Reviews

By Brad Edwards AKA Fuzz

At only 20 grams, the Geco Mark II is the world's lightest action camera. Made in South Africa, the Geco is one of the simplest, smallest and most practical camera's on the market. Designed to mount to the frame of your glasses, you will be able to film life's spontaneous moments in HD while still having the chance to experience them. The Geco is able to film in 1080p30, 720p30 or 720p60, which saves to a nifty removable 8GB MicroSD card included.in. The 300mAh battery will give you between 45minutes and an hour of film time between charges, and can record while charging if you've got a powerbank.

One of the great features of the Geco is it's versatility and there are just some things where the angle and point of view you wished you could get were just not realistic. Being only a little bigger than a 5 rand coin and a tad longer, it can be mounted simply and feels like nothing's there, or placed in its 30m waterproof case and mounted to any 1/4 inch standard camera mount. It can also be used as a dash cam or webcam.

The Geco can be used in pretty much anyway your imagination can come up with and being at a fraction of the price of other HD action cameras on the market at recommended retail of R2000, it's a lot less stressful on your pocket to share great footage.


John-Michael national MTB cyclist and Action Gear Buyer tested the Geco Mark II out with a ride through Detla Park, which shows the quality of video at high speeds. This video was shot by John-Micheal alone with no help, using the accessories and tripod that come with the Geco in the box. One of the coolest parts for me was that I purely cut the videos into one video with YouTube's editor. There are no filters, enhancements or stabilization added. YouTube even had a choice of rad free music options to give the video a little Oomph.

Hit that HD! - Head to Action Gear to see the full specs on the Geco Cam!

Quick and easy, from recording to posting. Here it is, after a video about the geco.

By Terence Vrugtman

Kloofendal is a small nature reserve in the middle of Roodepoort. The reserve used to be well known for its functional amphitheater and animal shows on the weekend. It's the perfect small and quint escape from the city and offers 8km's of trail in total. While it may not the longest of trails, it is certainly not short on quality. In additional to its trails, Kloofendal has well maintained picnic benches and ablutions. The trails are split into 3 main routes, joining 2 of them together makes for a nice 5km route suitable for anyone!

Is it for beginners? Yes!

The reserve offers a true trail experience without forcing you out of your comfort zone. It features both easy to run single tracks and technical bits to train the eyes and feet. Its amazing views and hills are just the right size for anyone. I like to use the route as a weekly time trial to monitor my improvements and wake up the legs for the week's running ahead. As you progress you can add in another 2km of trail to mix things up.

Is it for Elite Athletes? Yes!

The technical section along the trail allows for great training. A smooth and easy trail ideal for the faster training sessions and the route is often empty allowing for intimate moments between you and your mind. If the 5km lap isn’t enough, Strubens Ridge is across the road and is ideal for hill reps!

Route Description:

Start at the information board, run around ‘Planet Walk’ and the picnic tables as a short warm up. Make your way through the south west gate and into the reserve. Make sure you close the gate, from there follow the Red route markers leading you up the single track towards the south west side of the park. Follow along the pylons and cross the broken concrete bridge over the dried stream. Tackle the first of 3 the nice hills, as you get to the top a slight left reveals the second of the 3 consecutive hills. Once at the top, you would have climbed a total of 100m in 1.5km. The trail then leads downhill towards the 3rd hill. Thereafter you can have fun on the ‘sprint section’. The sprint section is an awesome flat-ish technical piece of single track that encourages you to bolt as fast as you can. The contoured single track lead has an amazing view of Kloofendal and the surrounding areas. The end of the sprint section introduces a long downhill I call ‘Mini’ Rockeries’. After running under the pylons for about 200m you break off the trail left heading further down until a sudden right turn towards the stream. It’s a technical crossing and then a slight hill, after the crossing take an immediate left and following this track till the next pylon. Just before the Pylon you turn right again, the trail becomes more technical as you go along. Finally the trail heads north after a tricky rock section and leads you into a forest type section. Follow the blue markers and you won’t get lost. As you exit the final gate you will notice you have finished right back where you started at the information board.


The trail is 5km and has an extra loop if you want to make it longer.

Additional Notes:

• There is secure parking,
• The venue is secure and well maintained,
• There is not drinkable water along the route, so make sure you're prepared,
• There are buck, hares and dassies to see along the trail,
• Bring your own toilet paper for the toilets,
• Keep the trail clean, how you found it, leave only footprints
• The trail is great training for the Spring Break Trail Run, in September,

Get on the Trail and share your thoughts - @TVrugtman

The Drift Stealth 2, the smallest and lightest drift camera yet! The “Drift Connect” mobile application available for both iOS and Android devices, is the perfect tool for shot setup, remote-control recording, photo capture, playback and sharing from your mobile device.

By using the universal clip, the Stealth 2 is compatible with the full range of Drift mounts. Two must-have accessories for your Stealth 2 are the Waterproof Case and the Two-Way Remote Control. The Waterproof Case allows you to take the weather-resistant Stealth 2 under water to the depths up to 40m and can provide additional protection when filming extreme action shots. The wrist mounted Two- Way Remote Control features the same colour code as displayed on the camera, making the Stealth 2 even easier to use.

Features:

• Car DVR Mode - Use the Stealth 2 as a Dash Cam
• Time/ Date Stamp - Select this for overlaying time & date info on videos and photos
• Video Tagging - Highlight the best parts to avoid endless editing later
• 12Mp Photos - Super sharp and clear photos with great colour saturation
• Timelapse Mode - Shoot timelapse in continuous 3Mp photos
• Photo Burst Mode - Shoot up to 3 photos per second
• Photos during a video - Take photos of 2Mp while recording a video
• 1/4 Mount Thread - Connect the Stealth 2 to any universal mount
• Replaceable Lens - Don't stress too much as this can be easily replaced
• 135 Degree FOV - Get a wide shot but not a bent shot 

Features Explained:

Car DVR Mode:

This hands off mode setting is ideal for insurance and security purposes. The Car DVR Mode automatically turns the camera on when power is supplied via the USB port. The camera then records footage in a continous loop style (CAR DVR Intervals) recording loop after loop until it fills the Micro SD Card. Once full the oldest loops will be deleted to make way for the newer footage.
The current interval settings are 1min / 3min / 5min / 10min and 15min.

Video Tagging:

When activated, this feature allows the camera to continuously record video, but only saving on ‘tagging’ important footage. While recording video, pressing the MENU button will tag and save past, present and future video.
For example, with a video tagging interval of 30s selected, on pressing MENU while recording, the camera will save the previous 30s, the current 30s and an additional 30s - a total of 1m30s of ‘tagged’ footage.
The Video Tagging feature requires a micro SD card with 4GB of free space to function correctly.

Simultaneous Photo:

While recording video, pressing the MENU button will simultaneously take a still photo. When using the two-way remote control. press the ACTION button for the same result.
This feature is available at 2MP @ 25/30FPS additionally Video Tagging (above) must be disabled as well.

Status LED:

Status LEDs located above the camera lens and on the remote indicate the current camera mode.

Photoburst Mode - Cyan LED
Timelapse Mode - Purple LED
Photo Mode - Yellow LED
Video Mode (Standby) - Green LED
Action Mode (Recording / Capturing) - Red LED
WIFI - In the Camera Settings menu, highlight the ‘WiFi’ option, press ACTION, select the tick and press ACTION. In Live Preview, wait for the WiFi indicator icon to show WiFi is enabled then, on your WIFi device, select the network ‘Stealth 2 000’.

Drift App:

The Drift mobile application has been released for both iOS and Android devices and is available for download on either the App Store or Google Play marketplaces, simply search ‘Drift App’. It can be used for shot setup, recording, photo capture and playback on your mobile device. 

By Jacques Viljoen

Situated in the beautiful Durbanville wine valley, Lower Bloemendal offers a short and yet entertaining trail that anyone from a weekend warrior to a pro will enjoy. Although there is only one trail, each section offers its own challenges to make sure that all types of riders are having fun and not finding it too difficult or too easy. Bloemendal features entertainment for the whole family, with the Bon Amis Restaurant catering for your loved ones while you hit the trails. To be able to ride on the Bloemendal trails, you need to be a Tygerberg MTB Club member, but if you’re not, you can purchase a day permit.

• Location : Tygervalley Road, Durbanville, Cape Town, South Africa
• 33°50’20.48” S, 18°35’58.81” E
• Difficulty : ●●●○○
• Fitness level required : Novice
• Overall experience : 7 out of 10

On to the route:

The route is about 12km’s long, featuring lots of beautifully smooth single tracks and a bit of a climb to get those legs warm. There is also two pump tracks to hone those jumping skills. Lower Bloemendal received some trail maintenance where they increased the berm size on all the single tracks and resurfaced most of the trail, making it a lot smoother which just gives you confidence to just push that little bit harder. There is no specific way to ride this trail, as long as you follow the markers, stay on the route and don’t ride against the traffic. In this video is the way most of the people I know ride it, as it’s the way that the trail makes the most sense.

The two main parts of Lower Bloemendal trails are Lombards Terra and the B-Spot. Lombards Terra features long sweeping bermed corners, hairpins, two rock gardens and plenty of jumps. If rock gardens and jumps isn’t your thing, there are chicken runs on almost every obstacle. Although they fixed the loose gravel problem by compacting the terrain, you still have to be careful while exiting the corners on Lombards Terra. I myself have fallen victim to the front wheel slipping away because I hit some loose gravel and it served me some sand and stones for breakfast. It also cost me a GoPro case and a new pair of Assos bib shorts.

My favourite part of the trail must be the B-spot. This pump track features flat gradients where novices can just enjoy the bumps, and the more skilled can practice their jumps and hip-flicks. This is a great place to have a bit of a competition with your mates to see who can ride the track the quickest. A decent time is about 6 minutes.

Final conclusion:

This is a great trail for anyone who is looking for a fun and challenging ride, without having to spend hours and hours on the bike. The trail and venue caters for the whole family and there is even a short 400 meter pump track for 4 – 8 year old children.

Remember to be considerate and safe out there, but most importantly, have fun!

Written By Elzette

First person in history to circumnavigate the world! Angelo Wilkie Page is starting this 6 year expedition next month (October 2014) and it is entirely dependent on human power! We also take a look at the OTHER popular action camera - the Drift Ghost S in our product review. What makes it different to the GoPro?

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