I have been lusting for a GoPro camera since well over a year. I know there are others out nowadays, but the GoPro is the original for me - it was the first one around, is used by all the cool kids up in Alaska on their packraft and bikepacking trips, but yet I always held out - the sound of the original GoPro was not up to scratch, and 300$ is a lot of money.



Well, that all changed just with the introduction of the GoPro HD HERO2 this week. Called the "Professional" HD camera it is double as awesome as the original GoPro HD Camerasand one of the things which makes is really cool in my opinion is its in-build setting for time lapse. Yeps, that's right - time lapse, that malevolently difficult way of photographing stuff and making it look awesome afterwards. It also adds a microphone jack, so I can attach my Rode Videomic Pro.Exquisite, if I may say so. If you haven't yet, now would be a good time to click play on that video up there to see what the HERO2 is capable of. I will wait here, so go ahead, click play.

The new HD HERO2 Outdoor Edition comes with a waterproof housing to 60 meters, so I can take it diving, a whole assortment of straps to attach it to my helmet - nice for [ice] climbing, cycling and packrafting (also eliminates the fear of accidentally dropping an absurdly expensive photo camera into the water!) and a variety of other mounts as well as a pivot arm. Damn, all that's missing is a dolly! It shoots 1080p at 30 FPS, has a f/2.8 Fixed Focus with a variety of Fields of View Options: From super-wide 170º Wide FOV over 127º Medium FOV to the narrow 90º FOV, there's something for every situation. In addition it got an easy User Interface and red LEDs on all sides which let you know the camera is running. And instead of me repeating the Specs & Features, you could just head over to the GoPro site and read them yourself. If you rather hear it from me - its a fine piece of gadgetry HD video camera widgetery which opens up very creative possibilities for us backpacking, bikepacking, packrafting, skiing and climbing folks.

At the same time as the HERO2 was announced, GoPro also told us about the Wi-Fi BacPac + Wi-Fi Remote which will come out in February 2012. What's cool about the former is that it will enable long range video remote control via the Wi-Fi Remote or, much cooler, a smartphone GoPro App. That is pretty forward thinking stuff right there - use your phone to control the camera, and see what the camera sees. You even could live stream if you're inclined to do so. Its almost Star Trek kind-of-awesomeness.

So, in case you haven't guessed yet: I made a purchase decision for a GoPro HD HERO2, Outdoor Edition. I can't wait till the camera arrives, allowing me to filming mundane things like walking with the pram in the park and cycling through the city to more adventurous stuff like singletrack mountain biking, packrafting and climbing. I'm also really looking forward to shoot time lapses with it, and use it as a Behind-The-Scenes camera for ULAZ.

Go get yours at the Official GoPro® Store - the HERO2 comes in three outfits (you want the Outdoor one!) for 300$ while the original HD HERO retails now for 200$ to 240$. Give it yourself to christmas if you need a reason, or tell your significant other that I made you buy it.

Disclaimer: There's terrible affiliate links hidden in this post. If you buy something via one of them, I get filthy rich [Enter evil laughter].