Can anyone recommend a cheap ebay Headcam ?

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Location
Shropshire
Hello all,
On most mornings I suffer a Royal mail 7.5 ton truck so much so that I can tell when its him/her behind me but on Thursday it went up another level when he overtook me through a pinch point in the road forcing me into the gutter. As I was so busy trying to stay upright I never got the number of the truck but now would like a head cam. I'm looking for something easy to use and cheap to cheapish so I can maybe get two (forward and back). Can you recommend any ?

Cheers all.
 

numbnuts

Legendary Member
The trouble with cheap is you won't get a very clear photo of said number plate and a blurred one is no good for the police to do anything, I went into this a while back, unless you spend quite a bit of money and if you want front and back.....well the sky’s the limit
 

mjr

Comfy armchair to one person & a plank to the next
MD80s are OK but a bit of a lottery and £6 or so a try. If you look at the 808 camera website, it has links to some of the better sellers. There's a slightly later bunch of clones called SJ4000s or something which might be worth a punt around £15. Both are handlebar cameras but that's OK as I feel strapping stuff to one's head is a bad idea. Even the MD80s will easily capture a number plate in daylight - even the previous generation could.

But local police here won't use camera evidence of close passes unless there's a collision. You might get an apology out of Royal Mail but that's about it.
 

Arjimlad

Tights of Cydonia
Location
South Glos
I recently got an SJCAM M10 for about £40 and it is perfectly capable of picking out reg numbers. No sound, largely due to the waterproof case but the images are OK for my limited purposes. I have a Kingston class 10 micro SD card in it.

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mjr

Comfy armchair to one person & a plank to the next
SJCam Cameras run from about £45.
The genuine ones do. The clones (which are often advertised as SJ4000 because it isn't a trademark - and China seems to have a somewhat relaxed attitude to many trademarks anyway) such as the Acmell SD28 are currently sub £20. But as I wrote, it's rather a lottery with clones: I seem to have killed my newest MD80 clone in 5 months as it now crashes when the stop button is pressed and it's not cured by resetting, trying different memory cards and so on. Its predecessor lasted four years before its internal battery failed to hold much charge (and that earlier version isn't suitable for USB-power while recording).
 

fossyant

Ride It Like You Stole It!
Location
South Manchester
The genuine ones do. The clones (which are often advertised as SJ4000 because it isn't a trademark - and China seems to have a somewhat relaxed attitude to many trademarks anyway) such as the Acmell SD28 are currently sub £20. But as I wrote, it's rather a lottery with clones: I seem to have killed my newest MD80 clone in 5 months as it now crashes when the stop button is pressed and it's not cured by resetting, trying different memory cards and so on. Its predecessor lasted four years before its internal battery failed to hold much charge (and that earlier version isn't suitable for USB-power while recording).

I've got a real AEE MD80 somewhere. Battery performance went in the end. At least with the SJ4000 clones you can swap the batteries.
 

Arjimlad

Tights of Cydonia
Location
South Glos
I figured, buy really cheap, buy twice.. so got a genuine SJCam.

I wanted it to work OK and after changing the video settings to "fine" and the exposure to "cloudy" it gives OK footage to my eyes. Got an aluminium out-front handlebar bracket which is less bouncy than the supplied plastic one.
 

mjr

Comfy armchair to one person & a plank to the next
I've got a real AEE MD80 somewhere. Battery performance went in the end. At least with the SJ4000 clones you can swap the batteries.
Most of the later MD80 clones record while USB-powered and it's easier to swap a USB powerpack than an internal battery (although you can't power it that way inside a waterproof cover, of course). Anyway, after the five-month lifespan, I wouldn't recommend the cameras sold from the Barking BOSI House / BOSITOOLS sellers like itzone-uk, allinone or techharbour, but I guess £3.89 for five months and a few lost uninteresting videos isn't too bad.

I figured, buy really cheap, buy twice.. so got a genuine SJCam.
Given that most of SJCam's models seem to be clones (SJ4000 is some GoPro clone, fitting the same accessories), "genuine" is an interesting concept.

And yes, buy cheap and you might buy twice or thrice but you'll probably still spend less than an SJCam - and there are a few scoundrels advertising "genuine" but supplying clones. Ultimately, it depends how much it's worth to you to increase the probability it just works first time, reduce the probability of needing to fiddling with it and reduce the risk of needing to return the odd oddball. If you really want to play it safe, why not buy a GoPro off the High Street and ask to test it before paying?
 

Sixmile

Veteran
Location
N Ireland
I can vouch for the quality of the Mobius camera. I got mine from banggood and purchased the handlebar mount with it too, under £50 delivered from memory. The only thing I have found that is an issue is the battery life. I'm getting under an hour at full charge. Most of the time though it is used as an auto-record dash cam and does that job rightly.
 

mjr

Comfy armchair to one person & a plank to the next
Does the Mobius camera not record while it is taking USB power?
But as I wrote, it's rather a lottery with clones: I seem to have killed my newest MD80 clone in 5 months as it now crashes when the stop button is pressed and it's not cured by resetting, trying different memory cards and so on.
And somehow, repartitioning a class 10 memory card and reformatting it seems to have brought it back. Meanwhile, its intended replacement was dead on arrival and so goes back for a refund :rolleyes:
 

migrantwing

Veteran
I can vouch for the quality of the Mobius camera. I got mine from banggood and purchased the handlebar mount with it too, under £50 delivered from memory. The only thing I have found that is an issue is the battery life. I'm getting under an hour at full charge. Most of the time though it is used as an auto-record dash cam and does that job rightly.

The battery should last longer than that. Mine runs from anything between 2-2.5 hours. The cold may be a factor of battery drain. Look for the newer, higher powered Mobius batteries @ 820 mAH as opposed to the older 520 mAH, resulting in a supposed 60% battery life increase.

Does the Mobius camera not record while it is taking USB power?

It does take USB power. A small power bank would do the trick.
 
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