Finally got around and purchased an action video camera. Had to return the first one and buy another one. These are the lessons I learned in the process.
The first one I got was Looxcie LX2. Its amazon page was relatively short yet I did see that it could capture at most 480p videos and went for it anyway, thinking that ... well, that it might still work out. Smaller videos might actually be a better thing..... or so I thought. Besides, it boases of a nice smartphone application that you could use with the camera.
Wrong I was. Not only video quality was bad pixelwise, the encoding ... I am guessing implemented in software, was very poor. During abrupt scene changes ... which by definition are frequent in wearable settings ... the frame would go berserk for about a second during which boxes in various places on the screen would display junk. Completely unsuable.
Also, the feature that made my mind -- the 30s clip feature, where it would dump into the file the LAST 30 seconds of the buffer when you press a button --- would only work when configured from smartphone, which takes Bluetooth pairing, connection inside the application ... all amounting to 30-60s preparation before you can use the feature. Note that after that you have to walk around with your smartphone.
Returned the thing. Got Contour ROAM2 for only 30% on top of the price of the first one (I know, I know, the price is so low only becuase the company went bust recently ... not gloating or anything...). Did not get it yet, but I already know all the features, which I can now list in full, having learned my lesson:
(1) anything below 1920x1050 is junk. Other names for it are 1080p or Full HD. You will still get blurry transisions on abrupt changes, but very brief and not very obvious.
(2) several kinds of mounts would be nice
(3) rotating lens! is a major feature. This way you can adjust your horizon properly, even if you mounted it awry.
(4) some way to tell where you are aiming. Contour shoots a lazer line for aiming.
(5) resilience to elements. Contour is waterproof. Does not mean that you can swim with it but at least I can carry it in the rain without warrying too much.
Yep. I have my first wearable camera now.
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