Ok so I have had Norm's contour for about a month now, and after that, I decided to get a go-pro. Mainly based on the mounts. The video quality is equal as far as im concerned...im never watching this video on an 46" HDTV, so though you tube and vimeo, they look equal to me. IMO the rail mouts for the contour are just not stable enough to eliminate the shake. After playing with norms helmet mount, I wanted to smash it. You pull the straps off, the pin falls out. I fixed that with some small pieces of electrical tape. Then I removed the standard straps and replaced it with one of these velcro strap from my nite-rider light
You can make it tighter and wrap it around items such as the frame. Plus it stays tight...the straps that come with it get loose in 2 min.
But this doesnt solve the problem that the camera shakes on its mount. So I ALWAYS would use another strap to wrap around the entire camera to hold it steady to the mount. This works great and is easy to do, but it sucks that the rail mount is not stable enough
Im not into the bike helmet mounting. In a cross race its fine. There are tons of other people and you can see whats going on. But solo, you cant see the bike or anything to give you perspective...I think it looks, just a camera going through the woods. Plus, bike helmets are just not tight on your head and they move around. Full face helmet, fine, bike helmet is too unstable IMO.
So I picked up this mount for norms camera:
I put it on the stem of my cross bike and made this. I happen to like this view better then the helmet cam. You can see the bike and you can get a feeling of whats going on. Take the bike out of this pic and you are looking at grass go by.
http://www.vimeo.com/15901941
But in the end I went with the go pro. I agree with ben, its ugly as hell. But the mounts WORK. I put the stick on mount onto my dirbike helmet and ran it through 50 miles of trails, wacking it on countless branches and it was rock solid. I also like the wider viewing angle, the case is waterproof, I can take pictures with it, and they make 9000 different mounts for it.
This is one I made on sunday with the go-pro on my dirtbike helmet. When on a helmet, I like this view....helmet+bike in the shot.
http://www.vimeo.com/15969172
The go-pro does look goofy, but anyone who knows me knows that I dont give a shit what I look like.