Front bike camera

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gmw492

Veteran
Looking at a front camera for my bike, go pro are good but as the battery life isn’t great I presume you have to then carry a spare battery if on a long ride, cycliq looks good but pricey , I have seen a Ghost x camera which has a claimed battery life of 5 hours which is more than enough for my rides, it also has a loop function for erasing files so memory card never gets full, these are on motorcycle reviews just asking has anyone used one for cycling and any adapter for the quarter turn mount , anyone else recommend any cameras for front video recording that they use , thanks
 
I would like a camera as well - do they all have their own screen - seems unnecessary and as far as I am concerned the smaller the better - replay can wait until I get home!
ANy ideas welcome
 
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gmw492

gmw492

Veteran
I would like a camera as well - do they all have their own screen - seems unnecessary and as far as I am concerned the smaller the better - replay can wait until I get home!
ANy ideas welcome
Like a dash cam camera I think just start button , customise your settings on the phone app , only seen a YouTube review
 

Arjimlad

Tights of Cydonia
Location
South Glos
I use a Drift Ghost XL - had a Stealth 2 before that. Apart from the lack of stabilisation I'm happy with these cameras. Had a warranty replacement last year after a bit of rain ingress. I use it on the helmet or on the bars. Epic battery life. Adequate image quality for prosecutions apart from handheld mobile use.
 

Arjimlad

Tights of Cydonia
Location
South Glos
I bought some go-pro mount adapters off Ebay which convert them to the standard tripod bush mount. An "out-front" mount can then be used forward or behind, above or below the bars.
 
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gmw492

gmw492

Veteran
I bought some go-pro mount adapters off Ebay which convert them to the standard tripod bush mount. An "out-front" mount can then be used forward or behind, above or below the bars.
Great , main reason which was my sticking point on getting one , good to see they can be used out front I’ll take a look
 

Big John

Guru
I use a GoPro on the bike. How long do you want your videos to run for? After five minutes of watching even I get bored. The bigger the file the longer it takes to work on. I believe the camera I've got will hold about 90 minutes at low definition on the memory card. The longest video I've pieced together is probably about 8 minutes and was a montage of numerous files edited into one video. I too was worried about the battery capacity, memory card storage, etc, but I've never got anywhere near to maxing out.

If you're going to carry one for security reasons then fair enough, battery life and memory card capacity is important but for YouTube type videos then a GoPro is fine. Mine is just a basic one and I've never thought I wished I had a fancier one. If you wanted to upload a large file to YouTube or another hosting service then start uploading in the morning and go out for the day - it might be uploaded by the time you get back 😉
 
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Arjimlad

Tights of Cydonia
Location
South Glos
I would not recommend having the microphone opening slung this way up in a heavy downpour - but you can of course switch the mount around so it is the right way up. The beauty of the Drift cameras is the rotatable lens, so however tilted the camera is, you turn the lens to keep the footage upright.
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gmw492

gmw492

Veteran
I use a GoPro on the bike. How long do you want your videos to run for? After five minutes of watching even I get bored. The bigger the file the longer it takes to work on. I believe the camera I've got will hold about 90 minutes at low definition on the memory card. The longest video I've pieced together is probably about 8 minutes and was a montage of numerous files edited into one video. I too was worried about the battery capacity, memory card storage, etc, but I've never got anywhere near to maxing out.

If you're going to carry one for security reasons then fair enough, battery life and memory card capacity is important but for YouTube type videos then a GoPro is fine. Mine is just a basic one and I've never thought I wished I had a fancier one. If you wanted to upload a large file to YouTube or another hosting service then start uploading in the morning and go out for the day - it might be uploaded by the time you get back 😉
I want one for any incidents that hopefully won’t occur but the way the roads are it’s a war zone out there sometimes so need it for that not to watch my rides or YouTube anything so need the long battery
 

Big John

Guru
If you want one to cover your entire ride then I haven't a clue, sorry. And it guess it all depends on what you consider a typical ride. If I was out on a Sunday, for example, I'd need a four hour coverage. You may have to find a camera you like AND carry a spare battery as well as a couple of memory cards. Also, to be confident of catching things clearly you'd probably have to be on high definition, which takes up more card memory. I don't think there's an easy solution 🤔
 

Bianchi boy

Über Member
Location
North wales
I`ve used one of those cheap Bullet camera`s from e-bay (£25) shocked that the battery life was around 4-4 and half hours, records in 1080 or 720 and video is in increments of 3 minutes, had it for 2 years still performs well, however the sound quality is atrocious when moving.
 

Juliansou

Senior Member
Location
Essex
Yep - another vote for the cheap bullet cameras. Also got mine from eBay - about £20. I used to run an ‘action camera’ - basically a knock off go pro but would only get about an hour before the battery died. The bullet camera gives about 5 hours on one charge. Quality isn’t great to be honest but enough to prove fault should you need to which is essentially why I got it. I use a different mount as the one it comes with is a bit cumbersome!
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