I know what you’re thinking. This is going after much the same market as the Parrot AR Drone and that’s probably true, except these aren’t quadrocopters; they just have the two stacked rotors. There’s apparently three different versions of the RC helis, two of which come with onboard cameras for recording both stills and videos.

Sure it’ll work with the boxed IR remote, but the iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch app seems well, more interesting. You’ll need the appropriate adapter though. There is also an app for Android that does the same. You can expect about eight minutes of airtime per charge. The i-FlyHeli is currently on sale for $45.99 from Sonic Electronix, down from the list price of $99.99. That includes free ground shipping to the lower 48 states.

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As with other adventure-minded camcorders, the iON Action Pro has been ruggedized to survive the rough and tumble as you tear down the mountain on your snowboard or bike. It’s also waterproof up to 50 feet (IPX8), so you can take it along with you when you go surfing. That’s quite unlike the GoPro and the Swann, as those require an external casing to be fully waterproof. The barrel-like design of the iON is a little different in that regard too.

The core specs are in line with the competition though. You get a fixed focus lens with a 170-degree wide angle view in 720p, which gets narrowed down to 127-degrees when you shoot in 1080p. There’s a mono mic, HDMI and composite out, 1100mAh Li-ion battery, f/2.8 aperture, 5MP photo resolution, microSD slot, and USB 2.0 connectivity.

Look for it on February 28th for about $300.

[ source ]

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The biggest name in this wearable action video camera niche has to be GoPro, or at least the ones with the most marketing bucks. But it’s starting to face some stiff competition from Swann, a company you may be more familiar with for its surveillance products. They now have a GoPro alternative and its called the Freestyle HD. Talking with one of the reps at CES, it has already had a soft launch with some strong and positive feedback. It brings a lot to the table (or the top of your snowboard helmet, as the case may be) that competing products might not. For instance, it has a detachable LCD screen. That’s handy.

There’s also a remote for starting and stopping the recording without having to physically handle the Freestyle HD itself. A built-in laser helps you line up shots. And since you can’t see that when the camera is mounted to the side of your head. it obviously make sense. While the MSRP is set at $280, the street price can drop close to the $200 mark.

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One of the most inexpensive waterproof ruggedized sports cameras on the market has to be coming from Swann Security. Their SportsCam Waterproof Mini Video Camera (DVR-460) is just $99 and comes with a whole rig of accessories for mounting, strapping, even waterproofing. The built-in lithium-ion battery will give you 2.5 hours of recording time, a micro SD expansion card of up to 16GB is supported for 5 hours of video. The waterproof case is good to 65′ feet, which is not too shabby, the downside; your videos are only 640×480, and memory is not included, still good if you’re just shooting for web. Swann will unveil the DVR-460 at CES this week in Las Vegas.

[Swann]

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