A set of naturally aspirated Sterling's. 750ish a side. We blew the sea strainer lid in that run (unbeknownst to us) so when we stopped the bilge pumps were full bore.

The audio is about the same. I have a waterproof lid for the Contour and the GoPro comes with a water proof housing so neither sounds great inside the plastic box.

What do you mean by "more consistent"? The gopro's case is waterproof WAY deeper than the contour, that's a major selling point for me for use on a boat.

As I stated, I have both as well as a a Taychon too.

The problem with the GoPro I experience are:

Turning it on requires advancing the menu to movie each time on that little screen.

The recording is often corrupt.... All these cameras record for a period of 30 minutes and then start a second saved movie file for the next 30 minutes and so on and so one. While you turn the video once once you can get multiple files from all these cameras with one recording. With the GoPro, the first 30 minutes is corrupt (50% of the time) but the second and third 30 minutes of the same recording are good, its just that most of my experiences are in the the initial 30 minute interval that I want to see, not so much the 5 minute long idle back that is recorded in the second 30 minute allotment.

Both are water proof capable so that is a mute issue. I do not currently boat submerged to any depth whereby one would be better than another. I am not diving so to speak with these cameras.

Every GoPro starts with someones face in the video

The Mp4 format is not as easy to modify

Now look at the Contour:

Easy to turn on, has a laser beam to show you the direction of recording .

Simply slide the switch forward and a good sized red light is visible and a loud audible beep occurs telling the user it is on or off.

Saves files as a .mov

Did I mention it has GPS? I see contour has changed their web site but they used to show the video with a constant GPS feed of speed at the same time. AWESOME. Their software still does when you download the video.

The camera speeds and the boat gps speeds are virtually identical so one can video the gauges and download the video later to see the instrument data in relation to the boats speed.

Contour has their own "free" software to download and view the videos that show the embedded GPS data

Overall, the Contour is much more user friendly and this is why I have one GoPro, one Taychon (good camera that is water proof without the need for a case) and three Contour GPS's.

On the audio topic.... I plan on purchasing a Digital Audio Recorder to grab good audio and then dub that into my GoPro and ContourHD vids (I have one of each). When I used a helmetcamera.com camera back in the day, I used a Sony Handicam as the recording unit and the sound was great because I had an external mic I could place out of the windstream. I'd like to get some audio quality back. The audio, if done well, really rounds out the viewing experience, IMO.

If anyone has any DAR recommendations, I'd love to hear 'em.

The Drift has the optonal mic. option.
http://driftinnovation.com/hd170-action-camera/

http://driftinnovation.com/drift-camera-reviews/
I like the idea of putting the mic. in the engine compartment ,but on specs. it looks like a short cord.
I wonder if it could be extended ?
Great to hear the comparisons here !

Well i ordered the Gopro hero2 with the lcd monitor so hopefully it works fine.

I plan on using it for the run from Miami to Key West then probably on the way back i will use it on time lapse.

I've been eyeballing that one for about a week. LCD display, remote control and external microphone are all great features. External mic is a huge bonus actually. Plus the lens rotates for infinite mounting positions.

Read a lot of reviews on the GoPro and the quality seems to be hit and miss.

The new Contour+ has the external mic plug in also.

I have only used a GoPro on the transom of a Cigarette up to 90mph with the waterproof back on.

I thought the sound and video was fantastic.