A Small Very Versatile Snowboard Friendly Video Camera
The Action camera world seems to be overwhelmed by Go Pro and to a lesser extent Contour these days but we found another option that made our crew the happiest when it came to a versatile snowboard specific camera. Like all the action cameras out there, it has issues, but you just get more camera for your buck with the Drift. It has a unique design, good video quality and comes with a lot of accessories that the others charge for. It also has a less fish eye perspective that some other cameras deliver which makes hills look more steep. It still doesn't capture the way it looks when you are riding it but it's better than every other camera out there. The biggest thing about the Drift is the versatile mounting and filming options. No other camera can match it and that is why this is our favorite. You can wear it on your helmet one run, put it on a mono-pod the next and then give it to your buddy to wear on his goggles the next. Check out the detailed review below.
The Drift HD Action camera is our favorite camera and we have a few of these to conduct reviews as well as capture a few good days. The Drift HD Action Camera has a few things that the Contour and Go Pro are missing.
It comes standard with a built in display so you can view your videos on the chair.
You can change the zoom angle when filming which is huge! You can film at a wide angle when filming yourself and zoom it in when filming a friend on a mono-pod.
It's easy to remove the camera from your helmet goggles or mono-pod because it has a clip.
It has a lens that can rotate to accommodate any mounting angle you can think of
It comes with a built in screw for almost any kind of mount.
It also comes with a remote
It comes with multiple mounting kits. We wish it came with a mono-pod as well.
It's water resistant enough for any snowboarding outing so you don't need the waterproof case accessory unless you want to film a pond skim.
The old Drift Stealth and HD 170 was and is a good camera but we now give the nod to the new Drift HD Action Camera for these changes/additions:
The new Drift HD is much smaller, weighs less and mounts much better on helmets goggles and mono-pods.
It has a replaceable lens so if you break it you just order a new lens instead of buying a whole new cam.
It comes with 2 back hatches. A normal screw top and a screw top with inputs
It doesn't make the steep run look like a beginner run. It's still a little fish eye at the wide angle but it's not terrible. If you want your viewers to get a better idea of the steep terrain you are riding then you can adjust the zoom so it doesn't look flattened by the fish eye wide angle lens.
Take our review of the The Drift Stealth, add these features mentioned above and you have the Drift HD review. When the Drift HD is on your helmet, goggles, or mono pod it looks and acts much smaller than the GoPro. The Contour wins on the low profile battle for side mounting on your helmet or goggles but the Drift is pretty close now with it's new design. The Drift takes it for top mounting on your helmet or mono-pod mounting. It has a much lower profile and can adjust to just about any way you want it on your helmet, goggles or mono pod over the Contour though. The GoPro looses in every category to the Drift HD and Contour when it comes to mounting by a lot. I (editor) don't speak for everyone here at The Good Ride but to me the site of a GoPro on top of the helmet or head just looks horrible. I could never permanently mount one of those things on my helmet. We all loved keeping the Drift in our pockets and popping it into a helmet/goggle mount when it's time to film. Actually this year our favorite thing is just keeping it in a Jacket pocket mounted to a mono pod. We could easily pass it around and just put it back in a pocket when we are done. none of us looked like we have a second voodoo computer head.
Ease of Use Our only complaints are the buttons on all the Drift Camera's aren't as easy to push as others out there and especially with gloves on. The remote buttons are easier with gloves but still not ideal. When you have gloves on it is not easy to find the button on the camera but easier with the remote. The other complaint is the new Drift HD seems to only take a micro SD card instead of an SD card but this is minor. The settings are easy to access and not terribly hard to dial out or access.
The Fish Eye Look One of the biggest complaints we have with all action cameras is their wide angle lens makes even the steepest run on the mountain look like it's an intermediate run. We aren't saying that Drift doesn't do that same thing but the runs are closer than they appear in real life compared to the Go Pro and about the same as the Contour when in the wide angle mode. When you zoom all the way you get rid of a lot of that fish eye look and you get a better idea of the severity of the run you are on. The Zoom on the Drift gives the camera a distinct advantage over the Contour and GoPro here. With the Zoom it's also a lot easier to film your friend at a safer distance and for those who enjoy a reasonable amount of safety this is a plus as well.
Video Quality To us the Drift could use some work here. With the firmware upgrade the Drift HD Action Camera seems to be a little below or right there in terms of video quality with the Contour but behind the various Go Pro models. The color seems richer with the GoPro over the other models. With all three cameras it seems that everyone loves the 1080p 30fps setting but we found that the 30 frames per second makes snowboarding down a hill a little jumpy. When we shifted to 720p with 60 frames per second we found it smooth and much better for the jarring up and down action that happens when you are snowboarding. You loose a little clarity with 720p at 60fps but the video quality is smoother.
Drift Mono-pod
The mono-pod accessory is a must when snowboarding. Once you get use to it's a better way to film compared to a helmet mount. We found the Drift Mono-pod to be sturdy and a very stable video mount. We'd like to see this extend out about twice as far so you can film more of yourself and follow your friends further away. We'd also like to see a rubbery ultra grippy material where you grip this thing so you feel more confident with gloves on. It has a little leash but that could be bigger as well so you can work with gloves. We found this mono pod to be the most sturdy and best to mount but the X-Shot Mono-pods easier to film yourself and others with. If Drift just made this mono-pod longer it would be very usable and versatile like their camera. Instead its mainly good for filming others.
Drift HD Case
We tried many after market cases but ended up much more happy with the Drift Case Accessory. It just holds everything very well and makes it very easy to organise all the essential mounting kits. We'd love to see a few loops on the outside to carry the mono-pod and feel that would make this case practically perfect.
Conclusion We at The Good Ride were looking for "the best snowboarding action camera" out there and to us this clearly won. The Drift HD Action Camera didn't win because of video quality but won because of overall mounting and filming versatility. We felt we could live with a slightly poorer image to get so much more back. The small camera, remote control, easy mounting to helmet, goggle or mono-pod, video screen and especially the zoom option easily made this the best snowboarder Action Camera option out there. We liked this camera so much we begged Drift for some and chose this as our dedicated camera to film our days on the hill with. If you want a camera primarily for snowboarding then the Drift is the call.
durable, easy-to-use Drift HD camera elevates the point of view camera market to a higher level with the most feature-rich, multi-functional, professional helmet camera available to date:
Full HD for creating crystal clear footage
More compact housing, 4.1 inches and 4.23 oz., 25 percent smaller that its predecessor
Replaceable lens
Second rear cover to protect the camera when using an external mic or a USB charger
A playback LCD screen for lining up shots and the ability to play back the footage right away
Micro HDMI connector for HDTV playback
A remote control to enable you to film what you want to record, not the boring stuff in between
New goggle strap in addition to curved and flat adhesive mounts, paired with a universal clip for multiple mounting options
Standard 1/4? 20 mm thread for use with most tripods
If that isn?t enough the camera also has the following :
A rotating lens so you can mount the camera at any angle and any position to get that shot you are looking for
It can take 9 MP photos. Put it in the photo burst mode and you can take pictures every few seconds for as long as your memory card and battery lasts
You can pair the remote control to your camera or any number of additional cameras.
A digital zoom function so you can get even closer to the action or your friend in front
A 2.5 microphone input for external microphones
Night mode so you can record in darker and duskier conditions
Waterproof case accessory offering
External power pack accessory offering (20 hrs. record time)
Features
Maximum Video Resolution: 1080p High Definition
microSD Memory Capacity: up to 32GB
25 / 30 / 50 / 60fps in 720p or 25 / 30fps in 1080p
Still Photo: 9 megapixel with Photoburst Mode
Digital Zoom: Digital x4 (in 1080p, 720p/30/60fps & WVGA mode)
Lens Angle: 170° Fully Rotatable Wide Angle Lens
LCD Screen: 1.5? Colour TFT
Water Resistant
Remote Control: Wireless RF (5m range) Hands Free Video and Photo
Mounts: Multiple Mounting Design, Standard 1/4? 20 mm thread
