GoPro Helmet Hero HD camera, first impressions

I haven’t used the camera yet, but I have unpacked it.

The video quality, from what I’ve seen online, is superb.

The camera is very compact and self-contained. That’s nice.

Accessories are available to attach it in a wide variety of ways to helmets, bicycles, a car windshield etc. etc.

But: the stock waterproof case encloses the microphone. A back with slots also is supplied but it must be installed by the user.

As another helmet camera user pointed out to me, there is advantage to a camera with a separate recorder that can be carried in a handlebar bag or waist pack, so you can check on what you are recording. You can only see what you are recording with the Helmet Hero with an accessory back and if you mount the camera in front of you.

The camera has only two buttons (in keeping with its having a waterproof shell), and a small LCD display of menu options, and so stepping through menus requires reference to user instructions, or memorization.

The lens of the camera’s protective shell protrudes farther than anything else on the front of the shell and so it is vulnerable. My humble helmetcamera,com “bullet” camera achieves wide-angle coverage while protecting the lens with an inexpensive slab of plastic. (The helmetcamera.com camera has other problems, though.)

The Helmet Hero camera is sold in a plastic display case which is not designed to transport the camera. Optional mounting hardware is supplied in a host of little polyethylene bags, each stapled shut. You’re on your own to assemble a transport case. Compare this again with the helmetcamera.com camera. which is supplied in a rugged, foam-lined, hinged transport case.

Several different copies of the user instructions are supplied with the Helmet Hero, and as they are folded, they all look the same, with the word “Instructions” in English. When I opened the one I brought with me on my first expedition, it turned out to be in Spanish. Good thing I read Spanish!