cutlassieRay wrote:Would this work well as an indoor remote Skype camera mounted to the top of an HDTV? I don't see any mention of streaming video through Skype or something similar.

Great question. I'm also interested in an answer to this. Video streaming capability would be the differentiator that gets me to shell out the $$. It would be a solid all-purpose video cam.

I am going to leave this here...

DVDVideoSoft 3D video maker

for those who have bought 2 (or 3, but that third isn't really needed for 3D)

I bought this Camera a few months back and just got the opportunity to test it out Labor Day weekend.

It is a good camera, and comes with lots of accessories. The mounts it comes with stick firmly to flat, solid surfaces but a suction mount is not included, and is missed. Audio quality is almost always poor. the vibration of my engine causes a buzzing noise in the camera, and even more rattling when its in the waterproof case. Even still, it makes for entertaining videos (shot in 720p):

I bought this last time. Here is a youtube of me kayaking with it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=duKXvx-PY08

Overall the video is pretty good. The remote is NOT NOT NOT waterproof. It looks like it is, I called them and they told me it's not. So I kept it in a little waterproof pouch like you'd use for a cell phone and attach that to my vest.

I have it attached to my helmet and it comes with a bunch of mounts. So you get 3 (I think) 2 taped sided mounts (crazy 3M strong tape, it is ON). You then have a few different mounts that can attach to the camera and to the tape mount. It's a nice system.

I think a go-pro2 (the $300 one) is probably a better camera but it doesn't come with all the attachments. This one does.

It also has a mini-usb cable charger. Note, mini, not micro. That might matter to you since most phones are micro. Just saying, don't throw the charger it comes with out.

You'll have to buy a micro-sd card. I took videos @720p and it's about 1 gig per 15 minutes. You can set the camera to record and it just chops each file @15 minutes, that's pretty nice.

Overall it's pretty good, I'm glad I have it.

A few comment from someone who bought one the last time.

- the mic isn't that good, and of course, useless, when in the underwater case.

- the remote IS NOT waterproof, but you don't need it to take pics and record underwater as it has waterproof buttons for that built in to the case

- none of these cameras are great at night

- the underwater case cannot be used with the LCD viewer attached - this means underwater photo/video taking is "point and hope" - with a little trial and error, you can "get it right", except to see if you "got it right", you need to take the camera out of the case to hook it up to a video monitor or attach the LCD viewer or connect to a PC for download, etc. Swann is supposedly coming out with a revised case (at additional cost which will house the LCD viewer as well - I'll be first in line)

- as for the previous comment about choppy playback and out of sync audio, maybe it was the camera, but remember this can record in HD and if you're trying to view the captured video on a PC, you need to make sure the PC's CPU/video card is capable of HD playback (resolution and refresh speeds) or the above will be the results (no fault of the camera).

- would I buy one again? YES

In for one. First Woot in quite a while. A friend has the GoPro and he sent the link on this. We'll see how it is.

I'm picking up a pair of the new Sony ActionCams. They look like they perform really well in low light. They have Sony's backlit sensor and are a really nice design, especially the WiFi stuff, and the price is great.

grigsj wrote:Specs say it's rated to 65 ft.

At 65 feet it's better than an outdoor/swimming camera and good for snorkling or shallow diving only.

The GoPro is good to 197 feet (60 meters). That's about as deep as SCUBA divers are likely to go.

I'm new to diving and I go beyond 65 feet regularly.

cool video hysonmb...
How'd ya do?

Considering the original GoPro HD can be picked up for $130, I'd say... save your money and go for a GoPro HD. You'll have more choices of mounts and cases. Not to mention better customer service.

And sure, you get a laser pointer, and a remote, but how often do you actually use those? Rarely to be honest.

Similar features, but the flat lens actually is bad if you're shooting any non water sport. You lose some of the field of view.

Just purchased a Hero2 after researching multiple "action cams" for a few weeks. I don't have experience using these cameras, but one of the things that sold me on the GoPro is that they are very upfront about their specifications. Swann and some of the other budget action cam builders do not tell you the size of the sensor inside. Why not? Red flag for me.

How can I get information on how to cancel one of my in progress orders? I want to cancel it and move on to see if I can one day later get a Booty of Contraband.

If there are any other skydivers out there, I've used this in freefall with very comparable results to the GoPro cameras, at a fraction of the price. The included remote has discrete start and stop buttons for recording which solve the "dude, is the light on?" hassle, I keep mine on my altimeter strap so its easy to get to.

When you consider the cost of the GoPro accessories (LCD, Wifi/Remote), the Swann can literally be 1/2-1/4 the price.

My camera jumps are just for fun, no tandem or competition; this camera hits the sweet spot of the cost/performance trade off.

Save the money from a GoPro and jump more instead!

dopefish wrote:If there are any other skydivers out there, I've used this in freefall with very comparable results to the GoPro cameras, at a fraction of the price. The included remote has discrete start and stop buttons for recording which solve the "dude, is the light on?" hassle, I keep mine on my altimeter strap so its easy to get to.

When you consider the cost of the GoPro accessories (LCD, Wifi/Remote), the Swann can literally be 1/2-1/4 the price.

My camera jumps are just for fun, no tandem or competition; this camera hits the sweet spot of the cost/performance trade off.

Save the money from a GoPro and jump more instead!

While I agree with you that the performance is comparable to the 1st HD Go Pro, what doesn't work for me is that the remote isn't water proof. The camera is rough to use while riding larger boards without a remote.

kkoellish wrote:Worst camera ever, I bought one last time the video was choppy and the sound was off by a few seconds. When i complained to Swann they told me it was "hosed dude". It took 6 months of complaining and begging to get a replacement. I just got it havent tried it yet but if i had a do over id go pro!

I have the same problem with mine! I mounted it on my motorcycle and the video is all wavy and distorted? Do I have a bad unit?

AVspec wrote:I have the same problem with mine! I mounted it on my motorcycle and the video is all wavy and distorted? Do I have a bad unit?

You may want to contact the manufacturer first to find out what can be done!

here's my playlist with a random assortment of test/review shots of both the Swann FreeStyle and the GoPro HD Hero2.

http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL74CD660DE7C7CDCF

i should also make note that i once accidentally dunked my GoPro into the pool with the open-back cover (included with the Hero2 for dry situations to improve audio recording) and filled the gorram thing up with water, and after a couple nights in a ziplock bag with a handfull of silica gel, it works like brand new again.

I've used small pieces of Sham-Wows instead of the anti-fog inserts and they seem to work in the case of a GoPro. I figure it would work for this too.

barbgelbach wrote:Wondering if this camera would work while deer hunting?

What kind of deer?

russwagner wrote:Great product and camera BUT - IT DOES NOT FLOAT - I bought the one last time, and IT DOES NOT FLOAT - make sure it is secured. I reached out to SWANN corporate and they would not refund me (just a new camera) - the 3M tape came off and it sunk.

It does not float - you have been warned.

It would float if you taped it to a classic Beetle.

Got it from previous woot, have no regret for that yet. the mic is not favorable, can be ignored. Comparing to my friend's GP hero, it got at least same video quality but a lot more accessories and a lot less price. Overall finish looks cheaper than Hero, but doesn't affect performance.

I bought this last time around and love the camera, but...It is very hard to find accessories that do not come with it. I would love to have a head strap and chest strap. I spearfish and need some sort of handsfree device. If anyone knows a place please hook a brother up!

AVspec wrote:I have the same problem with mine! I mounted it on my motorcycle and the video is all wavy and distorted? Do I have a bad unit?

the waviness is called jello and I dont care what sport camera it is, if you have lots of vibrate from what its mounted to your going to have jello... we use the GoPro and the swann for aerial photography on RC multirotor copters and if there is any vibration is will transfer to video... answer is to use some sort of vibration dampening...

Since you cant buy parts for it like mounts and etc. Does anyone know if it will fit the gopro mounts? It would be a pain to only have two mounts. Thanks

Is that a setting to chop the video at 15 minute intervals? Mine just takes one video.

wesleh wrote:Since you cant buy parts for it like mounts and etc. Does anyone know if it will fit the gopro mounts? It would be a pain to only have two mounts. Thanks

yep... GoPro mounts work... it also has a built in tri-pod mount so it works with tons of different mounts..

Harpo wrote:Surprisingly light weight.
Remote control clip-on is great (only works about 6 ft).
Video back is nice (doesn't fit in waterproof case of course).
Haven't been able to buy spare battery or additional curved helmet mount.
I prefer the wider angle lower res shooting mode.

Spare batteries are available by calling the customer support # in the U.S.

sniperd wrote:I bought this last time. Here is a youtube of me kayaking with it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=duKXvx-PY08

Overall the video is pretty good. The remote is NOT NOT NOT waterproof. It looks like it is, I called them and they told me it's not. So I kept it in a little waterproof pouch like you'd use for a cell phone and attach that to my vest.

I have it attached to my helmet and it comes with a bunch of mounts. So you get 3 (I think) 2 taped sided mounts (crazy 3M strong tape, it is ON). You then have a few different mounts that can attach to the camera and to the tape mount. It's a nice system.

I think a go-pro2 (the $300 one) is probably a better camera but it doesn't come with all the attachments. This one does.

It also has a mini-usb cable charger. Note, mini, not micro. That might matter to you since most phones are micro. Just saying, don't throw the charger it comes with out.

You'll have to buy a micro-sd card. I took videos @720p and it's about 1 gig per 15 minutes. You can set the camera to record and it just chops each file @15 minutes, that's pretty nice.

Overall it's pretty good, I'm glad I have it.

While the remote isn't really waterproof, it is very resilient. I lost my remote on the bottom of Lake Michigan this summer and a couple of us went diving for it and eventually found it about 20 minutes later. It didn't work. But, I took it apart, shook the water out of it and put it in a bowl of rice (same thing you do when you drop your iPhone in water) and it dried in a day. It now works!!

paulpnevada wrote:At 65 feet it's better than an outdoor/swimming camera and good for snorkling or shallow diving only.

The GoPro is good to 197 feet (60 meters). That's about as deep as SCUBA divers are likely to go.

I'm new to diving and I go beyond 65 feet regularly.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but this is what I found...

"60feet is the recommended max depth for a new diver with the OW cert. 100feet is the recommended max depth for a diver with AOW certs and then 130feet is the recommended max depth with a deep water specialty cert/recommended max limit for recreational diving"

I bought this one last time. The image quality is pretty good, but not as crisp as the GoPro. However, it appears to fit many of the goPro accessories. I have the GoPro suction mount and chest harness and this camera fits securely in both.

The waterproof case blocks the laser and the microphone so you can't dial in your aim, or clearly hear ambient noise.

I got this the last time it was on sale. I use it for road biking and the first time out the video turned out wavy and unstable....BUT, I had attached the camera to my GoPro handlebar base (a very sturdy, stable base). The camera was jumping all over the place so I kind of knew the video wouldn't be the best even before I watched it. ANSWER TO PROBLEM: I bought a GoPro Tripod attachment that just screws into the bottom of the Swann camera case and THEN put that onto my bike and.....everything was fine. Great camera for the price. I also have a GoPro HD and this is just as good (for what I use it for). NOTE: Use a Class 10 card for better quality video and as stated earlier, make sure your graphics card is good!

Can't afford one of these cameras right now but I'm really enjoying all the action videos you folks are posting.Only sad thing is your videos remind me I have a very dull life!Wonder if this camera would change things.

gusvonpooch wrote:Can't afford one of these cameras right now but I'm really enjoying all the action videos you folks are posting.Only sad thing is your videos remind me I have a very dull life!Wonder if this camera would change things.

here ya go... this is one of the aerial videos were getting with these sports cameras (this is a GoPro) but we are getting EXTREMELY similar video with the Swann...

http://vimeo.com/44180619 <---video

I bought this last year and am reasonably satisfied.
The battery life is not long enough, maybe 1.5 hours.
Sometimes it quits recording probably from shock or vibration but it has happened mounted to my dirt bike and on my helmet and it disappoints me greatly.
It will record while plugged into the AC adapter but I haven't found a usb cable or DC charger that will allow it to record while plugged into 12v. Maybe they sell one.
The little screen loses its color sometimes and I have to jack with the connection. Right now everything is green but it records fine.
It does record in a loop which is cool if you want a dash cam. It breaks the video into 15 minute chunks.

The best thing I ever used it for was a day at a water park. I recorded all the slides and the wave pool without worrying about dropping the camera or getting it wet.

dalb3 wrote:Cannot charge the camera and record at the same time. I would not recommend this camera.

As long as its not connected to a computer it can charge and record

djroppolo wrote:Is this a good application for a vehicle dash cam? I'm looking for an easy way to record my commutes daily.

This is actually why I bought my camera, for a dashcam! Works quite well. Heres a random video I threw up so you can see what I did

donjohnson86 wrote:Great question. I'm also interested in an answer to this. Video streaming capability would be the differentiator that gets me to shell out the $$. It would be a solid all-purpose video cam.

It does not function as a Web cam, sorry to report =(

ikristy wrote:I got this the last time it was on sale. I use it for road biking and the first time out the video turned out wavy and unstable....BUT, I had attached the camera to my GoPro handlebar base (a very sturdy, stable base). The camera was jumping all over the place so I kind of knew the video wouldn't be the best even before I watched it. ANSWER TO PROBLEM: I bought a GoPro Tripod attachment that just screws into the bottom of the Swann camera case and THEN put that onto my bike and.....everything was fine. Great camera for the price. I also have a GoPro HD and this is just as good (for what I use it for). NOTE: Use a Class 10 card for better quality video and as stated earlier, make sure your graphics card is good!

Thanks. That sounds like the setup I'm using and the video is very shaky. I've been planning on mounting it differently like you have and see how it works. I'll give that a shot.

Just got the camera...its not a US plug style...now need to spend more money on a adapter.