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Technical Details
- Highest quality professional HD video in 720p or 1080p with 170 degree wide-angle lens
- Integrated LCD screen so you can line up the perfect shot, preview footage and share with friends
- RF remote turns camera on and off while on your helmet or outside your vehicle. Saves batteries, memory and edit time
- Night mode for optimal low-light performance. Digital 4X zoom
- Ability to shoot in 60 frames per second for buttery smooth, professional quality slow motion video
Product Details
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Product Description
From the Manufacturer
Drift HD170 Stealth Product Features:
The Drift HD170 Stealth is the worlds first sports action camera which films in full 1080p HD and has a built-in playback LCD screen and remote control. This rugged water resistant camera is the first camera that gives people what they want from an Action Camera.
- Maximum Video Resolution: 1080p High Definition
- SD Memory Capacity: up to 32GB
- Digital Zoom: Digital x4 (in 720p/30/60fps & WVGA mode)
- Lens Angle: 170° Fully Rotatable Wide Angle Lens
- LCD Screen: 1.5″ Colour TFT
- Water Resistant
- Remote Control: Wireless RF (5m range) Hands Free Video and Photo
- Audio: Built-in Microphone & Speaker
- Menus: User Friendly Control Panel in 15 Languages
Drift HD170 Stealth Contents
- HD170 Action Camera
- Remote Control
- Handlebar Grip
- Goggle Mount
- Head Strap
- Helmet Grip
- Universal Clip
- Velcro Strap
- Industrial strength velcro adhesive pad
- Component Cable for HD playback on TV
- USB Cable for downloading to a computer
- Lithium Battery
- Quick Guide to get started
Video Formats
| Video Format | Resolution | Frame Rate | Field of View | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full HD 1080p | 1920 x 1080 | 25 / 30fps | 127 degrees | To capture the action in the highest resolution available. |
| Action HD 720p | 1280 x 720 | 25 / 30 / 50 / 60fps in 720p | 170 degrees | 60 or 50fps is perfect setting to capture the fastest action. It allows you to render the video in slow motion if your editing software allows for that effect. |
| SD Widescreen | 848 x 480 | 50 / 60fps | 170 degrees | When space on your card is at a premium and you need to record that last epic adventure. |
| Still Photo 5MP | 2592 x 1944 | 2, 5, 10, 30 sec | Still Photo or Sequence Mode. A sequence of images can be used for a timelapse video. |
Built-in LCD
Remote Control
Optional External Microphone
Tech Specs
- Sensor type: CMOS
- Water Resistant
- Video resolution: 1080p, 720p & WVGA
- Video format: H.264
- File format: .MOV
- 25 / 30 / 50 / 60fps in 720p or 25 / 30fps in 1080p
- Video format: 16:9
- Lens Rotation: 300°
- Recording Angles: 127° in 1080p, 170° in 720p & WVGA
- White balance: Auto
- Exposure: Auto / Manual (advanced users)
- Zoom: Digital x4 (in 720p/30/60fps & WVGA mode)
- Remote range: 10 ft. range
- Built-in Microphone
- Inputs: Optional External Microphone
- AV Output: HDTV out (cable included)
- Battery: 1110mAh rechargeable lithium-ion/ Optional 1700 mAh Li-ion rechargeable.
- Power-Save option saves batteries by powering down the screen
- Built-in memory: 32 MB
- SD memory capacity: Supports memory cards up to 32 GB
- Photo resolution: 5 Megapixel
- LCD screen: 1.5″ colour TFT
- Lens focal range: 0.5m to infinity
- Dimensions: Camera – 133 (L) x 50 (D) x 33 (W) mm / Remote Control 52 (L) x 40 (W) x 13 (D) mm
- Power: Camera – DC 3.7V / Remote control: DC 3C, 1x CR2032 battery (included)
- RF: Receiver (Camera): 433.92MHz ISM band / Transmitter (Remote): 433.92MHz ISM band
- Weight: Camera – 138g / Remote control – 19g
- Operating Systems: Compatible with Windows 7, XP & Vista; Mac OS 10.7
Product Description
The Drift HD170 Stealth action camera is the most feature-rich hands-free video camera on the market. It offers innovative features that you can't find in other helmet cameras - like an LCD screen for lining up that perfect shot and an RF remote to turn the camera on and off while it's on your helmet or outside your vehicle. The Drift HD170 Stealth shoots professional quality HD video with features such as 4x zoom, night mode for optimal performance in low light conditions, 170 degree field of view to capture your peripheral vision, and the option to shoot buttery smooth slow motion video in 60 frames per second. The Drift HD170 Stealth's intuitive operation makes it easy to use. And your Drift HD170 Stealth includes multiple mounting options for helmet, goggle and handlebars that would cost $75 when purchased separately through other manufacturers. When it comes to features, value and high quality video resolution, the Drift HD170 Stealth is impossible to beat!
Available Warranties for This Item
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
107 of 109 people found the following review helpful
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Length:
2:29
Mins
I've had a chance to play around with the new Drift HD170 Stealth camera for a few weeks now and made a quick video just to show a few things I've tried with it. What makes it "stealth," I guess, is the new sleek black design (the casing of the unit is made from a durable black rubberized plastic). The bright orange face of the older model did likely call some attention to itself, and for some uses (i.e. stealth uses) that's a drawback. While the older model's bright colored face made it look fun, I think I do prefer the solid black and can see why they opted for it. The feature that makes this camera really stand out from other similar POV or "extreme sports" cameras, though, is the onboard LCD screen, that allows you to see what you are going to be capturing on the spot, so you can arrange the camera just as you like; it also allows you to go through the menu on the spot and adjust options depending on your needs at the moment. (You can set things up in the menu so that the LCD turns off after a minute of being unused - so as to prolong the life of the battery).
What's struck me is that the real value of this camcorder is its combination of a rugged and durable design with its versatility. It's emphasized for use with extreme sports - but it's useful pretty much anywhere you wouldn't risk another more fragile camera. It's water and weather resistant - not water proof - so you could use it in light rain, maybe even during a hurricane if it was securely mounted, but certainly in extreme conditions where you'd be worried about a standard camcorder. (I've heard that Drift Innovation - the company that makes these - will be coming out with a fully waterproof case for the Stealth some time soon - so that you can add cliff diving and snorkeling to the list of extreme sports you can capture subjectively with the Stealth) The camera comes with three different mounts - one that you can secure to any kind of narrow belt (and it comes with an elastic belt), one that you can put on a handlebar, and one that you can secure to a helmet with the included velcro adhesives. It's easy to orient the camera, even if you've got it mounted in an odd spot - the shooting orientation can be changed simply by rotating the lens manually, and the quick release mount can also be rotated so that the unit can be oriented however you like with respect to the mount.
I'm not much of an extreme sports guy - but I can see where this would come in handy for various types of video projects other than extreme sports, and I tried to illustrate a few possible uses in the video. You can mount it on a bike, a motorcycle, a skateboard, or on a 12-foot-long paint pole elevated over a car (as I did in the attached video, using the handlebar mount attached to the end of the pole). Obviously, I wouldn't want to put my Canon VIXIA HFS10 on top of a long pole like that because if it dropped or bumped into something it would almost certainly be damaged. While the Stealth is not damage proof it's a lot more rugged than a standard camera, and so it works great in lots of precarious situations. I used to think that when I needed an extreme shot the best option would be a relatively inexpensive camera like my Flip, that I could more afford to have damaged than my nicer camera - but with this one the risk of serious damage is significantly diminished.
You can shoot decent photos (5 megapixels - and they look fine, but as you'd expect on a device that's tailored for video capture they don't really compare to the images you'd capture on a compact camera in this price range - expect a few notches up from the quality you'd capture on a phone and you won't be disappointed), and very cool time lapse sequences (with shooting intervals from 3 to 30 seconds apart), plus it takes surprisingly good HD video for such a small camera. It's not as nice or as versatile as my Canon, but the video is at least as good or better than what I can capture on my Flip Mino HD - plus it's got a much wider lens, which is ideal for "point of view" shooting. At 720p it captures a 170 degree view, and it's got a bit of a fisheye effect - which is kind of nice, it looks very cool with POV sports footage but could be effective in other applications as well. At 1080p it captures a slightly narrower range of 120 degrees, and there's less distortion, but not as many options for frame rates. At 720p you can shoot at frame rates from 25fps to 60, and shooting at 60fps allows you to slow the footage down in an editing program without things looking jerky as they would if you'd shot at a standard 30fps and then played back at an effective 15 frames per second. At 1080p you can shoot either 25 or 30fps. (You can also shoot standard definition video if you like). The video is encoded with H.264 in a Quicktime (.mov) wrapper - so it's easy to import and play or edit in a variety of applications.
One other nice feature is that the set comes with a remote control "watch" - you can wear it on your wrist (it's got a velcro band) and it has two buttons: for record and stop. There's a bit of a time lag on the stop function - it takes a couple seconds and sometimes I've found I've had to press the button twice to get it to respond, but otherwise it works quite well. The weak element on the camera is the onboard mike - it doesn't capture clear sound at all. It's noisy and would really only work as reference and not playback. In other words if you spoke into the mike or near the mike you would be able to hear what you'd said - assuming you weren't on a motorcycle, or free falling from high altitudes - and it might help you to remember something - but you wouldn't want to even consider including the audio in a completed video. The main reason for the weakness of the mike seems to be that its input is protected by a rubber seal - in order to ensure the water resistance of the unit. The real value of this camera is in capturing video you wouldn't be able (or willing) to capture in other ways. There is another option with this camera that not all cameras of this type allow, which is to plug in an external microphone - but I'm pretty sure the input is proprietary, which means you either have to buy the mike from Drift or you have to buy one of the input cables for your mike from them. When you do use an external mike you have to keep the rear hatch of the camera open - and Drift sells a kind of silicon boot to help keep things sealed and protected when the mike is connected and the door is open.
The Stealth is not a one-size-fits-all camcorder that will meet every need and wouldn't by any stretch replace a standard camcorder for ordinary shooting, especially given its fixed, extremely wide lens and its substandard onboard mike - but it can capture images you'd never dream of trying to capture with your standard camcorder. If all you want to do is capture extreme sports from the point of view of the athlete, or other extreme images that would put an ordinary camera at risk, this would be a very good option. For someone like me, who only rarely has a need for "extreme sports footage," I know I won't use this all the time, but I'm very happy to have it in my "bag of tricks" because, as I think my little video shows, it's a very versatile camera that can capture some very cool and fairly good quality images and video that could fit nicely into a wide range of different kinds of video projects.
What's struck me is that the real value of this camcorder is its combination of a rugged and durable design with its versatility. It's emphasized for use with extreme sports - but it's useful pretty much anywhere you wouldn't risk another more fragile camera. It's water and weather resistant - not water proof - so you could use it in light rain, maybe even during a hurricane if it was securely mounted, but certainly in extreme conditions where you'd be worried about a standard camcorder. (I've heard that Drift Innovation - the company that makes these - will be coming out with a fully waterproof case for the Stealth some time soon - so that you can add cliff diving and snorkeling to the list of extreme sports you can capture subjectively with the Stealth) The camera comes with three different mounts - one that you can secure to any kind of narrow belt (and it comes with an elastic belt), one that you can put on a handlebar, and one that you can secure to a helmet with the included velcro adhesives. It's easy to orient the camera, even if you've got it mounted in an odd spot - the shooting orientation can be changed simply by rotating the lens manually, and the quick release mount can also be rotated so that the unit can be oriented however you like with respect to the mount.
I'm not much of an extreme sports guy - but I can see where this would come in handy for various types of video projects other than extreme sports, and I tried to illustrate a few possible uses in the video. You can mount it on a bike, a motorcycle, a skateboard, or on a 12-foot-long paint pole elevated over a car (as I did in the attached video, using the handlebar mount attached to the end of the pole). Obviously, I wouldn't want to put my Canon VIXIA HFS10 on top of a long pole like that because if it dropped or bumped into something it would almost certainly be damaged. While the Stealth is not damage proof it's a lot more rugged than a standard camera, and so it works great in lots of precarious situations. I used to think that when I needed an extreme shot the best option would be a relatively inexpensive camera like my Flip, that I could more afford to have damaged than my nicer camera - but with this one the risk of serious damage is significantly diminished.
You can shoot decent photos (5 megapixels - and they look fine, but as you'd expect on a device that's tailored for video capture they don't really compare to the images you'd capture on a compact camera in this price range - expect a few notches up from the quality you'd capture on a phone and you won't be disappointed), and very cool time lapse sequences (with shooting intervals from 3 to 30 seconds apart), plus it takes surprisingly good HD video for such a small camera. It's not as nice or as versatile as my Canon, but the video is at least as good or better than what I can capture on my Flip Mino HD - plus it's got a much wider lens, which is ideal for "point of view" shooting. At 720p it captures a 170 degree view, and it's got a bit of a fisheye effect - which is kind of nice, it looks very cool with POV sports footage but could be effective in other applications as well. At 1080p it captures a slightly narrower range of 120 degrees, and there's less distortion, but not as many options for frame rates. At 720p you can shoot at frame rates from 25fps to 60, and shooting at 60fps allows you to slow the footage down in an editing program without things looking jerky as they would if you'd shot at a standard 30fps and then played back at an effective 15 frames per second. At 1080p you can shoot either 25 or 30fps. (You can also shoot standard definition video if you like). The video is encoded with H.264 in a Quicktime (.mov) wrapper - so it's easy to import and play or edit in a variety of applications.
One other nice feature is that the set comes with a remote control "watch" - you can wear it on your wrist (it's got a velcro band) and it has two buttons: for record and stop. There's a bit of a time lag on the stop function - it takes a couple seconds and sometimes I've found I've had to press the button twice to get it to respond, but otherwise it works quite well. The weak element on the camera is the onboard mike - it doesn't capture clear sound at all. It's noisy and would really only work as reference and not playback. In other words if you spoke into the mike or near the mike you would be able to hear what you'd said - assuming you weren't on a motorcycle, or free falling from high altitudes - and it might help you to remember something - but you wouldn't want to even consider including the audio in a completed video. The main reason for the weakness of the mike seems to be that its input is protected by a rubber seal - in order to ensure the water resistance of the unit. The real value of this camera is in capturing video you wouldn't be able (or willing) to capture in other ways. There is another option with this camera that not all cameras of this type allow, which is to plug in an external microphone - but I'm pretty sure the input is proprietary, which means you either have to buy the mike from Drift or you have to buy one of the input cables for your mike from them. When you do use an external mike you have to keep the rear hatch of the camera open - and Drift sells a kind of silicon boot to help keep things sealed and protected when the mike is connected and the door is open.
The Stealth is not a one-size-fits-all camcorder that will meet every need and wouldn't by any stretch replace a standard camcorder for ordinary shooting, especially given its fixed, extremely wide lens and its substandard onboard mike - but it can capture images you'd never dream of trying to capture with your standard camcorder. If all you want to do is capture extreme sports from the point of view of the athlete, or other extreme images that would put an ordinary camera at risk, this would be a very good option. For someone like me, who only rarely has a need for "extreme sports footage," I know I won't use this all the time, but I'm very happy to have it in my "bag of tricks" because, as I think my little video shows, it's a very versatile camera that can capture some very cool and fairly good quality images and video that could fit nicely into a wide range of different kinds of video projects.
25 of 26 people found the following review helpful
Amazon Verified Purchase
I've owned just about every helmet cam on the market and I even sell the GoPro HD Hero on my site and this is by far the best camera I've owned to date.
The thing I like about it most is the ease of use. The menu is like any other PAS camera instead of hieroglyphics like the GoPro and yes I have the LCD on my GoPro and it's still a pain to use. It does take great video but no better than the drift.
I love that I can adjust the mic on the drift and pretty much turn it off if I want to and I can add a remote mic. I have one but have yet to use it. No more clanking from the mount like the GoPro either.
The battery outlast the GoPro and it seems to have great video compression. Long videos have pretty small file size. I took a 48:00 video and it was just under 3 gig.
About the only thing I don't care for is the helmet mount. I haven't used it yet but it's not that clean of a mount, I do like the GoPro better for that. I wound up putting a RAM ball on mine and that's pretty much all I use. All and all I love this thing.
The thing I like about it most is the ease of use. The menu is like any other PAS camera instead of hieroglyphics like the GoPro and yes I have the LCD on my GoPro and it's still a pain to use. It does take great video but no better than the drift.
I love that I can adjust the mic on the drift and pretty much turn it off if I want to and I can add a remote mic. I have one but have yet to use it. No more clanking from the mount like the GoPro either.
The battery outlast the GoPro and it seems to have great video compression. Long videos have pretty small file size. I took a 48:00 video and it was just under 3 gig.
About the only thing I don't care for is the helmet mount. I haven't used it yet but it's not that clean of a mount, I do like the GoPro better for that. I wound up putting a RAM ball on mine and that's pretty much all I use. All and all I love this thing.
21 of 25 people found the following review helpful
Amazon Verified Purchase
Camera arrived and straight out of the box had a faulty microphone. Had a play with it for a few days waiting to hear back from Drift Support and found the picture quality to be excellent. Really liked the good clear images and colour was spot on. Although, I soon found that a fully charged battery would drain overnight if left in the camera (even though the camera was switched off).
Thinking I just had a dud unit, and given the quality of picture, I decided to go through the Amazon returns process and had a replacement shipped out.
Amazon were excellent in how they dealt with the return and replacement. No complaints on that front (Drift on the other hand, took more than a week for their Support people to reply to my emails to tell me that it was faulty and then they passed the buck back to Amazon).
Replacement unit arrived today and upon switching it on I notice the picture is absolutely stuffed, making everything look like a psychedelic music video from the 70's. Back to emailing Drift Support. This time I won't wait for a week for their response. If I haven't heard back by tomorrow it's on it's way back for a refund this time.
You really have to ask yourself where is the quality control? Does Drift not test each unit before it's packaged?
Two cameras and two different problems straight out of the box.
It's disappointing because the Drift is the only one of the top 3 (GoPro/Contour/Drift) that offers external mic and reviewing screen facility.
I won't risk another replacement.
Looks like I'll be switching my allegiance to one of the other two brands.
UPDATE: Received a GoPro HD this week and most impressed with the quality of build and the video taken to date. The mounting system is a little fiddly but not entirely unusable. Changing camera settings was awkward at first but after clipping on the LCD BacPac it was much more simple.
I've just bought a Contour HD as well ($138) and will test that out when it arrives.
Thinking I just had a dud unit, and given the quality of picture, I decided to go through the Amazon returns process and had a replacement shipped out.
Amazon were excellent in how they dealt with the return and replacement. No complaints on that front (Drift on the other hand, took more than a week for their Support people to reply to my emails to tell me that it was faulty and then they passed the buck back to Amazon).
Replacement unit arrived today and upon switching it on I notice the picture is absolutely stuffed, making everything look like a psychedelic music video from the 70's. Back to emailing Drift Support. This time I won't wait for a week for their response. If I haven't heard back by tomorrow it's on it's way back for a refund this time.
You really have to ask yourself where is the quality control? Does Drift not test each unit before it's packaged?
Two cameras and two different problems straight out of the box.
It's disappointing because the Drift is the only one of the top 3 (GoPro/Contour/Drift) that offers external mic and reviewing screen facility.
I won't risk another replacement.
Looks like I'll be switching my allegiance to one of the other two brands.
UPDATE: Received a GoPro HD this week and most impressed with the quality of build and the video taken to date. The mounting system is a little fiddly but not entirely unusable. Changing camera settings was awkward at first but after clipping on the LCD BacPac it was much more simple.
I've just bought a Contour HD as well ($138) and will test that out when it arrives.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
outdoor use
i use camera for hunting , camera can be mounted easily on gun or bow, remote is very nice but wish remote would control zoom. all in all very nice camera
Published 1 day ago by dave
Great small portable
I use it mostly in the cockpit of a 2 seat airplane (RV6a). Works great. Search youtube for DriftHD GRT HX for some flying videos (channel name RV6Airplanepilot). Read more
Published 4 days ago by lionheart
Working great after two seasons.
Been riding with this thing on my helmet getting video of the kids on the mountain. The rotating lens is a great idea, lets me have the unit be in a location that would otherwise... Read more
Published 18 days ago by Zain Saidin
Rugged camera with great features
I decided to purchase the Drift HD170 after doing a bit of research and I haven't been disappointed at all. Read more
Published 23 days ago by Richard Baz
Don't Buy It!
Don't buy this piece of junk. It fails to operate after 3 months of ownership and very little use. The Drift website has no information on how to obtain warranty service and no... Read more
Published 1 month ago by Unhappy2012
Drift Innovation HD170 Stealth Action Camera with HD Recording, 4x...
This product is top quality and the comapny stands behind their product 100%. I contacted the company on an issue with my camera and they responded immediately in resolving my... Read more
Published 1 month ago by Charles T. F. Hamilton
So far so good!
I just took this camera with me to Costa Rica and used it to film some ziplining adventures in the rainforest. I was really impressed. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Simon Pearce
Great camera, when it's stable
This camera takes really nice footage in the 1080p mode (only one I've used to date) when it is stable. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Rob Goddard
Drift Rox!
This is one kick butt cam!! Beautiful video in HD. Easy operation, don't have to remember special button sequences like the go pro model. Love this thing! Read more
Published 2 months ago by Privateidho
Great Camera, but Beware ...
Wanting to document my snowboarding from a POV standpoint gave me a craving for a compact video camera, but which one? Read more
Published 2 months ago by DACHokie
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