Contour-HD review from a paintballer's perspective

I decided to make a review based on my experience with the Contour-HD 720P and Contour-HD 1080P camera over the last two years or so. This is aimed purely at those interested in maybe buying one for paintball.

Personally, I like the image quality and size, but there are many other things that I think potential buyers should be aware of when they intend to buy one mainly for paintball. I also have included a couple of tips for Contour-HD users.

I'd rate it a 6 out of 10.

Edit July 2013: Having lost almost all my three days of footage at the last paintball Big Game I went to (The Fort in France), I decided I was finally fed up with Contour and its beta release hardware.

I finally had enough of all the errors, problems and malfunctioning and sold all my Contour stuff.

Instead I bought a couple of Beardevil Red headcams (at a 50% discount). Since they arrived only three days ago, I haven't had a chance to try them out on a paintball field yet.
They have less recording time per battery and are shiny red (I will use heat shrink tube for that), but come in a waterproof version that is smaller than a Contour-HD.

[walthanas]

@meta1ky0 My main issue with forehead and barrel mounts is that it only gives something else than the human's field of vision. If I see in my video how often I just look through horizontal slots or around the edge of the bunker with one eye and only the barrel of my marker, such mounts would only be good for recording additional footage.
My issues with the Gopro:profile, mounting limitation, limited recording time, lack of lasers or screen to point it correctly (after hitting a branch & such).

[walthanas]

Unfortunately that wide lens means that you will need to get even closer to an opponent if you still want him to appear as more than a pixel on the screen.
From what I understand from Contour-GPS owners who play paintball, that GPS function is of no use to us, but it does eat considerably into the maximum recording time. That drops from 3, 5 hours to 2 hours max.
That 500 euro/700 US$ price is also much more that I'd spend on a under developed and under engineered paintball camera.

[Rammonte]

Thanks for the great Paintballers review! Anyone looking to use this camera in the sport of paintball should find this video very helpfull.
Keep up the great work Walthanas.

[christianrum]

great video! lots of good info!
do you recommend an other cam for the sport?

[walthanas]

@kjsmolik I record in 720P with both the 1080P and the 720P model I own. The biggest difference is that the 1080P model records in 60 FPS, although personally I think that the image of the 1080P is more crisp and slightly less yellowish than the 720P model (with exactly the same settings).

I looked at the stealth HD170, but since I already have two Contour-HD camera's I don't want to spend that much money on yet another headcam. Also, I find the 170 degrees too much: that distorts the image.

[walthanas]

Sadly, I haven't come across something with similar image quality for a decent price.

Having lost almost all my three days of footage at the last paintball Big Game I went to (The Fort in France), I decided I was finally fed up with Contour and its beta release hardware.

So I sold all my ContourHD stuff and bought a couple of Beardevil Red headcams (at a 50% discount). Since they arrived only three days ago, I haven't had a chance to try them out on a paintball field yet.

[walthanas]

@meta1ky0 Yep, I agree. Looks like there are others are offering better image quality, superior mounting options, reliability, waterproof housing and recording time, but not for that amount of money.

[kjsmolik]

How good is the picture of the contour 720p? I just bought one and now im second guessing myself thinking I should have spent the extra money on the 1080P. Check out the Drift hd170. It might be more what you are looking for. They have a stealth model. You can get them on ebay for about $200.

[walthanas]

@Ak74fr3ak Let me put it this way: On a scale of one to ten, I'd give it a six. If it works as it should the result for use in paintball is good, if not better, than all other camera's (I've seen and held a few contemporaries up close, and seen the quality of that recorded video material in comparison as well).

However, I think that Vholdr still has a long way to go to make it perfect for paintball. Simply adding a GPS unit to the existing 1080P camera is not what I'm looking for.

[Akfrak]

so would you or would you not recommend it? and very helpful