I've had it for a few weeks now, and my girlfriend just bought her own on Woot as well. The quality can go from amazing to crappy depending on your settings and how much battery/space you want to use. I usually set it at 720p/30fps high bitrate. I get just over an hour per 4GB and about 3.5 hours total battery. If you increase or decrease quality, it'll change those values.
The video on this thread was shot in 1080p/30fps/high as a test, and and it definitely looks better than 720p on high. The difference between 1080/720 on high bitrate is about 5 more MB per minute (~77 vs ~72). I'm testing tonight what the difference in battery life is between settings (I'll report here when done). If you set it to 720p/60fps (60fps is only available at 720p), it obviously doubles the space and uses more battery.
Keep in mind there's a different FOV for each resolution. 1080p has 120 degrees FOV and 960/720 has 170.
Audio quality is not that great at speed. But that's to be expected for any action cam with wind noise. I cover my microphone in a little piece of velcro (foam supposedly works better, I just don't have any) to help with wind noise.
Here's a sample of the audio. You can also mod the device to allow for an external microphone, but you might as well just get a cheap digital audio recorder and dub the audio in post (which I might do eventually).
As far as editing, I have a Linux machine at home, so I use Cinelerra. I'm pretty happy with it. It can be a little buggy, but it works pretty well. I've also used OpenShot, but I didn't like it. On my Windows work machine, I use Lightworks, but it's got a huge learning curve (it's a pro-quality editor), and I still don't know it very well. I prefer to do it at home in Cinelerra. It really helps to transcode the raw footage from it's native H.264 into dnxhd for editing. You can then transcode the rendered video into x264 for Youtube. There are a few guides for Cinelerra on how to do that. Let me know if you need help (assuming you use Linux).
Regarding an iPad, I'm not so sure. There may be video editors out there, but the question remains of transferring the files to it. I doubt it supports OTG-USB, and there's no SD card reader. Plus, processing power for rendering would be lacking.
Also, do yourself a favor and pick up a
32GB SD card (max supported for the Contour). It comes with a 4GB card, which I use as a spare, but that's like... an hour at the lowest settings.
Overall, I'm very happy with the purchase. I much prefer this form factor over the GoPro. It's easier to mount anywhere with the rotating lens. I bought a few mounts for it as well:
Amazon.com : Contour 2755 Flex Strap Mount for Contour Cameras : Camcorders : Camera & Photo
Amazon.com : ARKON CMP205 Motorcycle and Bicycle Handle Bar Mount with 5 Inch flexible extension for Cameras with 1/4 20 screw thread : Tripod Camera Mounts : Camera & Photo (kinda wobbly with the arm, vibrate-y without it. Working on the audio quality. The FZ8 causes a very loud buzz above 6-7k)
): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UrY1ruH_GoQ