Turned On GoPro Unit Does All That & More
I have owned the Hypoxic Turned On status indicator for about 3 weeks and I have used it on nearly every skydive I have made since then, and I must say, the device does exactly what it is supposed to do, and it does it extremely well.
Installation:
Installation of the device was fairly straight-forward. Your camera must be upgraded to the most recent GoPro firmware at this link. Once your camera has the latest official firmware, you go to the Turned On website at this link and download a small patch file for the GoPro (currently, the Hero 3, 3+ and 4 are supported). You then copy that file to your SD card, stick the SD card back in the camera and turn the power on. The GoPro applies the patch and just like that, you're ready to install the Turned On hardware.
To install the Turned On hardware, you simply remove the rear door of your GoPro housing, move the rubber seal to the Turned On rear door and click the Turned On rear door to your GoPro housing - this gives you the necessary room in the housing. Simply connect the Turned On device to the GoPro and close the housing.
The last thing you'll need to do is route the indicator light and cable into your helmet. I decided to drill a hole in the top of my helmet, directly behind my mount, so it wasn't too visible. I used a 3/8" drill bit and that seems to be the correct size for the hole. Once the hole is drilled, route the cable into the helmet and place the indicator light where you'd like it. I am using it in my Cookie G3, and I put it close to the top-left of the helmet. The LED lights are very bright, so you shouldn't have any issues seeing it - just make sure that the LEDs are facing you, so you get the full brightness (or make sure they are facing away from you, if you find it too bright).
All of this installation process is VERY well documented on the Turned On website at this link - I had no problem following along. The only part that wasn't included was how big the hole in your helmet needed to be to route the wire through, which I figured out is a 3/8" hole.
Use and Functionality:
This is where the Turned On device shines (no pun intended). At first, I thought it wasn't quite as useful as I expected. Before the Turned On, I was using the stock GoPro remote to control everything, and that was working fine, but the battery life of the GoPro and the remote wasn't great, so I decided to try something new. I can honestly say that I will likely never use my remote again.
When I first started using the Turned On, it worked exactly as described. When the camera is turned on, it initializes the Turned On light. Once the camera is in the standby mode, the light glows a solid blue. Once you start recording, it changes and glows a solid red. When you stop recording, it goes back to a solid blue, and when you turn off the camera, it turns off the light. Pretty straight forward stuff. However, there is more to the indicator light than just on/record/off.
When you turn the camera on and the light is glowing a solid blue, it doesn't really mean that the camera is ready to record. It means that it is in the DEFAULT MODE and ready to record. If you accidentally change modes, the light will be solid blue with a flashing yellow light. If you accidentally leave the camera in the "Settings" mode or you forget to put in an SD card, the light will be a solid yellow. So it gives you a very clear indication of what setting the camera is in versus where it thinks it should be. But there's more. The Turned On light will warn you if your camera's memory card is getting full or if your camera's battery is getting low (however, I'm not sure what the threshold is where it begins to notify you) by flashing a yellow light. It will also warn you if the camera's temperature is too hot (again, not sure what that threshold is).
As you can see, this is not just a simple "on/off/record" indicator - it is much more than that. I am thoroughly pleased with the device and I can't see myself not using it anytime I'm flying with my GoPro. I highly recommend it.
Where to buy:
You can buy your own Turned On GoPro Indicator Light System at ChutingStar right here.
-Steve Hubbard is a Florida skydiver employed by Aerodyne Research LLC handling the company's IT, demo program and boogie tour.