Dawid Mocke - Why he carries signaling devices
This is a topic that can fill a website by itself and there is plenty of information available on websites to help choosing between cameras. Some of the important features to consider are: degree of waterproofing, image quality and stabilization, battery life, ease of use, (remote, voice control and how much such features affect battery consumption), GPS and other telemetry (GoPro 11 has GPS, GoPro 12 does not - will this continue going forward?), quality and variety of camera mounts for boats and other planned uses
There are a ton of hands-on reviews and how-to videos on youtube - doing research there is not a bad idea. In our opinion one of the better channels for up-to-date comparisons of video action cameras is MountMedia where you can find tutorials in addition to reviews.
Sample reviews:
DIY elevated mount made from Vive carbon walker (4 GoPro mounts on surfski deck) - Alex Tzannes - Sydney, NSW, Australia
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Another DIY mount (that's a lot of tape - can't see it all, but we assume it is all glued PVC with the camera attachment on top)- photo from/of Alex Hunter (Hong Kong) video
Devices/Methods that can be used for training in addition to GPS enabled devices and Video
these are “metronomes” for stroke rate. They may signal rate visually, and/or with audio, and/or with vibration.
sense stroke rate and distance - possibly used in conjunction with a phone app.
Michele Eray on the Vaaka: “I use cadence as the main metric when setting up sessions, as well as any analysis afterward.Leading into the Rio Olympics, it was a game changer as we were based in a windy venue that had a lot of current, rendering speed useless. I really wish we had the Vaaka in the build up to Beijing and London (the Vaaka was developed for the Kiwi's leading into London and was only available to the public once the London Olympics were over). Vaaka has created an app on Garmin that gives distance per stroke in real time, and of course has the analysis software if you want to do a deep dive afterward. The hassle I have found with some of my athletes using other apps built into their devices is that they are inaccurate on double blades or boats that are smoother (kayak vs canoe) and the data is also quite fuzzy and hard to analyse post session. The Vaaka is also simple and robust, and lives on your paddle so you don't have to remember anything!”
From The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle
Boris: “Is more genius then usual! Do I control it by linking to it with some plug in my cerebral cortex?”
Fearless Leader: “Uh yeah we were going to do that but… we had some budget cuts.”