Bar (or helmet) mounted video cameras
 

I'd be interested to people's recommendations for bar or helmet mounted video cameras. I am really interested in compact ones, which don't connect to an external battery or recording device.

Does anyone have any experience with the this Oregon Scientific one?
http://www2.oregonscientific.com/sho...cid=77&pid=709

Search and mention your price range.

Somewhere on here a site is mentioned that has ratings for various cameras. What you're wanting to pay is a big part of it. Youtube also has many examples of the quality of the video (again - price affects this)

video evidence thread

http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=511637

The ATC2K is an adequate camera, but if your budget allows for it, consider the VholdR instead. The battery life is better and from the videos I've seen, the image quality is unmatched.

And as far as helmet or bar, I've tried both, the helmet is more prone to pointing in odd up and down views as you concentrate on the road or look ahead.
The handle bar does a better job at staying fixated but you lose the ability to capture something because you would have to point your steering at it as opposed to just turning your head.

You don't say WHY you want a camera. If it's for fun, almost anything will do. If you are being harassed and want admissible evidence and video good enough to read license plates off of speeding cars, you'll have to be more picky.

See: helmetcamreview.wordpress.com

Look at the Tachyon XC. I was interested in the VholdR until I found that it wasn't waterproof. I now think the Tachyon is probably the best bet. $150, uses SDHC up to 32GB, very long battery life, waterproof, decent looking output.

They almost all say 640x480, but that doesn't mean that it's a GOOD 640x480 - I had the original oregon scientific camera, and it was not good. Any vibration caused bad distortion.

Unless you're recording yourself swimming or sliding down waterslides, the fact that the VholdR is "water resistant" should be enough for riding in rain.

Is this something to take seriously, or just a precautionary suggestion? If I can't use NiMHs, its a definite dealbreaker.

http://helmetcameracentral.com/

Professional site layout, good reviews, online store. It's a great website.

Thanks to all, and especially for this link.

I have been thinking about getting a helmet cam to mount on my rear rack. It would be nice to stop at a police station and show them the video of a driver who purposely buzzes me (I wonder if seeing someone do it on video would get them to act, I know just reporting it doesn't get any action), and I would find it comforting to know that my next of kin would have some nice evidence to use when suing someone for wrongful death after they killed me by running me over. Also no need to memorize a license plate number.

Of course it would also be fun to make some videos of rides too.

I am also looking for a video camera - small, and good enough quality to catch driver's faces and numberplates. The local police said that if I could provide photographic evidence they can fine drivers who are on their mobiles, and considering a number of drivers have completely missed me due to being on their phones I want to do my bit for society and my fellow cyclists!

I wouldn't buy anything that wasn't totally waterproof. Not only do I not want to limit myself to not using it underwater if I feel like it, but I've had bad experiences in the past with stuff that was "weather resistant" - eventually moisture leaks in and things start to corrode and condensation forms inside.

Not able to use NiMH is definitely a problem. Maybe not huge, given the huge battery life of the Tachyon. Also, we have a battery recycling bin at work and apparently nobody actually tests batteries before throwing them away anymore, I can pull as many pretty much new batteries as I need out of there to run a camera. I haven't bought a new alkaline battery or charged a NiMH for my rear blinkies in years, and I have a whole box of almost-new AA cells.

The Tachyon XC has the fully waterproof claim going for it, but there's a lot that I see going against it:

It's humongous! 4" x 2.5" x 2" (almost as large as the ATC2/3/5K series)
It's heavy: 4.4oz w/o the 2AA batteries
It's not rechargeable: (They tell you right in the manual not to use re-chgble batteries.)

You can take the Tachyon underwater up to 28 ft. the manual says. It says the Ultimate Lithium batteries last 11.5 hrs!

On a related note, has anyone considered a using a regular digital camcorder on a helmet? For example, I read about camcorders such as the Aiptek A-HD being used on R/C planes, and I thought it might work given some waterproofing.

Other obvious concerns are durability (will it survive a crash?) and reliability.

Sanyo do some fully waterproof camcorders and while they're bigger than helmet cameras they have much better resolution, stabilisation, night shot, etc.

VPC-WH1 http://sanyo.com/xacti/english/produ...wh1/index.html

VPC-CA9 http://sanyo.com/xacti/english/produ...ca9/index.html

There's a good resource by PeteF. on his website especially regarding the links to on helmet camera cases. http://www.petefagerlin.com/helmetcam_video_how_to.htm

Stop me if you've seen this before

Jeff Frings and Fox news piece on helmet cameras as evidence.

http://www.ecovelo.info/2009/03/11/close-encounters/

The Tachyon XC lists 11.5 hours of battery life with their recommended batteries and yes it doesn't take rechargeable batteries, but I ski and they don't work in the cold weather anyway. They say that rechargeable batteries are larger and their battery case is designed to fit batteries tightly so they don't fall out and you don't lose footage which seems better to me anyway. Plus the price is better $150!

Their videos can be uploaded in HD and HQ!