Garmin Enters into the Action Camera Market with VIRB

Garmin has announced their own action camera called VIRB that will compete against GoPro and Contour (who may have just closed). 

The camera has a rugged and waterproof (IPX-7) housing and shoots 1080p quality footage. It has a 1.4" display built-in and shoot for three hours on one charge (battery is removable). There is digital image stabilization and lens distortion correction along with built-in Wi-fi, GPS,  an accelerometer, an altimeter, ANT+ connectivity, and it can take photos (16 Megapixel camera) while shooting video at the same time.

There will be two models that come out in Q1 2014. The VIRB which will be $299.99 U.S. and the VIRB Elite which will be $399.99 U.S. Garmin will also sell various mounts such as a bike mount, a vented helmet strap mount, a shoulder harness mount, a tripod mount, a wrist mount, and a dash suction mount. You can also purchase a battery charger, which is something GoPro doesn't offer with their system.

Photo from Garmin.com

VIRB with Mount. Photo from Garmin.com