Can't decide which camera, please help!! Newbie!

[snowpunk022]

Hi everyone, well I have scoured the internet and these boards looking for info and reading reviews and I cant make up my mind. I am buying a entry level camera for a christmas gift for my dad and Im curious which you would pick between these 3 I have narrowed it down to. This will be an upgrade from a cheap underwater disposable and I am hoping to stay around or under $250.
A.) Sealife Mini
B.) GoPro 960 with the Eye of mine flat lense housing
C.) Gopro 1080 with stock housing

Which would you guys pick as the best camera? Looking for 100'ft water depth, easy to use, stills and video and decent quality
Thanks so much I am so confused! Or could there be another?
Thanks for any input!
Jen

 

[Nwcid]

I would like to follow this thread. I have seen several in the $300-$400 range that look like they might have been ok. For me the max would be $500.

 

[tbone1004]

Video Cameras - Dive Right In Scuba - Plainfield, IL
Check those out, lots of gopro options, call the shop and talk to them, conveniently Mike is a cool dude to talk to and has great prices to boot.
You'd want the outdoor edition of the hero2
a lot depends on what you want to do. If you want to take picture pictures, the sealife will be better since you can see what you're shooting. gopro has the lcd backpack, but it's another $80. Gopro will do better video, but you are limited with lighting options. You're better off calling Mike, saying hey, I'm looking to spend around $250, here's what I want to do, help me do it

 

[Mark Derail]

For video :
Apparently the GoPro 960 has a better FPS (frames per second) than the 1080p model.
UW 1080p @ 24fps will be a lot less beautiful than 720p @ 60 fps

For every pixel above 720p the amount of bytes needed is exponential. Even 640x480 video viewed on a 1080p TV that does 60hz or 120hz the upscaled video will be beautiful.
But at 24fps it will look and move weird, have a huge file footprint, less recording time.

 

[HollywoodiversImaging]

I would suggest going with the new Go Pro Hero2 and either the eye of mine housing, or just the flat lens replacement for the GoPro housing. We are working on bringing in a glass front element for the housings which will be another great option.