BFowlkes

I'm doing Spring Mountain in a few weeks and Im planning on getting a go pro for it. Can anyone give advise on the various models (whire, silver or black) and the best mounting system to buy for use at Spring Mountain?

I know they rent them there but the price quoted was $300 a day where I can buy one for that.

Thanks

Homer3D

Here is a comparison chart.

http://gopro.com/product-comparison-hero3-cameras

I think the white is a good value if you don't need all the bells and whistles of the black (like extra mounts, wifi remote, etc). All 3 can record at 1080p @30 fps but the black can also do up to 60 fps. Typically anything about 28 fps is good enough for the human eye and you only need a camera to record at higher fps if you plan on slowing down the recorded video and don't want to see it choppy. So if you take a 10 second video at 60 fps and slow it down by half when viewing, you will get a 20 second video at 30 fps. It will be a slow but smooth video. With the white, that same video would drop to 15 fps and it will be slow but choppy.

The white CAN do 60 fps if you drop it from 1080p to 720p which may be good enough for most people. Youtube videos tend to be 360p by default.

For me it is choice between the white and black. I find the silver doesn't offer enough above the white for the extra $100 price tag. And although the black is $100 more than the silver, it comes with the wifi remote ($80 value).

So if I picked up the silver and bought the remote separately, I would just be $20 shy of the black's price tag. But I wouldn't have the black's 12 Megapixels video, "Professional Grade" quality image, up to 120 fps @ 72p, etc...

Check Craigslist and eBay and you might be able to pick up the black for the price of the silver.

BlueAngelSAE

SAMs club had the outdoor edition go pro 2 for 199. Has wifi backpack so I was turning on and off via iPad....well until I mounted it wrong and it came off in turn 1 of talledega.

cagotzmann

Any camera that does 1080p 30fps will be just fine. I have been at spring mountain for level 1,2 and 3 in the past 2 years. I have used my gopro each time and the last time I mounted 2 camera's, 1 pointing forward and 1 pointing backwards. I used the suction cup mount for both camera's. Both Mounted on the back window. The important setting is the spot exposure setting. Should be set to spot mode or the dash will look great and the windshield will be over exposed and always white with no detail. There are 2 different backing plates, one with open holes for more sound, and a water proof backing which will make the sound more muffled. make sure you have a extra battery the wifi remote is a good plus so you can turn the unit off / on at the best time to save battery power and storage memory. use the camera a few time before you get there so you do not fumble with the camera while getting ready before each session. This takes the fun out.

Iconic

Scott, you should elaborate a little more on your setup. After seeing yours in person at 'Dega I was impressed greatly with your wifi and that you could view in real time the video on your laptop in the car.

I need to get the same or similar set up for next years event.

BTW, was your camera still recording when it came off and endo'd 50 times rolling down turn 1? Love to see that clip ...


To the OP, my gopro is a hero2 without the wifi capability (but could be added with the backpack). This was taken with my cam, mounted on Scotts Vette, while he tries to keep up with me...(grin/smirk)

village idiot

consider the Contour HD and it's variants. I like them a lot better than GoPro. Plus they're waterrpoof up to 10ft or something (rain, puddles, etc).

z28lt1

I think the white is just fine, and its white I used. I watched lots of comparison videos on-line, and the colors are definitely better on the silver and black, but for track events, not sure the better colors matter.

Lots of good mounts available, depending upon where you want to put it. Mot sure what US Icon used in the vid above, an outside suction cup mount without a tether makes me nervous. Otherwise, suction cup for inside (or roll bar mount if you have one) should work well.

Iconic

We used suction cups mounted on the outside. They held up on both of our cars and we hit over 150 mph. In Scotts case where his cam separated from his car in turn one, it was the plastic hinge that broke, not a case of the suction cup coming undone.

PSU_Vette

Another option you may want to look at is using a smart phone program (if you have a capable phone). For example, I use Harry's LapTimer on my iPhone 5 for my track days and have loved the results. It not only records in 1080, but it'll record acceleration, section speeds, etc, all while showing the location of the vehicle on a track map. The program itself is roughly $20. I then spent $45 on a really good mount that doesn't vibrate at all. Just some food for thought if you want to save a ton of $$$ and also have a system that you can use over and over.

The following link is an example of using it with my car at Daytona. Don't mind the "line." It was my first time on a track...

Iconic

PSU, that superimposed track layout image and your speed inside the video itself is beyond cool. I love it.

*Memo to self - get this.