One of the most fun parts of electric skateboarding and other personal electric vehicles like the OneWheel or SoloWheel is capturing incredible footage of your rides. Whether you end up at a scenic vista or are just cruising with your friends around the city, there’s some essential gear that you need to capture those moments.
Action Cameras
You’ll want an action camera that’s durable, compact, and high quality. There’s a couple popular options:
GoPro Hero 7 Black
The GoPro Hero 7 Black is the top-of-the-line and genre-defining action camera. GoPro pretty much invented the action camera category, and their latest entry is better than ever. It features electronic image stabilization (EIS) that they named “Hypersmooth” that is better than any other EIS system out there, and is both rugged and waterproof.
I’d argue that you don’t actually need a gimbal for the GoPro Hero 7 Black because the stabilization is so good on its own. Here’s some footage I shot from a recent group ride with the camera mounted to my helmet:
You can pick up the GoPro Hero 7 Black directly from GoPro for $399.
But, to make the footage even smoother you can also get a gimbal. There’s a couple popular options for gimbals with the GoPro Hero 7 Black:
GoPro Karma Grip
To GoPro Karma Grip is GoPro’s first-party gimbal built specifically for the GoPro series of cameras. Though the Karma Drone is no-more, their gimbal is still sold and supported and a good option if you want first-party compatibility (see my note below about the Feiyu G6 and its compatibility with the GoPro).
You can grab it from GoPro directly for about $300, or sometimes find it in the refurbished section (for $150 as of mid-2019) of the GoPro site if you’re looking for a discount.
Feiyu G6
I personally own the Feiyu G6 gimbal, and think it’s a great alternative to the first-party Karma Grip. It’s made by a Chinese company, but is fully aluminum, hefty (but not too heavy), and durable feeling. I primarily use it for vacation videos, but I’ve also used it on group rides such as the Seattle SR-99 Tunnel opening ride. Here’s some example footage from that day to show you how it looks when you combine the GoPro Hero 7 Black and the Feiyu G6 together: it’s buttery smooth.
You can pick up the Feiyu G6 from Amazon for about $150.
DJI Osmo Pocket
If you want something compact, high quality, and has built in stabilization, you really will want to buy the DJI Osmo Pocket. The unique thing about the Osmo Pocket is its built in gimbal, which gives the footage high quality stabilization by default.
DJI is well known in the drone industry, and they’ve built something to rival the GoPro. Though the footage may not be quite the quality you’d find on a GoPro since the processor is slower (the GoPro Hero 7 Black can hit 120 fps at 2.7k resolution, but the Osmo Pocket cannot), it’s a great compact filming companion for your electric-powered journeys.
One thing to note is that it’s not as durable as the GoPro– it obviously has the moving mechanical components for the gimbal that have the potential to break if you fall and drop the camera, and the Osmo Pocket is not waterproof at all. If you’re looking for something to film in the rain, then you might want to take a look at the GoPro Hero 7 Black or the Osmo Action.
You can grab the Osmo Pocket from Amazon for $329, which is a great deal since it comes with all the hardware to record (i.e. the camera part) and leading 3-axis stabilization via the gimbal.
DJI Osmo Action
If you want a non-GoPro camera but in the traditional action camera format, DJI just released their new Osmo Action camera. It’s 100% designed to be a direct competitor to GoPro’s offerings, and they’ve definitely built a quality camera.
Like the GoPro, it’s a small rectangle that shoots 4k video, has built in electronic image stabilization, and is waterproof without a case.
You can get the Osmo Action now for $350.