Garmin Virb

spasypaddy

With sport pursuit selling these off cheap, does anyone have one?

would you recommend it?

I have the really entry level gopro but its annoying me that i cant control it remotely (yes i should have not bought the entry level one...)

So is it any good?

Kieran_Burns

Amazon have it on sale at £97 so it looks like they are being sold off. You need a Garmin bike comp to remote manage it and use the overlay functions in the videos

The Elite does it without the bike comp linking. Seen some vids with it and have been impressed with the quality. My Contour HD is showing its age and I can't get spares any more, so I have been tempted with these myself.

spasypaddy

i have 2 garmins an 810 and a 500 so that bit is covered. (plus can buy the remote control)

Sport pursuit have it for £87.

Kieran_Burns

Saw that, plus a fiver delivery and you wait at least 2 weeks. Amazon would cost a fiver more and be here tomorrow.

spasypaddy

forgot about the delivery. and i have amazon prime so i might as well use it...

Kieran_Burns

Helmet strap....

spasypaddy

nah fuck that. under the bars. where i have my gopro currently

untaken

I have the Virb Elite and use a k-edge clone from dx.com (cost a fiver) so can angle it downwards so the Virb sits level with the bars, with the original mount it sticks up in the air and is massively noticeable.
Pic here with it mounted flush
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B1kHXc ... sp=sharing

I would pay the extra for the Elite (it's often on amazon from garmin at 66% off) as the gps integration is useful.

Only issue I have with the Virb is that quality isn't great at night time, have a video here of the overlay from virb edit but compared to my £40 mobius it's simply not as good at night. Not sure if it's normal, I'm still running the original firmware so hopefully an update improves the quality.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DvK1LJHP0gA

Kieran_Burns

The basic virb can integrate with the garmin comp for GPS information. I do however like the idea of all in one.

My only concern is the size of the thing when strapped to a helmet

spasypaddy

cant justify the extra money on the elite

if the extra £50 is for the gps integration then i can do that by merging the files from my 810 which is never not on my bike

spasypaddy

hmm i can send my gopro back to wiggle as i only bought it in october...

the only thing thats stopping me actually pulling the trigger on the virb is it annoyingly wont allow photos to be taken whilst recording. such a simple thing to do. the elite can do it though

MrSweary

I have a Virb Elite.

Overall, very easy to use. Agree about the night time quality. Great during the day though. Quite chunky.

However - If you haven't owned a camera before I'd think carefully about what you want it for. I just got one to record a few commutes as I've had so many near misses. I found though that recording the ride somehow made me more tense and made the whole thing less enjoyable. Will keep mine for recreational rides but I've canned it for the commute.

spasypaddy

oh i dont really want it for the commute i want it for club rides! Just to snap some pics of us whilst riding.

like i say i have the entry level gopro but it lacks the ability to snap photos easily so i have to lean under the bars and take a photo or activate the recording feature. with it on the garmin it should be a lot smoother/quicker

zx6man

The elite has wifi which I use to change any settings on a smart phone, and you can use it to see how the camera is pointing etc when lid mounted. I quite like mine, paid 144 with the bike kit/helmet mount and spare battery. I like the design over the square gopro, and being able to use the garmin 800 to control the recording and taking pics is neat

spasypaddy

im definitely leaning towards spending the extra on the elite

elbowloh

Did anyone tell Garmin to use a spellcheck next time?

bendertherobot

MrSweary wrote:

I have a Virb Elite.

Overall, very easy to use. Agree about the night time quality. Great during the day though. Quite chunky.

However - If you haven't owned a camera before I'd think carefully about what you want it for. I just got one to record a few commutes as I've had so many near misses. I found though that recording the ride somehow made me more tense and made the whole thing less enjoyable. Will keep mine for recreational rides but I've canned it for the commute.

This. I wouldn't say I was "looking for trouble" but it made the whole thing worse. I've even binned it for social stuff now. Too much to think about.

spasypaddy

so i now have an elite from cyclesurgery who price matched it to somewhere for me

DonDaddyD

Does the Virb (basic) record sound and can you overlay the speedometer that I see in some of the video footage if you pair it with a Garmin 800?

pete54

DonDaddyD wrote:

Does the Virb (basic) record sound and can you overlay the speedometer that I see in some of the video footage if you pair it with a Garmin 800?

Yes to both. You overlay the data in Virb Edit on your Mac or PC.

redvee

DonDaddyD wrote:

Does the Virb (basic) record sound?

You can turn the mic on or off via one of the menu option onscreen if you wish.

wongataa

DonDaddyD wrote:

Does the Virb (basic) record sound and can you overlay the speedometer that I see in some of the video footage if you pair it with a Garmin 800?

The basic doesn't have GPS so you need to supply a GPS track for speed data. You use the VIRB edit software and you can manually align a GPS track with the video to get correct overlay data.

DonDaddyD

That's OK, I plan to pair it with my Garmin 800. Want one of those mounts where the 800 is on top and the Virb is on the bottom.

redvee

DonDaddyD wrote:

That's OK, I plan to pair it with my Garmin 800. Want one of those mounts where the 800 is on top and the Virb is on the bottom.

http://www.superstarcomponents.com/en/g ... -mount.htm

Use the Go-Pro adapter that comes with the camera and remember to flip the video on the camera as it will be shooting upside down.

meanredspider

I see Garmin have announced the next Virb with the GoPro form factor (why???). It explains why the old ones are being sold off cheap

http://road.cc/content/news/148256-garm ... on-cameras

shmooster

meanredspider wrote:

I see Garmin have announced the next Virb with the GoPro form factor (why???). It explains why the old ones are being sold off cheap

http://road.cc/content/news/148256-garm ... on-cameras

The main things I liked about the Virb were the form factor and battery life over the GoPro, Garmin messed up both. Doh.

All they really needed to do was lighten it a bit, and up the resolution. Missed opportunity.

zx6man

Me too, form factor and battery was why I went for the virb elite over the gopro

meanredspider

Well, it wouldn't be Garmin if they didn't screw it up! :roll: :twisted:

the_cyclist_of_catan

Form factor, on-off switch and battery life are all big plusses.

I have mine mounted underneath my 800 on one of those K-Edge combo mounts - an excellent, tidy package.

"Does it record sound?" Not in my experience; it records noise. Mechanical noise from your bike (esp. gear changes), road noise and wind noise. The occasional couple of muffled words. But not actual sound.

NeXXus

That new Virb is fugly! Trying to be a gopro too hard and too late in the game.

My Shimano cam though, superb

DonDaddyD

First vid on my new channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aaIae8F ... tion=share