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dornam
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PostPosted: 21:45 - 01 May 2018    Post subject: Helmet camera Reply with quote

Hi guys, I was wondering what options are out there for helmet cameras? Looking for something that's waterproof, Full HD with a decent battery life. What are people using? I was looking at GoPro 6 but it is £300 and users complain about battery life. Thank you!
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NJD
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PostPosted: 21:58 - 01 May 2018    Post subject: Reply with quote

Drift, GoPro or SJCam (a cheap GoPro copy that I know not much about but sometimes gets discussed) are your three main brands to be looking at, the first two more so IMO.

I use a GoPro Hero 3+. eBay search and you can get one, with some extra's perhaps, for £100 used (providing you trust the advert). 1080p 60 FPS and jobs a gooden.

Helmet cameras are a bit of a gimmick so I wouldn't spend a lot on them. Crash and they're more money wasted and the truth is the fish eye lens doesn't really work in your favour in the way you think it might if an accident occurs.

You'll want to decide if you like the slimline-ness of Drift or the Bulk of the GoPro best.
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HappyDays
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PostPosted: 22:30 - 01 May 2018    Post subject: Reply with quote

Hi,

I use the iON camera, seems fine see link for my footage

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pNn7WfVyGBg&t=15s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g68LmObaJZI&t=15s
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ThatDippyTwat
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PostPosted: 06:54 - 02 May 2018    Post subject: Reply with quote

Venerable, old, cheap SJ4000. Crystal clear footage. Beware shit quality fakes.
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Freddyfruitba...
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PostPosted: 11:58 - 02 May 2018    Post subject: Reply with quote

Contour Roam here.
Pros:
Good quality footage
Mounts on the side, not top, of your helmet thereby avoiding Teletubby syndrome
Cons:
No built-in screen so you can't preview anything till you get to a computer
Battery is built in so you can't fit a spare on the fly; you just have to wait until it's recharged before using it again
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rpsmith79
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PostPosted: 12:24 - 02 May 2018    Post subject: Reply with quote

Freddyfruitbat wrote:
Contour Roam here.
Pros:
Good quality footage
Mounts on the side, not top, of your helmet thereby avoiding Teletubby syndrome
Cons:
No built-in screen so you can't preview anything till you get to a computer
Battery is built in so you can't fit a spare on the fly; you just have to wait until it's recharged before using it again


Another Contour Roam (2) user here, having tried a cheapo SJCam, but no suitable way to mount to a helmet, picked up a 2nd hand Roam for about £60, has some nice little features like a rotatable lens with laser level, so no matter what angle you mount it at you can get nice level footage

Biggest downside for me though is the rather poor internal mic, anything above 15mph is just constant wind noise, and though i do not blog, would be nice to at least hear the engine noise. The only other drawback is no loop footage, so once the memory is full, it will just stop recording, which is no good for long runs (though i suspect the battery will have given out by then anyway), so you do have to religiously download your footage on a regular basis

But, for the price, and slim mounting, it is a very good cam for the money i paid for it
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doggone
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PostPosted: 14:25 - 02 May 2018    Post subject: Reply with quote

rpsmith79 wrote:

Biggest downside for me though is the rather poor internal mic, anything above 15mph is just constant wind noise,

There's no way round this unless you have an external mic tucked out of the wind, preferably with a foam or furry cover.
Some of the youtubers like RJ and Schaaf use a separate audio recorder just for engine noise.
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Freddyfruitba...
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PostPosted: 14:42 - 02 May 2018    Post subject: Reply with quote

rpsmith79 wrote:
Biggest downside for me though is the rather poor internal mic, anything above 15mph is just constant wind noise, and though i do not blog, would be nice to at least hear the engine noise.

Yes very true. I read somewhere that it if you attach a lump of microphone foam over the mic hole it really helps; and as it happens, because I'm off on a trip tomorrow I splashed 99p on eBay for a microphone foam cover, and fixed a bit over the hole at the weekend. First attempt blew off immediately; haven't tested the revised version yet but will report back if it's any help!!

rpsmith79 wrote:
The only other drawback is no loop footage

Indeed - I forgot about that in my 'cons' list - that's a biggie. Means that if you want to use it for routine recording of your everyday riding you have to get in the habit of pressing the 'format SD card' button on the back before setting out.
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Last edited by Freddyfruitbat on 16:31 - 02 May 2018; edited 1 time in total
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rpsmith79
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PostPosted: 16:01 - 02 May 2018    Post subject: Reply with quote

Freddyfruitbat wrote:
Yes very true. I read somewhere that it if you attach a lump of microphone foam over the mic hole it really helps; and as it happends because I'm off on a trip tomorrow I splashed 99p on eBay for a microphone foam cover, and fixed a bit over the hole at the weekend. First attempt blew off immediately; haven't tested the revised version yet but will report back if it's any help!!


Tried that, and failed, i have had mine to bits, and tried stuffing it with foam, even 3D printed an external wind shield, complete with foam, nothing worked

Only solution i have seen is to take it apart and solder in your own external mic, which apparently is loads better

Like this guy has done

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dhTkYn5a8yY

But even with all that, i would still recommend it over an SJ/GoPro style cam for helmet mounting
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grr666
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PostPosted: 16:35 - 02 May 2018    Post subject: Reply with quote

doggone wrote:

There's no way round this unless you have an external mic tucked out of the wind, preferably with a foam or furry cover.
Some of the youtubers like RJ and Schaaf use a separate audio recorder just for engine noise.

I have a 2 mics in my 'Media' lid one for the Drift cam, and another for the Sena, If I want bike noise but no heavy
breathing or swearing on my 'home' vids I just stick a mic in my inside jacket pocket and feed the wire out of my collar and
into my camera wind noise down a good 90%. I also have a lid with none of those distractions, depends what kind of ride I'm on.
Had my doubts whether or not I'd be able to hear phone calls and be heard clearly at the other end cos my bikes a bit
deafening Laughing But inside the lid it's a suprisingly quiet place and the mic and speakers work pretty well.
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Last edited by grr666 on 16:52 - 02 May 2018; edited 1 time in total
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stinkwheel
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PostPosted: 16:41 - 02 May 2018    Post subject: Reply with quote

I have an ion air pro camera. Wish I'd bought a mobius instead.


Very hackable too. Remote lenses etc. If I wanted a helmet cam, I'd have a covert one mounted inside the lid where you'd put an in helmet speaker with the lens mounted in a hole in the chin vent.
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Freddyfruitba...
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PostPosted: 19:26 - 02 May 2018    Post subject: Reply with quote

rpsmith79 wrote:
Freddyfruitbat wrote:
I splashed 99p on eBay for a microphone foam cover, and fixed a bit over the hole at the weekend. First attempt blew off immediately; haven't tested the revised version yet but will report back if it's any help!!
Tried that, and failed, i have had mine to bits, and tried stuffing it with foam, even 3D printed an external wind shield, complete with foam, nothing worked

As it happens, I went out briefly this evening, so decided to plonk the Contour on. The good news is that the foam blob stayed in place this time; the bad news is that you're dead right, it makes fuck all difference to the wind noise! Laughing
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doggone
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PostPosted: 19:34 - 02 May 2018    Post subject: Reply with quote

My Sony RX100 (compact camera) is badly affected by wind noise across the onboard mic too, I got a couple of these to stick over the holes and it helps.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Self-Adhesive-Sticky-Felt-Pads-Black-Furniture-Tabs-Wood-Floor-Scratch-Protector/332380945739

The small square sample was easily enough to make four small sticky covers.
They aren't going to stay on long if they get wet though.
It's a sort of dense felty material rather than foam.
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Hong Kong Phooey
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PostPosted: 09:40 - 06 May 2018    Post subject: Reply with quote

Go pro session 4, waterproof, small, one click to start /stop, good battery life and reliable with great quality, 1080p at 60fps is superb.
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Andy_Pagin
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PostPosted: 10:44 - 06 May 2018    Post subject: Reply with quote

Drift Stealth 2. Can't fault it. Not sure if they're making them anymore, wherever I look they're out of stock.
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dornam
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PostPosted: 11:10 - 07 May 2018    Post subject: Reply with quote

Andy_Pagin wrote:
Drift Stealth 2. Can't fault it. Not sure if they're making them anymore, wherever I look they're out of stock.


What is the battery life on it? Thanks!
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HappyDays
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PostPosted: 21:05 - 07 May 2018    Post subject: Ion Reply with quote

Also the Ion has a microphone input.
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dornam
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PostPosted: 08:44 - 08 May 2018    Post subject: Reply with quote

Hong Kong Phooey wrote:
Go pro session 4, waterproof, small, one click to start /stop, good battery life and reliable with great quality, 1080p at 60fps is superb.


How do you deal with the wind? Found a used Go Pro 4 (not session) for £120 with 3 extra batteries and waterproof case, the only thing that I'm worried about is that I won't be able to hear anything but wind.
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stinkwheel
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PostPosted: 12:51 - 08 May 2018    Post subject: Re: Ion Reply with quote

happyDays wrote:
Also the Ion has a microphone input.


But isn't waterproof with the back off.

Another option is to stick a micromuff over the pickup.
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“Rule one: Always stick around for one more drink. That's when things happen. That's when you find out everything you want to know.
I did the 2010 Round Britain Rally on my 350 Bullet. 89 landmarks, 3 months, 9,500 miles.
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Hong Kong Phooey
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PostPosted: 00:27 - 09 May 2018    Post subject: Reply with quote

dornam wrote:
Hong Kong Phooey wrote:
Go pro session 4, waterproof, small, one click to start /stop, good battery life and reliable with great quality, 1080p at 60fps is superb.


How do you deal with the wind? Found a used Go Pro 4 (not session) for £120 with 3 extra batteries and waterproof case, the only thing that I'm worried about is that I won't be able to hear anything but wind.


Peppermint tea.

Oh, wind noise - it has two mic's - front and back. It tries to switch between the two depending on wind noise but it's pointless as above ~40mph that's all you hear (on camera and in your lid).

However the Hero 4 probably has ablity to plug in an external mic, but that might mean it's no longer be waterproof.
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Andy_Pagin
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PostPosted: 13:25 - 09 May 2018    Post subject: Reply with quote

dornam wrote:
Andy_Pagin wrote:
Drift Stealth 2. Can't fault it. Not sure if they're making them anymore, wherever I look they're out of stock.


What is the battery life on it? Thanks!
The longest I've used it for is about two hours and the battery was still going strong, that's with the WiFi feature switched off. In total I've recorded something like seven hundred hours and there's no noticeable battery degradation.

Also worth mentioning I've found it very water resistant. I once had a two hour ride in torrential rain only to find I'd forgotton to put the back cover plate on, didn't cause any problemf for the camera.
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Last edited by Andy_Pagin on 15:57 - 10 May 2018; edited 1 time in total
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TheGazWaz
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PostPosted: 13:55 - 09 May 2018    Post subject: Reply with quote

Been using a Drift Stealth 2 for the past year and half.

Pros :-
Vid quality is really good in the day time
Small profile so doesn't stick out too much
Front lens rotates to accept variable mounting positions.
Battery lasts about 2 hours
Light weight
Chunky buttons that can be operated with gloves on

Cons :-
Vid quality suffers on dark nights
No preview screen
Battery is built in so can't take backup batteries
Sound quality is useless with the built in mic.
Software can be buggy sometimes requiring hard reset

I've done an external mic conversion on this camera which is quite easy and now gives me the options to either plug into my helmet mic for speech etc or run an external mike anywhere on the bike.

I have a 32gig card in there running video at 720 60fps in 15 minute intervals.
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