Helmet camera

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dodd82

Well-Known Member
Hi all

I have read some old threads on here about helmet cameras, but there's so many different options and so many opinions, it's hard to pin down my options.

If I told you that I was looking a camera that would fit onto my helmet, that costs preferably approx. £50 and no more than £100, but that offered a reasonably good film quality and didn't require a new battery every day (!), would you have any recommendations?

I ride approx. 1.5 hours per week day and my longer weekend rides are up to 4 hours or so.

If you need any other info or think I'm being unrealistic, please say! I would also consider a second hand model, unless you think that's silly?

Thanks
 

sabian92

Über Member
A lot of (or any, possibly) helmet cameras can't last 4 hours on a single charge. The contour ROAM which I have, which from what I read is the one with the longest life that contour do) is only around 3 hours at the lowest quality, which isn't really that good.

They are generally recharged from the wall anyway so you don't have to have shares in duracell to power them.

Have a look at DogCamSport and their bulletcam. Has reasonably good reviews on here from what I see. http://www.dogcamsport.co.uk/dogcam-bullet-hd-helmet-cameras.html
 

sabian92

Über Member
I forgot to add as well, if you can stretch your budget a little bit, you can usually get a Contour ROAM from the US for about 120 quid.
 

Matthew_T

"Young and Ex-whippet"
My first camera was an Oregon Scientific ATC2K for £40 at the time. It had a narrow field of view and was best suited for handlbars (heavy). But for the price and the battery life (just over 1 hour with 2 AA's) it was decent enough.
The problem I had with mine is that the mount broke and then the lense broke, meaning it turned on but didnt record anything.
You can get better ones now though.

I currently use a Contour HD which I picked up from here for £100. It is much better quality and is very user friendly (easily turns on and off). The battery life is about 2.5 hours on low (maxed it out on a club ride). and I currently use a 16GB microSD card in it which has plenty of room.

Vids can be found on my YT channel.
 
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dodd82

dodd82

Well-Known Member
Thanks guys - I guess the camera will just be for the commute then!

Do you not find it strange that you can't film a long ride?

Matthew - where did you pick up the Contour HD for £100, if you don't mind me asking?
 
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dodd82

dodd82

Well-Known Member
Why not?!
 

BSRU

A Human Being
Location
Swindon
Contour and GoPro cameras can be powered from an external source using the USB port.
I did a test a while back using a camera on highest quality for 8 hours and still plenty of juice left in my external battery, although it did use a couple of 32Gb memory cards, 6Gb an hour.
 
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dodd82

dodd82

Well-Known Member
Thanks BSRU. Sorry if this is a bit simple of me, but what external source can you use?

Does it mean having a wire run down the back and into your bag?

I get the impression that this is either something worth doing properly, for hundreds of pounds, or not worth doing at all?
 

BSRU

A Human Being
Location
Swindon
I used a 12v 9800mAh Lion battery, not heavy but too heavy to have on the helmet.
I used a a car cigarette lighter adaptor which converts the 12v to 5v, used to charge/power USB devices in the car. A little rewiring and may 12v battery is connected to the 5v USB input on the camera.
With anything the price of older perfectly good cameras become cheaper as new ones are released.
 

Matthew_T

"Young and Ex-whippet"
Matthew - where did you pick up the Contour HD for £100, if you don't mind me asking?
There was a guy on here in the classifieds that was selling it. It didnt have the original box and only came with the helmet mount and 16gb microSD card.

You could probably pick one up for the same price on Ebay.

I bought it in March and it has been working fine for me. However, the camera model is old now and out of production (I think).
 
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