stapfam

The Drift X170 turned up today. Bike ride tomorrow so this is just the report on setting up-----------Dead Easy. Ran through the Set up on the Menu on the camera and with the aid of the 1.5" screen on the camera- was easy to do. Options for Video- sound- ETC. and all easy to use. Didn't even have a problem switching the thing on or off- but Had to read the instructions to find out how to record and just as important- how to stop recording.

The camera comes with 32mb of internal memory--Sounded good to me but all that gives is 6 minutes record time. So back to the internet to look for cheap 16gb type 4 SD memory cards and it should arrive early next week. Batteries and it uses ordinary "AA" batteries and the pair supplied state they should last for 30 minutes to be able to set up the camera. So 4 rechargables from the same place as the Memory card so I will be taking spare batteries with me tomorrow.

No pics or vids I can show you but I found a 1gb SD card at the bottom of a drawer- funny what you collect over the years- so I should be able to test the camera tomorrow. Road ride arranged and it is local but I have never been to this area. All I know is that it is a test and training area for the London Bikers that want a work out so might be able to show you a hill or 6.--Hopefully it will be short and crisp as The hill bike is out on loan to my son-in-law as his Commuter Road bike requires new spokes in the rear wheel-Again.

John E

Cool! Looking forward to pictures.

TomD77

6 minutes with 32 meg? I'm guessing that it isn't HD, even 720P? Looking forward to the videos, I'd like to do this. I've got some cameras capable of HD video but they're not something you want on your helmet!

cehowardGS

IMO, if you going to do vid, I would get a class 6 or higher.. I am running a class 10 32gb in my dslr.

1nterceptor

Looks interesting.

stapfam

Head cams can be very expensive so I had to look at the Cheaper end of the range. This one cost me £90 wheras the cheapest GoPro is around double that price. There are cheaper ones about but what quality would I get from a £50 camera-or less?

I have a sensible Video camera in a Sony so IF I want good vids of the family then I would use that. Most of the Cycling vids will be pasted here or on youtube and High Quality or HD would be superfluous by the time it is downlaoded to fit the required Format for posting. The other use will be as a precaution in that I have a bad memory. That odd car driver that causes me a problem will be caught on camera when I report them to the police so no need to remember the licence plate number.

So I was looking for something that will fit on the bike and not be too obstructive to hands or sight. Don't really want it mounted on the helmet permanently and this one seems to fit the bill. Aerodynamic shape that will fit the bars without getting in the way too much and it does come with a bar specific mount- which most of the others do not. The other point is that with the onboard screen- I will be able to check what I am taking vids of. Done a fair bit of research to sort this one and the only disadvantage over the HD version for me is that it uses ordinary batteries but I class that as a plus. Too many times have I had flat batteries on unit specific batteries and I can carry spare batteries easily on this one.

But the proof is going to be on the testing today. Looks like I am going to find out if it is Damp proof as a fine drizzle out there right now. So may not be able to show you the Scenery in all its glory of Ashdown Forest which is where we are riding.

As a P.S.--Mick- my new cycling neighbour was bought up in this area so hopefully he can miss the steep hills on the route he is planning. Last time Mick rode a bike on the forest he did it with his best mate but that was 30 odd years ago. His best mate had loaned him a bike as he was into cycling. That mate was Sean Yates.

Blues Frog

I'm interested in your success. I am considering the camera as well. Good luck.

Wogster

One of the problems with some of the newer cameras is that, yes it's wonderful to have full HD 1080p video, just like it's nice to have a 20MP dSLR, but one has to remember, that the bigger and higher quality the image, the faster it uses up memory, and video uses a lot of memory. An HD camcorder image is 1920 x 1080, which is roughly 6 million bytes, a camcorder should record about 30 frames per second and each frame is 6,000,000 bytes, so raw footage would be about 180,000,000 bytes per second, this gets compressed to around 1/10th the size so 18MB/second. This means a 4.5GB DVD-R is worth about 250 seconds or around 4 minutes. DVD's hold a lot more because they don't use full HD, they use SD and then fake it.

Looigi

One word, Blu-ray.

Also, I don't know of a camera that doesn't let you set the resolution lower to allow for more pics/time.

I like the ideas of these cameras in general, but am looking/waiting for something smaller and less obtrusive.

TomD77

I've found that an 8 gig sd card is good for about 45 minutes of 720P w/sound. This is an area where it would be worth it to spend some extra to get at least a class 6 card. It takes forever to download a full 8 or more gig card if it is class 4 or less. I recommend class 10.

I'm a still photographer and shoot image files that run around 37 meg each (Raw files in a 25 MP camera). I definitely spend money on the 8-16 gig very high speed compact flash cards that my camera uses. Amazing how far computers have come, I would have filled the entire hard drive on my 1st computer with around 10 of my image files.

Dudelsack 

On Amazon the Drift sells for $139. The HD version goes for $239. Sizable chunks of change.

I guess it would be for the cyclist who has everything else.

I met someone who recorded rides in the summer so he could create his own work-out tape for the winter for his trainer. I'm sure it would be better than Coach Troy. Just about anything would be better than Coach Troy.

It would be very cool if the OP recorded some of the London-to-Brighton trek.

Wogster

Blu-ray discs do hold more, but do you need that resolution, and if you don't then what is the point spending lots more money on a high resolution camera, when your not going to use that resolution.
Case in point, my still digital camera is a 6MP, 6MP is just about perfect for an 8x10 print, it's overkill for online use, by far. Unless I want to start making huge prints, there is no point in replacing that camera with a high resolution one, which is simply going to consume disk space much quicker. Doubling the resolution doesn't always mean doubling the disc space, it can be much more then double.

It's a little like the guy who buys a 30 speed bicycle when his ride elevation profile looks like this ___________________________________________________________________________________________

stapfam

First ride today with it and reasonably happy. I have a few set up problems and that will just be down to getting the right settings on the camera. Main one of which is getting the right setting for exposure On a ride through light and shade there is a large variation on the vid density of light. Same on Sound- I will have to find the right setting. Mounting and I will have to arrange something here. I like the view of the Brifter but the cable is too obtrusive. I will arrange something to correct this- I hope. I set the camera to the lowest resolution and although it could be improved on by a higher setting- I am happy with the end result. May change my mind later on. Battery use and that initial set of Lithion batteries has lasted a long time. Still plenty of life in them but rechargables are on order. The 1Gb of SD card has only 25% used with around 30 minutes on it. That will give me 2 hours per Gb so the 16gb should give plenty of storage. Just need the continual battery life to record that.
Still plenty to sort but so far happy. And I can vouch for the waterresistance of the unit-Heavy drizzle on a 2 hour ride and no ingress of water found.

jimmuller 

Nice video! Um, you're riding on the wrong side of the road. Oh, you're also on the other side of The Pond. Nevermind...