John,
I know the owner of GoPro.
For the price, their durability and mountability, they have found a great niche where you can hang them off the outside of your car and not be too worried. For pure in-car footage, their is a awesome $200 HD video camera available that is the size/shape of an I-pod. I forgot the manufacturer, but it's amazing. I think this would be a better fit for in-car only video (in terms of sound, and picture) - it's in H-fricken-D!!!
But I wouldn't mount it outside the car.
Captain:
The new GoPro wide angle has different internals that is far more efficient and lasts 2.5-3 hours on a set of LITHIUM ION BATTERIES. -GoPro only recommends Lithium Ion batteries in their original one, but V1 only lasts ~50 minutes on a set of batteries. Any re-chargable or 'cheaper' batteries won't last 50 minutes and dont work well atall in extreme cold climates.
Old V1 can only use a 2GB SD card = ~50 mins as well.
The New Wide-Angle camera can use a 4 (and I think 6GB) card for ~3 hours of video.
Set sound on Low, and it should be okay for mounting outside the car. If you mount it inside, remove the white weatherstripping to get more sound.
If the batteries are dead, they will only record a few minutes. I got in the habit of replacing the 2GB SD card and batteries after every 45-50 mins. The new wide angle is much better.
If my needs were purely in-car, I would get an HD camera. But since I need to look at suspension articulation, wheel travel, mount the camera in bizzare/high hazard areas (I also use it for in-car to view line/shifting of students) but as a whole, they serve my needs.
CL65 Captain has different needs and the HD cam is a better fit. With that in mind, think about what you need/will use it for, but if you're creative and want some pretty badass angles, the GoPro is hard to beat.
E-mail me or give me a ring Captain or John if you have any questions on them/need help setting up the 'setting memory' feature and others.
Oh, i belive the V1s can be updated to take 4-6GB SD cards as well...
