Update on the Ion Speed Pro. Not sure why this model isn't mentioned more often since it seems to perform comparably to the Contour Roam -- although the Contour seems better suited to helmet mounting than the Ions.

The Ion Speed Pro price was appealing now at $70 through Amazon. I wouldn't have bought one at the original MSRP of nearly $300. I'm betting this model has been discontinued. I'd hope that Ion will update the same basic design with a better sensor, longer battery life or interchangeable batteries.

Feels rugged -- solid feeling aluminum tube. Supposedly weatherproof as-is. Decent accessories and versatile mounting kit, although it lacks a helmet mount. The cylindrical shape could easily be farm rigged to fit most road helmet vent cutouts.

Only two rides so far, one late daytime, one night.

Good basic bike camera for daytime. 1080/30fps and 720/60 fps both look good, capture license plate detail.

Good auto exposure, leans toward slight over exposure so road and trail are well exposed but sky is blown. Adapts quickly to changes in light and shadow on shady trails, underpasses, etc.

Decent flare resistance considering 180 degree FOV. Reasonably low veiling flare, some ghosting flare with piston artifacts.

Almost useless at night. Blacked out shadows, whited out license plates, heavy mesh screen noise artifacts. Very old school sensor performance. If I was in an accident it would only help identify the basic vehicle type.

My Ricoh P&S digicams record better night video with good dynamic range, but only at low rez. My Nikon V1 would make a good nighttime bike camera but I don't want to shake the lens to pieces. I wish Ricoh and Nikon would enter the action/cycling camera game.

Battery runs right at two hours. There an odd break every 40 minutes, but fairly seamless transition to the next file. Supposedly Ion Speed Pro can run extended off an outboard USB battery. Haven't tried that yet.

Lessee, other stuff...
"stability on bumpy road?"
Seems okay, typical for the genre. Good on smooth roads, okay on chipseal and gravel.

"night time recording?"
Meh. Get a Go Pro if this is a priority. Or a dash cam and rig up a weatherproof housing.

"sound quality?"
Okay when I'm not moving. Totally wiped out by wind noise in motion. But there's an external mic jack and another reviewer says the sound is good with the right mic. Can't figure out where the opening is for the built in mic or I'd try a wind screen.

My Nikon V1 records very good audio in motion, and I've farm rigged wind screens over the built in stereo mics.

I'm disappointed in the Ion's nighttime performance, and at the original MSRP of $300 I'd have returned it pronto. But at $70 I'll probably keep it.

I'll upload samples to YouTube this week. Trying to edit down to a reasonable length.

And I'll add some screencaps from my test videos to this post later. But I'm off for a bike ride this morning before it gets too hot.