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20 of 21 found the following review helpful:
Terrific value, great product Aug 29, 2007
By drewhead
We purchased the 3MP in July 2007 for our trip to Hawaii. I chose this product over a camera-specific waterproof housing mainly because of the huge price differential (the Go Pro Hero was much cheaper, even the latest 3MP version). The latest 3MP version was also an added bonus in terms of picture quality expectations. For our vacation, I forgot to bring the instructions, but after some trial and error it was fairly easy to figure out. Trial and error also includes figuring out the appropriate focal point - I found out that shots taken around 3-4 ft or closer came out blurry. Battery life is also a major issue, but as long as you're aware of the short half-life and bring along plenty of AAA batteries, you'll be fine. As one reviewer elsewhere pointed out, video-taking uses up the most battery power.
One complication during our trip was the fact that one of the polycarbonate tabs that holds the clamp in place to maintain the seal snapped right off after only the 3rd use (i.e., 3rd time unclamping to take out the SD card to download onto my computer). Go Pro Hero Camera was actually extremely responsive in replacing the waterhousing without fuss. Upon receiving the replacement housing, it also became apparent that the original 2-tabbed clamping was a design flaw. The newer waterhousing version has a continuous plastic ridge to hold the clamp. I haven't tested this one out yet, but at least the design change makes sense.
One word on the quality of the photos - for underwater shots, the 2 most important factors for good pictures are water clarity and SUNLIGHT. Once you have those, the next most important resource is a software filter program. I didn't have access to my usual Photoshop, so I simply downloaded and used Picasa (version 2), which did a great job on 90% of the shots. Without the filtering program, you could barely see the fish in the underwater shots, but after running it through some simple filtering they were quite clear and with much better color.
Last but not least, I was lucky enough to have an extra 1GB SD card on our trip. The built-in 18 MB will keep you happy for about 10 minutes (without shooting videos); and if you can't readily dump your pictures/video into your computer, you're stuck. So do yourself a favor if and when you buy this camera: buy the extra SD card at the same time. It takes up to 2GB SD, which can be as cheap as $40+ on sale nowadays.
12 of 12 found the following review helpful:
 Great Camera for the $$ Jul 31, 2007
By Jason S. Sellers
"Thunder"
This camera does everything it says it will. I love it. I have used it to film kayak trips, and playing in the pool, it is great. Also, I had a small issue with the case, and I contacted GoPro, they had FANTASTIC customer service! They resolved my issue immediately and got me a new case sent out.
buy this camera, you can't lose for the $$.
11 of 11 found the following review helpful:
GoGo WristCam! Great for Sports and Outdoor Snapshots Oct 05, 2007
By Piperkat
You can't beat the handiness of a camera that straps to your wrist and is waterproof. It's so incredibly portable, and with a few steps, ready to snap pictures. You do need to buy a SD card (not included, around $40 for a 2GB) because the internal storage of the camera is not much. It will hold a 10sec video and a few pics, then it's full. I would also buy rechargable batteries for it.
The directions are ok, but not great. They don't go into troubleshooting, so it was hard for me to know when the camera was full or had taken a picture.
Once I conquered the storage issue, I had great success with the camera. The limitations are that it is difficult to frame the picture because the viewfinder is so small, there's no zoom, focus or flash, and there's no screen to view your shot. So you have to wait until you connect it to the computer to see what you got.
But if you need a camera to take hiking, snorkeling, running or whatever and don't want to risk damaging your camera, then it's great. It's not going to be a good party or indoor camera. It's not going to take pictures worthy of National Geographic- but it will capture your crazy outdoor adventures.
Finally, EVERYONE asks what IS that thing on your wrist!?! So it's a great conversation piece and icebreaker among other outdoor enthusiasists.
8 of 8 found the following review helpful:
A Lot of Uses in a Small Camera Dec 11, 2007
By DJ
I am giving this four stars because for me it has been very useful. I've been teaching SCUBA for years. I found this camera to be a lot of help when I'm training studnets in a pool. I can film students performing exercises (and show it back to them if they are having a particular problem with a skill). The students also like looking at the videos of themselves in dive gear swimming around the pool. It provides an inexpensive way to critique students but it also lets the students say "Hey...that's me! I'm diving!"
I have also taken it on open water dives but if visibility is poor then the camera is useless. It worked out well on not-so-deep dives (to about 10 meters or less) on sunny days with good visibility. This is what it is: an inexpensive toy that can provide some useful videos to help with training, but it is also a light hearted way to have some fun and a few good laughs after a day of diving.
In two decades I've never bought a dive camera because it was one more thing to hassle with on dives and trips. This is inexpensive and simple to use. It leaves much to be desired for a serious photographer or someone who wants more quality in a camera, but for what I use it for it was well worth the price.
8 of 8 found the following review helpful:
Excellent value for the money - you get what you pay for and more May 13, 2008
By James F. Munro
"Jim F Munro"
This little camera is a great deal. I would recommend it to anyone who wants to capture underwater fun on their vacation. If you want a serious still or video underwater camera you should look elsewhere (and it will cost you).
I bought it with the plan for using while snorkeling, scuba diving and swimming and have been pleased with the quality of all three. I didn't have high expectations on the quality but was pretty impressed when I got the video and stills onto my computer. They were large and crisp. I was able to capture some elusive barracuda off in the distance. The still pictures of the ocean floor (down 10-15' while snorkeling) were clear and bright.
They put a lot of thought into features that you might need (auto picture taking, triple shot, hold settings from previous sessions, easy to delete if needed) so I appreciate their anticipation of user needs. They can't cover every want, but they did well enough.
I do notice how consistently darker the video quality is than the photos and if you're doing low-light or deep diving in scuba, or snorkel on a very overcast day your videos may be hard to view. Pictures are much more forgiving.
It is very challenging to get your videos or pictures in frame properly so have a lot of cut off heads but with some editing you can work around this, usually. The viewfinder is tiny and hard to look through while the camera is strapped on your wrist.
I still would say that the quality of the overall product is impressive and I don't think there is anything close to it in terms of value.
Pros:
1. Inexpensive but well designed & constructed.
2. Good quality pictures and video (if the light conditions are decent)
3. Wrist mount makes it convenient to use and keep track of doing task-loading sports.
4. Seems durable though I've not maxed out the depth.
Cons:
1. Must remove camera from housing to get video out of it. Recommend getting a memory stick reader rather than dragging around yet another USB cord.
2. Video: Low light drags down quality. Indoors needs a lot of light!
3. Eats batteries pretty quickly. Recommend NiMH rechargables or you'll go through lots of alkalines.
4. Hard to get consistent video in-frame when strapped to wrist. Viewfinder is not all that helpful. But I'm not sure how they could fix this issue.
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