The Kodak Playsport is fearless!

We've all been there, trekking in the Andes (well not me), Scuba Diving off the Great Barrier Reef (not me either) or riding on horseback across the Texan Desert (OK also NOT Me!) capturing all that natural in wonderful 1080p - but then, the worst happens, the camera slips from your hand and it's all over, lost - in one foul swoop. Well enter - The Kodak PlaySport I decided to give this little bit of kit the ultimate road test by taking it to the top of OldMan Conneston (1000m Elevation) on a 7 hour hike to the summit for a good mate's stag do this weekend, which I will be sharing the footage of here on The Review later this week.

But for now - the technical low down - simply put the PlaySport gives as good as it gets, packing full 1080p video shooting, Image Stabalisation, 3x Digital Zoom and also a 5 Mega Pixel still camera to boot. But the main appeal if the PlaySport is it's rugged design.

The PlaySport can be taken underwater up to 3m - which unfortunately I have not been able to test, but after seeing the footage of friend who has taken the camera diving, I can testify the output is brilliant. The PlaySport also has a rubberised exterior which stands up to some of the toughest shocks and bumps. In my road test up the mountain on Saturday I did drop the camera a couple of times onto some rather jagged slate and rock and it came away without a scratch. Overall the image stabalisation is pretty effective, however when shooting at 1080p still can be a little jumpy upon playback.

The stills camera takes nice shots, however lacks some of the bells and whistles you will find on a standalone stills camera. However the real appeal here is in the video which you can get out of it. I found that using the 720p 60FPS mode was most effective for getting a detailed image without hogging to much of the 8GB HDSD Card I had in the unit.

Other points to note is that the camera is shipped with a very handy Mini-HDMI cable for viewing photos on a big screen with ease, and a compact charging unit, which charges through a micro USB, the same interfaced used for transferring images to your Mac or PC - which also was relatively hassle free.

All in all a great bit of kit to have in the bag on a hike or walk, however if you aren't going to be putting it through some punishment you may want to opt for the Kodak Zi8 (the PlaySports non waterproof big brother) or the cheaper (however not so nice to hold) Flip Mino HD.

The Kodak PlaySport is available to buy in the UK for around £129.99