ItsJustMe

OK, I just did my first ride with the Garmin VIRB and there's a MAJOR, MAJOR issue.

Loop recording is limited. When I see a setting for "5 minutes" on loop, I assume it means it records 5 minutes, then goes to the next file, etc, until the card fills up, then starts deleting the oldest file. This is how ABSOLUTELY EVERY OTHER CAMERA EVER MADE does loop recording.

No, when they say "5 minutes" they mean it records 1 minute segments until you get to 5 minutes then loops around. You only have 5 minutes worth of footage.

The maximum setting is 30 minutes.

This means if you're in an accident and you're unable or unaware enough to go shut off the camera, at most 30 minutes later your video evidence gets overwritten with a nice image of the grass at the side of the road.

Had I known this before I definitely would not have bought this camera. I guess I will turn loop mode off and just try to remember to erase the card every few rides. I hope it makes a lot of noise when I turn it on and the card is full, in case I forget to erase it.

I hope they fix this in firmware because other than this, I love this camera. I was going to buy another for front-facing but definitely will not now, unless they update the firmware. 'Course they probably do not care, I don't think commuters with evidence cams was their target market.

dave5339

Simple fix for this...

I run my Virb as an evidence camera in case I have an issue with a driver. I'm running a 32 Gb card and simply review the footage after every ride. Anything interesting gets saved to a hard drive and the SD card gets cleared each ride.

Semper Fi

ItsJustMe

That's kind of ridiculous. I have had no use for video as evidence yet in 5 years of riding with cameras. I've USED footage maybe twice a year. I don't need to "review" footage - I know perfectly well at the end of a ride if something happened that I need to pull video out for. I'll just hit erase every couple of days I guess.

I go for months just turning the camera on and off and dropping a new battery in (20 seconds work every evening). I guess turning it on and hitting erase card will only add another 10 seconds to that.

But the fact remains, they do not have looping video as the rest of the world defines it. The camera does not have the primary feature that makes it useful as an evidence camera. Hopefully they will add this.

ItsJustMe

Another caveat for VIRB owners. The screw mount wiggles loose very easily. I've cranked it down as tight as I could by hand and twice now the screw has come out, the last time I lost the screw at speed around a corner at a stoplight and the cam was dangling from the tether at the next light (I always tether my electronics, I've lost too many things). Maybe it's because 100% of my route is chipseal and it's vibration city.

I put in a new M4 screw philips head, put in a lock washer this time, and cranked the crud out of it. I also wrapped and tightened the safety tether so if the screw loosens it won't be swinging around the spokes this time.

Oh, and I also hit the bug that Google tells me many others have had - last ride, I turned the cam on and it shut off again within a few seconds. The battery was at 40% but it went into low power shutdown. I couldn't even get into the menu enough to reset it. I finally pulled the battery out for a few seconds, after re-inserting it, the cam worked fine again.

Yes, I'm on the latest firmware.

I still like this cam. It's built like a tank and I like the design. I just wish some of these little irritations were gone; I have generic Chinese cams that don't have these issues or anything like them.

ahultin

Since I rotate the cameras between my tandem and my single and only have 1 set of cradles i keep one of the generic Chinese aluminium wrenches with me. I crank it pretty darn tight and since my first ride where i learned finger tight was not enough I have not had an issue.
I run a 64gb micro SD card which will hold about a week of rides and just delete once a week.

WheresWaldo

One of the biggest reasons to buy a Virb now is price, at about $100 it is a bargain. One of the biggest reasons not to buy a Virb is that it is a discontinued product. Garmin may or may not release any new firmware to fix any of the last annoying niggles with this camera. I would bet the Elite will be discontinued shortly also, once the channel is full of VirbXE product.

Of course the new Contour offer of Roam3 + Roam 2 for $250 or just two Roam2's for about $200 make it harder to justify the Virb on price alone. Add to that the fact that every Virb vs. anyone comparison test always ranked the Virb nearer the bottom is also not compelling.

PS: Do not take my mention of the Contour deal as an endorsement of their product. I personally will not buy a new Contour product ever again, as I truly believe there is better products at a better value out there now.

metalheart44

When I first posted I was on the fence, but a few of the comments about the functionality of the camera have me looking at other options. My main purpose is as an "evidence camera" and so 4k cameras with lots of features are not on my list. Something that has a good looping feature and good mounting options are important since there are times when I would want to mount it front pointing and others rear pointing.

Seattle Forrest

That's a perfect summary of most of the Garmin products I've used.

ItsJustMe

The irritating thing about this is that speaking as a software engineer that's done some embedded work, I'm pretty sure that if they wanted to fix this stuff, they could do it in a couple of days (plus a few weeks to release assuming they have a reasonable release testing system).

I really don't like the mount for this camera though. It seemed weak when I saw it at first, but now that I've used it for a few days I know it's weak.

I'm going to try to design some supports for it. My problem now is that on the high vibration roads I'm on, the camera on the back winds up pointed at the ground 3 or 4 times during a 45 minute ride.

I would LIKE to completely replace the boat that it sets in but that's a complex design and probably more than I want to fool with.

Jarrett2

Some people love to jump on the Garmin hate wagon. Ah well. Send it back if you don't like it.

Both of mine work fine every time. Same with the Edge 1000.

Athens80

The Virb Basic and Elite are about the same size, shape and weight as the Contour Roam, more torpedo-like with the front just larger than the lens. I prefer those Virbs and the Contour because they look like they belong on a bike, unlike the boxy GoPro.

ItsJustMe

I really like the design and the build. But as stated above, I have experienced a clear software bug that I find online that many people have had, and their implementation of recording loops is essentially useless, I'm not even sure what their use case for doing loops like that is.

ItsJustMe

I've updated my bar mount for the VIRB and printed one last night. I think it's a vast improvement, but I haven't ridden with it yet:

https://www.youmagine.com/designs/ga...ount-version-2

I dare that thing to move now. I've used a nylock nut, I have a backing piece under the screw, and a block to prevent the camera from rotating.

ItsJustMe

OK, I think I'm going to return the Virb. I can't figure out its problem, but it does NOT like to record for more than maybe 90 minutes at a time.

It CONSISTENTLY shuts down with the battery meter still reading > 50% full. Once it gets to that point, I can flip the switch, it starts recording, and 10 seconds later I get the power indicator, a beep, and it shuts down. If I charge it up and don't touch it apart from that, it will record again until it gets down to 55% battery or so.

Also, it gets very warm, almost hot.

I can't have an evidence camera on the back of the bike that just shuts off with no warning when it has no excuse. When I get home and it's not running, that means I just rode with no coverage, which defeats the purpose of having it there in the first place.

I think I'm going to have to kick in the extra $60 or so and try out a Drift HD or something. I'm really shooting for long battery life, at least 2 hours. Isn't there a bike specific one with a REALLY long life?

Jarrett2

2.5 hours on my VIRBs. I'd love to have one longer than that, but this will do.

ItsJustMe

It's great that you got a non-defective one, but I did not and others have had the same experience as I did.

I'm looking hard at the Drift HD. That's rated 3.5 as well, reports are of 2.5 and up.

I was looking at the Fly6 but it looks like it only works well when mounted on a seat post, and also it breaks my rule of "must have replaceable battery"

The Drift isn't perfect either, it's more than one button to start up.

The Garmin is really the only one that meets my list, but it only does so on paper. The consistent problems I have with mine rule it out.

Seattle Forrest

You might consider returning it for a replacement, if you're able to (and if you can return the replacement should you need to - keep your options open).

Compared to some of the competition, Garmin is like buying the nicest house in a bad neighborhood. They have the best feature lists in their devices, but, as you've seen, they don't always work reliably. A lot of people feel like Garmin makes excellent products but has very shoddy quality control. Here's an example: using what should be the same hardware, Jarrett2 gets 2.5 hours out of his multiple VIRBs and you can't get more than 1.5 hours, even if you reboot the thing. Sounds like you have a dud unit. If it's the only thing out there that meets all your requirements and it's possible you'll get a replacement that actually works as it should, sounds like that's in your best interest.

I bought a Garmin Fenix 3 watch recently. I'm waiting for the retailer to get me a replacement because its GPS accuracy is unacceptably bad. Other people who own the watch report much better performance from theirs. QC strikes again!

ItsJustMe

I think I'm going to go with the Fly6. If the 6 hour battery life is anything like accurate, I can waive the replaceable battery requirement, as I will never ride more than that in a day, or usually even two days. I'll work out mounting. Seat post is a bit of a pain since the rack trunk gets in the way, and I like using a rack trunk bag better than panniers and way better than a backpack.

ItsJustMe

FWIW the Fly6 is now down to $120 on Amazon. I have one coming. ISTM that a 5+ hour battery AND it's what looks like a pretty good taillight all in one for $120 is a heckuva deal.

I do need to work out mounting for days when I have the rack trunk bag on, but I have a 3D printer, so that won't be an issue.

Athens80

As low as $166.46 now.

ItsJustMe

Well, poke in a watch on CamelCamelCamel.com, and buy when it drops again.

Athens80

Camel^3. That's some power!

Thanks, I wasn't aware of an Amazon price tracker service.

ItsJustMe

It's saved me tons over the last year since I discovered it. It's nice just to see the graph of the last couple years pricing on an item. Getting an email saying that it's dropped to your target price is just great.

ItsJustMe

I haven't ridden with it yet but the Fly6 came in last night and I had some play time with it. I'll be posting a video later.

I do like the cycling specific features - specifically the incident mode and the auto shutoff.

Auto-shutoff - if it doesn't move for 15 minutes, it just shuts off.

Incident mode - if it tips > 30 degrees from vertical for more than 5 seconds, it assumes there's been an accident - it films for one hour more (regardless of not moving) and then shuts off, so it gets at least an hour before and after the incident.

The taillight is pretty bright - 30 lumens. Obviously a joke next to my DS500 but it's at least as bright as the Hotshot, is comparable to the Pulse 60, and is better than 99% of the lights people actually have on their bikes.

WheresWaldo

@ItsJustMe, I am sure you will likely print up a new mount for the Fly6, would love to see it when you are done.

I still think the Virb is a bargain.