What a difference a year makes, yeah? 13 months ago, we were giving Drift Innovation’s latest helmet cam (the HD170) a run in the course of the gauntlet , and now, we’re giving that unit’s proper successor an analogous treatment. The simply-named Drift HD action camera is basically an analogous type of device, albeit one that’s 25 percent shorter (this one’s just four inches long) and provides a replaceable lens. Moreover, there is a waterproof casing that’s at the way, though said shell wasn’t ready during our testing phase. The corporate managed to incorporate a 300-degree rotating lens (complete with a 170-degree field of view) and 2 capture options: 1080p/30fps and 720p/60fps. The concept that ought to be well-ingrained into the top of technophiles by this point: in case you are attempting to find a camera to mount upside your noggin’ (or to your vehicle of choice), that is what you’re after. But is the hot and improved Drift HD able to taking up the GoPros of the arena while justifying its $369 asking price? Read on.
Design
There is no doubt that this thing’s mighty compact for what it does. One among biggest gripes in regards to the HD170 was its girth, and Drift’s obviously gone to great lengths with a view to trim this fellow down. Hardware-wise, the unit feels sturdy enough, and the twistable lens does an attractive job of holding tight once put into place, but we couldn’t help but feel that a number of corners were cut. The embedded 1.5-inch LCD, while mightily appreciated, is of fairly poor quality; it serves to showcase what you’re viewing, and the head / bottom bars tell you of the present settings, but we found it rather difficult to work out under direct sunlight.
The back panel is roofed by certainly one of two lids, either one of which can be included. The primary is a fantastic covering that serves to seal out dust, dirt and absolutely anything else you are able to think about; the second one has two covered ports that may be popped open for simple access to the microphone input jack (3.5mm) and the mini-USB socket. That’s decidedly useful for many who have a mini-USB charger within the vehicle with ‘em, because it allows the camera to be tethered to a relentless source of energy as opposed to having to run off of batteries alone. Careful when tightening either on, though — we needed to get away a couple of pliers at one point to get it open after over tightening with our Sasquatch-like paws.
There’s also a micro-HDMI port back there, with the only real other input mechanisms being just beside the LCD: up, down, menu and play / stop. Overall, the 104.14 mm (L) x 50 (D) x 33 (W) mm device felt like a semi-serious piece, but for $369, we expected a much more premium fit and finish. At just 4.23 ounces, it is not exactly a heavyweight, but when you strap on a helmet mount (or one of several other sticky solutions included inside the box), it is not something that’ll easily slip into one’s pocket.
Software and value
There’s just no two ways about it: the user interface here’s spartan, and if we’re being candid, it’s fairly unsightly. For sure, it isn’t like you can be spending hours on end digging throughout the interface options, but we shall confess that it isn’t essentially the mostsome of the most intuitive thing to make use of; granted, having only four buttons doesn’t do Drift any favors, but slightly polish over at the software side would’ve gone some distance. Boot-up was respectably quick — the camera could go from off to shooting in under five seconds. We noticed that the “beep” sounds emitted when recording was started and stopped were around two seconds too late, but it is a quirk we learned to live with in time.
For our purposes, we shoved a 16GB microSDHC card in and left it on 1080p. Of course , if you are dispensing $369, you’ll likely be after the best resolution possible. The bundled remote (that are worn at the wrist) worked at the first try around 70 percent of the time, and while Drift claims a five meter range, we found it way more useful once we were within three meters of the device. In order that you already know, the camera stores each clip at the card in an average .MOV format, making it dead-simple to import into basically any movie editor known to man. Windows users can simply connect a mini-USB cable to export files, while OS X loyalists should probably want to have a card reader nearby.
The assortment of mounts (helmet, curved sticky and flat sticky) thrown in were quite useful, and the truth that the battery may be recharged via a mini-USB port warmed our ever-loving hearts. One less charger within the travel bag is never a foul thing. Speaking of battery life, we routinely saw our unit record around 50 to 80 minutes of 1080p footage on an entire charge, largely looking on how much idle time we had between each clip.
Video quality
So, here’s the make-it-or-break-it moment. For all intents and purposes, the video and audio quality is ready almost like what we saw at the HD170. In other words, the built-in microphone remains next to useless. When mounted on our dashboard, the mic wouldn’t pick up our voices only a few feet away; meanwhile, our Olympus E-P3 heard us loud and clear when recording inside the same position. We suspect the inner mic is there mostly to suck in engine and road noises, but those planning on doing a bit commentary should reconsider.
Video quality was… decent. We had continual issues of exposure on exceedingly bright days, where the piercing sun would induce a shot that was simply blown out. Within the shadows, things were way more palatable, but it’s definitely successful-or-miss affair. We’ll confess, however, that the infamous “jelly effect” was nowhere to be found here. Have a peek below at a couple of videos we tossed together during our time with the unit.
Wrap-up
While compact and reliable, the Drift HD’s primary problem has nothing to do with hardware, size or results. It is the price. The bloated $369 MSRP stands proud like a sore thumb, and with even the priciest GoPro going for just $299, we will not discover a compelling reason to recommend this guy over the fewer expensive competition. Video quality simply wasn’t world-beating, and when you are commanding a premium, it should be. If the corporate threw in a water-proof shell, a more polished / rugged exterior and a 16GB microSDHC card, we’d be singing a rather different tune, but until this guy starts offering itself for less, we’d probably survey the (cheaper) competition.
White House gets behind online ‘bill of rights,’ companies to adopt ‘do not track’
Samsung Rugby Smart officially coming to AT&T March 4 for $100
