Add Some Gnar to Your Photo Kit

The little plastic gadget that’ll change the way you GoPro.
www.thedrive.com

Share

A giddy group of tech journalists nervously shift their weight, fidgeting some. Zac Moseley, owner of Classic Car Club Manhattan (CCC), is giving his “how-to-not-wreck-our-supercars” speech. We’re about to set off on a drive with four exceptional vehicles to test a small plastic box that aims to unlock the full potential of your GoPro or DSLR camera. Meet the Gnarbox.

dsc05756.jpg
Jonathan Harper/thedrive.com

Having grown up in the glory days of RadioShack and Sky Mall, I’m a sucker for a good gadget. Problem is, most new gadgets these days are already on their way to obsolescence. The Gnarbox actually provides a platform unlike any other on the market, something the iPhone attempts, but falls flat on its face in executing: When presented with large, high quality image and video, iPhones are either be unable to transmit the footage, or simply unable to store it in the first place because of the sheer size of HD video files (think gigabytes, in multiples).

With built-in memory and a fast processor, the Gnarbox aims to help you get those HD GoPro clips or RAW images edited, posted, and shared quickly, as opposed to languishing on your hard drive with all of the other “extreme” video clips that will never see the light of day. We were presented with a non-functioning production spec case and a fully-functioning prototype to test. (The one with the wires is the prototype). Gnarbox rep Tim Feess came along for the ride, too.

dsc05786new.jpg
Jonathan Harper/thedrive.com

We shot 4K GoPro clips in the hills outside New York City, all the while enjoying some of CCC’s finest wares—a Porsche 911 GT3, Lamborghini Huracán, BMW i8 and McLaren MP4-12C. After properly wringing out the cars to fill our memory cards, our convoy turned south back towards Manhattan. Within minutes of hitting the highway, Feess had connected to my GoPro and pinched a few clips, edited a quick cut, and turned out out a 15-second video. Full quality, read to post. Boom.

Straight up: For people who work with photo and video, and need to be able to share those high-quality clips and images quickly, this is huge. The technology is military-meets-ski-bro, and it makes perfect sense. Shoot, edit, and share, anywhere. Quick-hit results below.

The Gnarbox will cost $250 and will ship in April 2016.