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Go Pro Hero 3 and HUD Goggles

Which tech toys to spend your Christmas money on

featured in Latest Gear Author James Fisher, Val d'Isere Video Reporter Updated

Gadgets are always fun and if you have any Christmas money left over, or you're Russian and planning on celebrating Christmas on the 7th then there are some ski toys that you might be interested in; the Go Pro Hero 3 and Recon HUD goggles.

The Go Pro Hero 3 comes to the shelves following the huge success of the original Go Pro helmet camera and the Hero 2. The third generation camera comes loaded with features that make it an option for enthusiasts and professional cameramen alike.

First off the camera is still shock and water proof, thanks to it's robust plastic shell. It is still mountable with all the original sticky mounts used on the first two cameras but it is much smaller and lighter.

The interesting new developments become apparent when you start filming. The shooting options are huge but the most interesting ones are the 1080 50fps and 720 100fps settings. These allow you to shoot in full HD but at twice the normal frame rate or at 720 at four times the normal frame rate. If you saw the new Hobbit film and thought the picture was unusually sharp that's because the film was shot at a higher than usual frame rate, this reduces motion blur and means that fast moving images are still crisp. This is now something you can do with the Go Pro Hero 3.

There are other resolution options are also new. The Hero 3 has a 2.7k option and a 4k option. This means that rather than filming a picture that is made up of 1920 x1080 pixels the Go Pro can shoot at a higher than HD resolution of 2704 x 1540 or even as high as 4096 × 2160. Four times as many pixels as standard HD!!

The 4K setting is impressive in such a small camera but it is not really useful for action sports photography as the 4K option has a lower than normal frame rate of 15fps, which will make fast moving images appear jerky.

The other cool thing about the new Go Pro is that there are three options for the field of view so you can film super wide angle shots that mean you can point the camera at yourself while you ski or film normal shots without the image appearing distorted.

The camera also comes with WIFI connectivity so that you can use the controller to start and stop recording or connect it to your smart phone and use the free Go Pro App to control the camera. The App also allows you to preview your shot so you can see what you are filming before you hit the record button.

For all these options you will need to buy the top end Go Pro Hero 3 black Edition, this costs £350 which is alot for toy but this camera is not really a toy any more and it is much cheaper than any camera with the same specs.

The other gadget I recently tested was the Recon HUD system. This unit fits inside ski goggles and gives heads up display information to the wearer about speed, direction, altitude, air time and vertical descent. The unit is controlled by a wrist mounted remote control that also allows you to sync your HUD goggles to your smart phone so you can also receive information about incoming calls and music.

The unit costs about £250 and the goggles are available from Uvex, Smith, Scott, Oakley, Briko, Alpina and Zeal. A complete set up of Goggles and HUD unit will cost about £350.

For day to day use these are probably more than your average recreational skier will need but the information might be very useful to a speed rider. I found it difficult to see the screen on the pair that I tried and not just due to my shonky eye-sight. The screen is difficult to position in a convenient field of view and when you are skiing fast or on difficult terrain then you don't have time to look down to read the speedo.

For me it was an easy choice but others may be more interested in the HUD goggles, I found them to be a bit useless and although the gimmick was fun it wasn't terribly useful. The camera however has the potential to produce some great images and capture your holiday in crisp, clear HD.