First off I got the Contour HD 1080 last year and simply love it. My main use is for documenting my paintball outings and it hasn’t failed me yet. Let me review the product before I give my opinion on some of the reviews giving it a lesser rating.
The picture quality has been clear in either 1080 or 720p. This camcorder can shoot also in either 60 or 30fps which is a great plus if you can’t afford a 16gb memory card upgrade. On the camcorder itself you can only switch between Hi or Lo recording. Through your computer you can set what the Hi and Lo will be. This can be a nuisance to some but hasn’t bothered me. Using the goggle strap attachment, I use it mounted to my paintball goggle straps. It’s not lightweight where you won’t feel it there, but it’s light enough so that it doesn’t pull your goggles down while on the move or standing still. I also have the picatinny rail attachment and it works great also attached to my paintball marker. The sound recording isn’t the best but it catches enough. You can set the mic sensitivity through your computer when tethered. One tip I forgot to mention, there’s a warning sticker on it and for some reason this sticker covers the mic. Peel it off and you should hear a difference in sound recording.
There were complaints in other reviews about the picture being too jittery to which I chuckle. When you run, ski, bike or anything action related your video will always be jittery. No amount of image stabilization will solve this. If the picture was still jittery while at rest or extremely jittery while walking, then it would be a concern of mine.
Low light conditions is not idea for any camcorder that does not have a built in light source or infrared light source and this item has neither. You can pre-adjust the lighting via tethering to your computer before heading out at night or into a low lighting environment. A bright external light source would help also but other then that, this works best in daylight or reasonable indoor lighting.
Recording format is a issue. Why the .mov format, I don’t know. There are programs available to convert the files to .wmv or whichever file format you prefer online. If you can’t view the video files, try downloading a free player named VLC from Cnet. It plays practically everything.
Battery life can be better but for me, I’ve gotten a little over 2hrs of recording and it’s more than enough.
Oh, there’s no LCD screen so you can’t view anything till you hook it up to a computer and the batter charges internally via a usb cable. Not a deal breaker for me. In the box you’ll receive a goggle strap mount and a mount with an adhesive back.
IMHO this is a great purchase.

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