Recording bike rides - Helmet Cams

Originally Posted by rictus01

I've got the ATC 2k, works well enough, lasts a couple of hours per set of batteries, and a 2gb sd card, lasts just over an hour.

perhaps not the best available quality, but for the money (that being £70 all in), it's good enough.

Cheers Mark.

Where do you mount yours as im having trouble figuring that out, the strap wont reach round my helmet?

I have this one http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/520-SONY-EXVIE...1%7C240%3A1318 cost me £67 delivered from the States. I even got away with the import tax. I bought a 40 gig mini DVR recorder for £60 brand new off ebay too which was a bargain as its this one http://www.usaspyshop.com/mini-video...er-p-1188.html and it is fantastic quality played through the 40" LCD.

[rictus01]

Originally Posted by arcdef

Where do you mount yours as im having trouble figuring that out, the strap wont reach round my helmet?

in the mounting kit there are a number of velcro straps that can be jointed together and will fit round you helmet (with the other base mount supplied), but as it comes with a handlebar mount that's what I normally use, the clamp bolt wil also allow you to replace a fairing bolt with it as well, I got good results mounting it on the end of the front axle to.

Cheers Mark.

I got the ATC-2k as well and have used it for a few years now.
Mines mounted via the tomtom bracket suckered to the tank looking through the screen.

AT-1 is the next cam for me though 32gig storage and remote recording for 150 quid

[northwind]

All the Oregon ones have a possible failing, lots of them suffer an image destabilising issue, which basically comes across as a big wobble. Like this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XH3Z-xQYEMU

For ages I thought this was engine interference or vibration, til I realised it happens with the engine off 10 out of 10 for observation there. It comes and goes but I stopped trusting mine. But you can get decent footage:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGJAyWeCSAc

(yes, this is properly slow riding, for various reasons. But it's a nice clip)

Still can't recommend it. Hero cam is better at everything, even if you never get the wobble, but enough folk do to make it just not a great choice.

I've not used a tachyon, they look quite decent but I do like my seperate camera-and-recorder setup now:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4kSN8R5EG14

Obviously after youtube compression, everything is pretty low quality but you can still see in that one that the image quality is better and smoother, it basically looks less compressed despite actually being more compressed than the knockhill vid.

Aiptek dv8900 + Sporty Cam





Package was £100 from Maplin, got it in October 08, unfortunately I don’t think they stock it anymore.

DV8900 runs on nokia battery, cheap to buy and lasts two hours (recording), takes max size 2GB SD cards, which gives about 2hrs footage at 640x480 in .ASF format. The best spec about it is that it works as a media recorder/player with a AV in. (last time I checked other brands with this spec starts at £200) New models may have the same AV in spec at the same price? It can also be use by itself as a camcorder and take stills (has flash, but photo quality is no great, I would stick with digi cam)

The Sporty cam runs on 2 AAA and last a long time (30hrs?) with mic built in and AV out, splash proof (but I wouldn’t want to test it in the rain!) Lens angle could be wider but good enough for now! It copes well in low/hi contrast transitions, adjusting fast enough so that it isn’t to much blackouts or whiteouts (check start of SSD09 when emerging from underpass) Works will in low light conditions too (will upload a indoor paintball session vid soon) It also seem to cope well with fast movements. Sound is ok except at high speed...

As these are separate components, it can be upgraded as required, hopefully a cam with a wider len...

Mounting the camera is easy, duct tape it to the SV (Lydden) or one better, buy suction pads off and add cable ties then stick it to head (SSD09, tested up to 70mph) or bodywork.

Once down loaded onto the PC the picture quality is good (U Tube does no justice to it! If you know any tricks please let me know!) If you fancy seeing the original footage just PM me to arrange a CD in the post.

The price is reflected in the build quality and interface (non-intuitive software etc) so needs to be handle with a bit of care. Otherwise it does the intended job very well and I would recommend this setup as a cheap & cheerful onboard camera!

Lydden Hill TD Oct 2008

[northwind]

Glad that works well, I got one of those aipteks to replace my JXD after we squished it trying to fit it into the imaginary underseat storage on a CBR600RR, never tried it yet but it's a nice wee unit. Lacks the charm of the JXD recorders though (brilliant translations- the 2 colourschemes are "green pretty" and "blue lovely" )

[yorkie_chris]

Heh the JXD recorders are a marvellous solution to a problem nobody had thought of before.

From what I've read and watched the Tachyon XC is the best value, and in many ways best full stop, of "that kind of camera". I want a helmet camera and I've been considering the Tachyon because it seems simple and produces "acceptable" results, as long as your expectations of video at 640*480 and sound quality are not too high.

[northwind]

Originally Posted by yorkie_chris

Heh the JXD recorders are a marvellous solution to a problem nobody had thought of before.

Yup. I love them though, it's proper Jetsons technology