August 27, 2012 at 11:32Overview of the Camsports Coach DVR
Today we will talk about the still fresh impressions of acquaintance with such a gadget as DVR glasses. Honestly, when the Camsports Coach glasses were in my hands, I almost did not wonder why it was needed at all - a certain interest appeared immediately. The idea to record my adventures with almost a view from my eyes seemed very interesting to me, for athletes and outdoor enthusiasts this device can become a revelation in the literal sense of “untying your hands”. They will also be very useful in “debriefing” and analyzing errors if some kind of trouble happens. In general, according to first impressions - a little thing from the "must have" section, it remains to get acquainted with its implementation in hardware.
The gadget is sold in an aggressively painted cardboard box. The scope of delivery includes the following items:
• Glasses
• Two additional interchangeable sets of glasses.
• miniUSB cable
• 4GB microSD memory card with adapter.
• Hard case.
• User manual in Russian.
As you know, a guest is greeted by clothes, so I'll start with a cover. In appearance, the case makes a definite impression; it looks like a convenient and reliable storage for Camsports Coach.
It consists of two hard halves, which are pulled together by a small lightning. Inside, the plastic halves are glued with soft material, so the glasses do not have a chance to scratch the walls of the store. You can fix it on equipment either with the help of a plastic carbine, or through a special belt loop on one of the sides. Of the shortcomings, it is possible to note a plastic carabiner of incomprehensible strength and the fact that the halves of the case go into compression during compression. So I would not sit down on a closed case with glasses, they will most likely end. The lightning between the halves also does not look very reliable, but this is already from the area of nit-picking.
I figured out the case, everything is fine, but not perfect. Now the glasses themselves. Camsports Coach made completely plastic, from glass to the power button. Taking them in hand immediately noted a good rigidity and solid construction.
The entire gadget body has a Soft-Touch coating, which is the place there. Camsports Coach are pleasant to the touch, the elements that touch the head are not scratched and do not have pronounced seams in the plastic. On the arms of the glasses there are rubber pads to improve the “grip” with the operator’s head.
Wearing Camsports Coach glasses sit comfortably on my head like a glove, I couldn’t shake them off without the help of my hands. Despite this, I would like to see a hole under the emergency lanyard to keep a valuable gadget with me in case the glasses still fly away. First of all, after trying on, I wanted to change the lenses to dark ones. To replace, you just need to grab the lens and pull on yourself, slightly unfolding the frame. No screws or latches are provided. Lenses are fixed in the frame due to its complex shape and small protrusions. Reliability of fastening is sufficient - they will fall out only from strong physical impact. The quality of the plastic lenses themselves is average, there are no complaints, but without them you can still see better. Distortion from them is present, but very small. In the center of the frame is a camera covered with a protective glass. We write glass - we mean plastic. Unfortunately, this piece of plastic cannot be called scratch resistant, which can adversely affect the quality of the recorded image. In my opinion, for a gadget costing aboutseven thousand rubles, this is one of the key points on which the manufacturer should pay close attention.
All controls and connectors are located on the right temple of glasses. There are only two of them, the main one is the recording on / off button, which is disguised as a red bar. In order to start or stop recording, you just need to briefly click on it, Camsports Coach points will do the rest themselves. At the same time, no sound signals are given, which at first is a little annoying. But there are two LEDs, on the inside, which, when wearing glasses, are not visible. One is a two-color charge indicator, the second flashes blue when recording is in progress. The second dig is Reset, disguised as a rubber plug. It will allow you to lose points if something goes wrong. The microphone is located there, a special hole is provided for it. The memory card slot and usb port are covered with rubber plugs, which close tight enough. There is no need to talk about any serious protection against moisture, but a couple of random drops can help.
Before the test, let's look at the characteristics from the manufacturer’s website:
• Resolution: High Definition (Real HD) 30 frames per second, (1280x720)
• Camera viewing angle: extended, 135 °,
• Audio: built-in microphone
• 4 GB memory card, included,
• Convenient stylish and durable case,
• The battery provides a shooting time of up to 2 hours,
• Operating temperature: from -10 to +40 degrees Celsius,
• A USB cable for recharging and connecting to a computer is included,
• Weight: 57 grams
The glasses are disassembled quite simply, just unscrew the three screws on each of the panels and they can be easily removed. To my regret, it was not possible to establish what kind of hardware is used in the production of the gadget, the manufacturer corrupted the marking from the main chip.
But with the battery, everything is not so clear. In the user manual enclosed in the box, they promised us an element with a capacity of 550mAh, but inside the left arm there was a significantly less capacious battery, marked as 3.7V 460mAh.
Where the error crept in: in the Russian manual or in the battery marking, it is unlikely to be installed, so in the test for the duration of the battery life I will be based on real-time recording.
It's hard to find fault with the image quality itself; Camsports Coach glasses are a rare enough product to compare them with something like that. In general, the quality of the picture resembles a mid-level webcam with a comparable resolution, which is quite expected. Due to the peculiarities of the camera optics, the video has a pronounced “barrel” along the edges of the frame.
The video also shows compression artifacts. In low light conditions, the camera with glasses works pretty well, almost no noise. The sound is also recorded normally, while playing back what is happening around is audible quite legible.
An example of a test video in a darkened room with this copy of glasses:
Testing the battery life showed that these Camsports Coach glasses can work from one full charge for about 1 hour 40 minutes, that is, within the stated time. The test used an A-Data microSDHC 32Gb Class 10 memory card. Video is recorded at a bit rate of ~ 7.4 Mbps, so if you do not plan to store a large amount of footage in glasses, there is no special need to use a memory card larger than 4-8 GB, “figure eight »It will not be possible to fill up with one battery charge. During prolonged recording, the board inside the case heats up a little, but this does not cause any inconvenience to the user.
Final impressions. Camsports Coach glasses, despite some performance flaws, remain an attractive gadget with a bunch of interesting application features that will depend mainly on the operator’s phantasy. After several days of heavy use, for me they continue to be an interesting and useful thing that does not bother after five minutes. All the declared functions work well, the glasses are quite capable of recording a video that can amuse or surprise your friends. Which, in general, is required of them.
The gadget is sold in an aggressively painted cardboard box. The scope of delivery includes the following items:
• Glasses
• Two additional interchangeable sets of glasses.
• miniUSB cable
• 4GB microSD memory card with adapter.
• Hard case.
• User manual in Russian.
As you know, a guest is greeted by clothes, so I'll start with a cover. In appearance, the case makes a definite impression; it looks like a convenient and reliable storage for Camsports Coach.
It consists of two hard halves, which are pulled together by a small lightning. Inside, the plastic halves are glued with soft material, so the glasses do not have a chance to scratch the walls of the store. You can fix it on equipment either with the help of a plastic carbine, or through a special belt loop on one of the sides. Of the shortcomings, it is possible to note a plastic carabiner of incomprehensible strength and the fact that the halves of the case go into compression during compression. So I would not sit down on a closed case with glasses, they will most likely end. The lightning between the halves also does not look very reliable, but this is already from the area of nit-picking.
I figured out the case, everything is fine, but not perfect. Now the glasses themselves. Camsports Coach made completely plastic, from glass to the power button. Taking them in hand immediately noted a good rigidity and solid construction.
The entire gadget body has a Soft-Touch coating, which is the place there. Camsports Coach are pleasant to the touch, the elements that touch the head are not scratched and do not have pronounced seams in the plastic. On the arms of the glasses there are rubber pads to improve the “grip” with the operator’s head.
Wearing Camsports Coach glasses sit comfortably on my head like a glove, I couldn’t shake them off without the help of my hands. Despite this, I would like to see a hole under the emergency lanyard to keep a valuable gadget with me in case the glasses still fly away. First of all, after trying on, I wanted to change the lenses to dark ones. To replace, you just need to grab the lens and pull on yourself, slightly unfolding the frame. No screws or latches are provided. Lenses are fixed in the frame due to its complex shape and small protrusions. Reliability of fastening is sufficient - they will fall out only from strong physical impact. The quality of the plastic lenses themselves is average, there are no complaints, but without them you can still see better. Distortion from them is present, but very small. In the center of the frame is a camera covered with a protective glass. We write glass - we mean plastic. Unfortunately, this piece of plastic cannot be called scratch resistant, which can adversely affect the quality of the recorded image. In my opinion, for a gadget costing aboutseven thousand rubles, this is one of the key points on which the manufacturer should pay close attention.
All controls and connectors are located on the right temple of glasses. There are only two of them, the main one is the recording on / off button, which is disguised as a red bar. In order to start or stop recording, you just need to briefly click on it, Camsports Coach points will do the rest themselves. At the same time, no sound signals are given, which at first is a little annoying. But there are two LEDs, on the inside, which, when wearing glasses, are not visible. One is a two-color charge indicator, the second flashes blue when recording is in progress. The second dig is Reset, disguised as a rubber plug. It will allow you to lose points if something goes wrong. The microphone is located there, a special hole is provided for it. The memory card slot and usb port are covered with rubber plugs, which close tight enough. There is no need to talk about any serious protection against moisture, but a couple of random drops can help.
Before the test, let's look at the characteristics from the manufacturer’s website:
• Resolution: High Definition (Real HD) 30 frames per second, (1280x720)
• Camera viewing angle: extended, 135 °,
• Audio: built-in microphone
• 4 GB memory card, included,
• Convenient stylish and durable case,
• The battery provides a shooting time of up to 2 hours,
• Operating temperature: from -10 to +40 degrees Celsius,
• A USB cable for recharging and connecting to a computer is included,
• Weight: 57 grams
The glasses are disassembled quite simply, just unscrew the three screws on each of the panels and they can be easily removed. To my regret, it was not possible to establish what kind of hardware is used in the production of the gadget, the manufacturer corrupted the marking from the main chip.
But with the battery, everything is not so clear. In the user manual enclosed in the box, they promised us an element with a capacity of 550mAh, but inside the left arm there was a significantly less capacious battery, marked as 3.7V 460mAh.
Where the error crept in: in the Russian manual or in the battery marking, it is unlikely to be installed, so in the test for the duration of the battery life I will be based on real-time recording.
It's hard to find fault with the image quality itself; Camsports Coach glasses are a rare enough product to compare them with something like that. In general, the quality of the picture resembles a mid-level webcam with a comparable resolution, which is quite expected. Due to the peculiarities of the camera optics, the video has a pronounced “barrel” along the edges of the frame.
The video also shows compression artifacts. In low light conditions, the camera with glasses works pretty well, almost no noise. The sound is also recorded normally, while playing back what is happening around is audible quite legible.
An example of a test video in a darkened room with this copy of glasses:
Testing the battery life showed that these Camsports Coach glasses can work from one full charge for about 1 hour 40 minutes, that is, within the stated time. The test used an A-Data microSDHC 32Gb Class 10 memory card. Video is recorded at a bit rate of ~ 7.4 Mbps, so if you do not plan to store a large amount of footage in glasses, there is no special need to use a memory card larger than 4-8 GB, “figure eight »It will not be possible to fill up with one battery charge. During prolonged recording, the board inside the case heats up a little, but this does not cause any inconvenience to the user.
Final impressions. Camsports Coach glasses, despite some performance flaws, remain an attractive gadget with a bunch of interesting application features that will depend mainly on the operator’s phantasy. After several days of heavy use, for me they continue to be an interesting and useful thing that does not bother after five minutes. All the declared functions work well, the glasses are quite capable of recording a video that can amuse or surprise your friends. Which, in general, is required of them.