Best Action Camera for Windsurfing

Hi Guys,

I am only new to these forums, but have been an onlooker for a while.

With Action Cameras becoming more and more popular these days I am interested in what cams people are using to film their windsurfing adventures.

I have done a bit of sport/game fishing in the past and most of the boats I have been involved with use GoPro’s, for both above and below the water filming. After looking into what other cameras are currently available, it seems that there is lots of serious competition around the top end of the market.

Obviously each camera will have its positives/negatives and certain applications will suit one camera better than the others.

I am currently considering the following cameras;
Garmin Virb Elite
GoPro Hero 3+ Black
Sony Action Cam 2 (HDR-AS30V)
Contour Roam 2

If anybody has feedback on any or all of the above cameras it would be greatly appreciated as I would like to make an informed decision before purchasing.


Regards Greg.

Im no expert but have had some fun doing vids. I have the original GoPro and am very happy with it. For someone who just wants to do a bit of filming sailing or supping with your mates its ideal. You can mount them a myriad of ways, I have Flymount, helmet mount, boom mount and board mount for different perspectives. They are pretty robust (have had some good high speed stacks and no probs) and easy to use.
A good quality SD card is the go. I can get a couple of hours of footage.
Don't know anything about the others so its a thumbs up for the Gorpro for me.

just get a gopro 3 or newer.

I have just got the Garmin Virb, i have only used it once as there has been no wind but look good to me.

Sailfish87 I agree 100% i tried the GPS overlay on that video but it was way out. As i said it was the first time i had used it so it is hard to say how good it is as yet.
I was also looking at the Shimano sports camera and it looks quite good water proof to 10m and a 135deg wide angle lens. I would be interested in hearing from anybody who has used it.
www.shimanofish.com.au/content/fish/oceania/au/en/homepage/articles.html

Always depends on how you're going to use it, anyhow here's my lengthy take for my usage.
I have maybe 50 heavy uses of the GoPro Hero 3+ so far, both planing freestyle (well, trying stuff) and non-planing.

I beat the bejesus out of it: hammered rocky bottom with the boom when it was clew-mounted - ouch, forgot it was there.
Missed flakas when top-mast mounted, I even landed & stepped on a board-mounted suction cup - to no avail, it just keeps going.

You can freeze frames at 1-60th no problem, it's not interpolated unlike cheap cams (for Contour & others I don't know).
No it's not complicated to use, but it's more fun with the remote, a must when mast-mounted.
I never drained the battery after 2 hours, that's probably its top shelflife, I don't even know. I get tired before 'it'.
I have 2 spares - never used'em yet.

The pic stabilizer is unreal - I tried everything to break it, including a wobbly, clumsy home-made 6" extension for a mast-mount,
and the picture still comes out clear. No idea how that works. Coming from the old Sony and Cannon cams where breathing kills
the shot for a full 2 seconds, that is refreshing..

Bits & pieces are expensive in-store, but rather inexpensive from the net. I use the LightnBox web site, real cheap.

I'm not saying other cameras don't do all of the above, just saying I don't see how they can do it much better, as stated above.
Even the GoPro 4 is no improvement to me: more $$ for 4k or the viewer, neither of which I care for.

Cons are extremely minor, even added together, but here are some for the picky ones:

in HD at 60 frames, it creates new files after some 12-15 minutes - annoying, but very very minor.
It's prob. better this way with the native filesize.

The supplied software sucks and doesn't do 90 degrees (not that it's ever desired).
Just use QuickTime Pro, which is wonderful at it all, and dirt cheap. Just don't load their stupid software.

There is no AVI, only MOVs contained in an MP4. Very livable, perhaps better thusly.
Using the fast VDub woulda been fun on AVIs, but alas.

Sound quality is terrible when on and around water, except I so don't care.
Cannot select-delete individual clips, but I really don't care on a 64Gb card, esp. when windsurfing.
Can't delete files from a USB connection, must either delete all or take it out on a USB mini-socket where selective deletes are allowed.
No biggie., but their reason given ("security"??) sounds like BS.

The battery for the remote drains quickly, like 1 hour. Annoying, but liveable, I turn mine off once the cam is started.
This is fixed with the Hero 4 am told?

Hope this helps, best of sailing in 2015..

here is my older post on the subject:

joewindsurfer.blogspot.com/2012/12/gopro-hero.html

^^^ offending spam before my post was removed. I am not nuts and talking at Joe all angry lol