My VholdR Camera Experience

My Vholdr Camera Experience
Author: Doug Stackhouse ©


Day #1

I ordered my VHoldR Camera from Royal Distributing with great expectations and excitement. It was supposed to arrive the following day.
http://www.royaldistributing.com/shoppingcart/MiddleRedirect.aspx?page=SPRING-FALL-2008%2F256.html

Day #2

My VholdR camera did not arrive. After calling Purolator I learned that the camera had been shipped to Moncton New Brunswick. No, I don’t live in Moncton New Brunswick. My friends at Royal Distributing keenly sought a solution and shipped me out another VholdR camera so that I would have it for the weekend. So, I am now the proud owner of two VholdR cameras that I don’t have in my possession. (The VholdR camera in Moncton, was going to take a while to make its way to my house), but soon!

Day #3

My VholdR camera arrived! Excitement.

I opened the box and began to piece together the camera. No MicroSD card and the battery takes 4 hours to charge. No problem, right? Looked through the packaging several times to try and locate the battery charger, as it states in the marcomm material. After searching through the net, I learned that the “battery charger” is the USB cable. Next, track down a MicroSD card. No problem, right?. Wrong, after searching the vholdr site I learned that the “Sandisk Premier 2gb MicroSD” is the card that is required or the video will be choppy. Call the regular places, Future Shop, Staples, Henry’s, VizTek, OEM Express, Fedacom, TigerDirect and on and on, trying to located the famous “Sandisk Premier MicroSD 2gb car”. Keep the MicroSD card in mind as you continue to read on.

Day #4

It’s Friday, my last day to get everything together for the Saturday run. My Sandisk 2gb MicroSD card finally arrives at 5:45PM, but unfortunately I can’t make it to the store as I’m an hour out of town and they close at 6:00PM. Unbelievably though, there is a customer at the store who is willing to deliver it to me as he lives right down the road. Well, this is perfect! Visa number, no problem, until I’m told the product is $27.00, not the $35.10 that is clearly stated on the web-site. After confirming the product #, I find that they have ordered the wrong one. This is despite my calling a second time upon ordering to confirm the product #. Frustrating to say the least. At this point, I can’t understand why VholdR wouldn’t simply include a MicroSD card with the camera. Would anyone really care that it would cost an additional $35.00 bucks on $400.00 plus, I highly doubt it. I know I certainly wouldn’t.


Day #5

After charging the camera for 4 hours, my friend happened by and he had a MicroSD card in his cell. I tried installing it. Easy right?. This card would not fit. I couldn’t believe it. After much fooling around and close examination, I learned that the MicroSD card slot is in fact directly in the middle of the MicroSD insertion slot. Very strange, why would this not be in the documentation? I later found this in a post somewhere on the VholdR forums. I boot the camera up and take a short video. I want to see this thing in action! After taking a short video and sliding the button backwards – very slick – I hear two beeps and I’m ready to view the videos. Following the instructions to the letter, I pull the rear hatch and plug in my USB cable. The camera powers down and the computer, as a result, does not recognize the camera being attached. No problem though, I’ll press the power button that is exposed when the rear hatch is removed. I press and hold it for about 7 seconds and the camera boots up. The VholdR software then crashes. I try it on another computer and it works fine. I view the video and decide we are ready to head out for a ride. The other issue I am noticing is that I must press the power button quite hard for the unit to power on and off. So hard, that my finger hurts and the button leaves an imprint on my finger. After reading through numerous posts on the VholdR forums I ready about warnings of accidentally shutting the unit off. This would definitely not occur in this case because the power button is so hard to press – and that’s when it’s off the helmet. After mounting the camera on my helmet, we’re off for a short ride. 30 seconds into the run my buddies bike starts give him trouble, so we return. We check out the video and it looks pretty good. The sound though from the wind noise is absolutely terrible. So terrible, that I mute the speakers and we determine that maybe putting a piece of masking tape over the microphone would help. (We later learn that it does) Well, at this point I’m ready to call it a day. I’m pleased that we captured some video and managed to get it on the computer. But, this has definitely been a trying experience so far.

Day #6

I decide I better email VholdR support about the powering down upon opening of the rear hatch. About half way through the day, the mail message I sent to support is returned stating the following:

Delivery to the following recipient has been delayed:

support@vholdr.com

Message will be retried for 2 more day(s)

Well, no problem. I forward the message to the same address again – this time hoping it works. Later in the day I receive an automated message from VholdR alerting me to that fact that I now have a case number for my issue with the rear hatch. Great! I post to the forum after linking to it through another users video. Strange, I thought it would be quite prominent on the site. The forwarded message doesn’t bounce back from VholdR.

Day #6

Hey, my other VholdR camera arrived. Maybe this one wouldn’t have the rear hatch and power button press-hard problem. I open it up like a child at Christmas, plop the battery in, only to find that the small copper colored “battery holder” doesn’t hold the battery. (this little “battery holder” is silver on the first camera I received) I confirm this by holding the battery in all the way with my finger, while turning on the power. (In case you are wondering, I am using the charged battery from my other VholdR camera). So I must now return two VholdR cameras, neither of which is working properly. By the way, I’m still hunting for the famed Sandisk Premier 2gb MicroSD card.

Day #7

I sent my VholdR cameras back to Royal Distributing. I’ve got a ride on Friday and I really hope I can have a properly functioning VholdR camera by then. I finally found the story behind the “Sandisk Premier 2gb MicroSD card” after speaking with Sandisk. I’m told that the card is no longer manufactured and has instead been re-branded under “Sandisk Mobile Ultra 2gb MicroSD” and that I can purchase it from Walmart. I immediately called Walmart, PCCyber, Fedacom, Future Shop, Henry’s, PCFrontier and finally Tiger Direct (http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/searchtools/item-Details.asp?EdpNo=3803744&sku=S153-4004&srkey=sdsdqy-2048-a11m) – from whom I finally purchased the card. I now patiently wait. On a side note, I have not received a response from VholdR regarding my issue.

Day #8

I just heard from Royal Distributing. They are going to send me out a new and hopefully working camera. (they are going to test before sending) I really hope this one works as the GoPro camera is starting to look quite attractive. (http://www.royaldistributing.com/07/index.php?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=182)

I have still not received word from VholdR tech support. They don’t have a phone number listed on their web-site or I would have called. I am really glad that I purchased this product from a reputable company and not someone on eBay.

Day #9

I received the camera. Power button works great. Rear hatch opens fine and doesn't turn the unit off. But, the record switch doesn't work! Another camera going back to Royal and another ride that won't be captured.

Follow-up

I received my SanDisk card from TigerDirect, so at this point I'm committed to the VholdR. Royal sent another camera after a thorough test, which included recording. I've received the camera and it works really well. My only complaint is that the recording switch is extremely stiff. To the point where I need two hands to while riding to start and stop recording. I'm unclear as to why every VholdR camera I received is behaves differently, but at this point I don't care. I just want to record my rides.