Helmet camera choices?

Want to get a helmet camera and struggling to find a good balance between cost and quality.

Obvious high end choice is gopro, but even cheap session option at £200 is too much (won't be used for anything more than as a helmet cam).

Then bottom end £30-40 clones, even the newer '4k' ones are terrible even at 1080p... Excessive light burn, horrible stabilisation, etc... Had one previously that video looked OK but was useless with detail e.g. Couldn't read a numberplate off it even if they drove over you!

Can anyone recommend anything mid range up to about £75 / £100 max?

I have a Drift Stealth 2

was about £100

looks Very cool on side of my lid compared to the UGLY as hell Gopro!

But sound is terrible when moving above 45mph

Pic is Very good

dont go £20-40 they suck!

Looked at drift and were coming back 200+ as well maybe newer models will have a look for that one, sound don't bother me as long as good video, tbh anything that gets said over 45mph probably best not recorded anyway

Does look much nicer than the gopro mounted.

Nothing to see here dohhhh

Fixing anything on the side of your help is just asking for trouble weather it’s wind noise/drag or I have heard of the camera/mount coming through the helmet on impact

Plus

GoPro is not designed as a accident cam as they overheat which excessive use & cant do proper loop recording as they can’t delete old footage when the card fills & have short battery life

Fixing anything on the side of your help is just asking for trouble weather it’s wind noise/drag or I have heard of the camera/mount coming through the helmet on impact

If that were true then my paramedic friend wouldnt ride with one would he

I use Drift. Great bits of kit and official BSB onboard cameras

Wouldn't it be better on the bike? Seems a lot of messing about attaching, unattaching a fragile thing to keep charging it up etc.

Wouldn't it be better on the bike? Seems a lot of messing about attaching, unattaching a fragile thing to keep charging it up etc.

Advantage of helmet is it records where your looking, advantage of bike camera is just starts and runs with the bike.

Watching a drift 2 on ebay atm, only 2 on there (well 3 if you include buy it now one at £999) so fingers crossed.

I'm sure if you manage to put a small plastic box stuck on by a double sided pad through crash helmet either helmet was totally fooked to begin with or that was some high speed impact and probably least of your worries... in fact just had a look to make sure...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/safety/resources/safetynews/whatsnew/helmet-cams (tested on climbing helmets but same principle, if anything higher speeds of impact on a bike is more likely to cause it to break away quicker).

in not one of over 70 tests on various helmet types, mounting types or mounting positions did the presence of the camera cause the helmet to ‘fail’ the injury threshold standards. And this wasn’t solely because the camera broke away on impact (as claimed likely by the manufacturer), because this only happened in approximately 40% of tests. It turns out that, as seen on high speed film, when struck by a heavy weight from above, or when a helmeted head-form is dropped from height onto a solid surface, the deformation of the camera mount seems to actually absorb some of the energies involved, meaning that the camera mount may be providing an additional layer of protection to the head in most, but not all, tests.

Whilst the injury threshold standards were not exceeded, the camera and its mount did cause a slight increase in the transference of force to the head when the impact was applied at an angle, such as in a glancing blow or fall against a surface - think of a climber falling and the camera catching on the rock face, causing the head to jerk back from its original path before the camera mount rotates or breaks away.

I think the SHARP program should get involved in testing action cams placed on motorbike helmets.

I recently purchased this go pro knock off from Amazon. From the little bit I’ve played with it round the house, it looks pretty good for the price. Until the weather turns better I won’t know how it performs in anger

Campark ACT74 Action Camera 4K 16MP Waterproof Cam 30M Underwater Camera 170°Wide View Angle 2.0 Inch LCD Screen with 2 Batteries and Portable Package https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01J51W5QG/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_3EoRAbTQFM2RE

I won’t be putting it on my lid though. I hate watching these YouTube videos where the camera is mounted on a helmet. It makes me feel sick when it’s all over the place.

It will be going behind my screen, but I think I will have to approach an engineering company down the road to make me a bar that I can screw into my say nav bracket. I like the camera to be in a fixed position.

If a tiny plastic camera mount causes your helmet to fail, what chance have you got if you hit a curbstone with your helmet??

I sent an email to my old sparing partner (we were Thai Boxers) who is now a Doctor (GP) who was previously a Paramedic and he uses a drift too

Now considering he was first line to pick up the pieces .....he recons its rubbish about the mounts causing problems , he said they simply fall off on impact

Also the drift uses a easy to use clamp to take it off and on

I often take it off with gloved hands, point it at a number plate and then just pop it back on the mount

Have you looked at the sena prism ?

http://www.buysena.eu/pt10-01.html?sc=25&category=8024

Have you looked at the sena prism ?

http://www.buysena.eu/pt10-01.html?sc=25&category=8024

Looks good and nice low profile, will have a further look cheers.

Didn't win the stealth, got highest bid in with 2secs to spare, got outbid just as it ended .

Have you looked at the sena prism ?

http://www.buysena.eu/pt10-01.html?sc=25&category=8024

 

Looks good and nice low profile, will have a further look cheers.

Didn't win the stealth, got highest bid in with 2secs to spare, got outbid just as it ended .

Sena is fetching a helmet out with built in camera but prob a tad over budget.

[mention]SlowBusa[/mention] or anyone else with a drift stealth 2...

Picked one up cheap because it has a busted screen, don't affect operation but I can't change video mode (well I can but no idea what I'm changing it to).

It's currently in 720p 30fps going by properties of video, I'm guessing it's just a press of the mode switch button to cycle through modes whilst in video mode. Can you let me know how many presses it would take to put it into 1080p (from 720p 30fps).

Havnt got it with me but will let you know tomorrow mate

Havnt got it with me but will let you know tomorrow mate

Cheers matey much appreciated.

This should arriving tomorrow morning

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B076D2G4GB/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

it's to be used on our trip to Norway, it will be fixed to the bike. Not a big fan of the helmet mounts, there's got to be some drag and turbulence - buffeting at speed me thinks

I own a GoPro Session 4 and it's fine for what it is, got it for £80 so I can't complain, doesn't do number plates very well unless you're quite close, quality is decent though and the 25 FPS at 1440p isn't really that slow looking.

If you're looking for a cheap GoPro check the Facebook marketplace, it's how I found mine.

Havnt got it with me but will let you know tomorrow mate

 

Cheers matey much appreciated.

Ok here you are [mention]Via[/mention]

with it turned on and set to 30 FPS 720p

Pressing the middle button each time sets it to

120 FPS WVGA (sucks)

30 FPS WVGA (really sucks)

30 FPS 1080p

30 FPS 960p

60 FPS 720p

and another press takes you back to 30 FPS 720p

So you need to press middle button 3 times

Havnt got it with me but will let you know tomorrow mate

 

Cheers matey much appreciated.

Ok here you are @Via

with it turned on and set to 30 FPS 720p

Pressing the middle button each time sets it to

120 FPS WVGA (sucks)

30 FPS WVGA (really sucks)

30 FPS 1080p

30 FPS 960p

60 FPS 720p

and another press takes you back to 30 FPS 720p

So you need to press middle button 3 times

Perfect! Spot on matey many thanks.

See what you meant about sound though, watched first video... sound seems to be ok... 20mph bit windy now... 30mph argh my ears... 40mph somebody please kill me... oh there's the mute button.

Otherwise lovely little camera, smaller than it looked and nice simple mounting.

Your Welcome

Stupid design flaw having the Mic at the front

I experimented by putting a microphone foam part over the mic........works but not worth the hassle if your not bothered about sound

PS dont bother with WiFi on it.......Slooooow

Otherwise its a little cracker

Did put the wifi app on phone as I managed to turn on wifi (bottom left of screen works and luckily wifi is last option on that page so could see enough to get to it and turn on) hoping the app will have the ability to change camera settings... wrong just get a horribly slow live stream so turned back off and app binned lol

Yeah sound really not a concern more important to have decent video and a tidy mount which this fits bill perfectly.