Help picking the right gopro or action cam for my needs

I am looking to pick up an action cam. I would like to use it while snowboarding and to film my daughter skiing. Would also like to use it to do time laps while on vacation (sunrise/sunsets). The other thing is I want to mount it in the car while doing road trips (we will be driving parts of route 66 in Feb. and it might be cool to do a time laps of that drive).

I could see mounting it to our jet ski in the summer as well.

Gopro is obviously the name that comes to mind but there are so many choices, everything will be for personal use only, just home video stuff. I am wondering if the Hero3 White would be enough to get good results for my use. Are their cheaper units that do the same thing out there?

i would get the hero 3 +black if your trying to use it for snowboarding and skiing. the silver might work, but dont waste the money on the white

Whats everyones thoughts on the SJ4000 Wifi version?

Littlejon Dsgn wrote in post #17265861
Whats everyones thoughts on the SJ4000 Wifi version?

It can not do time lapse and too many fake copies on the market.

kenwood33 wrote in post #17266694
It can not do time lapse and too many fake copies on the market.

Thats good to know

I will say this I have a Contour+2 and it's honestly the best form factor POV camera out there. They were actually ahead of GoPro a few years back, but do to change of ownership, they fell a little behind. But now are running full speed again.

It's the easiest to mount, period. You don't need brackets to level the camera because your rotate the lens after you mount the camera this levels the camera view. It uses either contour specific mounts or a standard camera tripod thread... so you have the best of both worlds. It has a lazer to help level it along with degree marks on the outside ring. You can bluetooth to preview all your settings on the camera and check what the camera sees. Or just use the onboard laser that will shoot a red line so you know where and how the lens is pointed.

It has an external mic jack. It has gps on it, very simple to use icons that light up on the back so you can see the status of your battery, how much room on your card you have left and status of gps with just the push of one button. It has a simple slide switch to turn it on or off with a lock to hold it in either position. Not having to push a button a million times to go through settings to get it going.

Replaceable battery, sd cards and bluetooth card. I have multiple batteries and a 32gb card, I can record forever..haha.

Then if you want to get deep into settings you can, either via usb connection to your computer or again through the bluetooth connection. There are just about as many adjustments on the contour as there are on my t3i. haha.

You can also pre define the rocker switch behind the back door of the camera for multiple settings, such as one position it's 1080p at 30fps and the other position it's 720p at 60fps. Or have it video record one position and the other position it takes photos. It's supper adjustable if you want it to be, or its very simple if you want it to be.

The two downsides to this camera, the image quality is not quite where Gopro is, all though the new Contour Roam 3 is very very very close. The other is there is no raw format to record in at this point, if that matters to you or not.

The image quality is still very very good. Form factor is the BEST out there period. Oh and to top it all off, I have yet to see any better customer service from anyone. They also supply leashes with their mounts so that in case you hit something very very hard with it, or the camera decides to eject, it wont get lost because it will still be attached with the leash.

I can go on and on and on about the camera. Feel free to ask me any questions. I can clarify if need be.

I chose the Sony Actioncam over the GoPro. http://www.amazon.com …e+View+Remote+%​28White%29

I liked the fact that it comes with a remote viewer and controller that you carry on your wrist like a watch and connects through WiFi with the camera. The other advantage is that the Sony has built in Image Stabilization - GoPros is all done through software.

japanbran wrote in post #17265858
i would get the hero 3 +black if your trying to use it for snowboarding and skiing. the silver might work, but dont waste the money on the white

Gopro Hero 4 Black and Silver are available now.

yes they are. however for the needs listed i would think they would rather save the extra 100 bucks and get a 3

japanbran wrote in post #17275492
yes they are. however for the needs listed i would think they would rather save the extra 100 bucks and get a 3

I've got a sneaking suspicion I could have a Gopro Hero 4 in my Xmas stocking this year.

Littlejon Dsgn wrote in post #17265861
Whats everyones thoughts on the SJ4000 Wifi version?

I just bought the SJCAM SJ4000 WiFi. It has tons of mounts in the box, which I thought was a nice way to save some money. Hopefully it's as good as I expect it to be.

If you can still find Sony AS-15 you have all that you need and beyond (Has build in WiFi) and it was resently on sale for less then $100 on B&H (One of the Best if not the most reliable sellers out there),
LINK
(Did I say I hate Adorama?) unfortunately all of the stock was purchased fast in a short time and now it appears as discontinued model. The new replacement of AS-15 with no major change (Except GPS) are at least 50 percent higher in price and readily available everywhere. BTW GoPro uses the same Sony sensor for their 3-4 times higher priced models. Still Sony has the better algorhythem for in camera postprocessing so their color looks more brillient and surly in low light, no one matches Sony quality.
Some GoPro kits come with good number of accessories in package (If you select what you need right). Additional accessory varity is more for GoPro. But for the qulaity and price I favor Sony. Also the built in WiFi is very effect for a very good distance and you can see and control the camera easily via a smart phone and free apps. I definetly stay away from all the cheap immitations (That are surly temptating due to low initial price) that are nothing but waist of money and time that you can never get back at any price!

IMO sometimes it's best to just go with the flow. There is good reason GoPro has pretty much owned the action cam market for the past 5+ years.

I'm not saying that there are not good (even better alternatives maybe) but with the range of accessories and the sheer number of users you won't go wrong with a Go Pro. As to which one, White would probably do you but personally the GoPro Black 3+ or Black 4 would be top of my list.

Thank you everyone for your thoughts and opinions, I got a chance to play around with a SJ4000 Wifi, come to find out one of my friends owns one. It looks to do everything I want, short of built in time lapse, however it can be set to take a picture every "x" seconds and I have software that will combine it for me. It comes with a good amount of mounts right out of the box and it uses the same mounting hardware as a gopro, so additional mounts are easy to find. Its also only $100 and for the limited use I see it getting (I hope I am wrong and use the heck out of it, and see justification spending what GoPro wants) I think its a good first step.

Best of luck and don't forget my last line of reply. You are told!

Bottom line if you go NotGoPro and rather SJ4000, make sure you avoid conditions that camera will shake such as use during driving and hand held moving around. Footage could be so affected that may not be usable for home video clip recording. To see what I mean, if not seen before, have a look at this

LINK

that is by an excellent reviewer who also has valuable other cam reviews worth watching, but definitely see the clip from Minute 23:40 and then 26:30 to see what you get or could get (And comparison is with GoPro not-So-Hero / older version- and things has got a lot better on new ones). But then it is what you are paying for. Additoinally if you ever move to a better one and SJ4000 actually last, you can always use it as Dash camera with permanent mount in the car that you can not simply do, out of box, with GoPro or Sony AS.

Like to hear from you after 6 month of actual use.

Cheers.