What's the best helmet cam? [Archive]

sil3nt

28th October 2009, 17:27

I think there really are only 2 decent cameras available.
http://www.goprocamera.com/ and
http://www.tachyoninc.com/main.html
Biggles08 (http://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/member.php?u=10941) can do a pretty good deal on the tachyon and im sure others can vouch for the gopro being pretty damn good!

mossy1200

28th October 2009, 17:29

I got the go pro.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LbsbMpV4wKk

{.bLanK}G_o_D

28th October 2009, 17:39

I have an Oregon scientific (http://nzpocketbikeimports.co.nz/First%20attempt%2016.2.08%20Publication2_files/page0001.htm) camera.
Pretty reasonable camera. sound is average under normal circumstances. On the minimotos the mic is hopeless.
Check out the videos in my signature, all the onboard and helmet footage is done with this camera.

slofox

28th October 2009, 17:43

If you want an ATC2K, I'll sell mine for $100.

Headbanger

28th October 2009, 18:00

grusomhat

28th October 2009, 18:27

I'd be seriously weary of any company using Youtube footage to demonstrate their cameras capabilities. The only footage worth viewing is whatever quality/format the camera spits out by default.

The Oregon Scientific would have to be of unacceptable quality to most people, surely.

I beg to differ. If the video looks good on youtube then the original footage is sure to be even better.

I was looking at cameras recently and found two that I would want to buy. Neither are cheap but they offer pretty awesome quality footage.

contourHd
http://www.vorb.org.nz/introducing-the-contour-wearable-camcorder-t96396.html

and the POV.1.5
http://www.vio-pov.com/products/pov_15.php?bypass_redirect_message=T

For my money I would go with the Countour.

Nibblet

28th October 2009, 20:17

http://www.dogcamsport.co.uk

They got some awesome gear. Pretty quick delivery too. We run their dual recorder in our race car. The cameras a near indestructable too.

Headbanger

28th October 2009, 21:14

I beg to differ. If the video looks good on youtube then the original footage is sure to be even better.

Heh?

Of course the footage is better in its original format, Once it is re-encoded then there is no way of making a worthwhile comparison on the capabilities of the cameras.

Judging a camera on youtube footage is pointless,worthless, and a waste of time.

imdying

29th October 2009, 08:44

I'd only shoot with a helmet cam to put action stuff on youtube, so if it can be upped to youtube at an acceptable quality, that's all that matters to me.

Any regular filming I'll use a regular camera.

In other words:
- durability
- price
- battery life
- image quality
- sound quality

In that order, for me.

Headbanger

29th October 2009, 09:45

I can see your point, personally, I have about 30 hours of helmet camera footage, about 6 hours of which is worth viewing more then once, and about 20 minutes footage in total loaded onto Youtube.

Most of mine was done with a helmet lens feeding into a DV camera, Since then I have replaced the DV camera with a hardware encoder, But pretty much gave up when I viewed the quality of the resulting footage.

imdying

29th October 2009, 10:48

So long as the footage survives when you flip off the bike and fly through the air, that's what truly matters :first:

Road Guardian

29th October 2009, 10:56

The Oregon Scientific would have to be of unacceptable quality to most people, surely.

Yip, agree with you there, I find the picture is overall dark, and the camera takes a long time to adjust to changes in light, and when it does, it flicks through the different aperture levels, and is very noticeable. Would not recommend if you where after good looking footage.

slofox

29th October 2009, 11:04

I have given up on using the camera. Bike vids are the most boring thing on earth...unless you are falling off a lot....

cheesemethod

29th October 2009, 11:11

Heh?

Of course the footage is better in its original format, Once it is re-encoded then there is no way of making a worthwhile comparison on the capabilities of the cameras.

Judging a camera on youtube footage is pointless,worthless, and a waste of time.

Well if you intend to use it for putting videos on Youtube, that actually seems like the best idea to me.

I think what people actually mean here is that every time you compress a piece of video, it looses quality. You compress it again, it looses even more. Now all little cameras like this must compress the image as it is being recorded, else you'd fill a memory card up pretty bloody quick. For example, DV tape video cameras at 720x576 25p take about 13gb an hour, so storing that quality of footage on a tiny little device with a tiny memory card would require some very expensive hardware.

So these little cameras compress the image a fair bit. It's the only way to keep the size down and the power consumption low. Then of course when you put this on youtube, they compress the image again. So if the image looks like crap on youtube, it means that there was a lot of compression in the first place so the output of the camera pre youtube compression won't be impressive. But if it's very watchable on youtube it means that the compression within the camera isn't so lossy so the original product will look much better.

Headbanger

29th October 2009, 11:50

Well if you intend to use it for putting videos on Youtube, that actually seems like the best idea to me.

I think what people actually mean here is that every time you compress a piece of video, it looses quality. You compress it again, it looses even more. Now all little cameras like this must compress the image as it is being recorded, else you'd fill a memory card up pretty bloody quick. For example, DV tape video cameras at 720x576 25p take about 13gb an hour, so storing that quality of footage on a tiny little device with a tiny memory card would require some very expensive hardware.

So these little cameras compress the image a fair bit. It's the only way to keep the size down and the power consumption low. Then of course when you put this on youtube, they compress the image again. So if the image looks like crap on youtube, it means that there was a lot of compression in the first place so the output of the camera pre youtube compression won't be impressive. But if it's very watchable on youtube it means that the compression within the camera isn't so lossy so the original product will look much better.

Sweet, I can see where your coming from now, Though I'd suggest the resulting footage being of reasonable quality once encoded by youtube would more to do with the compression used in the camera being similar to youtubes methods.

grusomhat

29th October 2009, 14:21

Sweet, I can see where your coming from now, Though I'd suggest the resulting footage being of reasonable quality once encoded by youtube would more to do with the compression used in the camera being similar to youtubes methods.

That's what I meant. I believe it's safe to use use youtube footage to rule in a camera but not to rule out. If it's good on youtube, the camera can't be too bad. However if it's bad on youtube, the original footage might still be ok.

Headbanger

29th October 2009, 16:28

grusomhat

29th October 2009, 17:04

Well, I'd still disagree with you when using it as a basis for judging a cameras capabilities, the basic rule of thumb is if you want to finish with quality then you have to start with quality.Crap in=crap out.

Low quality footage that by chance doesn't get too badly raped by the youtube encoding doesn't make the camera a good one, Unless of course your purchasing decision is loaded 100 by youtube and nothing else.

And even then you would have to ignore the fact that the better the source material, the better the final product.

Of course youtube isn't the only basis of camera buying. I also flip a coin :)

Here's my steps

Read manufactures specs/ sales spiel.
Check out demo footage, (hopefully downloadable from their site)
Check out joeblogs camera footage (ie, inperfect conditions)
Read reviews
Flip a coin
Decide you don't really want a camera.

the booyar

29th October 2009, 19:55

If you want an ATC2K, I'll sell mine for $100.

Do you have any videos that i could check out? still in good working order with all the mounts and stuff? how does it mount to your helmet? Thanks.

Sensei

29th October 2009, 20:03

VHoldR " Wayne Gardner tested & approved " .

Waihou Thumper

1st January 2011, 12:01

Big Dave

1st January 2011, 13:38

Nice dredge.

Go Pro Hero HD got my $.
Not perfect, and needs some trial and error to optimise usage - but I'm pretty happy with the output.

AD345

1st January 2011, 14:59

Nice dredge.

Go Pro Hero HD got my $.
Not perfect, and needs some trial and error to optimise usage - but I'm pretty happy with the output.

Any tips for the set-up? Mine should be here in a couple of days

Big Dave

1st January 2011, 15:23

Any tips for the set-up? Mine should be here in a couple of days

Spend the money and buy the best SD card you can. NOT dick smith.
Experiment lots.

AD345

1st January 2011, 15:43

Spend the money and buy the best SD card you can. NOT dick smith.
Experiment lots.

yeah, I've ordered the Kingston 32Gb SDHC card locally. It's the one that GoPro recommends and its considerably cheaper than the Dick Smith card

http://www.fdc.net.nz/productsandservices/itemdetails.asp?itemid=177902

R-Soul

17th January 2011, 14:07

I found a cheapie:

http://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/showthread.php/133417-Cheap-helmet-cam?p=1129959355#post1129959355

BoristheBiter

17th January 2011, 14:14

I found a cheapie:

http://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/showthread.php/133417-Cheap-helmet-cam?p=1129959355#post1129959355

And you get what you pay for.

Crisis management

17th January 2011, 14:35

Go Pro Hero HD got my $.
Not perfect, and needs some trial and error to optimise usage - but I'm pretty happy with the output.

So what's a good price for a Go Pro Hero?

The reason I ask is that my son sells them for skydiving and suggested that if there were a bulk order (that's about 6 or so) then they would be around $400 to 450 each, if thats a reasonable price and there is sufficient interest I can arrange a bulk purchase.

I know nothing about these things other than they have been used to catch me grovelling in the mud after missing the trail yet again so keep your answers to simple terms....

evilrsvrguy

17th January 2011, 14:44

Torpedo 7 has them for $400 at the mo....
mine arived on friday..oooh yeah

motor_mayhem

17th January 2011, 15:35

I got a contour HD and have not been disappointed

Ease of use due to large record slide button and beeping sounds, good video and audio quality, and quite compact.

Camshaft

18th January 2011, 10:53

how much did u pay and where to buy from???

Scuba_Steve

18th January 2011, 10:59

Has anyone tried the Tachyon XC HD? I'm quite interested as these appear the best bang for buck & I have uses outside of biking like paintball which these come prepared for so just wondering if anyone has used them & what they think etc

R-Soul

18th January 2011, 20:38

And you get what you pay for.

I have been testing it since - it was a bloody good deal! Have a look at videos posted online from them.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_rPm8EfZhqs&feature=related

Hey it aint a Go Pro - but I paid $20 for mine.

BoristheBiter

18th January 2011, 21:40

I have been testing it since - it was a bloody good deal! Have a look at videos posted online from them.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_rPm8EfZhqs&feature=related

Hey it aint a Go Pro - but I paid $20 for mine.

not bad if you like the wave effect.

i paid $400 for the drift HD170. I looked at getting cheaper but due to the quality of the pictures i knew i would never use them.

R-Soul

19th January 2011, 13:13

not bad if you like the wave effect.

i paid $400 for the drift HD170. I looked at getting cheaper but due to the quality of the pictures i knew i would never use them.

I just want an idea of my lap times, and to see what my form is like in corners at the next art day, and to have evidence the next time Mary Pajero pulls out in front of me. I would love a HD one, but that will have to wait until kids stuff is all paid for...

BoristheBiter

19th January 2011, 13:43

I just want an idea of my lap times, and to see what my form is like in corners at the next art day, and to have evidence the next time Mary Pajero pulls out in front of me. I would love a HD one, but that will have to wait until kids stuff is all paid for...

Ntox just uses his digital camera.

Ntoxcated

19th January 2011, 15:47

Ntox just uses his digital camera.

Yeah, standard point and shoot that happens to do 640x480 movies. Not exactly brilliant quality and shakes a bit as it is mounted on my homemade radar detector mount, but good enough to see lines and lap times etc.

NotHisRealName

19th January 2011, 18:23

I just got a VIO 1.5 from dogcamsport.....
Very nice bit of kit and will definitely get the HD camera when it arrives. Made by Texas Instruments, so it will be good, quality is outstanding and the gear is well worth the price.
By the way, I got it here for a lot less than any NZ distributor can get it for, pity that as I would have bought local, but at the end of the day the service and price from the UK was outstanding!

I got a POV1 off my boss. He didn't like it because of the cable and, as he does a lot of enduro riding, it's more hassle than it's worth. And he upgraded to a GoPro HD.

I'm using the POV1 as a black box. The thing I think the POV has over every other helmet cam is the 'Loop' feature. I set the camera recording and, whenever something happens that I want to keep, I tag the clip using a wireless (RF) remote that automatically saves a clip (length set by the user). That way, you don't have to sort through hours of footage for the bits you actually want. With clips tagged, you only have to sort through the 10min (that's what I use) clip to find the exact point that you wanted to capture.

So now I ride everywhere with the camera running in case someone does something stupid and I catch it.

I'm saving my pennies for the POV HD for my tour of the North Island later this year.

Idubbs

19th January 2011, 22:17

Yep, I agree that the Vio Pov 1 / .5 are the cat's whiskers for quality vids as well as all day convenience. The repeated loop feature and remote control is worth the money alone. I used the Vio throughout a SI tour and had it permanently on, just freezing the loops I wanted to keep at the push of a button. Also had it plugged into the bike's 12V power supply so no wasted batteries! No problem hiding the recorder unit in a tank bag either....., and best of all, no junky feeble plastic handlebar clips and suction cups for this baby! Only solid RAM MOUNTS!

Downsides? Only one.....! Can't use it as easily for track days, as I can't hide the recorder unit unless one stuffs it down ones leathers....!?:facepalm: So what was the sensible thing to do?

.....bought a Drift HD170 of course! Why.....? Great quality vids, built in LCD screen, and..... you can mount it on RAM MOUNTS!

Oh, by the way - if anyone is interested in buying my Vio Pov 1.5 (with all the extras like 12V adapter, waist belt and shoulder mount/ storage pouch) please PM me. I've finished with it.:niceone:

NotHisRealName

20th January 2011, 14:36

Holycrap! I'd seen the drift cameras before, but didn't realize they were HD AND had a remote with loop function!

I was saving up for a POV HD, but I think I might re-think that.

BoristheBiter

20th January 2011, 15:11

Holycrap! I'd seen the drift cameras before, but didn't realize they were HD AND had a remote with loop function!

I was saving up for a POV HD, but I think I might re-think that.

No the drift does not have loop function.
it is HD and has a remote with a loop for attaching.

Still it has been a great camera and as said other than the microphone imho it is the best around.
I imported it from launchhelmetcams.ca with a long life battery and a 32g card but there is someone selling them now on trademe.

http://www.youtube.com/user/Boristhebiter?feature=mhum

Thats the link to my youtube site but that does not do the camera credit. on the TV in full def it just looks great.

NotHisRealName

20th January 2011, 18:58

No the drift does not have loop function.
it is HD and has a remote with a loop for attaching.

Damn. Looks like I'll stick with the POV HD then. I like the idea of having the camera recording constantly as a black box, and being able to tag a clip after a nice set of twisties, rather than having to guess when to start and stop.

BoristheBiter

20th January 2011, 19:22

Damn. Looks like I'll stick with the POV HD then. I like the idea of having the camera recording constantly as a black box, and being able to tag a clip after a nice set of twisties, rather than having to guess when to start and stop.

with the 32g card and long life battery i can record for around 5 hrs before changing the battery and 8 hrs before the card fills up.

You do need a good computer to edit it, I use power director 8 and quickly clip the bits i don't want out. the hardest is if i want to up load to youtube as it can only be 10min long so more clipping is required.

Like Idubs said you can't use the pov on track days so that was another reason i got the drift.

steve_t

20th January 2011, 19:24

Damn, that Drift camera looks sweet! Too bad it wasn't around when I bought the GoPro HD

dmc

20th January 2011, 20:33

The Contour HD has a slightly narrower angle of view so doesn't look as fish eyed as some of the others but still wide enough to give a good field of view, I shoot at 720p 60fps which is great for fast action. Mounting isn't as good as others but once you get the hang of lining it up with the mounting options I reckon it gives better results than the others just because its not as distorted by being so wide.
All suck for footage size as HD in 720 or 1080 is huge and will hammer most computers and it can be interesting to compress it for youtube or vimeo without losing quality or dropping frames but with a bit of trial and error you can get some really impressive results.

zeocen

20th January 2011, 20:50

POV for quality?
LOL.

I'm sorry but the ContourHD and GoPro HD kick the POV 1.5 and POV HD to hell and back in terms of quality.

A word of warning to POV users, once you've connected the cable to the unit, never take it off. The connector pins are about as flimsy as Paris Hilton's panties and snap off at the slightest error - this would be fine if VIO sold that particular part, which is removable, for a few bucks but instead they insist you buy a whole new unit and won't take refunds. This is after they ream you with a premium price for a second grade camera, and making you PAY for a firmware upgrade to adjust their god-awful exposure levels.

The *only* thing the POV has over the other cameras is the loop/black box feature and the inbuilt mic (which is sub-par and on the new POV HD, has more problems than the original with sound levels and popping) that you can stuff inside your helmet to give ride-by-ride commentary.

If you don't mind having a cube petrubing from your helmet then the GoPro HD is miles ahead - failing that the ContourHD, while not as crisp as the GoPro, still has far superior HD footage than the VIO 1.5/HD.

Disclaimer: I've owned a VIO camera for over a year with hundreds of hours of footage - I know a fair few UK guys who have them too, most have switched to GoPro due to how flimsy the pins are on the VIO (a good friend is onto his third 1.5 and second HD).

NotHisRealName

20th January 2011, 21:35

All interesting points. The thing I don't like about the GoPro (I do have one) is that there's no easy way to see if it's recording - especially if it's attached to my helmet. I generally ride solo, so I can't get someone to have a look for the red light.

TBH, I saw a comparison of the three cameras, GoPro, Contour, and Drift on Youtube and the Drift seemed to give the better results. Coupled with the remote and waterproof boot for when using an external mic, it's the way I'd go of those three.

But, let's face it, of the three self-contained cameras, they all offer fairly similar specs and features. They're all in HD, and relatively similar in size.
I'd argue that any one being better than the rest is simply a personal preference and confidence in their own purchase.

I've not had any issues with the pins on the leads for the POV, myself, and my Boss had it for a few years before me. The key is patience and being gentle rather than quickly trying to jam the lead in place.

steve_t

20th January 2011, 21:45

All interesting points. The thing I don't like about the GoPro (I do have one) is that there's no easy way to see if it's recording - especially if it's attached to my helmet. I generally ride solo, so I can't get someone to have a look for the red light.

I just use the bike mirror. Do any of the others have an easy way to see if they're recording?

BoristheBiter

21st January 2011, 06:37

I just use the bike mirror. Do any of the others have an easy way to see if they're recording?

The drift beeps when it starts recording and the green light turns red, if not the removal/fitting is a one hand operation so there is no big deal.
The contour would have to be the best as it just slides forward to start.

NotHisRealName your are right when you say they are pretty much the same.
My mate has the contour and from comparing (raw footage) the two i would say the contour has a sharper image, the drift is brighter and more clear, the contour has a waterproof case, the drift has a sealed lens the drift has better mounts and the contour has a safety strap, the drift will also hold a bigger card and has slightly better image stabilization.

Waihou Thumper

2nd February 2011, 11:57

A word of warning to POV users, once you've connected the cable to the unit, never take it off. The connector pins are about as flimsy as Paris Hilton's panties and snap off at the slightest error

The 1.5 and the HD are hard wired - no issue there and besides which, it is grooved for your convenience to match the pins up.

Disclaimer: I've owned a VIO camera for over a year with hundreds of hours of footage - I know a fair few UK guys who have them too, most have switched to GoPro due to how flimsy the pins are on the VIO (a good friend is onto his third 1.5 and second HD).

See above, the 1.5 and HD are hard wired to the unit. I can agree with the quality of the Hero, yes....But is does stand out a bit on the noggin' The cable attached to the camera and unit fits snugly down the back of my jacket, I pop the unit into the pouch and away I go. I have bought the 12V back unit for it, it will then be hard wired to my bike. There is also the option of plugging it into the cig lighter as well. Overall, I think it is a well thought out piece of kit, but like anything, each to their own and limitations/quality will decide..:) Happy filming all...