Pilot Products: VIRB Ultra 30

The VIRB Ultra starts and stops recording at the touch of a single button; its battery lasts two hours, 15 minutes; you can navigate the shallow menu system and manipulate the touch-screen viewfinder even when the camera is its waterproof case; and the picture automatically adjusts when the camera is mounted upside down. Those features are aimed squarely at rival GoPro.

The VIRB Ultra also adds some handy features for pilots. Groundspeed, GPS altitude, and acceleration forces (or Gs) can be included and shown in each video. (Other measures such as heart rate and maps can be added through other paired devices.) My favorite VIRB Ultra feature is an internal stabilization system that has to be seen to be believed. It smooths out turbulence and keeps the horizon steady even when the airplane is getting knocked around.

The VIRB Ultra can be controlled in flight or on the ground via the Garmin Pilot app, or a free VIRB app. Garmin officials say they will make the camera even more aviation friendly in the future with filters that reduce or eliminate prop blur. Garmin also has developed headset jacks that can plug into the VIRB Ultra to record cockpit audio.

It’s also got a Siri-like verbal command system. Just say “OK, Garmin, start recording,” and the camera turns on (and off when you tell it to).

I recently flew with the VIRB Ultra on a mountain flying trip to Colorado and was favorably impressed with its performance and ease of use. It came as close as any camera can at giving a sense of the grandeur of flying in such an awe-inspiring place, and the vibrant colors of the Rocky Mountains in autumn came through beautifully. It never failed to record something I intended to record, or took still images when I wanted video, things that seem to happen with frustrating frequency with other action cameras.

I also look forward to using it as a teaching tool while giving flight instruction. Speed, altitude, ground track, and recorded audio can be extremely useful in post-flight debriefs.

As a regular GoPro user, I’ve already invested in a bag full of mounts made for attaching the cameras to airplanes, and Garmin shrewdly takes advantage of this. The VIRB Ultra fits in the same mounts, using the same hardware, as its rival.

GoPro already had a big lead in the burgeoning action-camera market when Garmin jumped in, and the Kansas company has had false starts with discontinued models. Also, GoPro continues to raise the bar with new products such as its Karma drone, accessories, and aggressively priced cameras. The VIRB Ultra is an extremely capable, aviation-friendly camera that fits neatly into Garmin’s product ecosystem. But breaking GoPro’s dominance in a market it invented isn’t going to be easy.