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Gopro/Contour are great ... in addition to a real camera. You can put a helmet camera places a real one would never go, and get shots that would be difficult with a bigger camera.
Being a fixed focal length, and usually on the wider (almost fisheye) end, they don't do well for subjects farther away. In terms of imaging sensors, they're not much better than a cameraphone.
Pic related, from my Contour Roam last weekend. ($100 camera.)
Also have...
-Cameraphone - Droid, 2x zoom, 8mp ... Pretty shitty as a camera, but I almost always have it with me.
-P&S - Sony "bridge" camera. 12x optical zoom, 6mp, P/S/A/M, decent flash (though it takes for-fucking-ever to recycle), and runs off 2xAA batteries.
-Nikon DSLR - Fuckhueg, but worth it when I want to take good pics. Besides the camera itself, I'm usually bringing one or two additional lenses, tripod(s), strobe(s), remotes, gels/diffusers, filters ... adds up to a lot of volume and weight in the pack.
Really depends on what kind of pics you want out of it. Personally I wouldn't get a camera that doesn't have a full-manual mode. A lot of the newer ones have optics about on part with the cheaper DSLRs. Don't get sucked into the biggest-megapixel cameras - More pixels = smaller pixels = less light to each pixel = noisier/grainier image.
Limiting yourself to a waterproof and "tough" camera really limits your options with other specs. I've abused the shit out of my Sony and it's still cranking out great shots.
