Nearly knocked off my bicycle - wish to buy a camera to mount on bike

[Shut Up Legs]

If you do get a camera Please please don't load the internet with footage of every time a car gets a bit close or whatever.The world cant cope with another traffic droid.

A camera may help with evidence after a crash but is in no way going to make you less likely to be hit in the first place.

If you do get one, under no circumstances should you shout " You're on camera!"

This thread is someone asking for advice on cameras, not opinions on whether or not he should buy one, or how he should behave during or after using it.

@Morsty88 - Samuel, I've been using GoPros for years now (I've had the Hero original, Hero3, Hero3+ and Hero4) and find them fairly reliable. If you do get one, just ensure that the SD card you use for the videos is a Class 10 - speed or better, and ideally at least 32GB capacity. Their only main drawback is the high price, and the battery life could be improved also, but despite these, I'm happy to keep using them.

 

[growingvegetables]

If you do get one, just ensure that the SD card you use for the videos is a Class 10 - speed or better,

+1 - nothing worse than a dodgy card!

 

[jefmcg]

This thread is someone asking for advice on cameras,

Yerbut, people left it quite few hours before chiming in. He got a lot advice of what to buy, he can ignore the rest.

I have to say, if I thought that the likelihood of being hit by a car, and the driver lying and me needing proof warranted the hassle of a camera (removing it when parking, keeping it charged, mounting it correctly, buying it etc etc) I might regard that as the time to stop cycling. To be fair, years ago someone asked me how many times I 'd been knocked off my bike in London, and the answer was "0", my sincere belief was the maximum that would ever be was "1", as I wouldn't get back out there if it happened once. Turns out that's not true .

A friend woke up staring at the sky in Grattan Street (yup, just near Melbourne Uni @Shut Up Legs ), with the single frame of an open car door in her mind - yup, she'd be doored. She asked me if I thought she should buy a camera, and I told her if I felt a camera was necessary, I would give up cycling. She agreed with me. She didn't need a camera for that accident. A camera would not have been helpful for my two accidents with cars. And it's very likely even if I used a camera regularly, I wouldn't have bothered fitting it for a journey of 5km round trip.

 

[Banjo]

Am I allowed to comment on the dangers of fixing hard things to a cycle helmet and suggest going for a bar mount or will I be arrested by the forum police for wandering off topic ever so slightly?

 

[400bhp]

Am I allowed to comment on the dangers of fixing hard things to a cycle helmet and suggest going for a bar mount or will I be arrested by the forum police for wandering off topic ever so slightly?

Comment away as you're quite right.

I use a SJcam for commuting. The bar mounts that it comes with just look ridiculous so I ended up spending as much on an after market mount a I did on the camera. Albeit the mount stays permanently on one bike (wet weather bike).

Good enough camera with a few foibles.

 

[Sixmile]

I have a handle mounted Mobius. The camera was under £50 (Banggood), mount around £3, class 4 SD (<£10). Battery can be upgraded if the hour and a bit doesn't suit you.

 

[SavageHoutkop]

Am I allowed to comment on the dangers of fixing hard things to a cycle helmet and suggest going for a bar mount or will I be arrested by the forum police for wandering off topic ever so slightly?

I am vaguely considering a camera, and I will not mount one to my almost-about-to-be-consigned-to-the-bin helmet (as soon as I sort my dynamo so I can remove my helmet-mounted lights, anyway) - was only concerned about how shaky any footage on a bike-mount might be. Any tips?

 

[Ron-da-Valli]

Please officer it was that Banjo wot started it!! I'm easily led.
On the subject of cameras,(keen to stay on topic) don't buy a Vivitar, absolute bag of.... I got one cheap and the battery life was abysmal.

 

[RoubaixCube]

I bought a SJ4000 clone from gearbest I havent had the chance to test it properly yet but I have bought & tested official Qumox batteries with it which shouldnt fit in 'fake' SJ4000's and they have fitted and worked perfectly.

for £22 its worth a punt if youre not in a hurry as its sent from China.

I think the quoted battery life is anywhere between 80-100mins which is fine for commutes but for longer rides youre going to want to carry spare batteries or buy a charging dock that comes with a spare battery that you can swap the out and recharge one of them on the go from a power bank.

Even im considering grabbing a few more batteries to charge on the go while im getting into doing longer rides and night rides with the Fridays when possible.

Battery life is the biggest caveat so far when it comes to small action cameras nevermind the video quality itself. You need power to be able to record things and keep things recording. I really dislike the idea of having to stop every hour or so to replace batteries. Even though I will keep this Soocoo F23 for commutes and short distances, I'll be looking for something with a longer battery life.

 

[Jaykun85]

after a few near misses and just plain rude drivers leaving no space or just pulling out on me. i have decided to buy a camera to mount on my helmet. Decided to go with Garmin VIRB on amazon for £99 though not to bad. Hopefully i wont be in a accident but better safe than sorry

 

[Shut Up Legs]

I wish it was possible to get action video cameras that are

• light;
• with good picture quality (particularly in low light); and
• with long battery life.

Unfortunately, in practice, you'll generally only get 1 or 2 of the above, at best. GoPro have a middling score on the 1st, are fairly good on the 2nd, and are cr#p at the third.

 

[SavageHoutkop]

• with long battery life.

Anyone managed to hook one up to a dynamo, or are the power requirements completely out of line?

 

[RoubaixCube]

Anyone managed to hook one up to a dynamo, or are the power requirements completely out of line?

You could always run it hooked up to a power bank strapped to your frame

though the problem with this is your camera wont be waterproof any more as youre attaching it via a border frame mount rather the waterproof casing that is normally supplied

 

[Jaykun85]

You can get this on amazon for go pro cameras. .. Though not very discreate..

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Brunton-All...qid=1456759656&sr=8-20&keywords=gopro+battery