it's official...

https://gopro.com/hd-hero2-cameras/

* Full 170º, Medium 127º, Narrow 90º FOV in 1080p and 720p Video
* 120 fps WVGA, 60 fps 720p, 48 fps 960p, 30 fps 1080p Video

the link for an english user-manual isn't live, so i'm not sure if the FoV and resolution are now independent of each other, or how that works... can 960p be done at different FoVs? this was one of my wish-list items based on the original HD-HERO. looks like i'll still have to wait for 1080 @60fps

going over the specs...

HERO & H2 are both f2.8. the HERO claims "high performance in low-light situations" and the HERO2 claims "Fixed Focus".

HD: Light Sensitivity: Super low-light sensitivity (>1.4 V/lux-sec)
H2: Light Sensitivity: .84 V/lux-sec

does this mean that the HD (H1?) is better in low light?

it looks like they changed the images sensor from "1/2.5″ HD CMOS, 2.2µm-sized pixels" to "High Performance, 1/2.3” CMOS Image Sensor", and while it previously supported "5 megapixel" photos, it now supports "11MP, 8MP, 5 MP" photos. if i'm reading between the lines correctly on this (someone please correct me if i'm wrong)... the size of the image sensor is very slightly larger, but the pixel-count is slightly more than doubled and, as a result, the light sensitivity is pretty much cut in half.

if that's the case, it looks like the HD/H1 is still the best pick for a bike-cam at night. not that it's a "night camera" by any stretch, but it does a lot better than the Contour-HD, in low light.

now that there's a new H2, it looks like the HD's street price is about $200(US) for the helmet or motor-sports package.

Depends what you mean by sensitivity. In this case, signal to noise is what's most meaningful. In actuality, the charge to voltage amp, ADC, and other details are certainly optimized for the new pixel size, and with better technology, the new chip may provide better S/N than the previous version giving you net improvement in low light. So, the changed spec, from >1.4 to =0.84 my reflect an actual improvement.

that could be it... here's my Q&A with tech support...now i want one... and if it really is better at night, i want two...

I have the HERO, and can tell you the low light performance is not very good. Last night I tried to make a night ride video using a petzel Tika 2+ for my "headlight". The camera couldn't "see" the light. I tried center and spot metering. Neither worked well at all.

The video was just a black screen with a few lighted dots from the street lighs.

Otherwise, I love the camera. Just not for night use.

i'm not saying it's good in low light, but for what it is and what else is available, it wins.

i've been watching some comparisons of the HD and H2 on youtube. low light on the H2 is definitely better than the HD... less noise, more detail, and things that were just invisible on the HD show up in the H2. a side effect of this seems to be that the H2 shoots noticeably sharper images, especially when it's not in direct sunlight.

i think these two videos are the most convincing, that i now need to spend more money to upgrade my cameras...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c5Kkr9IBMnY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=esuha3hwjMU - low light test @ 0:40

for day and night commuting, where the point of having cameras is largely to record plate numbers, it looks like the old HEROs just became obsolete. looks like go-pro will be getting more of my money

edit: that 2nd link is now here - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G8O3jc9O8so
i don't know why it moved...?