DRIFT GHOST HD

In the world of action sports and motorsports, the point-of-view camera has already cemented its status as a must-have device. Useful for not only recording the, ahem, interesting moments those past-times often invite, they are rapidly on their way to becoming almost as ubiquitous as cell phones, as more and more people start utilizing websites like Youtube for small-scale personal video sharing. But we know there's a lot more that people want to record and share than simply jumping out of an airplane, doing 180 miles per hour on a crotch rocket, or swimming with sharks. Like, for example, this season's hunt.

Which brings us to the Drift Ghost HD. One of the first action camera manufacturers to produce a factory-made picatinny rail mount, Drift has positioned itself as something of the feature-leader in the segment, and a few of these features make it the single best choice for sport shooters and hunters looking to record their exploits. In fact, it's so uniquely well suited to the requirements of us gun owners that you'd be positively insane to opt for anything else. Seriously. And here's why.

While the popular GoPro line of cameras requires you mount a small rectangle level with the horizon and perpendicular to the direction in which you'd like to record, the Ghost HD instead positions the camera lens in-line with the camera body (which pleasantly reduces its profile when mounted), and upon a pivot that allows the lens to be rotated up to 300 degrees. This means that you can mount the camera in any position, 12 o'clock, 3 o'clock, 6 o'clock, and 9 o'clock, and still pull an image off it that is correctly aligned rather than sideways or upside down. This is an obviously huge benefit, as it means you can mount the camera out of the way on either side of a railed rifle fore-end, or even on a pistol's underslung rail (yes, the mount is small enough) and still pull perfectly aligned footage off it. Combined with the much less obtrusive profile this lens-in-line design presents, this is the first reason why the Drift is really the one to stick to your gun.

But it's not the only reason. In addition to the rotating in-line lens, the Drift Ghost HD also comes packaged with a rechargeable wireless remote control. While not as big of a deal to those looking to tape IPSC stages or three-gun matches, this is of the utmost importance to those that might be interested in recording their hunt this season, as it means you can start recording without having the reach forward and manipulate the camera's small controls. And since it was designed for use by those wearing gloves, its two giant start and stop buttons can be easily distinguished from one another and pressed with even the bulkiest of garb on. We've been using ours with the included velcro strap, and have found it be most accessible when worn on the wrist over clothing, or strapped to a rifle handguard, and it's proven indispensible for allowing us to capture just the few minutes of footage we want rather than either reaching for the camera every time or leaving it recording. And if you're extra tech-savvy, you can even sync the camera with your smartphone, which in turn will provide you with full remote control from your phone while also giving you a live preview of what it's recording.

Which brings us to the recording itself. Now, this is the one area in which the Drift Ghost HD does give up some ground to the popular GoPro, as the top-of-the-line GoPro Hero 3 Black Edition can record 1080p high definition at 60 frames per second while the Ghost can only capture 30 frames per second at 1080p. In our experience, this actually was a real detriment, as the 30 frames per second video seemed to make otherwise fast, fluid movement look unpleasantly choppy, and any gain in actual resolution seemed to be outweighed by its inability to accurately capture movement. However, we did find a bit of a compromise in the 720p resolution setting, as it allowed for 60 frames per second recording, without giving up too much in terms of quality. And the footage it captured was great. Stuck to various parts of everything from a Remington .22 to a Norinco M14s to a Remington 870 trap gun, it gave entertaining and even insightful feedback, as we were able to alternate between pointing the camera at the target and ourselves. And for competition shooters, the ability to literally watch yourself go through the motion of a reload, or set up for a shot is absolutely mind-blowingly useful for more clearly demonstrating what you're doing right and what you're doing wrong. Furthermore, because the Drift Ghost HD is the only major camera manufacturer that's using a standard camera mount screw as a mounting point without any additional adapters, you can easily mount it to a regular camera tripod if you want to get a better shot for practice's sake.

And of course, like most things you'll find here in the Range Bag section of this magazine, the Drift Ghost's usefulness isn't limited to firearms. Granted, it's unique set of features makes it extremely well suited to that particular use, but it can be used as a dashboard camera in your vehicle for insurance purposes, as an 11-megapixel waterproof camera for vacation, and just as a general video camera for those impromptu things that you don't want to forget... or ever let your friend's forget.