GoPro Hero2 Review

Introduction

For just $299 you can get the Hero2 along with its waterproof housing, a variety of mounts, and a few straps that let you wear the camera on a helmet (or surfboard or bike, depending on the package you buy). In this growing market of “wearable” camcorders, GoPro has a few rivals, the main one being Contour and its Contour+ camcorder. You can read our review of the Contour+ here.

Video Review

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Design & Usability

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GoPro’s provided mounts and accessories are far easier to use than the one’s offered on Contour camcorders.

Currently, GoPro only sells two camcorders—the HD Hero2 and the original HD Hero. While the Hero camcorder is only available "naked", the Hero2 comes in a variety of different packages that cater to specific shooting situations. There's the Outdoor Edition, which is the package sent to us for review, a Motorsports Edition, and a Surf Edition. Each package comes with a few different mounts and accessories, but all come with GoPro’s waterproof housing.

The Hero2 itself is rather bland, with a few ports on both its left and right side, a battery that slips into a compartment on the back, and one button each on the top and front of the camcorder. The small lens, record lamp, and tiny screen also populate the front of the camcorder. It looks like an awkward security camera, but the design feels both light and durable. The Hero2's waterproof casing exudes confidence, and it protected the camcorder quite well in a variety of situations. Most of the mounts and straps were easy to work with, and GoPro's reusable head and helmet straps are very cool—far more functional than peel-and-stick adhesive mounts that can't be moved once you stick them.

Hands-free camcorders are always something of a challenge to get used to. At their very core they are different than traditional camcorders, and the lack of a screen or viewfinder to assist with framing your video is always frustrating. But GoPro did a reasonably good job with the Hero2, and, despite its numerous quirks, it was much easier to work with than the Contour+.

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Features

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In addition to its variety of accessories, the Hero2 has a surprising number of recording options and features that you can play around with.

Perhaps my favorite thing about the Hero2 is that, despite being an ultracompact model, the camcorder still has options for changing controls and shooting modes on the fly. You don’t need to use special software or link the camcorder to your smartphone to access the menu system—you can do it all by referencing the tiny screen on the front of the Hero2 and by pressing the camcorder’s two buttons to cycle through menu options. It’s not the simplest system, and all that button pushing made me feel like I was setting a watch or alarm clock, but at least the ability to adjust controls on the fly is an option. Important features include: multiple video resolutions and frame rates, a bundle of still image options, adjustable field-of-view, and the ability to flip the video image upside down (in case the camcorder is mounted upside down).

The Hero2's connectivity options are also noteworthy. In addition to the standard mini HDMI and USB ports, the camcorder also includes a 3.5mm mic jack, and a 2.5mm AV output that can also be used as a headphone jack. The camcorder records to SD-type memory cards and has a proprietary "GoPro" port that allows you to connect specific GoPro accessories to the Hero2 (like a WiFi adapter, extra battery pack, or LCD). Keep in mind, the tiny screen located on the front of the Hero2 cannot help you frame video images. It only acts as a menu and info display source.

Performance

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Video performance wasn’t stellar, but the Hero2 did put up similar numbers to the Contour+ in most performance categories.

If all you care about is quality and performance, there are better HD camcorders out there than the GoPro Hero2. But, those camcorders don’t offer the mountable, rugged design that is integral to GoPro’s success. That’s the give and take with hands-free camcorders. They won't give you the best quality, but you can record video that wouldn’t be possible to capture with a traditional camcorder.

In our tests, the Hero2 showed some significant problems with noise, especially when shooting with the camcorder's narrow field of view setting. Other than the noise issues, though, the camcorder did well in our tests. Colors were deep and accurate, motion looked better than most other ultracompact camcorders we’ve reviewed, and its recorded images were reasonably sharp (although not quite as sharp as the competition). In a direct comparison with the Contour+ hands-free camcorder, we give the Hero2 a slight edge in overall performance.

Conclusion

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If you’re interested in camcorders, or even gadgets in general, it’s impossible to ignore the GoPro HD Hero2.

The Hero2 is the best adventure-style camcorder we've worked with so far, and the model was easier to handle and control than its most direct competitor, the Contour+. Realistically, performance plays second fiddle for the Hero2, as the most important feature is its go-anywhere design, which is made possible by GoPro’s waterproof housing and variety of mounts and straps. I had the pleasure of reviewing the Outdoor Edition of the Hero2, meaning I got to play with a vented helmet strap (perfect for hooking to a bike helmet) and a stretchy, adjustable head strap that felt similar to wearing a headlamp. The Surf and Motorbike editions of the Hero2 come with a few different mounts, but the waterproof casing (which can handle a depth of up to 197 feet) is the same for all three editions.

In all, the GoPro’s mount and strap accessories worked better than what shipped with the Contour+ camcorder. The mounts were easy to use, although there was some noticeable wear on the waterproof housing after a week of intense use. The straps and mounts will also certainly wear down after repeated use, but the versatility of GoPro's mounts were impressive.

With the whole package costing just under $300, the Hero2 is a fun, reasonably-priced camcorder that should please anyone looking for a wearable adventure-cam. The inclusion of the waterproof housing as part of its package is an excellent addition, and the camcorder comes with enough mounts and straps to keep you busy for a while. GoPro has a good set of optional accessories, including an attachable LCD that lets you view and playback your video, available on GoPro's website.

Science Introduction

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The GoPro Hero2 wasn’t a stellar performer in our video tests, but its full HD video looked just as good as your average ultracompact camcorder. The Hero2 produced deep colors in both bright and low light, and the camcorder’s automatic control over exposure was adequate for most recording situations. Like the Contour+, the Hero2 had some issues with noise, but the camcorder was better than its rival in low light performance. Also like the Contour+, the Hero2’s lens records with an extremely wide angle of view, which means capturing all the action in front of you shouldn’t be a problem.

Battery Life

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This battery outlasted the Contour+'s by roughly 30 minutes.

The GoPro Hero2 lasted for a solid 139 minutes in our battery life test. That means the camcorder recorded continuously (in its full HD mode) for 2 hours, 19 minutes. That’s certainly not bad for a hands-free camcorder, and it's nearly a half hour better than the Contour+. If the 2+ hour battery life isn’t good enough for you… well, GoPro has another trick up its sleeve. For an extra $50 bucks you can buy an additional battery pack that straps right onto the back of the Hero2 to provide roughly double the battery life. The accessory, called the Battery BacPac, can also act as a charging station for the Hero2’s supplied battery when it is not in use.

In Full HD record mode, the Hero2 has a clip limit of 34 minutes, 42 seconds. When a clip reaches that length, a new clip starts recording immediately, but there shouldn’t be any gaps between the two clips. The Hero2’s rechargeable battery pack fits into the back of the camcorder, behind the removable battery cover that takes up most of the back of the model. The battery can be tricky to remove, as there’s no good grip or slot where you can get leverage to pull the battery free. The best method I found was to open the battery cover and gently knock the camcorder against my palm until the battery loosened. I could then free it from the constraints of the battery compartment with ease.

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Noisy Video

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Problems with noise were apparent in both bright and low light situations.

In both our bright and low light tests, the Hero2 produced high levels of noise. The camcorder averaged 1.2% noise in our bright light test and 2.81% noise in our low light test, both of which are higher than average for a compact camcorder. The Contour+ had major issues with noise as well, but it wasn’t as bad in bright light as the Hero2.

There is one caveat with the Hero2’s noise performance. When shooting video using different field of view settings the noise levels varied wildly. For example, the widest angle of view showed less noise compared to the narrowest angle of view, and the numbers listed above were obtained using the narrow recording option. We used the narrow results only because that shooting mode allowed us to frame our charts properly (with the least amount of warping and fish-eye effect), but it should be noted that you’ll get less noise shooting in the wider mode.

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Sharpness Performance

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Not quite as good as the competition

Surprisingly, the GoPro Hero2 managed a slightly duller image than the Contour+ camcorder. In bright light, the Hero2 measured a horizontal sharpness of 600 lw/ph and a vertical sharpness of 575 lw/ph. These numbers are in-line with what we generally see from entry-level camcorders, but they are worse than the best models in the sub-$500 price range.

In GoPro’s defense, the Hero2 did maintain its sharpness better in low light than the Contour+. Both camcorders had some serious problems with noise and artifacting in low light, but the Hero2 produced a better overall image when the lights were dim. So, if you’re looking for a hands-free camcorder that records sharper video in various kinds of light, the Hero2 is the better all-around choice. The Contour+ also had more artifacting and interference than the GoPro in our motion test.

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