Action Cameras Review of the X170 from Drift Innovation

The Good: DVD Quality Footage + 170º lens + Wireless RF Remote + 1.5″ Screen = WOW!

The Bad: It’s a little bulky but this is understandable as it is housing the screen as well as all the regular helmet camera technologies.

The Action Cameras Bottom Line: The X170 is the first camera to tick every single box that we want to tick when deciding on a helmet cam to buy. Read below to see how much is packed into this small cam. We’ve tested it to the limits, showed our friends the amazing quality video, and have loved every second of it. We highly recommend this Action Camera!

FULL REVIEW BELOW…

The Drift Innovation X170 Action Camera one of the best all-round helmet cameras for filming any extreme sport that we have come across. Designed to take high quality point-of-view photos and videos of all action sports such as skiing, mountain biking, motorbiking and any other extreme sport that you can think of. The Drift Innovation catch phrase sums it all up; “Capture and Relive all of your Action Sports!”. Available from Avtion Cameras for just £199.99 this is fantastic value for money!

The X170 has ticked every single box that we want in an extreme sports camera! Lets have a quick look at some of the headline features:

* The X170 delivers DVD quality video and 5Mp photographs,
* These functions can be controlled by a wireless RF remote control,
* A 1.5″ screen helps you to line up the perfect shot and to show off your video right away,
* Memory expansion up to 8Gb on SD card,
* With a wide angle lens of 170º you will get all the action in your shot,
* All the mounts that you need are provided, plus it has a metal 8mm mount, &
* The price tag for all of this is incredible!

One of the first features that you’ll notice when taking your new X170 out of the box is the 1.5″ screen. We found that having a screen on the camera itself is a seriously useful function to have for two main reasons; firstly you can line up the best angle when mounting the camera so that you don’t get home after a long day out expecting to see brilliant videos only to find that you have been filming blue sky all day. Secondly, and more importantly is watching your videos on the screen straight after you’ve come off the slope, track, or water with your mates!

On the front of the camera it’s easy to see how wide the 170º lens is. With previous narrower angle cameras it was difficult to gain perspective of the speed that you were going because the lens only saw the track in front of you. With 170º field of view you won’t only see the what’s in front of you but also the scenery around you or any other sports people around you. This truly puts the speed in perspective and is the way forward for point-of-view cameras.

The rear of the camera houses the back hatch which, when opened exposes the USB slot for downloading videos to your computer. The AV output allows you to play your videos straight onto your TV. The SD card slot accepts SD and HCSD cards up to a maximum of 8Gb. You will also find a door which holds two AA batteries. In your box you’ll find a set of two try-me batteries to get you going.
Charging a helmet camera with AA batteries may seem a little backwards these days as some new cameras are being charged with rechargeable lith-ion batteries. But considering all extreme sports are outdoors would you like batteries that can be quickly replaced or to have to find a wall socket to recharge your battery? We prefer to simply carry a spare set of batteries if we’re heading out for a long time, the guys at Drift Innovation seem to have thought this one though and have delivered the best solution for us.

On the underside of the X170 there is a built-in steel quarter inch thread (8mm thread) which is the standard thread on most cameras. Having this thread on the camera opens up a world of opportunities for mounting as you can attach it to suction mounts and rollbar mounts. However you don’t really need to look further then your X170 box for all the mounts that you might need.
The mount adapter inserts into the quarter inch thread securely. This adapter is a quick release adapter which is used to attach the camera to each of the mounting options in the box.

The handlebar mount fits onto handlebars of motorbikes, push bikes and mountain bikes. There is a rubber pad on the inside of the mount to keep it steady and it can be tightened into place with the lock-screw.
The helmet mount is designed to fit onto a helmet or smooth surface such as a bikes fairing. To fasten this on there are some industrial strength adhesive pads provided. There is no need to doubt the strength of these sticky pads, just make sure that you have them in the correct place before sticking them down as it’s really touch to remove but don’t worry about your paintwork – we’ve tested it a couple times on different paintworks and helmets to make sure that it won’t pull off your paint.
The goggle mount is a simple but really easy mount to use. Simply put your goggles strap into mount and you’re ready to go. The headstrap can also be used together with the goggle mount whenever you don’t have a helmet with you.

So what if you want to mount the camera on it’s side or upside down? No worries as the lens rotates 180º from one side to the other. This gives you the flexibility to mount the camera on either side of your helmet and on top while still being able to have an upright image by simply twisting the lens around. There are breaks at the main positions that will hold the lens steady once you have found the angle that you want.

One of our favourite parts of the X170 kit is the radio frequency wireless remote control. It comes with a strap to put it around your wrist, on handlebars or wherever else you may want it. The buttons are large enough to be used with any ski or bike gloves on and it couldn’t be simpler; the only two buttons are start and stop; this way you won’t confuse yourself half way through a ski run. Because it works radio frequency (as opposed to infra-red) it doesn’t need line-of-sight to operate which just make life all that much easier. The remote will work up to three meters (10 feet) from the camera.

Just in case you’ve managed to read this far down the review without being able to understand English, you would be pleased to know that the instruction manual and the cameras menus are multilingual. The manual with six languages already on it and the language on the camera can be changed easily in the menu settings. Choose between:
– English
– Spanish
– French
– Italian
– German, or
– Portuguese

Extremely ruggedized, fantastic image quality and brilliant value for money! The X170 Action Cameras comes highly recommended by the specialists in this field.

Helmet Cameras Compared – Click here to view a side-by-side comparison of the most popular helmet cameras in the market

Tested for Motorbikes
We took it out for a test drive on a Suzuki GSXR 750 around The Isle of Man TT street racecourse. The race officials, as well as trackday officials, are becoming more and more sticky about allowing on-board cameras onto the track, but with the X170 we breezed through the official’s checks as the mounts that come standard with the X170 are all purpose built and so the mounting is rock solid. The handlebar mount fitted nice & tight around the handlebar giving a nice view out front. We also used the industrial-strength adhesive pads to mount the camera securely to the side of our helmet and then later onto the fairing. Later on we used a suction mount on the tank to point the camera onto the speedo and the road ahead to give a picture that looks just like a computer game!

Tested for Dirtbikes
All the bikers at Flackwell Heath dirt track were amazed to see how brilliant our videos were after a few 20 minute dashes around the track. Again, we mounted the camera in a few different places to get creative shots; on the top of the helmet, side of the helmet and handlebar. In each mount the camera is seriously secure but it has a quick release attachment so that you can quickly and easily swap it from one mount to another. The KTM’s fairing wasn’t steady enough for a good shot but we did get loads of great videos.
Admittedly, we were worried that the X170 wouldn’t survive the incredible vibrations on the dirtbike which we’ve seen kill the power on most other helmet cameras, but again it surprised us by not faltering at all!



Tested for Mountain Bikes
The Nevis Range in Fort William is recognised as one of the most gruelling downhill tracks. It’s too steep to even walk down so we wondered if the X170 would be able to cope with these conditions… No problems! The 170º lens picked up a seriously great view of the guys coming full blast down the trail. As the trail entered into the forested part of the trail there was a minor exposure change that you could see but this was really quick.
Down at the base of the trail you couldn’t get the camera away from all the riders as they all wanted to watch the video over and over on the cameras screen; with the X170 there’s no need to wait till you get home to watch your video, you can show your mates straight away.

Tested for Snowboarding
If you take a helmet with you then the adhesive pads are ideal for mounting the camera, if not then use the goggle mount which sits comfortably on your ski goggle strap. This way, wherever you look, you film. The remote control fits nicely onto your arm, this can be used to start and stop the video or to take photos whenever you want. When you push a button you’ll see a light on the remote and hear a beep from the camera so you’ll never be confused about whether you pushed it or not. In the cold conditions regular batteries are used up really quickly so we advise using lithium-ion AA batteries as these will last longer and aren’t effected by the cold weather. We carried a few spares in our jacket pocket just in case but never needed them. The X170 is waterproof so there’s no worry about wipe outs or white outs.
Our new favourite thing to do while on the ski lift is to watch the last video clip of the slope that was just conquered. We were pleased to find out that the buttons on the camera are ski-glove friendly!

Tested for Rally Driving
While it could easily be mounted to the outside of the vehicle, we decided to mount it in-car so that we could pick up the audio inside the vehicle because of the fact that we were working with George Gwynn who is one of UK’s top rally co-drivers. He needed to the camera to pick up both the road in front and his voice. It did a fantastic job as you can see in the video below. In this shot we used a rollbar mount which isn’t included in the X170 package but can easily attached to the camera with the 1/4″ screw thread mount. Great shots of the rally action!



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