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Product Review: Adventure Eye Video Systems

Monday, October 11th, 2010

On any given weekend, no matter what outdoor adventure I’m planning, there is always one piece of gear that I’m going to pack into my trunk: something to record it all with. That usually means either my iPhone, my Flip mino HD or my still camera.

The one major obstacle is that I’m usually stuck to recording the scene just before or just after the action. Recording a 45 mph descent on my bike would be awesome, but probably not the safest idea with only one hand on the handlebars and the other clutching the record button.

Because I wish that I could do a lot more video blogging of my athletic adventures than I already do, I was psyched when Adventure Eye Video Systems reached out to me for a review on their service. They offer online rentals of point-of-view digital video cameras. The idea is perfect if you have some epic outdoor adventure planned that you want to record, but don’t want to drop a cool $250 on a new POV camera.

The actual process is really simple. Fill out the order form and a box shows up on you doorstep a few days later with a camera, memory card, blank CD and a pre-paid return shipping sticker. From the day that your camera is delivered, you’ve got two weeks to go wild, record as much as you can, download it from the memory card and ship it all back. I think one of the best parts is that if you like it and can see yourself shooting POV video pretty regularly, you can contact them and buy it at a discount.

The two cameras that I had the chance to play around with were the Contour HD and the GoPro HD.

Without going into a deep product review, the Contour HD is an awesome camera. Super easy functionality, one-button recording that can easily be hit while wearing ski or cycling gloves on. My only wish is that it was waterproof for shooting video on open water swims, or giving to a friend to help analyze my swim stroke at the pool.

The GoPro HD camera makes up for the Contour HD’s lack of waterproof-ness, but that is about it. There are a ton of cool features in there on top of video, including taking still pictures, but there is no image preview screen. Having a million features packed into a camera with one really elementary screen and only two buttons to navigate them all just makes things complicated, especially if the camera is strapped to your head. It is especially frustrating when it takes a whole night to understand how to use the camera when you are renting it and the time you have with the camera is limited.

Also, the GoPro HD camera was busted when it arrived on my doorstep and the video quality was completely messed up. This wasn’t AE Video System’s fault since the camera came in brand new packaging, but the quality of GoPro HD’s products is definitely suspect. Again, if waterproof-nes is essential, the Go Pro HD camera is a good choice, but in just about all other situations, you are better off renting something else.

Renting the Contour HD is $75, or $100 with a damage waiver (which I’d highly recommend if there is any chance of you doing anything mildly dangerous or above 5 mph with the camera). The price is good, but you can buy a Flip Mino HD camera for  under $200 so the threshold for when it makes sense to buy instead of rent is pretty low. Do you see yourself shooting video pretty regularly? Adventure Eye Video Systems probably isn’t for you. If you don’t see yourself shooting video more than twice in the next two years and have some big ski, paintball, scuba diving, kayaking or cycling trip coming up? Definitely check out Adventure Eye Video Systems’ online video rentals.

Disclaimer: Adventure Eye Video Systems provided me with use of these cameras at a steeply discounted rate of $0.01, but did not contribute to the content of this review.

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