Decent helmet camera?

JustAnotherSaver · 19 March 2017 at 9:57PM

My wife will be looking at getting a bike soon & using it to get to work during the summer as a means of fitness & also cost saving.

We'll be looking at helmet cameras but don't really know where to start, what's considered good on the market - brands, models etc.

£150 or so would be the budget.

Obviously she'll not be wanting a TV on the top of her head screaming hey scallywags come & get this bit of kit off me. Something a bit discreet would be preferred but then there's the obvious requirement of being waterproof, recording in good quality (both sound & image), time & date stamp preferred - that kind of thing.

Johnmcl7 · 20 March 2017 at 12:43AM

I'd have a look at the GoPro4 Session (there's also a GoPro5 Session that's a lot more expensive):

https://www.amazon.co.uk/GoPro-CHDHS-102-SE-HERO-Session-Camera/dp/B01BVACUZK/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1489965755&sr=8-3&keywords=gopro+session+4

It's very small, it's waterproof (doesn't need a fiddly dive case) and has decent video quality although the battery is fixed and can't be replaced to extend the recording time during a ride. I have a couple of these cameras to use on my helmet and chest cameras and find them very handy for their small size as I found the standard sized GoPros really too big for helmet use.

Sjcam (amongst others) make cheap copies of the GoPro cameras and they have their own cheaper version of the Session:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/d/Electronics-Photo/SJCAM-Multi-function-Waterproof-Recorder-Camcorder-wide-angle-Multiple/B014CJY90Q/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1489966484&sr=8-1&keywords=sjcam+cube

I've not used any of the Sjcam cameras myself although they seem to have a good reputation for the price:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5tMhb4t-hPE

John

JustAnotherSaver · 20 March 2017 at 7:33AM

Thanks for the reply.

Just looking at the GoPro on google & google images. Would that be more mounted to the handlebars than the actual helmet itself? It looked like it. That isn't a problem, I was just wondering.

Nasqueron · 20 March 2017 at 12:24PM

Helmet mount shows where you are looking and has a greater range of view due to height. Handlebar (or to a lesser extent on the chest) has less visibility and generally just points forwards. Aside from the GoPro or the SJ Chinese knock-off the Garmin Virb is another possibility or even a decent dash cam - you can get the mobius for about £60 and a waterproof case for £15-20 and that has nearly 2 hours of battery life

Not sure why cyclists want these cameras anyway, no use proving you were right if you are squashed, ride positively (1m from the kerb in primary - "own the road" or on bike lanes), have good high vis clothing and anticipate what idiots will do when driving. I have commuted 9m each way on 60mph bendy country lanes with no street lights in the dead of winter as well as current route of 7m through busy urban areas and I have never felt any need to have a camera and fail to see any real use.

Johnmcl7 · 20 March 2017 at 12:31PM

JustAnotherSaver wrote: »

Thanks for the reply.

Just looking at the GoPro on google & google images. Would that be more mounted to the handlebars than the actual helmet itself? It looked like it. That isn't a problem, I was just wondering.

No, the Session can be helmet mounted - if it's a normal ribbed helmet, there's a strap that goes round the ribs to provide a mount for the camera. There's also an adhesive mount if it's a solid helmet.

I like the Session as a helmet camera as it's smaller and lighter than other GoPro cameras so it's less noticeable on your head.

I can't find any good images of the Session on a helmet, something like this gives you a rough idea:

https://media.dcrainmaker.com/images/2015/07/image6.png

John

Johnmcl7 · 20 March 2017 at 1:26PM

Nasqueron wrote: »

Not sure why cyclists want these cameras anyway, no use proving you were right if you are squashed, ride positively (1m from the kerb in primary - "own the road" or on bike lanes), have good high vis clothing and anticipate what idiots will do when driving. I have commuted 9m each way on 60mph bendy country lanes with no street lights in the dead of winter as well as current route of 7m through busy urban areas and I have never felt any need to have a camera and fail to see any real use.

Most of the time I don't feel the need for a camera as I'm not one of those people that wants to report absolutely everything I see but there have been several really near misses due to bad or angry driving that I wish I'd had a camera to report. Three cases were people driving the wrong way down a one way road and assumed my frantic gesturing was me just waving to them and they waved back, forcing me off the road and the other three were where drivers had attempted to force me off the road or intimidated me with their vehicles.

You may be wondering what I'd done to get that behaviour, in the first case the driver had moved from a stop just ahead of me but they were only doing around 15mph and I could see they were distracted trying to do something on their phone so I just overtook them which was the red rag to a bull and he immediately accelerated up ahead of me then slowed down hard to force me to brake hard several times. The second time I was going along a narrow countryside on a blind corner, a driver was behind but couldn't quite get past and stay within the white line so he took to shouting at me for not moving off the road for him and then came in really close as he overtook, then pulled into a layby and got out of the car shouting at me to stop. The third occasion I was going through town at a decent speed (had just left a car park so didn't even had time to do anything) when a driver came up close beside me, shouted at me to get off the f***ing road and tried to force me off the corner before seemingly giving up and driving off.

In particular for the last three cases I wish I'd had the camera to be able to report the drivers, I realise I could do it without but it's a lot more effective when there's video for the police and even if they did nothing I'd feel better I'd at least tried as I suspect I wasn't the only cyclist those drivers had harassed.

The couple of issues that put me off are that unfortunately there's been prominent idiots with action cameras who have got into verbal slinging matches with drivers and upload every moment they feel they've been wronged which gives the cameras a negative stigma. Plus there's the issue of batterylife, none of my cameras would last a long ride and for frequent short rides there would need to be a lot of recharging.

John

esuhl · 20 March 2017 at 3:51PM

Nasqueron wrote: »

Not sure why cyclists want these cameras anyway, no use proving you were right if you are squashed...

A camera would have been a lot of help for me when I was "squashed" by a drunk driver who left the scene without giving me her details.

If I'd had the registration of her vehicle, I would have sued her for about £800 in damages.

I can't understand why some people are so against the idea of safety cameras.

jblessing · 20 March 2017 at 5:12PM

Not sure about the gopro session, but I have an earlier gopro and I would be loathe to attach it to me or my helmet. The mounts and the camera itself are very strongly built. It is thought that Michael Schumacher's injuries were worse because he had a gopro on his helmet.

I have used a mobius action camera. The quality is nearly as good as a gopro but it feels less dangerous to me.

Johnmcl7 · 20 March 2017 at 7:03PM

jblessing wrote: »

Not sure about the gopro session, but I have an earlier gopro and I would be loathe to attach it to me or my helmet. The mounts and the camera itself are very strongly built. It is thought that Michael Schumacher's injuries were worse because he had a gopro on his helmet.

This isn't true, a journalist claimed he had spoken to a Schumacher relative and that the GoPro camera was suspected as the cause but then he denied he had spoken to the family member and admitted that the claim was his opinion, not actually based on any medical evidence.

Since then there's been a lot of testing by helmet companies and others who have found a gopro camera doesn't worsen the accident unless the camera was suspended on the front of the helmet to show a person's reaction or possibly on a cliff fall if the camera caused the head to rotate round:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/safety/resources/safetynews/whatsnew/helmet-cams

Also if helmet cameras were causing more serious head injuries there would have been a huge increase in these head injuries given the huge increase in the use of that type of camera over the last few years but there's been nothing measurable that can show it happening.

John

Nasqueron · 21 March 2017 at 10:56AM

esuhl wrote: »

A camera would have been a lot of help for me when I was "squashed" by a drunk driver who left the scene without giving me her details.

If I'd had the registration of her vehicle, I would have sued her for about £800 in damages.

I can't understand why some people are so against the idea of safety cameras.

How would a camera have helped to get a reg? If she stopped then you could have her reg on paper or a phone, if she didn't you're still relying on the camera actually focusing on her plate (and how do you hope the camera would prove her drunk driving)?

I have been hit by cars twice and neither would have been aided by a camera, one perhaps I could have avoided if I had guessed the car would turn across the road into me, the other when a car pulled out of a roundabout exit into me as I was passing. I had the driver details in both circumstances.

I have nothing against cameras but they're extremely rarely needed for a few mile commute and much more commonly used by angry people who want to police the road, who capture bad driving that doesn't affect them, shout the license plate out and then cycle and have an argument with the driver then post it on youtube. Focus on safe defensive cycling not relying on the camera to create some sort of bubble - all it will capture is the way you point it so anything else is missed

brat · 21 March 2017 at 11:33AM

I use a chest mounted GoPro Hero4 Session. I use it all the time, but very occasionally use it to make companies aware of their responsibilities towards cyclists. I bought it after an accident which caused me no ends of problems getting compensation for my broken bike. Like Esuhl, had I the camera at that time, liability would have been clear as day.

I don't like helmet mounted cameras because I think they look silly on top of the helmet, and I don't like the extra weight on the helmet. The chest mount is quite discreet, and doesn't give drivers the impression that you're a cycling vigilante.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PcxLS8NfyJY

Decent helmet camera?

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