Digital recorder suggestions

[jimmyk]

I'm thinking about purchasing a digital recorder such as a Go Pro. I am leaning toward something small that I can attach to my stabilizer for my upcoming elk hunt Does anyone have any other suggestions?

 

[Six-Gun]

ReplayXD. At roughly the size of a SureFire flashlight, it's smaller than the Go Pro, can be live-interfaced into a TV to check for recording quality/angles, does 720p and 1080p and will soon offer an extended battery pack that will give you some insane amount of shooting time. It's been tested for up a 32GB microSD card, but the guys at the company told me that they are presently testing 64GB cards to give it the official okay for use with that size, too. A friend of mine picked one up and after seeing the feature set, I'm going to pick one up for my upcoming waterfwol and upland brid seasons.

http://replayxd.com/

The big problem that you will have will the majority of these smaller, gun-sized cams is the lack of any sort of zoom. Given that they need to be wide angle for the lens size, things can look more "pushed out" as a result, but the replay does at least feature a diminished "fisheye effect" that can be very bad on some of the others.

 

[CrimsonArrow]

I have the Moultrie Reaction Cam. It is compact, and shoots a high-quality video when not using zoom. I'm not impressed with the sound, but maybe an external microphone can be added. Low light is also a challenge.

 

[jimmyk]

I will look into both of these. What about sound from turning them on and off? Also the replay looks to be the same price as the go pro.

 

[Six-Gun]

Not sure about the sound issue. Ipresume you're talking about some sort of audible tone that would spook game - good question but I just don't know the answer. Give them a ring and share what they say about that.

As an aside, some little things I found that may interest you: the Replay can use an optional extended mic which may give you better voice pickup if you mount it on your collar or hat brim:

http://replayxd.com/product/xd1080-external-mic-kit/

Also, I'm not sure if bow vibration or drop will ruin your shot at the moment of truth, but the replay has an optional headband accessory that I plan on using for my duck hunt. This one is listed as being for the standard (non-hidef) version and I haven't looked into cross-compatibility, so check compatibility with the HD version before you buy:

http://replayxd.com/product/xd-headband-mount/

 

[jimmyk]

I think I will stop by BestBuy and see what they have. Hopefully I can make comparison that way.

 

[Bughalli]

It's been awhile since I researched them, but I found there were really only two used by most. Go Pro and Contour? I went with the GoPro because it was a little more versatile (ie I use mine fishing and diving. GoPro worked better under water). That said I've played with mounting it in different areas for hunting. I found mounting on the stabilizer didn't work very well. There was too much vibration which made it impossible to see the arrow flight. It kind of defeated the purpose. The best area I found was on top of my head. Offered good perspective since you saw everything (bow being drawn back etc) and was crystal clear. It was easy to see the arrow in flight, especially if you had a luminoc on your arrow. I drilled a nice 10 pointer whitetail last year that scored 149 and got it all on video. Very cool.

 

[Six-Gun]

I actually just ordered a Replay XD1080 and will let you know how well it works out. I plan on using it for duck hunting, pheasant hunting and ATV riding, so I'll be putting it through the paces in all three venues as soon as I can.

 

[jimmyk]

good point bughalli, I wondered about the vibration from the bow, but really didn't want anything attached to myself either.

six gun, let me know what you think of the replay. I looked at the website and they seem like a pretty good deal. My concern with any camera is if it makes noise when you turn it on; will it beep and if so, how loudly?

Thanks,

 

[Six-Gun]

That's a very good point, jimmy, and one that I've considered, too. Hunting is a game where sound can kill your chances, especially an odd sound. Now, for waterfowl and upland birds, this isn't as big of a deal unless you fire up the camera as the birds are right on top of you (not possible to know with upland game and highly unlikely with waterfowl). But, with big game, where it doesn't make sense to have the camera on full-time, a tone at startup when the critter is approaching asking for trouble. I'll let you know how that works out with the Replay XD, fo sure.

Also, just some food for thought on where to mount the camera: note that I used to use a set of H-S iKam Xtreme's last season. While the video quality on those is sub par, I found that having the camera mounted directly on my head was perfect for virtually all hunting situations not involving a scope, especially duck hunting. I'll have to post some YouTube clips from last duck season so you can see what I mean. You may have some issues the limbs on a bow getting in the way of the shot, but once you release, you will at least have a steady shot. I'd at least look into some sort of headgear mount for whatever camera you choose.

 

[Six-Gun]

Good news, Jimmy. The Replax XD1080 came in today and I had a chance to check out a few of the features. First of all, the device makes no tone when you start it up. Rather, it vibrates like a cell phone silent ringer to let you know it's running. It uses different vibration sequences to indicate certain sub-functions, but it's completely silent when you enter/exit recording and power on/off. I'm going to head to the trap range in a little bit and try to get some video if I can find a way to mount it on short notice.

EDIT: Another cool feature I just discovered while tinkering with the Replay. You CANNOT accidentally power off the device while recording. You MUST stop recording in order to be able to power it down. Pretty cool!

And now, here's the test video. I waited too long into the day to shoot this and the sun was setting in front of me. Regardless, the camera's electronic aperture control did damned well given those conditions. To see the FULL resolution, you have to use the YouTube button on the attached video and watch it there. When you get there, be sure to use the little gear icon below the video and select 1080p as the desired resolution (uses a lot of bandwidth - dialup users beware) and expand the viudeo to full-screen used the segmented frame box icon to the right of the gear icon.

[video=youtube;W338CIsNHCE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W338CIsNHCE[/video]