For motorcyclists, this is the camera of choice; its sleek, low-profile design sits easily on the side of a helmet. For motorsports, the ability to rotate the lens to get a level horizon is a godsend when attached to a roll cage. While many now offer intelligent horizon levelling, the quality of the video footage cannot match that of the Drift Ghost XL Pro, which can shoot a level horizon natively. Simple and solid essentially sums up this action camera. The sleek design makes it a perfect option for side mounting on a helmet, and with a huge array of mounts available, attaching it to almost anything isn’t difficult.

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Drift has also added new scene modes: Normal, Vivid, or Low Light. Normal gives you more natural colors that are easier to work with if you want to adjust color to your liking when editing. Vivid pumps up colors so they pop, while Low Light seems to increase noise reduction, though not so much that subjects turn to mush. To enable Car DVR Mode, navigate to the Ghost-S video settings menu and select 'Auto' or 'M' (manual) car DVR mode. Auto mode is designed for use while connected to a USB power supply - The camera will turn on and begin recording automatically when it detects power, and will turn off when power stops. Manual mode requires the user to power the camera on, and start recording manually. However, with the Drift Ghost XL Pro, you know that you have one of the best action cameras on the market. It doesn’t try to please everyone or cram in all the features you can think of; it just provides you with the core, and there’s a lot to say. At the end of the test, the Drift Ghost XL Pro put in a solid performance; being able to mount the camera in ways that would usually be impossible gives you plenty more options when it comes to filming and enables plenty of fun. In use, it performs well with the large buttons and beep, enabling you to easily operate the camera even if you can’t directly see it. The Ghost-S takes quite good pictures, and you can shoot in time-lapse mode at 0.5-, 1-, 2-, 3-, 5-, and 10-second intervals. You can also shoot in burst mode in five or 10 shots per second.When it comes to using the Drift Ghost XL is one of my favourite cameras. It’s easy to understand and operate, and most importantly, the quality of the video matches the quality of use. In the box, you'll find the camera itself, a remote, the battery, a non-waterproof connector hatch that gives easy access to the mini USB and mic out ports, a universal clip, two mount clips, a wrist strap, a mini USB cable, a microphone extension cable, and a goggle mount. Video quality is improved from the Drift HD Ghost, especially when it comes to detail. Everything looks more crisp, and I saw fewer artifacts when using the camera's high-bit-rate setting. Using that setting will eat into the battery life and the files use up more storage, but it's worth using if you plan to view the video at large sizes. Alongside that feature, there’s also the ability to shoot at 4K@30fps, 2.7K@60fps, and 1080p@120fps.

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As you’d expect from an action camera, the Ghost XL Pro is IPX7 waterproof, so there are no worries about dropping it in a puddle or mounting it on a surfboard. Regarding the build, the Ghost XL Pro is roughly the same size as the Insta360 ONE RS and GoPro, and when it comes to building quality, it comfortably sits alongside them as a premium action camera option. While the Ghost XL Pro offers plenty of mounting options, it doesn’t offer quite so many advanced features. There is a screen, although it’s a mono LCD rather than a full-blown colour touch screen. Still image quality is on par with the Hero3, which is to say good, but not great. The HD Ghost shoots images at 11-, 8-, or 5-megapixels. You're still dealing with a good deal of distortion introduced by the wide angle lens, but images look sharp and colors really pop. I noticed the HD Ghost had the tendency to blow-out highlighted areas, but otherwise the images looked crisp and generally noise free.Besides the build quality and the design being minimalistic and sleek, there’s little else to comment about the camera’s build. The HD Ghost can also be used for burst-shooting 5-, 8-, or 11-megapixel photos at up to 10fps as well as time-lapse photos, snapping off shots at 0.5-, 1-, 2-, 3-, 5-, 10-, 30-, or 60-second intervals. Keeping with the waterproof features, a waterproof adapter enables you to connect to accessories such as a mic or external power source. This I like as it means that you can mount and essentially not have to worry about the power going to the camera or record a voice-over through the action if required, perfect if you’re thinking about a bit of rally driving! Mounts are always an important factor with any action camera, and here the Drift utilises its style of clip mount. While this isn’t the GoPro three-prong style universally used by many manufacturers in practical use, it offers a far more rigid connection with anything it’s mounted to. In the past, before decent EIS, this mount proved itself for its robust build and reduction in vibration when compared with the GoPro equivalent. Connecting the Drift to a Nexus 5 and an iPhone 5s via Wi-Fi was painless, and the well-designed app lets you remotely operate the camera and change its settings. The iOS version's video stream of what the camera is looking at was fairly immediate, but the same can't be said about the Android version; it shows a two-second lag.

Drift HD Ghost-S Review | PCMag Drift HD Ghost-S Review | PCMag

You also have the advantage over all other action cameras: it doesn’t have to be level, either the right way up or upside down; you twist the lens to get the horizon correct.

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Audio quality is fine, but for action videos you're probably going to want to turn the mic off anyway, or you'll be capturing a lot of wind noise. For still subjects, the built-in mic did a decent job, and it offers three levels of sensitivity adjustment. And you can always directly plug in a better external mic, which you can't do with many other cameras. The Ghost-S lets you record 1080p video at25, 30, 50, and up to 60fps withfields of view ranging from 90, 127, and 160 degrees. Setting the camera to 960p adds the option to record at 48fps, and if you want to shoot footage that you can slow down in editing, you'll have to step down to 720p, which the Ghost-S records at the same fps as 1080p, but with additional 100 and 120fps options. For both 960p and 720p settings, you're limited to the 160-degree angleof view. Drift action cameras are one of the original manufacturers and are known for an innovative design approach that enables you to capture a level horizon; however, the camera is mounted. The Drift Ghost XL Pro beats the ease of use and mount options of any other camera on the market by a long stretch.

Drift HD Ghost action camera review: Everything-but-the

Like the Contour Roam2, the Drift HD Ghost looks fantastic. The camera has a tough exterior and is waterproof to 3m down out of the box, without requiring a separate housing.

The Ghost-S's best and most differentiating feature is Drift's signature lens, which swivels up to 300 degrees by simply twisting the lens itself by hand. With the up-facing arrow to indicate the lens's upright orientation, and as long the camera is pointing in the direction you want to record, it lets you mount the camera at almost any angle while keeping a perfect orientation. By comparison, action cameras without the swiveling lens must be mounted in their upright position if you want to shoot properly oriented footage.