Hitcase Pro+ for iPhone 6s Review: GoPro Killer?

By Ian Kelso
Contributing Editor

If you love the idea of taking videos of your rides, but not quite enough to invest several hundred dollars into dedicated equipment, this Vancouver company may have an ideal solution for you.

You may not realize it but you may already own a top-of-the-line, super light, mobile, telematics-enabled, hi-def video camera: your iPhone. And with the release of the new iPhone 6s, you are able to shoot glorious 4k video at 30fps, just like the premium GoPro Hero 4 Black Edition. GoPro has shaken up the home video industry and is hands-down the leader when it comes to sports and action video, but the basic Hero 4 Black will set you back USD $500 (CAD $629).

For only about a quarter of that price however, the upstart Canadian company Hitcase can turn your iPhone 5, 5s, 6 or 6s into a kick-ass camera system that is not only waterproof and shockproof, but that can also do some awesome things that GoPro can only dream of.

Taking full advantage of Apple’s advanced motion detection and location awareness, Hitcase also offers a free iPhone app that allows you to record video and critical ride data like speed, g-force, lean angle and precise geo-location SIMULATANEOUSLY!

WHAT YOU GET

I tested the Hitcase Pro+ Action Pack for iPhone 6 which includes the waterproof case, a premium TruLUX™ super wide angle lens, an extension pole, a tripod mount and a “StickR” (sticker) mount. This combination currently sells for USD $149.99 (CAD $159.95) from their website, and is also available in retail stores pretty much the world over.

THE CASE

The heart of the Hitcase system is the waterproof, shockproof case that protects your iPhone from the many perils inherent in action cam shooting. The rigid black plastic case has an interior rubber gasket and it snaps and clamps together firmly around your smartphone claiming to keep your device dry to a depth of 33 ft (10m). It is indeed solidly constructed, and though I totally trust that it will keep my new iPhone 6 moisture-free in the event of a torrential downpour, I was too skittish to trust it to a full immersion test. If I do find myself in that much water while on my bike, I will have much more to worry about much more than my iPhone!

The case’s TrueTouch protective screen is reasonably sensitive to touch input, and though the fingerprint reader does not work through the case’s shell, all the smartphone’s other ports and buttons were accessible and responded very well. I was actually very impressed with quality of sound transfer through the case’s Shockwave audio seal while making voice calls.

The iPhone 6 & 6s version has an access point for the Lightning port making a waterproof seal with the charging cable. So you can keep your iPhone plugged in while filming or using navigation on the road. This is essential for longer runs as both video recording and GPS are huge drains on the iPhone battery!

The case’s hinge serves as a rail mount which slides and locks securely into it’s custom Hitcase mounting brackets. The brackets themselves are based on the GoPro standard, so there is a wide variety of potential mounting options available beyond the several sold through their website. I liked the way the rail audibly clicked as it locked into the base, and the fact that it was easy, but not too easy, to unfasten.

THE MOUNTS

Along with the ones that came with the kit I also ordered the MotoR mount, which is actually a Ram U-bolt mount with a double socket arm made to fix to a motorcycle’s handlebar. Hitcase actually uses the GoPro system for mounting, so you can delve into any of the many options available to GoPro's vast and growing lineup. The MotoR mount is universal and can to switch from bike to bike (as long as the bike has handle bars and not clip-ons) and is flexible enough to position the phone in an ideal location vis-a-vis the instrument cluster. This allowed me to use my iPhone for turn-by-turn directions and monitor incoming calls and messages. However this mount did not turn out to be an ideal fixing point for video. Though the perspective was pretty awesome from this position on the bike, all the engine vibrations and bumps on the road translated directly through the handlebars to the phone’s camera which made for pretty unusable video.

The human body is the best shock absorber, so to get smooth video I decided to figure out a way to mount the phone to my person. I picked out one of my old retired Scorpion helmets, pried off the logo badge, and fixed the StickR mount that came with the kit. This allowed me to position the camera lens at almost eye level. Though this worked quite well for recording below 50mph (though I felt a bit conspicuous riding through the city with a phone on my head), the iPhone was bit of a sail in the wind and I could feel a constant pull on my head and neck. I suspect at 80mph and above the air pressure would at minimum become a major distraction and at worst may just rip the mount from the helmet. Hitcase does offer an optional chest mount that straps the phone securely on the front of your body: probably the most practical solution for most higher speed ride recording situations.

VIDEO RECORDING

Hitcase offers the free video app “Vidometer” which records both high def video and essential ride data you can actually play back and save with data overlays. For my iPhone 6 the maximum available resolution and frame rate is 1080p @ 60 fps, but the new 6s should be able to record at up to 240fps for some awesome looking slow mo. What is really cool is that the app taps into the iPhone’s accelerometer, GPS, compass and gyroscope giving you the ability play back your ride with simultaneous visualization of precise speed, location, lean angle, distance traveled and more. All the basic features are included for free, but with a small upgrade to Vidometer Pro you can unlock features like real-time mapping displays, GPS path tracing, the ability to save videos with embedded maps, an odometer measuring distance traveled, graphical compass, and more. Videos can be trimmed in-app and saved to the Camera Roll so that you can sync them to another device or share to Youtube or other social platforms.

IS IT A HIT ON GOPRO?

Will it significantly disrupt GoPro's sales? Probably not in the near future. But it will likely open up a new market of consumers like me who would love the ability to grab some video of the occasional ride without spending the big bucks on hardware. But the Vidometer app does add a huge value by taking advantage of the phone's built in telemetric features offering a unique way to keep records of great rides.

Overall I really like the Hitcase system. It is well designed and constructed, fairly priced and includes a host of accessories including a range of lenses that are easy to interchange. My 128GB-capacity iPhone 6 currently has enough on-board storage to take care of my very casual recording needs, but the downside of using an iPhone for more intensive video shooting is its lack of external storage. At 1080p and 30fps video takes up about 130MB per minute, but at 4k you are looking at almost triple that need.

If I were to get a little more serious about ride recording, I would definitely invest in the $49.95 ChestR chest mount, which would allow me to keep the phone from catching wind. I continue to use the MotoR handlebar mount on my bike though, as it has proven to be a convenient and secure way to access my iPhone while touring.

Be warned: the Hitcase does add a fair amount of girth to something that was painstakingly engineered to be as super light and thin as possible. I like the idea of having all of that protection 24x7, but it is not really a viable option to carry it around town in your hip pocket. Getting the phone in and out of the Hitcase is quick and easy though, so I swap back to my everyday thin case pretty regularly.

For now Hitcase and Vidometer are available only for iPhone. The cases are built to fit all models in the 5 and 6 series, while you should be able to use the Vidometer software with an iPhone 4.