What It Has: The ATC3K is totally self-contained. There are no wires or remotes for power, control or recording, and that's a good thing for filming mountain bike rides. After three hours of riding in Pisgah this fall, I almost hurled; not because the ride was so tough (although it was), but because the remote stop button on our other camera was accidentally tripped inside the pack and we had no video. You won't have that problem with the ATC3K. It uses a standard SD Memory Card and two (2) AA batteries to record up to two hours of 640x480 video at 30 frames per second. This is key not only for everyday convenience, but also on long epics without access to power or a PC. Spare memory cards and batteries ensure the action keeps recording. Everything about this cam is convenient, from the myriad mounting options included to the standard AVI file format, which just about any video editing software can use. No file conversions, or video capture to your PC required.
How It Compares: The small size and streamlined shape, along with its all-black, special-ops-style rugged exterior make this thing a pleasure to use. This model is meant to accommodate the larger capacity 4GB SD Memory Card for ample record time and also comes with an AV output for instant viewing of the action on any TV screen. Like any action cam in its class, it lacks a viewfinder or image display and that's also a good thing, as this would compromise affordability, durability, weatherproofing and battery life. However, you'll need to make sure the mount angle on your helmet is set properly by testing it out first. I found the USB download to my PC (oh it works with MAC as well) to be a bit slow. I'm guessing the engineers chose USB 1.0 to keep the cost down, and that's okay with me. But I quickly got into the habit of ejecting the SD Card and using my USB 2.0 Card Reader, cutting download times to less than half.
The Best Parts: Aside from its ergonomic shape and rugged, weatherproof design, the ATC3K comes with tons of mounting options, making you think someone who actually rides helped develop the product. Creative camera angles are easy with the many straps, platforms and flexible tripod mounts included. All of these gadgets are lightweight and small enough to throw in your pack as an afterthought. That's also true of the camera unit itself. It's so small and durable that you can take it along in your pack "just in case" you come across a great section to record. The controls are simple (there are only three buttons) and have audible beeps to tell you what has been pushed so you don't have to take your helmet off to check. This works great even with Apache helicopters flying overhead as they were when I tested it. I could still hear the beeps and knew when it was recording or not.
The clips below are from the test ride*
Fully Edited Final Version
Above Left: Raw Footage From Helmet Mount With Ambient Sound
Above Right: Raw Footage From Tripod and Bike Mounts With Ambient Sound
*Note: Although the ATC3K produces higher quality AVI files, these clips were converted to compressed MPEG2 format for easy uploading to YouTube.
(users unable to view the embedded YouTube links, please click here to see the video content above)
