Choosing a helmet camera for the commute
 

Hi all,

After being knocked off my bike last year, I've decided to invest in a decent quality helmet camera for my commute. The criteria is as follows:

• must be weatherproof
• must be light and compact so that it doesn't weigh too heavily if mounted on one side of my cycling helmet
• must have a user-replaceable battery (or at a push, at least have an option to replace the battery at reasonable cost/turnaround)
• must be able to connect to it using a smartphone in order to change settings and/or preview what the camera is seeing
• must be able to do 60 frames-per-second HD
• must be able to record usable footage after dark (in street lighting)

So far I've looked at the following:

Drift Ghost HD
Drift Stealth
Garmin VIRB Elite

Any other recommendations from helmet cam users? I'd like to know what your experience with your helmet cam is like, as it's possible that some of the criteria above may be less important.

Thanks in advance.

I will ask around and get back to this. I've been thinking about a camera too, for multiple purposes.

- Andy

My main purpose is as a 'witness' in any future incidents on my commute, though after watching a recent TV documentary about dashboard-cameras in cars, I'll probably also use it in my car.

Since my OP, I've come across the GoPro Hero3 which has the smartphone remote control, though it's not very sleek.

Sony Action Cam FDR-X1000V review - CNET

It doesn't meet all your criteria, but I don't know of one that does.

I don't know why you need 60 FPS. Especially at night, 60FPS will gather half the light per frame as 30 FPS, so your video is going to be pretty bad.

60 FPS is never necessary for "witness" video - heck, 15 FPS is probably good enough.

As someone who's now on about his 8th camera, right now battery life is pretty much my major consideration. 1080p is a given, 30 FPS is good enough, most cams are small enough, but having to charge every ride is a pain. Swapping batteries every ride is a little better but still a pain.

my husband uses a go pro mount on his helmet after being side swiped more than a few times and one lady (who worked for the city gov't) crashed into him turning her vehicle while talking on her cell phone.

we haven't caught anything yet with the go-pro have had it just a few months now.

Googl'd "bike helmet with a camera in it" Look!! one built in, and half price on sale, Bult Benny X3 Camera Helmet - REI.com

From that review: "...while the lens casing gets smeary and droplets clings to the front when you shoot in and out of the water."
So when it rains the camera is rendered near-useless?

Otherwise a great specc'ed camera but 4K is overkill for my needs and budget.

Thanks, that's good advice about the frame rate, I always just thought that the more the better.

I like the look of the drifts on helmets, especially in black

I have a white Polaroid xs100 extreme and it's a bit large and heavy. also it doesn't meet all your criteria

I think you need to go Lucas Brunelle style...or just steal his so he can stop angering the whole world
Lucas Brunelle - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

here's a couple jokers squirting water pistols at me (toward the end at 48sec) from front AND back seats. clearly planned ahead!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X9c2SM1zhUE

• must be weatherproof
• must be light and compact so that it doesn't weigh too heavily if mounted on one side of my cycling helmet
• must have a user-replaceable battery (or at a push, at least have an option to replace the battery at reasonable cost/turnaround)
• must be able to connect to it using a smartphone in order to change settings and/or preview what the camera is seeing
• must be able to do 60 frames-per-second HD
• must be able to record usable footage after dark (in street lighting)

I have been using Garmin Virbs on the front and rear of my bike. I picked up the basic model for about $100. It does not tether to a smart phone, but I am not sure why you would want that. With the Virb it is easy to tell if you are recording by just feeling the big switch position and how often do you really need to access settings and make adjustments remotely, just saying. It will record usable footage in the dark ASSUMING you are using good bike lights, which you should be using anyway if you are riding in the dark. Besides those two points, the Virb satisfies the rest of the points. And some pics:

http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=438868

http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=438869

GoPro Hero 3+

I did consider the Contour range of cameras, very compact and the right shape for helmet-mounting, but they went bust in the past and my concern is that they may do so again. Also, the camera that supports the remote viewing via smartphone is very expensive.

I like the sleekness of the Contours, but from what I've seen they don't do that great in low light. I think GoPro's are pretty much top dog for low light or night recording. I know you think the GoPro doesn't look that sleek, but have you seen one in person? They are amazingly small.

[MENTION=134410]rumrunn6[/MENTION] man I would never, ever ride that far right, on that road or any road. That's just asking for close passing and other problems.

I did choose Contour mostly for the shape and the mounting system. At the time, GoPro wasn't completely dominant and I sure didn't expect Contour to go bankrupt. But I still like it for the mounts and the shape and the extra battery options. I haven't had a problem with low light but I guess that's not so important for me. I think I'd buy Contour again.

question, how do you set up a go-pro on automatic looping? once it's done recording 10 minutes it shuts down. how do u get it to start a new file and continually record?

Go Pro 4 its got the best resolution and support products to boot. Touch screen and really not that heavy just square err rectangle.
V

I guess every community is different. I pretty much ride where the other riders are. cars have to cross the double yellow to pass as it is (water pistols or not) and that rd has some twists and dips. it also has riders going both directions so if we took the lane or rode further into the lane in both directions we'd have headon collisions all over the place and we wouldn't be too popular :-) what are the rds like in TN?

Well sure but it's way way way more than most of us need. Actually it's not the best - if you really want the best, get a Black Magic pocket cinema. The body is $1000 (if you want 4K then it's $3000), then you can select a lens. BLOWS AWAY the GoPro.

OK spend! I could attach a Panavision full tilt Movie making camera to my bike and blow that thing away for about 50 grand.... I use mine for more than the bike things like Sailing, Hiking , zip lining , kids school concerts and sports, vacationing, driving, Put the damn thing on the back of my dog and let him chase squirrels. The beauty is that it is versatile all this and it will also take stills and it has the ability to be remote form my phone. Be faceted
V

Try this. It should hit most of your bullet points, I think.

Replay XD 1080 Mini Camera

My SJCAM M10 Cube Mini Full HD Action Sport Camera (US$69.95, no tax or duty in Canada) just showed up in my mailbox. I had ordered it from Ali Express about six weeks ago. The kit includes a spare battery, charger, waterproof case and a pile of GoPro-compatible mounts. Shipping was free but, as it was presumably surface mail -- direct from Shenzhen, China -- it took a while to get here.

The camera is a 1080p GoPro clone with a more cube-shaped form factor and is well reviewed. In any event I wasn't about to spend $300-$500 on a toy so it will have to do.

I'll let you know how it works out.

I have a contour and can say it's great. They seem to be much more stable these days and I'm seeing more of them all the time.

Funny, I just sold my M10 on eBay for $69. It's a good cam but not IMO for cycling. The battery doesn't last long enough and it's a bit of a pain in the rump to turn on (press one button, wait a few seconds for it to boot up and for the display to come on, then press another to start it recording, and it's hard to see in daylight if it's running or not.

Since pretty much any camera will do acceptable 1080p footage, IMO the qualifications for a good cycling cam are as follows:

- Replaceable battery
- Longest possible run time on battery (I switched to Garmin VIRB at 3.5 hours)
- SINGLE SWITCH to turn on and start recording, and to stop and shut off.

My helmet cam is an SVC200 which is now sold as a Coleman something. It may get replaced with a Garmin VIRB because of the battery life issue (the SVC200 is about 100 minutes on a charge) but other than that it meets qualifications.

The only downside to the VIRB is that it's a little weird shaped for mounting on a helmet.

The Contour cameras are pretty good but with no display it's hard to work with them, you have to plug them in occasionally to format cards/etc. Also battery life is shorter and I don't think they have removeable batteries.

The Drift Ghost is pretty good but fails on the controls side and the battery life isn't quite what the VIRB is (and is 50% more money).

oh i should come back here and report. i got the cycliq fly6 (it's a light/camera combo) and holy geez it's captured a lot going on behind me. drivers trying to run me over and drivers parked in the cycling lane and the car's moving lane. it's total pandemonium.

i'm really excited about it.

we're on the waitlist for the front camera, the fly12. it's great in that it blends itself into the light so passersby don't even know it's filming.

i personally wouldn't mount the gopro to your helmet as at least for me, my head moves a lot to check for traffic. it wouldn't be steady filming. i think if you can mount the handlebars that would be ideal. but i don't know and don't have experience.

Actually, that's one of the benefits of helmet mounting, it shows where you are looking. If something is happening and it's not directly in front of you, the helmet cam will catch it and the bar-mount camera won't. I have a Hero 2 helmet mounted, here is an example (I've posted this in other discussions on the subject of helmet cams):
But helmet mount adds weight to the helmet (and it is noticeable) and it will make your helmet less effective if you have a wreck.

That said, I'm ready to upgrade to a bar-mount camera. My biggest challenge, the next camera needs to be easy to change mounting of different bikes. I use 6 bikes and I would like to have a quick mount that allows me to quickly move it from road bike to a mtb to a city bike.

Never mind, I haven't looked recently (or hard enough). I make this post and do a search and BOOM!

http://i01.i.aliimg.com/wsphoto/v1/2...000-Sports.jpg