# JVC Adixxion, Contour ROAM, or wait till next season?



## Donutz (May 12, 2010)

helmet cams don't really have end of season sales, since they're always in season for something or other.

I've owned a Contour Roam for a while and have recently bought a Drift. Here's some observations:

- The Contours have a known problem with their mikes not working properly. May or may not be fixed, but you could still get an older production model. If you buy a Contour, either test it first or make sure you can return it to the store for exchange or refund.
- Lack of any way to review your footage on the mountain is a big problem and gets bigger as you get more adventurous. I've gone home only to discover that an entire day's worth of videos had a problem. So get something that either has a built-in screen or can stream to your phone.
- The Drift remote control is nice, but with the cheaper model the only feedback is a beep from the camera which is almost inaudible with a helmet on. The Ghost has a light on the remote to indicate when it's on. Much better.
- Waterproof rating is important. One more reason to avoid GoPro.
- Swappable battery is important.

Once you get past the basics, you start to look at gee-whiz features that you may or may not find important. For instance, the Ghost has a "tape loop" feature where it records continuously but only saves the last 5 minutes. At any point you can press a button and save the last 5 minutes to a separate file. Good for catching those unexpected events.


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## tokyo_dom (Jan 7, 2013)

thanks for the info!

The point about not being able to review the footage had me set on the JVC (supposedly has bad battery life, but removable battery so you could get another)

.... But then my friend went out and bought a gopro black edition, so i have put off the purchase and i will just ask him to record me haha


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## BigAL (Feb 19, 2013)

tokyo_dom said:


> I just started looking at POV cams with Fisheye lenses, after getting some promotional emails showing how cheap the original Contour ROAMs are getting. Seems you can pick one up for $115 ish now that the next model has been released.
> 
> Then i started searching some more and found that for about $40 more i could get a JVC Adixxion, which not only has an LCD to confirm footage, but wifi to connect to your smartphone etc. It also does 720p at 60fps out of the box, so that could be useful.
> 
> ...


I'd say do extensive research on the cameras you want to choose since there is one for every riding style, but I'm in the same boat with Donutz on gopros with them being very shaky unless you have elephant dollars to be spending on stabilization gear. I went with the ION Air Pro which is significantly cheaper than the contour Roam2 or the Gopro Hero 3. That cam was $189 no shipping or tax and I got a monopod, 16gb sd card, and card reader. Found it on ebay Ion Air Pro Plus w 16GB 10 Memory Card Card Reader Deluxe Kit New 817309010001 | eBay


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## tokyo_dom (Jan 7, 2013)

That auction looks good, but the description is for the Contour Roam... somewhat sketchy

The iON air Pro is on Amazon for $145, about the same as the JVC adixxion, but then i would need a separate wifi module, that takes the price way up; and no screen either.

I take it the Adixxion wasnt/isnt very popular in the US. Battery life is supposed to suck, but with a removable battery you can fix that by bringing a spare. JVC are big in the video camera business, and it is supposed to have decent video quality. Havent used it in person though...


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