Cheap Helmet Camera Recommendation

[notoriusb.e.n]

Dog cam is good kit. About £100 all in.

Just make sure you use more than one suction cup if you're going above *ahem*.

Theres a free one somewhere in the bushes along the side of the A38. Just delete my footage first k?

[Davebo]

First edition GoPros are awful. They chew batteries & can't be powered externally.

[quote author=Punkstig link=topic=8740.msg86675#msg86675 date=1373382100]
For that price you can find 1st edition gopro's on eBay.
Just sayin

I wanted something discrete and hd when I bought mine.  I have to admit I never looked at go pro's cos I thought they'd be second hand and abused.  Your go pro wasn't discrete, it made me smile.  Did you get any decent footage ?
[/quote]

[Exupnut]

Theres a free one somewhere in the bushes along the side of the A38. Just delete my footage first k?

Hehe very good.

[simonm]

Dog cam is good kit. About £100 all in.

Just make sure you use more than one suction cup if you're going above *ahem*.

Theres a free one somewhere in the bushes along the side of the A38. Just delete my footage first k?

Seems like the perfect excuse if you get caught rooting around in bush at the side of the road. :lol

[pitternator]

I hope the cheap ones work Ok as my drift 170 is temperamental and tbh I wouldnt recommend it to anyone ! Its switched itself off for no reason on occasion  and several times its taken a video file which subsequently cannot be opened, or is a pink screen ( drift website actually says it has no idea why it does this !!)...I think its pants tbh.
The record led comes on so I know its recording , but then only takes say 20 to  30 mins film then stops recording . Its not battery power as the standby light is still on.
Its  a problem with helmet mounted cams as you cant see the led to check recording is OK .
It has a remote stop start  too which is also pants as you cant tell if it has actually switched the record on ( no led).I think its best suited to dash or handlebar location...neither of which really suit my bike.
I now have to manually switch it to record and check the led to be sure its on, then put my helmet on.It still only takes 30 mins at a time though. So it means stopping at such intervals to do the rigmarole.
Its  a shame cos when it does work it takes a good picture.

[redthunder]

After watching the video posted above that fella has a great youtube channel and reviews a lot of actions cameras, look here:


http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL9AE23A7F0C9FDC91

[karlo]

Maplins have a 720HD one one their mail shot on offer no idea what it's like tho'

[andybesy]

Yes Red - agreed - fantastic channel.

After looking in some detail at all of the suggestions made in this thread (all appreciated!) I'm slowly erring towards the SJ 1000 he's recommending.

Now let me see if I can figure out how to embed his video review...

No it's no good, here's the URL:

The best action camera under $100. The SJ1000 budget 1080p multi-purpose waterproof action cam.

It's not perfect for my uses, but I didn't expect anything to be for my budget.

Main problem compared to the ACT series is that it needs to be in the case to be waterproof, which makes it difficult to run from mains power.

But the big advantage is the viewing angle, so I'm thinking I'm just going to have to do a DIY job with silicon to waterproof the USB cable in to the waterproof case.

Problem that leads to is how to remove the camera from the bike when I go shipping or what have you.

And this is where I have reached in my logic so far. It takes me a little bit of pondering to work these things through in my head you see. Ain't fast but get there in the end.

Plan B to the SJ 1000 would be the ACT 20 which seems sufficient for the price, although I get the impression a lot of the ebay ones are actually clones with 60 degree viewing angle and VGA res, rather than the 120 degree 720p in the spec.

Andy

Edit: Wowzer it worked

[simonm]

There were two versions of the act20, the later ones increased to viewing angle to 120 degrees.

[andybesy]

Additional. I've just checked out Maplins as suggested by Carlo and it looks like it's one of the later ACT ones, which is defo an option so long as it does actually have the 120 degree viewing angle not 60 degree as per ebay knock-offs. So do we trust maplins to have legit kit? I guess with high street I can always take back if it's not right...

Andy

[andybesy]

Did yours come with 120 angle Simon?

Andy

[simonm]

Did yours come with 120 angle Simon?

Andy

Think so.  Heres a screen grab of a vid from it.