That's what Matt Damon and Ben Affleck said

This is precisely why I don't record. If you don't have time to edit/organize footage now, that doesn't get easier after time passes, memories fade over what to target, and you have much more to deal with.

One of my cameras is a Hero Session 5 -- love the form factor and the low light performance. However, if you want great street footage, a 360 camera is the way to go because you can change perspectives constantly. The GoPro Fusion delivers excellent footage though both the space and video editing becomes a bigger deal.

I agree. Here in CA you have one law that says you need to give bicyclists 3 feet, and another one that says you can't cross over a double yellow line. How does this shake out IRL? Just look at the chaos! If ever you wanted a picture that symbolizes the current state of CA ... there it is, right there (good thing that Toyota had 4WD).

Recording video only makes it more difficult for me to forgive and forget. It's only marginally useful if I'm severely injured and useless otherwise.

I'm bad at predicting where I'll encounter incidents I'll want to record. I expect to encounter more problems at busy intersections and bottlenecks, but I actually encounter problems on slow parkways with ample room for passing or even MUPs.

I pretty much only record during high-risk times, which around here (North Carolina) means rainy days. In some other places, hot days and early season snowfall are ripe for bad driving, so I'd record that too. I've also done a few recordings just for fun on recreational rides.

I got a camera after an accident last summer (which was followed up by some absolute ridiculousness from law enforcement). A recording of the incident would have been very helpful in making my case, but would not have eliminated the awfulness of bruised ribs. So, recording comes down to a risk assessment; if conditions make it more likely that I'll encounter funny business, I'll record; otherwise, it's not worth the hassle.

but ground clearance is more important there

What video resolution do you use to be able to read licence plates?

On today's commute, I set the video resolution at 720P120fps. The only way to read a licence plate is to get right in front of it. Even if the car is the next lane, I couldn't read the letters.

If I set the resolution to 1080p60fps, the battery might not last the entire one hour trip.

even 4k footage can be hard to make out plates due to the constant movement and encoding algoritms. the best is to say the plate out loud if you can so that you have a verbal record of it.

That's what I was thinking. Thanks.

i looked at the max, which i think is the new fusion. it's not my style. i like a more classic look. and i'm a street photographer, so the wide angel lens of the 8 and the session lend themselves to my style.

i haven't really started using my 8 yet because i haven't figured out how i wanna mount it yet. i love the session.

i'm an analog photographer who is insanely pick about my scans, so editing and organizing is a challenge i'm willing to take on. i'm yet to figure out a system for my gopro footage yet. i better decide and get started quick, or i'll be so backlogged that the daunting nature of catching up will cause me to continue to avoid it.

btw, another tip: if youre recording and something happens that you DO want to keep, right after it happens stop recording and then restart. itll make it easier to find the incident in your recordings and make a little less work cutting it out.

I can see the value to prove fault in the case of negligent homicide. My wife and my heirs will be well taken care of.

Not only is there the initial cost of the equipment. Then there are data storage requirements. Storage is not free.

The biggest cost would be time. Time to fiddle with another piece of gear. Time to transfer/download video, time to watch or edit it. And for what? There is too little time for things that matter.

I know what I did on each day's ride. I was there. And if I'm dead, do I want my family to re-live the event? Heck no.

Seems like a huge waste to me. One man's opinion.

On average, I spend about an extra few minutes per day on it. only takes a moment to charge delete, etc. There's no need to watch it unless you want to or there's an incident that you know you want to cut out and save. But even saving something only takes a couple minutes. I don't consider it a huge waste at all, it's minimal.

but it does more than just allow my family to relive my death, it gives proof of what happened. All too often bikers are automatically blamed. If you've got video proof of what happened, then you can force them to blame the driver. Whether you're just hurt or injured, or killed, that can make a huge difference.

*shrug* to each their own, but I think it's minimal effort that's totally worth it. Hopefully I won't ever need it, but I'd rather have the evidence just in case.

So, interesting point. But what is the use of the video. If there is a criminal charge brought against the driver, then, if admitted into evidence, the video may support the state's charges. It may also influence during the sentencing phase. Okay.

But aside from "justice" for the survivors, do you expect them to file a civil suit to obtain wrongful death damages? I don't. I wouldn't want my family to go through that. They'll be fine without attaching to other folks' resources. That was part of my point.

The net usefulness of any video may be...subject to speculation and debate.

evidence is evidence. without it there is no evidence. whether it's useful or not, is only relevant, if you have evidence. without it, the point is moot. meaning if you have it, you can decide to use it or not. without it, a decision is not available

My Fly 12 CE (see photo above) captures plates really well, within maybe a 20 foot distance, in daylight with a straight-on view, coming or going. It's next to useless at night, though it's possible you *might* capture the plate or a partial plate, or at least get a vehicle description. With my camera, I only see a need to read out plate numbers unless it's at night, or another vehicle is blocking it or something like that. Overall I'm very happy with the image quality, and since i started using a 64 gb card, it holds about 8 hours of video.I will add that the image stabilization is great, there is some sort of loose ball inside of the camera that bounces around and somehow keeps the image perfectly steady.

I think the biggest selling point the Fly 12 CE has is battery life. They claim up to 8 hours, but I think with a new battery, it's closer to 6, with a year-old battery that's been charged maybe a hundred times, I now get about 4 hours of battery, which is plenty for most of my rides. I don't review the video unless something noteworthy happened, and then I will take a still shot to preserve it, then record over. I find high speed mountain descents very relaxing to watch, and I have a couple of those saved, plus a couple clips from my old riding loop where I lived last year, those bring back memories. Most clips I just record over though, it would take thousands of dollars of storage to preserve those, and I'd never watch them anyway.

If you wouldn't sue, then yeah, not much use, but you never know what you'd do until you're in the situation. If you don't have the evidence to prove you weren't at fault then you won't have the option.

I got hit by someone a couple months ago and fractured my elbow. He was completely at fault and due to his gross stupidity and negligence I'm likely to have some issues with my elbow and other parts the rest of my life. Hopefully not terrible issues, but only time will tell. You bet im suing...

If you have the good fortune of being killed by someone with insurance - why wouldn't your family make the claim?
These things almost always get settled before lawsuits.
Lawsuits almost always get settled before court.
If a victim had definitive video coverage it would be presented and the insurance folks would come to an agreement.
If the video were no so definitive, it would be part of a larger process including accident re-constructionists. There is a whole industry and professional society out there that specializes in this https://actar.org/ they know how to evaluate action cam videos and Strava records. Lots of them specialize in bicycle collisions too.

Load your rides on YouTube. I have a Fly6 and 12. I generally load them. Sometimes I edit the ride for friends. Record rides for my estate, too. So far, no close calls. Been buzzed a few times. Yelled at once.

They're not as heavy as they look, and they can power the cameras for about four hours at 1080p60fps.

i'm eventually going to edit my videos into some sort of project, but so far i've just been uploading them on to youtube. contributing to the garbage of the internet. i wonder if youtube will eventually tell me i've hit some storage limit. probably not. i've use blogger.com (owned by same company) for image hosting for almost 10 years, and they haven't stopped me. google wants all the content it can get. i'm going to buy an 8tb external hard drive specifically for storage of bike video. they're less than $200 now days. looks like you can get one for closer to $100 if you keep an eye out for deals.

i enjoy watching my videos after. remembering how nice the day was.

switched from a session 4 to an 8 black. the difference in video quality is significant. today was my first day using the 8, but i got a gopro employee to explain to me how to use the gps overlay for future videos.

the challenge was coming up with a stable mount that i could remove in 5 seconds. because living in chicago, when i lock my bike up to go in to a store for even five minutes, i take every electronic piece on the bike with me. solution was the gopro "protective housing." on their website it says it's $50, but i know i didn't pay anywhere close to that. i click it open, take the camera out, and am on my way. i doubt someone is going to snap the housing off walking by. would be broken and worthless if they did.

lots of talk about recording for evidence in this thread, and that's a bonus. i'm more into the video of the city from my bike. chicago is beautiful.

i got two batteries and a dual charger. that was big in deciding to give up the session, which has a non-removable battery. with two batteries, i get two hours of 4k or four hours of 1080. works for me.

i saw someone mentioning at what resolution you can see license plates in this thread. with the gopro 8 black, that's far from an issue at any setting.

Without context the evidence looks like you are riding on the sidewalk in front of a cop

that frame is only one 30th of a second. The video has the context

gopro caught on to this. you can hit the power button lightly and it marks the spot. i still use your method sometimes too. i guess because the record button is the tiniest bit easier to touch.

i have been enjoying recording my rides. even catch myself talking to the camera sometimes. and yeah, i watch videos of me riding a bike. about as good as anything else on.

chicago at night is absolutely beautiful from the wide angle lens of a gopro. i duck under the bars and ride to the top of parking garages. much fun. probably good exercise too. come down those things going so fast.

I made good use of my camera a few weeks ago. I caught a driver in a FedEx truck performing a dangerous move. I later went online and filled-in the online e-mail form describing the date, time, place and what the driver did.

The next day FedEx wrote back and said they'll have their regional manager contact the driver. With FedEx's exact e-mail address, I posted the photographs.