Drift Ghost: final evaluation and thoughts...

[BKP]

I thought this might be a good time to write up a final evaluation on the Drift Ghost for anyone considering it against the GoPro 3.

I bought this back in February, and used it extensively up until about three weeks ago. Here are the Pros / Cons (IMHO):

Pros:

• It's more aerodynamic than the GoPro, and doesn't look or feel like a brick hanging off your lid.
• It has a nice waterproof shell (to 1m, supposdly, without any addtl case, and a changeable back for plug-ins)
• It has a less cryptic display (all graphic, no "codes") than my earlier GoPros.
• It does tagging, which is nice. So does the GoPro

Cons:

• Changing modes, from tagging to straight video to multiple snaps is *not* intuitive, even with the graphic display.
• Additionally, if the display is off, you need to press a button to turn it back on, and *then* press the activate button for whatever purpose you're pressing it for. If the display is on, it's a single button press (however, you can't always tell if it's on or off, if it's hanging off your helmet)
• The battery charging is erratic. Doesn't always (read: rarely) charge all the way to full, and takes hours and hours (this is apparently not an exclusive problem)
• The wrist remote, while nice in concept, is a toy. It's built like a toy, it's charge lasts as long as a toy, and it functions about as well as a toy, with simply an on/off, and pretty little blinking lights supposedly telling you what mode you're in.
• I seem to have had a problem with condensation on the *inside* of the Gorilla Glass display (which is *not* a good thing on an electronic component) - I took pictures of it, and sent them along with the camera back to Drift (keep in mind, this camera has NEVER been in the rain, much less immersed in anything)
• Drift Innovation customer service has turned out to be one of the worst I've dealt with. After returning the cam for the above problem, I have not heard back word one 16 days later, and they've been unresponsive to my e-mails. Fortunately, I have two other cams to play with.
• Drift promised an Android app by the first of the year (2013). They then pushed it to March. Then to April. When they finally released it in late May, it was a Beta. (The IOS app had been released since 2012).

My recommendation: Avoid Drift like the plague. To be fair I had decent functionality with their HD model. However, if the Ghost is any indication of things to come... I'm back with GoPro from here on in.

 

[JT]

Thx for the feedback

 

[JSP]

Thanks for the review!

 

[Riccochet]

thanks for the review!

My GoPro has been to hell and back. Fallen off my GSR at 115mph, been ran over, beaten off rocks under my Jeep, burried in snow snowboarding, 40 feet under water scuba diving. It might not be the most intuitive, but the damn thing works and keeps on working.

 

[JSP]

thanks for the review!

My GoPro has been to hell and back. Fallen off my GSR at 115mph, been ran over, beaten off rocks under my Jeep, burried in snow snowboarding, 40 feet under water scuba diving. It might not be the most intuitive, but the damn thing works and keeps on working.

+1 Love my HD 2!

 

[leprecaun jon]

you are not the first person i have heard horrible things about drift products from,i watch a moto vlogger on you tube "kryton" who switched to the drift HD because of its microphone input, remote, and supposed ease of use.... it has been nothing but hell for him and his vlogging has dropped in quality because of it.....i asked him if he'd go back to go pro and he said if they would come out with the microphone adapter they promised he would go back.... he still hasn't but your review sounds just like his lol thanks for the review man worth every word!

 

[BoneJj]

I've been locked in a debate of cameras to get for a while and in the mean time I've been using my older Playsport camera to attempt to take video but the problem I've run into with that one is that gets shaken to hell on the bike and thus my video become crap when I get under hard acceleration.

The solution for me is to body mount some how... The problem is that I don't want a massive damn camera sticking off my helmet and I want good HD quality video.

From all my research it seems that the Contour +2 is the way to go for quality video and good results in general.

It will stay nice and tight to my helmet, the sample videos I find all over show much better color response compared to other cameras and the setting seem to be a little more inline with what I think a camera should have.

 

[BKP]

+1 Love my HD 2!

So do I... it has officially re-replaced the Ghost...

 

[MNGreg]

Sorry to hear about all the problems with the new GHOST version.
As you and I went back and forth about by PM about my purchase, I have actually Liked (not loved) my Drift HD so far.. I LOVE the helmet mount, compared to a brick of a Gopro like you said. I love my GP2, that I use ram mount on my handle bar, but I like the POV view alot. The Contour just didnt make the cut for purchase because I read you need to use their software for editing, cant use your own stuff like Windows or Adobe? And for the Roam2, it is not replaceable batteries (BIGGEST Turnoff).

I think my biggest gripe with the Drift so far is the Battery life and the remote. The remote rarely works. Want to make sure you are recording?, take the camera and look at it, start it, put it back in the helmet mount. Battery life, seems to usually only be about 20-40 minutes. This battery life is with the stock battery and the Wassabi kit ones.

My only problem I have had with the GP2 is that it locked up on me and quit recording after about 30 minutes last time. I read up and found there was a new firmware update, so I updated it. I also have a Class 6 card in there, not a 10, so maybe the "writing" locked up. Though that didnt happen last year. Will need to check it out see if the GP2 new firmware solved the problem, if not, buy a new card.

But again, I Like, Not love, but do Like my DriftHD so far...

 

[BKP]

Sorry to hear about all the problems with the new GHOST version.
As you and I went back and forth about by PM about my purchase, I have actually Liked (not loved) my Drift HD so far.. I LOVE the helmet mount, compared to a brick of a Gopro like you said. I love my GP2, that I use ram mount on my handle bar, but I like the POV view alot. The Contour just didnt make the cut for purchase because I read you need to use their software for editing, cant use your own stuff like Windows or Adobe? And for the Roam2, it is not replaceable batteries (BIGGEST Turnoff).

I think my biggest gripe with the Drift so far is the Battery life and the remote. The remote rarely works. Want to make sure you are recording?, take the camera and look at it, start it, put it back in the helmet mount. Battery life, seems to usually only be about 20-40 minutes. This battery life is with the stock battery and the Wassabi kit ones.

My only problem I have had with the GP2 is that it locked up on me and quit recording after about 30 minutes last time. I read up and found there was a new firmware update, so I updated it. I also have a Class 6 card in there, not a 10, so maybe the "writing" locked up. Though that didnt happen last year. Will need to check it out see if the GP2 new firmware solved the problem, if not, buy a new card.

But again, I Like, Not love, but do Like my DriftHD so far...

That's funny... I have the Drift HD and the GP2 as well... And, I gave the Drift HD its due in my original post... it's *much* more consistent without the issues, of the Ghost (but you're right about the remote -- they're toys -- not ready for prime time). The GP2 is a rock, and my mainstay on my handlebars. I've had that down 130ft. underwater, multiple times... and it's been fastened to every spot on my bike at one time or another... and is reliable as hell. I do have a class 10 card in there, with no issues. And, I have it plugged into my powerlet, so I don't have a battery issue. However, it doesn't have the resolution (and *does* have the "purple artifact" issue that the Drift HD has).

I also like the tagging function of the newer models.

Well... c'est la vie... My next buy will probably be the GP4...