Go ... but not so Pro
(Posted 18:59:34 on 18th April 2013 by Rag)
I've been pondering the decision as to whether to buy a GoPro or not and have finally succumbed to their mass marketing and got one. It arrived a couple of days ago and I thought I'd try it out yesterday. If anyone doesn't know, a GoPro is a very small video camera that is used to record high speed sports. They come in waterproof containers so they can do surf boarding, wind surfing, mountain biking ... you get the picture. They're often used in cars or on motorbikes which is why you get to see all those crash videos on YouTube. I bought mine for a multitude of reasons, not least of which is fishing, particularly given the small size etc.
Anyway, so I figured I'd give it a spin as I was working down in San Jose so used a suction cup to mount it to my car. Figure out the suction cup doesn't work on the dash, but great on the winDSCreen. Remembered to go into the setup and change the camera to operate upside down and away you go. Now, these are small functional cameras build with size and portability in mind, so the camera itself doesn't come with a screen. You can connect with a mobile phone (which I did) that will show you what the camera sees and you can turn it on off and change settings etc.
Off I popped down San Jose and was quite surprised as to how much was going on around me. I had a random driver holding his dog out the window with sunglasses on, a car come screaming by me closely followed by one belonging to the California Highway Patrol. The patrol car won ... something about flashing lights must make the car go faster ....
On the way back, changed battery and set off again. Very boring drive back, nothing happened, but you can't win them all.
Suffice it to say that when I pulled the files off the camera I found an excellent video of the drive back, but only a photograph of my garage door before leaving. Somehow I had taken a picture on the way down instead of starting the video and ended up missing anything of any interest whatsoever.
Better luck next time ... assuming I don't just put it in a drawer and end up not using it. Time will tell.
