Drift Stealth 2 review

You can film at 1080p at 30fps, or 720p at 60fps in NTSC or 1080p at 25fps or 720 at 50fps in PAL, and while there are a few other options, these are the main ones of interest. It is possible, then, to shoot slow motion footage, but only at 720p.

The Drift 2's big feature is the rotating lens that changes the orientation of the captured video – a small white triangle shows the position. This means you can quickly set the camera to record in a vertical format when it's side-mounted on a helmet, or horizontal format when it's mounted on a car bonnet, for example. This ease of adjustment makes the mounting process a much easier task than it is with competitors as there's no convoluted mounting process needed to correct the camera's orientation. This rotation is not just limited to 90 degree turns but can be rotated through smaller angles too.

As with the Ghost-S, a twist lock back protects the MicroSD card slot, HDMI and USB slots. This can be a little fiddly to use with cold hands, and impossible to undo if wearing gloves, but as the battery is built in there really should never be any reason to open the back when you're out filming.

Wi-fi control

WiFi is a big action cam feature and the Stealth 2 connects through the Drift Connect app which works seamlessly and is one of the nicer action camera apps out there. Again, you see the slight limitations of this camera as full live is not possible – instead you have a still image showing what the camera is seeing and touching the refresh icon in the app refreshes the feed. This makes it good for adjusting the composition but you can't really use it as a full live feed, which for an action camera really isn't too much of an issue.

Viewing footage and stills that you have shot is also very easy and smooth, with the Stealth 2 saving down a smaller thumbnail video for this streaming process – and if you like you can save this version directly down to your mobile device.

All settings for video and stills quality can also be adjusted from the app's interface, further enhancing the ease of use. Stills can be shot using the app up to 12Mp, though again the live view needs refreshing every to check the composition each time you move the camera, which is annoying. The app also features a zoom slider, although this is a digital zoom rather than optical.

Battery life for action cameras is generally not great, and an hour and a half is considered good. The Stealth 2, however, manages a massive three hours, and each time we tested the camera this quoted lifespan appeared accurate.

One feature with a difference is the car DVR mode, where the Drift 2 can be used as a car dashboard cam, a feature that has recently gained interest for insurance and liability claims. Setting this up is very easy and USB plugs are readily available for less than £10 – these plug directly into a cigarette lighter socket to power the camera. It's a really nice additional feature that's easy to use and could ultimately save you a great deal of time and money if you are ever involved in a crash (as long as you don't cause it).