I looked for threads about this, but most were a few years old. I’m looking at both set ups. I am leaning toward Pixio because it can be used indoors, but it is quite a bit more expensive. Does anyone have experience with either of these? In one of the older threads, I read that Pixio customer service wasn’t very good. I would love to hear pros and cons on either of them.
If you want it to work indoors, Pixio is your only option. Soloshot has been promising an “indoor accessory” for a long time and it hasn’t happened yet.
I like my Soloshot. I have hours of footage that I would never have if I had to impose on a friend or family member to stand outside holding a camera. It does a better job than an amateur human videographer, AND it does not talk to me while it’s filming!! But you should only get a Soloshot if you enjoy bleeding edge technology, because that’s what it is. It depends on multiple communication protocols, any of which can give you fits if they are not cooperating.
To avoid frustration, you need a good understanding of how GPS works. (Requires line of sight to multiple satellites, which are NOT in geostationary orbit – they rise and set, so depending on time of day, not to mention which ones are out of service for maintenance, you may have more or fewer of them visible, which affects how well the Soloshot can track.)
I haven’t used one, but I understand Pixio uses its own beacons, which, while I’m sure you have to charge them and place them around the arena, at least it’s all under your own control.
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I’ve had a Pixio for 2.5 years and love it. I have friends with Soloshots that love them too. When people ask me which one is better, I tell them it depends on your use case: the Pixio is the way to go if you need it to work in an indoor and if you mostly do ring riding. The Soloshot can shoot a larger area so it’s better if you need to capture say part of your XC schooling. Pixio support has been great to us, both the official support and the Facebook group, where a Pixio employee as well as the community help answer questions.
The only thing that bothers me about the Pixio beacons is that it’s annoying to set up at clinics. “Excuse me, can I walk a lap of your ring to set up my robot camera while the rider before me is finishing up?” is just not something I will do. But at home, it takes me 5 minutes to set up and is easy enough that I use it most rides.
As others have said, if you want indoors, Pixio is really your only option.
I have 2 soloshot3 cameras (both the 25 and 65) and love them! I find setup easy (once you get a system down) and the hours of footage I have had has been invaluable.
I bought my Pixio in 2016, pre-ordered it and waited months for it, so it is a few years old BUT I love that I can just download the newest version of the firmware to get the most recent upgrades etc. If this was an iPhone, I would be SOL and have to buy the newest iPhone to get all the newest features.
I feel as though they had a couple of wrinkles to iron out with the original version. I had some issues with it at first (one of the chargers stopped working, had challenges setting it up properly) but the customer service was awesome. They sent me a replacement charger for free, they emailed me with all of the things I needed to do and I was able to work through everything.
Pixio has a lot of parts. You need to charge 6 things before you use it. 1) camera 2) robot 3)4)5) 3 micro-beacons 6) watch. If you’re wanting to video for a long time (more than 1-2 hours) you will have challenges. You’ll need 2 watches for sure. You’ll need additional power sources for the micro-beacons and the Robot. It can be tricky to set up. If you are in the same environment most of the time, it will be easier. It normally takes under 5 minutes to set it up.
I love my Pixio. I am able to video-tape my rides, and I can even put the watch on my horse’s cavesson to video lungeing. There is a new bluetooth feature and you can Live Stream the video. I have used it indoors and outdoors. At clinics, people always think it is so cool, and my husband doesn’t have to come to video-tape any more!
I haven’t tried the SoloShot, so I’m not able to compare the two.
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