Review: Contour Contour+ HD Camera

Half the fun of having an adventure is torturing your friends by forcing them to sit through the hours of video you shot. Here's a camera that makes the experience less torturous for everyone – for your friends especially, but also for you, because it will make you look like a badass when you trot out the visual proof of your insane bike jumps and daring backcountry tree runs, all rendered in glorious HD.

We've seen a boom in POV ("point-of-view") cameras over the last few years. These cameras are made to be attached to your body or your conveyance so they can be operated hands-free. Helmet-mounting a POV camera is very popular – when you turn your head the camera turns too. So when the video is played back, the viewer gets to experience your various stupid human tricks as if he or she was watching the events through your eyes.

Contour is one of the biggest names in POV cameras, and the company is really shooting for the sky with its Contour+ HD. Its 3.8-inch frame is packed with features: a 170-degree wide-angle f/2.8 lens, 1080p, 960p or 720p HD recording modes and a 5-megapixel photo setting, a housing that rotates up to 270 degrees for off-kilter and inverted mounting, a mini HDMI output that plugs directly into a monitor, and a mic plug for an external microphone. And that's just what's provided for recording.

There are a variety of mounts to let you attach the 5.3-ounce camera to helmets, snowboard goggles, surfboards, wakeboards, bikes or cars, among other options. I tried it in a number of scenarios, as you can see in this video compilation.

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One of the best features of the Contour+ is that instead of a recording button, it uses a huge slider on the top. This may seem like a minute detail, but the 2-inch slider is much easier to use than a button when you're wearing heavy gloves. More importantly, it makes the camera's recording status obvious. Some POV cameras use a button to start and stop the recording, followed by a series of cryptic beeps that let you now whether or not you're rolling. Worse are the ones with a red LED that turns green when the camera's recording. How am I supposed to see that when I've got the camera strapped to my head? (Never mind that I'm red/green colorblind, which has led to countless clips of me staring quizzically at the camera, trying to figure out if it's recording). The beefy slider never leaves you wondering whether or not your death with be recorded for posterity.

__Last Year's Model__We looked at the Contour GPS camera in 2011, giving it a rating of 8. The battery lasts longer and it's only $350, but the lens isn't as nice as the one on the Contour+.

Another great feature is the Contour+'s Bluetooth connectivity. When you download the corresponding app, you can connect your camera to your iOS or Android device. This turns your mobile device into a live viewfinder and lets you change your camera's settings in the field. A nice touch: the app automatically shuts down when you start recording, so you're not tempted to stare at the viewfinder while bombing down a hill.

An integrated GPS tracking system is activated when the camera turns on. The GPS antenna tracks your position, elevation, and speed. The GPS tracking really shines if you use Contour's Storyteller software to edit your video and prep it for sharing. While your video plays, a smaller side window displays a Google satellite image of your location with the option to see a photo image, a topo map or a plain old road map. A dot tracks your movements while the video plays and displays your elevation and speed.

The camera only ships with a 2GB microSD card, and this limits the camera's usefulness when you shoot in the highest-quality mode. Using the 1080p "Highest quality" setting, I got just over ten minutes of footage before the card filled up. It's possible to upgrade to a 32GB microSD card, which holds about 8 hours of 1080p footage. That's plenty of time to show all your friends how much fun they missed.

WIRED Crystal-clear 30fps picture with a 170-degree field of vision. Bluetooth controls and viewfinder are very handy. Giant sliding button makes it easy to know when you're recording. Microphone input and streaming features turn you into a media mogul. Removable battery lasts about 2 hours, and spares are available for about $25 each.

TIRED No chest strap. Only comes with a 2GB card, which gets eaten up in minutes. If you want passable audio, plug in your own external mic.