Product Review: Soloshot Optic 25

Late in 2018 Soloshot was having a sale on their Optic 25's as it seemed they were going to stop carrying them. I may have cheated a little and dipped into my saddle financing to buy one but I haven't completely regretted it yet! I've used it a handful of times since I bought it, mostly because it was too dark or I just frankly wasn't riding during our groundwork reboot.

The Soloshot has a very mixed bag of reviews. Some people love it, some have issues with it, and everywhere in between. There's a pretty helpful Facebook group that has both happy and unhappy customers that's helpful for trouble shooting, which is good because Soloshot is 0% help. 

If you're expecting a company to stand by their product, I'd look somewhere else. I'm not sure about the long term longevity of it, but I like using the product as it currently exists and don't have any expectations about this alleged 'indoor attachment' or any future updates to increase functionality. If you can go into it with that mindset you will be significantly less disappointed.

Given the right ring setup, the Soloshot is the perfect robotic recorder. I do 100% of my riding in a giant field in a very flat, sandy, rural area of New Jersey. There aren't any main roads, buildings or large trees nearby. Typically I let it calibrate while I do the rope circle portion of my warm-up. Then I pop the tracker in my pocket, hit record and set off.

I didn't play around with the settings at all when I started recording. It defaults to keeping the tracker at the bottom of the frame which results in a lot of empty space up top. One piece of advice: do not skimp on the memory card. Soloshot recommends several and it's not arbitrary. I used a lesser card and it actually still recorded okay, but I had a judgemental text file with my video asking me to upgrade the card so that I could film in 1080p.

The tracking, for the most part, is very good. Sometimes I'm not perfectly centered, or it drags a bit and has to rush to catch up. I feel like this might be due to where I put it - I noticed it drags more if I put it near trees, so it could be user error.

Not quite centered.

It's immensely helpful to have the footage after I ride. While the live feedback of a lesson would be better, I enjoy being able to pick small things to work on. I'm able to see that I should ask for more canter because it feels way faster than it is, working through my fussy hands and even triaging soundness are all way easier with the Soloshot. The camera itself is very easy to set up. I have a tripod that lives at the barn and I just slap it on there and go.

The Good:

• Super easy set up. Just one part to charge and start.
• It's really wonderful having footage of yourself. I love seeing myself ride and figuring out simple ways I can improve!
• Works great if you have the right setup.
• More affordable than the Pixio. You can get a new Optic 65 (with a 'tripod lite'.. not sure what that is) for $899. A similar setup for the Pixio is over $1,100. Soloshot also sells refurbished cameras and lower models for even less.

The Bad:

• Don't expect any help from Soloshot. I bought directly from them, and I didn't realize it needed a signature. After UPS tried to deliver three times it got returned to sender. I sent about a bajillion emails and got no response for getting a refund so I eventually had to file a claim with my credit card company and get a refund that way. I don't imagine their tech support is much better. I won't lie the whole thing left a bad taste in my mouth which really made me hesitate to ever write a review. It has worked for it's purpose so I did anyway.
• It can't format it's own memory cards sometimes? Make sure you format the card first. 
• No playback features or even a way to tell if you recorded anything/everything until you get home and put the memory card into your laptop.

Overall, I'm happy with my purchase. I didn't pay full price, which helps on the smattering of issues I have had. If you're not tech savvy I unfortunately couldn't recommend it; the company's lack of communication means you're kind of SOL with troubleshooting. But if you can tinker stuff yourself and want a more affordable way to record your rides and your ring setup is friendly to the Soloshot, it could be worth it.