomed camera head) will not available again until late summer of 2008. VIO is in the process of reworking the lens element of the original camera head to also use an infinite focus approach. The Shop @ Helmet Camera Central has a limited stock of the original camera heads available and can be ordered upon special request.

The VholdR, made by Twenty20, is a great all-in-one helmet camera; very simple with a user friendly design. Most importantly, the video footage I took while skiing and snowmobiling looked great! All-in-one systems (those that don’t have a cable connecting an external camera head to the recording unit) will always have issues with shorter battery run times (due to their weight conserving small battery) and the potential for total system loss in the event of a huge crash. The VholdR is no exception in these areas. However, does provide some significant advantages over typical “all-in-one” or “wireless” systems: it’s super light, and it has laser pointers that give the user an idea as to what they are capturing in the picture frame. Last but not least, the price is right. At $349.99 (with free shipping), it’s a little more expensive than some of the other budget wireless systems we sell, but those systems have less sophisticated internals and less durable externals. Twenty20 VholdR Helmet Camera: it looks cool, and it is cool.

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Better late than never! The VholdR has finally arrived. It was a hard wait, but Twenty20 did the right thing - they waited until the product was ready. Initial tests of our in-house (backcountry snowboarding) unit have gone well. We are in the works on a full blown in-depth review. Definitely some pro’s and con’s - but mainly lots of good stuff! Our Pre-Orders will begin shipping Tuesday, with additional stock to follow each week. Inventory will still be limited for the next month, so feel free to pre-order yourself one over at The Shop @ HelmetCameraCentral.com. Full in-depth review can be read here!

Checkout the VholdR video below for a piece of VholdR footage (compressed for the web) from a stormy pow day here in Mount Shasta.

At first glance, the Hero 3’s conspicuous lack of sophistication and James Bond gadgetry could easily make it cannon fodder for a bad product review. It has no on-the-fly video playback, the near TV quality 512 by 384 resolution may cause the keen eye to wander to the next product.

Upon further reflection, however, where the Hero is found wanting has more to do with exactly that : user wants, and not user needs. One can still get good footage without the LCD screen for playback, and video storage capabilities are ample for most users. It may not be as small as a tube of lipstic, but the GoPro Hero still comes in under other “cable-less” helmet camera systems both in size, weight, and cost. So, if your willing to wait until you return home to view your video footage, and you don’t mind changing memory cards when taking more than an hour of Motion JPEG video, then purchasing the GoPro Hero instead of one of the pricier -and albiet more sophisticated- helmet camera systems can instantly put several hundred dollars or more towards making that next footage ladden vacation a reality.

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With all the fresh snow here in Mount Shasta, we’ve been out and about playing with the POV1 from VIO. This video was shot solo by our newest team member, Eric Schweitzer. Eric is an avid outdoor enthusiast - he regularly gets out and hits it hard!

In this video, the camera was mounted on a rigid pole across the top of the helmet, with the camera at the end pointing back at the face. Quite an interesting view!

Note: Revver has compressed this video for web viewing.

Viosport (VIO), a top manufacturer of helmet cam systems, headed out to the Interbike 2007 trade show to show off their new POV.1 Helmet Cam system. The POV1 is a Fully Integrated, Ruggedized, Waterproof, Tapeless, 720×480 @ 30 FPS totally rock’n wearable video system. Check out this nice video briefing over at Mbtr.com of the POV1 showing it’s features, hands-on demonstrations, and more.

1. After watching the video, read our full review of the POV1.

2. The POV1 retails for $850, and is currently on selling for $679.95 with free shipping at The Shop @ Helmet Cam Central.

[VIA Mtbr.com's Interbike 2006 Coverage]