 Poster: A snowHead
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Hey guys
I'm going to buy an action camera for my upcoming ski trip in February and am torn between a GoPro Hero 3 and a Garmin Virb Elite.
The GoPro seems to win all the reviews and the awards for action cameras, but I really like the GPS capability of the Garmin; does anyone have any experience of either or both of these?
Also, how secure are the helmet mounts for action camera's? I've only ever used action cameras on motorbikes on racetracks, and they have been attached to my bikes and obviously don't get the same bashing that a camera mounted on my ski helmet will get (I'm a novice so won't be going fast but will likely do some falling over!).
All views based on your experience would be most welcome.
Thanks
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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One thing I will say is that cheap knock off accessories that fit the gopro are all over ebay. Got a chest mount for £5, stick for £3, etc.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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Chest mount sounds like a good idea and resolves my concern around it coming off my helmet and being lost (not sure I trust sticky pads). I've also just found a shoulder mount.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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My phone has GPS so I don't really need one in the camera too, it will just suck the battery. It's not hard to correlate two sources of data. Just saying.
The mounts are pretty secure. You can easily rig a back up if you like. Falling on a helmet mounted Go Pro would be fairly tricky, but the thing would just break away under moderate load. So if you fall on your head a lot (!) you probably have more serious things to worry about.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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@Token74, I assume its a hero3 silver you are talking about,if so buy from proper bricks and mortar shop and avoid ebay/amazon. They do sometimes (I've had 1 out of about 30 cameras) fail and having somewhere to take it or send it back is important. Also lots of the ebay/amazon have the serial number removed.
hobbymounts give snowheads a discount and offer superb service and IIRC a 2 year warranty.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Thanks guys.
Decision made: will go for the GoPro, will buy it from a shop, will buy a chest mount, and will avoid falling on my head regardless of whether or not it has a camera on it! 
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Chest harness is great! Unless you happen to belly-plant on ice and crack a rib or two through landing on your camera. 
That hurt quite a bit........
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That's my biggest fear with the chest mount. Then again it's said that the helmet mount contributed to Schumachers injury.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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@Token74, I've bought many things from Amazon and never, ever, had a problem returning anything, even from market place sellers. I would not be in the least bit worried about buying from them if the price was right. That said, their current price for a new Gopro Hero 3 silver seems to be more than for the Hero 4 silver. If you're planning on paying that kind of money, why would you not get the most up to date model?
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@Frankeh, if you're a skier, when have you ever taken a shot to the chest? Snowboarder, yes, but snowboarders don't use chest mounts at you'd be filming at 90 degrees off centre.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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@PollSki, the problem isn't just one of whether it can be returned but moreover that a number of the amazon and ebay sellers are not official resellers and to hide the source of the stock they remove the serial numbers from the packaging and the inside of the camera. If there is a need for it to go back to gopro for some reason during the warranty period then gopro will most likely tell you to whistle.
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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@ansta1, Ok, I see where you're coming from and I too would be wary of ebay, but If I received a product from Amazon with no serial number, I would simply return it for a refund. From past experience, I can't see that I would have any problems doing so. All that said, I did buy my gopro from a bricks and mortar store as they gave me a discount 
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@PollSki, indeed, the problem being that the average joe may not realise that it should have a serial number.
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You know it makes sense.
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I have a Sony Action Cam with a mount that clips to your goggle strap. It's tiny and v light. The shape is less Teletubby than the Go-Pro on a helmet. And the newest version is seriously small. Very pleased with both images and sound.
Has GPS functionailty too apparently (disclaimer - I've never used it so cannot comment on how good that specific functioanlity is).
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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When I broke my GoPro 2 I was in the UK, although I'd bought it in Phoenix (half UK price...). So I called GoPro support in California on Skype, and they said "post it to us". It cost me £3.70 to mail it, and a week later I had a brand new replacement. For what it's worth I also had a fault on a GoPro stick - Delkin Kaboom - which I bought in NYC. The UK support guys for that just sent me a replacement. I'm sure as stated, no one supports knock-offs, but these things are intended to be bought and used internationally.
I often ride with a chest bag with a camera in it - maybe a Canon 1 series - and it's not really an issue. You'd have to fall flat on your chest, in which case I think you'd have face-slapped the ground first and be spitting teeth. I've never done that snowboarding (cycling... is a different thing).
I'd like to see output from the Sony - those look interesting, especially for helmet mounting.
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Poster: A snowHead
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| Richard_Sideways wrote: |
| @Frankeh, if you're a skier, when have you ever taken a shot to the chest? |
Only once..... And to be fair I was transitioning from skiing backwards to forwards when I hit a patch of ice I hadn't spotted or expected. Lesson learned.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Anyone ever shoot on a snowboard with a shoulder mount?
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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No. I rode with some GoPro guys who were doing product tests with what was then called the "parrot mount" (it went on the shoulder). Pretty much nothing other than a pole wasn't that much use.
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@shredder, Snowboard Biathlon?.... Ah, I see. TBH can't see the point. Thought about it once, but what are you going to film? How would you frame the shot properly, you'll just end up with loads of footage moving around the place and it'd be rubbish. I normally helmet mount, occasionally mount straight to the board, tried a back of the glove mount, didn't work particularly well, got a pole mount but not done much with it other than film the kids closer up.
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