Stealth 2 Sports Action Camera by Drift | Action Shot Camera Includes Universal Clip for use as POV Camera or Helmet Camera

At last a gadget that works! I bought this to replace a Garmin VIRB which had the infamous VIRB charging problems. The Drift impressed on opening the parcel,the packaging is definatley up market and looks luxurious. First impression was how small at 80mm long but with only three buttons it was fairly easy to set up after the 4hr charge up. Only snag so far was the “settings” screen is back lit red, this makes reading the text difficult and I had to get the right light and angle to read it but did OK in the end.The USB’s,reset and SIM going behind a panel which you remove at the rear and easily removed and refitted.The mountings that came with it are useable and fitted it easily to my Bike helmet although you do need two long cable ties.Viewing could’nt be easier, connect it by the USB lead to my Laptop, click “my computer” click Drift card, and it’s all there.Large clear sharp image, sound good…There are complaints about wind noise from the mic, this is an awful noise, but I found a 5min permanent remedy. Stick a 10mm x 10mm piece of black tape over the 1mm hole just beneath the lens,then go to Settings and increase the mic sensitivity to HIGH, job done…
Since then,seven days in and the Stealth2 suffered a complete breakdown,reset did nothing,it froze then was all over the place not answering the buttons or remote, it died, and has gone back.But I am getting another one ….

 In a nutshell, Video recording great. Easy to use. sound recording O.K when not moving.

Pondering for ages between Stealth 2 and Ghost HD but in the end size, weight, features and price made Stealth 2 the winner.

Primarily bought for bicycle helmet but the supplied mounts may not work depending on helmet. I used the goggle strap mount with cable ties and it works great and the other mounts work for my motorcycle helmet.
Although the mounts are secure, the Stealth 2 lacks the lanyard (or option to fit one) that can be fitted to the Ghost HD which would have been nice for peace of mind.

I wanted top rather than side mount so that helmet isnt off balance but due to size and weight, side mounting probably wont be an issue.
One thing to bear in mind when positioning the camera, I found when moving from upright to drop bars I ended up getting more of the road directly in front of the wheel.

Mobile app, however fast your internet speed, downloading this app will be seconds of your life wasted. Biggest waste of time EVER!!! Nuff said.

To charge or transfer data, you have to remove the rear dust/moisture seal and it is the kind of little thing that would be easily lost (and probably expensive to replace). Having them connected by some kind of cord/lanyard would have been preferable.

Power supply? the camera comes with a USB cable but no plug and as the manual states you cant charge from a PC, this is a data transfer cable and cant really be called a charger (which in fairness it is not in the box contents) so ensure you have a power supply that accepts USB.

A lot of reviews (amazon and elsewhere) complain about wind noise. any camea would be affected by wind noise so be realistic with expectations. Anyone who is even half way serious about sound recording wouldn’t even cosider using a built in mic anyway.
When static, sound recording is great but even at slow speed the wind noise cancels everything out however this is a positive.
The camera will record the poor driving of others but will not record the verbal abuse you direct at them but in the unfortunate event of any incident/confrontation once stopped, will record voices clearly.

I found the HD recording to be great but will probably switch to the 720p for general use. Having bought it in October and being an evening rider, I wasnt sure how the camera would hold out with low angle sunlight. while the highlights burn out the foreground exposure is spot on and the camera doesn’t suffer any purple banding or white out even when riding directly in to the sun.

All in all, very happy so far.

Right up front – RTFM (Read the F-ing Manual) so you know what you are doing.

It took me a few tries to get it sorted with settings on CAR DVR mode which sets it to record until you run out of space on the SD card, it copies over the oldest files and just keeps going.

If you have it in the car and running off a USB cable for power, and you want it on AUTO so when the car turns on and the usb port gets juice it turns on by itself and if you are not using an external power source – for example if you mount it on your helmet – you want it on MANUAL.

Once I figured that out everything was just ducky.

As others have said, image quality is a little MEH and other cams from other companies may have an edge here and there but if you are looking for BANG FOR YOUR BUCK in a HELMET MOUNT and want something small and not OBNOXIOUS looking – this is a good choice for the money – I paid around $85-90. It does run around 3 hours and you can rig a small external batt to it if you gotta go longer.

For the money it’s a 10/10 would buy again. for me, it’s so when they find my dead body on the road when somebody runs me over on my bike or motorcycle – they can probably figure out what happened. I wouldn’t use it for anything creative or to make videos. it’s a docu-cam IMHO

Well, not good news. The locking back panel basically fell apart (plastic parts and screw), so now I cannot cover the SD card and charge port. I guess I’ll just have to leave it up to the elements to decide how long time this camera is going to work. Not very satisfying. This is NOT supposed to happen. Will not, like in ever, buy from this company again.

I checked the movie clip from the day I lost the camera (see below). I thought at first that perhaps the camera wasn’t properly mounted, but at the start of the clip there are no vibrations. Just a little before the crash, the vibrations started to be visible, and then the camera fell off. Definitely, the mount security system is not good.

—– UPDATE —–

3 stars (before)

I was very exited to start playing with my new camera, it has now had about 2 months of street use – I mainly use this for bike tours, even though it soon will see more extreme action.

This is actually a nice camera, compact, good looking, and of course it has that rotating lens. Picture quality is very good, especially at 60 fps, even though you lose the HD format. At nighttime it gets grainy.

What is not so good: The very first time I took this out on my bike, I noticed that the display had some problems. Looking closer it turned out that it was water vapor condensing under the screen. This problem I have noticed practically every time I take it out on a sunny day. So, is this camera tight or not ? Very good question – or perhaps I got a no-go QC model.

Another thing that is not good is the mount. The male part attaches to the camera very securely, and then this part slides into the female part that you stick on the helmet or another type of platform and gets locked into place – at least that’s the theory. While driving 15 mph on a flat surface my camera suddenly just flew off !! Not a good thing. Credit to the camera construction, it is still working fine.

I downloaded that app for the camera, can’t say that it is impressive programing, but at least it lets you see that shot angle on your phone and do some adjustments (that you can do on the camera in any case).

The back cover must be removed when you want to charge the camera. This is quite easy – I cannot understand other critics that list this as a major negative experience. Once off, you have access to the charging port and the micro SD card. No big deal, it comes off and on again really easy. However, this part came off when my camera flew off my bike, and there is now a problem with the screw.

I bought this camera mainly for it’s lower price than a Go-Pro, and for its excellent battery life – however, you must buy a USB 2A charger, otherwise the camera will not charge (Initially I plugged it into my iPhone charger and got nothing). Doing it all again, I would probably shell out the extra dough for the Hero4, also considering the huge amount of (cheap) accessories for that camera line. The biggest practical plus over the GoPro, in my opinion, is no doubt the cameras ability to twist the lens and get the correct angle, allowing you to mount it and get a great picture on any non-level surface. You think your handlebars are all level and straight ? Think again.

PROS:
– Price
– Design
– Rotating lens
– Battery Life – but if you plan to film more than 3 hours, you should get the Ghost model or another camera
– Logic of Menu
– Good buttons

CONS:
– Not the best mount I’ve seen
– Moisture build-up inside. I know it is only weatherproof, but so is my Nikon SLR and this doesn’t happen to the Nikon
– Only 720 res when filming in 60 fps
– No charger included
– I had expected more from the app software

I’ve had this camera for a year now, attached to my motorcycle helmet.
I don’t get to ride my bike as often as I would like so it has been used maybe a dozen times at most.
I bought it just before I embarked on a 4 day trip to Scotland last year. It pissed it down of course! The camera coped well and gave good results recording in 1080p 30fps mode giving about 3 and a half hours of recording time between charges.
I want a helmet cam for 3 reasons.
1. To capture my lovely scenic rides.
2. So that I can monitor and improve my riding skills.
3. To capture any incidents should they occur.
Today, on my way to work the camera froze & locked up after just 6 mins & 17 secs recording time.
I had to use the system reset button (activated by sticking a paper-clip into a hole) to return it to normal functionality.
Obviously I didn’t know that it had frozen until I stopped and removed my helmet.
I rely on this camera and expect it to do what it is supposed to do.
This is why I am giving it 3 stars. 2 stars would be a bit harsh given the price I paid for it (£89)
If I had paid the original price of £199 it would have definitely got just 2 stars!
If it hadn’t frozen it would have got 5 stars.
Having googled ‘Drift Stealth Frozen’ I found loads of similar experiences.
It’s a shame really as otherwise I like the camera a lot.