Helmet cam or bike mounted cam?

[Wonko The Sane]

I keep thinking about getting a cam for two reasons,

Evidence for insurance / police if needed, (hopefully never needed) and I am aware it can be used against me.

Critique of my riding if I've had a near miss or something didn't seem to go as it should I can have someone (probably you lot) say where I perhaps went wrong and could do better.


I'm not overly keen on attaching something to my helmet as I do a lot of motorway at motorway speeds so wind noise and it pulling on my head is something I'm keen to avoid, that and I'll have to remember to charge the batteries.

I was thinking of fitting a small bullet type camera either mounted within the fairings behind a small hole or just attached to the mirror mount (ZZR's have chunky mirror arms) and wired into the bike's electrics.


what's the pro's and cons of these options and what would you recommend and why (both mount and make)

ta
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[pepperami]

I have been thinking about a camera as well, so will be interested in this also.
OP what cameras have you had in mind?
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[Bigvern72]

I bought a ghost S which is a great camera but it's not quite right for me coz I have a flip top helmet (shark) and I can't put the chinguard up/down with the camera 'stuck' on.

I've not tried the bike mount yet though, but I prefer the idea of the helmet cam coz it looks where you look. I got one of those shoulder holders for it but that's a waste of space.

Whichever you choose make sure you get a mic extension and put the lead inside your helmet....or at least away from the wind as the wind noise on them is pretty annoying lol.
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Tracer 700 (66) and Triumph America (65) - current rides
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[techathy]

I've found the best option when cycling is a high resolution camera on your head & then discrete fixed cameras front & rear.

Currently I'm using a pair of 4kam Wide boy cameras with a record only black box which is housed in my battery pack. I then use a Panasonic HX-A500E for high resolution recording.

[Kaya75]

I've been thinking along the same lines, but I can't really decide on helmet or bike mount, there's a thread I read on here where someone had a off after a altercation with a car, but the helmet cam come off when it it the road and he couldn't retrieve it cuz it was on a busy dual carriageway..

With bike cams I think the only use would be incrimination, and smidsy's but I'd still get one, the mirror post would be OK on the zzr but I think closer to the center and main frame would reduce vibes..

Right at this moment, I'm thinking of a bullet cam tucked away out of sight, or maybe a iPhone solely Setup for recording then if I'm in doubt of incriminations I'd prob forget the pass code in the stress of it all

But for me, I 99% towards the bike cam opposed to lid cam.. The big advantage of the lid cam is it follows your line of sight I guess the last thing you look at is the thing you hit or are hit by.. But they look wrong, i may wait for the "next generation" helmet with cam, FaceTime, argmented reality and holographically enhanced roads with names like palm beach, and route 666 zombie scape for my daily commute
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[notbike]

Pros fairings: no helmet faffery, charge through bike battery

Cons fairings: not able to see everything, may need one for the rear in case of rear ending, more prone to damage cause heavy ass bike falling on it, could forget it on your bike, difficult to critique riding as well due to not seeing where you're looking or doing your obs/where your hands are and what they're doing. Any post-crash conversation between you and the other party will be missed out if your camera is flung down the road with your bike.

Pros helmet: can see everything from your perspective therefore better material for critiquing ride, can record sound without too much wind noise and at higher quality (get admission of fault from person causing accident/evidence), probably less likely to get damaged/lost if you crash than if fairing mounted, cant really forget it cause it's stuck to your head

Cons helmet: helmet faffery, cant charge through bike battery safely (but ghost S has multiple batteries anyway..), probably fuck your helmet up if you land camera first, irritating at high speed (if its a gopro, i do motorways fine with a drift S stuck to my head)

Tbh it's kind of a balanced pot, but for me the clear winner is the helmet. A lot of cameras have removable batteries that you can buy on the cheap, if you charge them all at once you have plenty of hours of battery life, and SD cards are massive nowadays so you can have plenty of hours of footage on one card.

Also if you're worried about incriminating yourself because you forgot you left footage of you doing 50 in a 30 then you're doing it wrong. Always either delete footage after your ride or plonk it on a HDD for later editing/watching/whatever you're going to do with it, then wipe your SD card fresh.

[-Matt-]

I personally prefer helmet mounted - its 'steadier' footage usually and gives you the ability to look around on focus on things around you.

I've used Drifts top-mounted on my helmet and haven't had any noticable problems with them in terms of wind-drag. Also used SJ4000's bike mounted.

Worth considering also; depending on how you ride/how often you properly format the card etc.
https://www.bikechatforums.com/viewtopic.php?t=309844&highlight=

I rarely bother to user mine anymore, I initially got it for ''insurance cover'', but have ended up using it mainly for to record travelling. Using them to record day-to-day riding is potentially a liability as much as it is a benefit for a lot of people, I think. I'm leaning more towards the ''try not to crash in the first place and you won't need the camera'' perspective now days. Plus if you do crash, it might get lost/damaged/not record the footage properly anyway. I've dropped my helmet before and lost a large segment of video that was mid-recording.

[Wonko The Sane]

[Beehive Bedlam]

I was looking at the Innovv C3 not so long ago but bought a refurbished drift from eBay.

I'm still going to get the Innovv at some point the fit and forget loop record option is very appealing as is having it concealed on the bike.

Also helmet cams become annoying having to charge every day once the novelty wears off. Not bothered with mine in two months.

[techathy]

One thing to consider is that it's not unknown for a camera's SD card to go AWOL. This is including at least once instance where the SD card was missing but a screw on end cap holing in said card was firmly in place on the camera. This is part of the reason I go with fixed to bike cameras & wear an other camera.

[weasley]

One other thing I seem to recall was about the police's right to seize footage. From memory they can take a helmet cam but may need a warrant to search your vehicle. Or something Rogerborgy.
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Yamaha XJ600 | Yamaha YZF600R Thundercat | KTM 990 SMT | BMW F900XR TE

[Rogerborg]

[M.C]

TBH it's a bit of a pain having a helmet cam'. They're good as they capture what you're looking at, but I have to charge mine every couple of days, wipe the card if I know it's got anything incriminating on

Also it doesn't capture your mistakes that well, all the little things you're aware of don't somehow translate on camera. Found that to be the case generally, watching near misses back it all looks boring.

In future I'll probably go for a bike mounted camera (you can forget about) or not bother at all.

[doggone]

Mounts are relatively cheap, you can try it both ways and the stick-on clamp things look OK left on even if rarely used.
Vibration from the bike can make your recordings all but unusable - helmet is much better for that and as pointed out the camera looks where you look - which is good if on a scenic run and you want to dawdle to gawp or briefly stop at a great view.

[Cadbury]

I have the drift ghost, and I used to helmet mount it, until I purchased the shark skwal, which seems to consist solely of concave planes and so doesn't allow sticky mounts to fit securely anywhere.
Decided to attach it to my bike for the first time at the weekend (mirror stalk) and a stone flew up and cracked the lens! Probably just really bad luck (and thankfully the drift lenses are replaceable) but maybe worth considering with regards to positioning if you go down the on bike route.

[andyscooter]

with mine it depends on what bike I'm on

the little un has nowhere to mount a camera so I put it on my helmet

the burgman was easy so mounted it on there

https://youtu.be/Hct93C7W70U

helmet cam

https://youtu.be/EtfE-xoNqiY

bike cam
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[Snowdonia Rider]

I notice no increased wind noise or drag with my GoPro mounted on my helmet. There's more vibration when I mount it on my bike, footage is still acceptable though. I'd deffo go with helmet mounted as it captures so much more, you can't be accused of not doing your checks etc. Just remember to do them! If you ride legally then you have nothing to worry about, just listen to Mr T and don't be a fool.

Also it's all well and good saying don't crash etc and you won't need one, but what happens when you're in stationary traffic and the freak in front of you decides to randomly reverse?! That happened to me a couple months ago and yep, you guessed it, I wasn't wearing my camera. Gutted is an understatement! Luckily my mudguard didn't crack, just paint rubbed off. The bloke was genuinely dismayed at his actions and was quite willing to sort it out, but just imagine the entertainment factor if I had of had my camera that day!
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[Rogerborg]

Workmate had a minicab reverse into his Bandit. The bumper rode right up over his front wheel and "parked" the bike solidly upright.

The chap got out and started with (I repeat faithfully) "What you do? You ride into me! You pay!" while dialling his phone, doubtless to get the minicab massive on scene.

Fortunately the reason he'd reversed was to unblock a junction and let a Scotplod car through, and for a wonder they heard the horning and shouting, stopped and settled his hash.

Without a camera though, it would have been his word and no-doubt several more "independent" "witnesses" against bikey's.

He then tried to weasel out of paying several times, but that's by-the-by. I fully expect my camera to pay for itself sooner or later.
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[Mudshark]

I have an Ion Air Pro Lite, mounted on the mirror stalk.

means you don't get all those car drivers on their phones at lights, but otherwise fine.

I got it cheep from tescos, got a lot of alternate mounts etc. from Staples

thankfully I don't post videos up anywhere. But hopefully if ever needed, footage will be there
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[Ribenapigeon]

I use a Sony ASV30 attached to my handlebars. You want to mount it as close to the Yoke nut as possible as this seems to be the point on a bike of the least vibration. I also have it mounted using a quick release mount from a camera tripod. Its nice and secure and makes it easy to mount and release.

Helmet cams are ok as long as they are small bullet stule ones. Ive had a couple and theyre quiet enoiugh.

I would add, get 1080p anyhting less is not so good at capturing licence plate numbers in case youw ant to sue that twat in an Audi who trys to kill you.

[Rogerborg]

[doggone]

[Ribenapigeon]

[Hahadumball]

helmet mounted for me, tried fairings and couldn't get what i wanted so stuck it on my helmet.

get used to the drag it causes pretty quick, bit of a pain if you bash it on stuff you have to set it up again.
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[Fin]

As always, Helmet chin mount FTW!

If that's not an option then put it on the bike.