bremern wrote:I just used this camera to record a Tough Mudder event I was in. Easy to use, great videos. Check them out here.

My only complaint is that when it's in the waterproof case, it doesn't pick up sound very well.

I'M NOT THE ONLY ONE WHO STILL LIKES HOOBASTANK! YESSSSSSSS

wasatchcars wrote:I want to know if they SOLD OUT of them how can they be selling them now?
http://www.mywoot.net/past/details.php?id=4866
Or are WOOT OFFS just a way to get us to think we need to buy NOW or never?

I don't that's the thing.

I think it's more likely that they sold off, the supplier saw that, had LOTS of them available, and realized there was high demand at Woot for these.

The supplier's probably pretty happy to get the thing up for the daily Woot immediately after the Woot-Off, too.

In for one! best bang for your buck on this one, can't go wrong with the detachable LCD. Voice activated? Sure why not..... Buy it.

automagni wrote:How is the sound when in the waterproof case and bolted to the outside of a car? I am looking to use this when I race my car, but I am torn between this and the Hero2 motorsports. Also, is the remote IR or RF, do you have to have it in line of sight to actuate it? Thanks in advance.

The sound will be muffled quite a bit but you will still be able to hear the engine. I put an elastic band around the camera body before inserting it in the waterproof housing to stop the small amount of vibration due to the small bit of clearance between the camera body and inside of the case.

The remote control is RF, but I've found the rand to be only 3-4 feet. I suppose you could reach out the window to toggle it on and off. BTW, the you can't get to the on/off switch when the camera is in the waterproof case, so you have to turn it on first. If you leave it sit for 5 minutes or so, it will shut itself off, but you can "wake it up" by pressing the bottom remote control button.

I ordered one of these Tuesday on Woot and it arrived in the mail on Wednesday. I've never had that happen before.

This camera works great but I need to get another battery.

Srouxd162 wrote:Ok I just spoke to customer support at Swann who informed me that after putting it on to charge overnight, that I had "overcharged the battery and fried the camera. It is like any cellphone, if you charge it too long it will destroy the device." ...

That's crazy! Sounds like an effort to avoid a warranty claim - how l_a_m_e.

Woot had these a month or two ago and I carefully researched the product and I decided it wasn't right for me. The deal killers were the poor sound when the enclosure was used and the poor battery life.

When I compared the Swann FreeStyle to the Hero2 picture quality, the Swann came out second.

Srouxd162 wrote:Ok I just spoke to customer support at Swann who informed me that after putting it on to charge overnight, that I had "overcharged the battery and fried the camera. It is like any cellphone, if you charge it too long it will destroy the device." He also told me that the manual specifically mentions that you should not charge it longer than recommended. I looked through the manual to find this, but it does not say that anywhere in the manual. He then informed me that my actions constituted "misuse and that the warranty would not cover a replacement." I informed him that he was rebel scum and obviously had no knowledge of how modern cell phones work and that the manual did not back up his claims. He created a case number and told me to call back "in about an hour" to speak with someone about a warranty claim.

Consider this a fair warning, this company does not value their customers nor do they have any intention to honor their warranty.

Pretty ugly story.

I mean, not "pretty" AND "ugly" - that'd be crazy. I mean "ugly to a significant degree."

That kind of "pretty ugly."

I need rest. It's Friday.

fredg2 wrote:The AC adapter will allow you to record indefinitely (limited of course to storage size... 32 gig card recommended) but you would need a DC inverter in your vehicle to use the adapter. The reason a 'normal' USB cable will only charge and not power the camera is the pinout of the USB mini B connector. The USB standard has voltage on pin 1 and common on pin 5 with pin 4 unused (pin 2 and pin 3 are for data transfer). The AC adapter (which both charges and powers the camera) has pin 4 AND pin 5 wired as common. So, to power AND charge your camera simultaneously from a DC source you will need to cut your AC adapter cord and solder on a connector (mini phone jack, etc) and do the same with your USB charge cable so that you can interchange the correctly wired mini B connector from the AC adapter. Your DC USB power source MUST be a full 1 amp (1000 mamp) for this to work... a typical laptop will NOT supply enough power. I use a Zagg Sparq 2.0 for 6X battery life on the go and a 5 volt 1 amp cigarette lighter USB adapter (Duracell... cheap from Big Lots) for vehicle power and all works well. Of course, as stated above, a lightweight DC inverter and the AC adapter supplied will do the trick too.

Edit... Just tested the above modified cable with my laptop and it does indeed provide enough juice to power the camera even with the battery removed but YMMV.

Thanks for this detailed explanation (also to everyone else who responded). I'm in for one.

Srouxd162 wrote:He created a case number and told me to call back "in about an hour" to speak with someone about a warranty claim.

Well, it has been more than a hour, so did Swann take care of you or what??

Great Dash Cam and Fire and Police action quick set up and aim to get overall shot, easy to use and great buy for the unique camera

Mugsywoot wrote:

This camera works great but I need to get another battery.

I think the GoPro battery will work...and it's a larger capacity than the included battery. This one is a 1400maH battery vs 1000maH.

Replacement battery

If you're operating as a videographer, and not actually in the action yourself, you can make a very effective, very inexpensive SteadiCam rig for only $14!

http://14dollarstabilizer.org/

Does this have any lights that come on the face of the camera when it records? I am considering getting one to record deer hunting?

Any one know if these work with RAM mounts? I already have a mount point on the windscreen of my BMW tourer (left over from prev. owner's GPS unit, mine mounts to handlebar). It's in perfect spot for a 'dash cam'.

I want this for shallow scuba diving. Does the remote work under water so I can take stills or change setting from stills to continuous shot to video? Starting and stopping video underwater?

Anyone have underwater/scuba video example to share?

Alright, Alright..I was trying to hold out getting one of these in hopes Woot would sell out, but they must have a ton of these. I got one in hopes I can make a rock n roll fueled, energetic,artistic action video of my dog on a walk. Or it may become the coolest paper weight ever. Thanks to everyone with help on extra batteries, sample videos and their critique on the video quality.

nycynik wrote:OK - Personal Experience speaking here.. I have some once in a lifetime video that I shot a few years back, and at the time HD was really expensive, it would have cost me about $1k to get a HD camera, and the SD(or whatever) was only around $300. So I choose to get SD, reasoning 2 things: (1) Would I ever watch the video anyway? probably not more then once. (2) Would it really matter? I would still get to re-watch it over and over anyway...

Biggest mistake ever. (1) I watch it all the damn time, foolish mistake, I watch it when I talk about it, with new people, I have it on my iphone now, some times I just watch it, cheer me up, or whatever, frankly I am not sure why I watch it, but its fun. (2) Low quality ruined it. Grainy footage, things passing by really quickly instead of being in focus, just blur, colors are not super good.

Don't make the mistake, especially for ~$150 difference.

Good luck, and have fun!

Dude! I saw that video and I loved it. You are Tommy Lee right?

For anyone that has this camera and the GoPro, can you see if the battery from the GoPro works in the Swann?

An extra battery for the Swann is $40 and an extra battery for the GoPro is $20 and has more capacity.

keepontruckinbs wrote:Dude! I saw that video and I loved it. You are Tommy Lee right?

You, sir, made me laugh. Thank you.

I bought one last time around (prior to the Woot off) and I think I spent $149 on it + s/h. Then my wife (while the Swann was en route) bought me a GoPro kit. (I hadn't told her that I bought the Swann... whoops!) Since it's from my wife and all, I decided to keep the GoPro kit.

The Swann was taken out of the box, tried a couple times, and put back in the box. What I saw of the video quality was pretty good, but I never really pushed it. The craziest I got was putting on the waterproof housing and lightly dunking it 6" deep in a creek. The image was very good.

Sadly, I've tried to sell it on CL and eBay... but I think the market is flooded. If Woot would stop selling these, MAYBE I could sell it. Ha!

I was able to record (and change settings) while it was plugged in and charging, BUT ONLY if it was wall charging. If you're connected to a computer you won;t be able to do anything, but when I was just using my wall charger I was able to record until my 32gb card was full (I just left it on while I was out just to see if it would work).

Mugsywoot wrote:
This camera works great but I need to get another battery.

If anyone else is curious about replacement parts or extra accessories, you can email Swann customer service and they'll send you an order form for things like different mounts and extra batteries.

dorkus619 wrote:I want this for shallow scuba diving. Does the remote work under water so I can take stills or change setting from stills to continuous shot to video? Starting and stopping video underwater?

Anyone have underwater/scuba video example to share?

I can't blow air through the buttons and the back cover has a rubber gasket, so I would assume it is waterproof. Even so, I wouldn't take it underwater. The waterproof housing has 2 buttons for video and still photos, so the remote has no additional functionality.

Edit: My review:
I got my Freestyle HD about a month ago, and I'm totally impressed. I'm no photographer and I have never used another action cam so my review is more feature-based. To begin, mounts: Lots of sticky mounts, look at the pictures. Yes the bottom of the camera and the bottom of the waterproof mount have 1/4-20 threads (common camera mounts). The camera comes with the necessary adapter to fit any GoPro mount.
Next, features: My camera records continuously when plugged in. I just read it only works with the supplied adapter because pin 4 on the USB plug is common instead of being unused. HD recording options include: 720p @ 60fps OR 720p @ 30fps OR 1080p @ 30fps. The top and front LED's blink during recording, and they blink when you take a picture (no flash).
Last, my experiences: The remote doesn't have great range; I got about 10 ft once, usually only 6-7 ft (pointing remote at the camera lens). The remote works while clipped on my pocket with the camera on a handlebar clamp on my Harley. Said handlebar clamp is an upside-down scope ring clamped to a 1/2" wide steel bar with some rubber foam and the waterproof housing on top. It works until I can decide on a good clamp to buy. The vibrations aren't bad enough to ruin the video, but make the audio unusable. I wrapped a stretchy microfiber cloth around the bottom and sides of the camera and it helped tame the rattles in the waterproof case to a tolerable level. But the camera picks up a 'pinging' from the engine so I don't want the audio anyways. I just made a 4 hour (plugged in) video at 720p @ 60 fps and it is just under 16.50GB (4.1GB/hour). LCD backpack won't fit inside the waterproof housing, blah blah, laser doesn't shine through the waterproof housing, yadda yadda...

GRRRR I think I just talked myself into buying another.

brocko103 wrote:I can't blow air through the buttons and the back cover has a rubber gasket, so I would assume it is waterproof. Even so, I wouldn't take it underwater. The waterproof housing has 2 buttons for video and still photos, so the remote has no additional functionality.

If you really wanted to bring the remote underwater, put it in an unlubricated condom, tie a know, then put a dab of wetsuit sealer in the knot.

I bought this in the woot off last month and really like this little cam. Multiple mounts and such. I attached one to my Harley for recording my rides. Here is my one and only video I posted on youtube.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vkXhcSPb5jg

wasatchcars wrote:I want to know if they SOLD OUT of them how can they be selling them now?
http://www.mywoot.net/past/details.php?id=4866
Or are WOOT OFFS just a way to get us to think we need to buy NOW or never?

You do realize that this is a manufactured device and they can make more?

bigbuckhunter wrote:Does this have any lights that come on the face of the camera when it records? I am considering getting one to record deer hunting?

on top it has two lights one green and one red about a inch apart. can be seen on top and to back.

In front it has a Red led, and a lazer if turned on. on bottom nothing

Does anyone know if this thing floats? Like if I mount it to my wakeboard or on my life vest or my seadoo or something... and it falls off... does it sink or float??

Anyone remember if this is the same price as last time?

Surefire333 wrote:For anyone that has this camera and the GoPro, can you see if the battery from the GoPro works in the Swann?

An extra battery for the Swann is $40 and an extra battery for the GoPro is $20 and has more capacity.

different size if you ask me gopro is bigger. so how would the gopro fit to the swann,


pix


http://i48.tinypic.com/287p2rn.jpg

dorkus619 wrote:I want this for shallow scuba diving. Does the remote work under water so I can take stills or change setting from stills to continuous shot to video? Starting and stopping video underwater?

Anyone have underwater/scuba video example to share?

The remote is not waterproof. You could of course make it waterproof by putting it in a bag or something, but I've found that even just having the cam in the waterproof housing makes it a little hard for the remote to work. A second housing on the remote would probably make it work even less effectively. Still could work though.
There are buttons on the waterproof housing (those 2 metal buttons on top). One is to start and stop video, the other is to take a snapshot. You can't take snapshots while video is recording, but you could always go back and capture the snapshot from the video later in editing or whatever.

A little google search would have found that this camera sells at Amazon for $129.99 and free shipping.

My friend makes an awesome vest with a mount for GoPro (or, it would appear, Swann) cameras. Makes for some great handsfree videos while snorkeling, surfing, paddling, etc, etc.!

http://www.zgear.org/

sample of three cams gopro swann and keycam

View My Video

boilerman48 wrote:A little google search would have found that this camera sells at Amazon for $129.99 and free shipping.

Yeah, but that's not Woot.
In for one!

boilerman48 wrote:A little google search would have found that this camera sells at Amazon for $129.99 and free shipping.

Wow it was 179.99 from a reseller through amazon early today. Good call!

I am so on the fence about either getting this with the $30.00 Gopro Motorsport mount, or getting the Hero2 Motorsport package.

After all said and done, the Hero2 is $105.00 more. One thing I like about the Swann is that it has a remote included. But I'm concerned about the video not being as good as quality as the Gopro.

fredg2 wrote:The AC adapter will allow you to record indefinitely (limited of course to storage size... 32 gig card recommended) but you would need a DC inverter in your vehicle to use the adapter. The reason a 'normal' USB cable will only charge and not power the camera is the pinout of the USB mini B connector. The USB standard has voltage on pin 1 and common on pin 5 with pin 4 unused (pin 2 and pin 3 are for data transfer). The AC adapter (which both charges and powers the camera) has pin 4 AND pin 5 wired as common. So, to power AND charge your camera simultaneously from a DC source you will need to cut your AC adapter cord and solder on a connector (mini phone jack, etc) and do the same with your USB charge cable so that you can interchange the correctly wired mini B connector from the AC adapter. Your DC USB power source MUST be a full 1 amp (1000 mamp) for this to work... a typical laptop will NOT supply enough power. I use a Zagg Sparq 2.0 for 6X battery life on the go and a 5 volt 1 amp cigarette lighter USB adapter (Duracell... cheap from Big Lots) for vehicle power and all works well. Of course, as stated above, a lightweight DC inverter and the AC adapter supplied will do the trick too.

Edit... Just tested the above modified cable with my laptop and it does indeed provide enough juice to power the camera even with the battery removed but YMMV.

I wish i could understand how you did your usb cable modification.

This would definitely be useful with really long time lapse where an external usb battery can be helpful when your on location.


EDIT: Just looked at mini usb diagram and mini usb type A has both pin 4 and pin 5 as common(if i get this right). Does that mean this would work without modification? I mean plugging it in a USB external battery without going to data mode?

This really ticks me off, especially since Amazon owns Woot. I have Amazon Prime, so I am paying an extra $15 to buy it from here. I wonder if I can cancel my order that I placed earlier today.

I got this thing and took only one video with it at night and it looked like terrible quality like taking a picture at night with a cell phone.... pretty disappointed so far...