ATC 2000 helmet cam Q's

Ngalbrai

Probably more a know how post but more commuters use them for safety etc so thought this was the place to ask.

How long do the batteries last?
AA?
I guess you can use rechargeables?
I gather you get about an hour off a 2GB card, if using it all the time I assume you just overwrite your return journey over the inward one? My commutes an hour so if anything monumentous happened i could download vid at work and overwrite on way home?
Is it still the commuters helmet cam choice?

I am more interested to set it filming behind me to see if there is any obvious fuming of impatient drivers as I ensure my safety in primary position, EVERY time I have given an inch I have had some hair raisingly close overtaking...but I digress.

Its another toy int it.

DavidTQ

Bent Mikey I believe has experimented more with battery life than I have I get a weeks worth of commuting 8x30 minutes journeys no problem out of one charge but I do use the high capacity rechargeables.

Yep its 2xAA batteries.

Yep use rechargeables

I use a 2gb card records up to one hour, I upload my morning journey to the work pc and then delete it from the camera and upload the homeward journey to my home pc and then delete it from the camera.

Theres better cameras out there but not at the price point as far as I know. I think you're looking at £300ish for better cameras.

Having a helmet cam is great I find it makes me calmer when drivers do things wrong, just knowing Im going to put them on the net for other people to see their stupidity, a small measure of revenge...

The ATC2000 is waterproof to 3 meteres as well, so Ive filmed my fish up close already.... Yeah its a toy

cupofteacp

How have you fixed yours to your helmet?

scalamanga007

It says on the spec that they can only be used on PC's?

I work on a mac so will have to use an old PC, will I need any software to pull the video off onto a PC?

toontra

scalamanga007 wrote:

It says on the spec that they can only be used on PC's?

I work on a mac so will have to use an old PC, will I need any software to pull the video off onto a PC?

It's USB, so you can plug it into a Mac and drag and drop files from the mounted "No Name" disk (the memory card) onto your Mac no problem - or use a card reader (which means having to remove the card) - either way will work.

cntl

>>How long do the batteries last?
>>AA?

GOOD quality batteries last little over 2h. Not worth it.


>>I guess you can use rechargeables?

I bought Fujicell 2700 MAH rechargables from ebay (new), 4 for under £5. They last over 3 houres, maybe 3.5h

I also use 2100 MAH UniROSS recharbles (the ones that came witht eh UniROSS charges, from Argos). Last 2-2.5h

cntl

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Fujicell-4-x-2700 ... dZViewItem

You can get a charger from Argos.

cntl

IMPORTANT: If you ignore the law battery indicatior or just do not notice it, and continue on recording, then a lot of the times this will result in currupt SIMM file system. In my case it is the rule, rather than exception. When that happens, the last recording will be "missing". There also will be less space available on the SIMM card. The only way to fix it that (that I have found) is to do a FULL SIMM format under Windows (right click on the camera drive letter, and choose 'format'). Format as FAT (not FAT32). You can leave the allocation unit as 'default'. I tend to add up the camera recording time and when it reaches 2h (or 2.5h on the 2.7K MAH batteries) I recharge them. Avoids the hassle.

ESSEXMIRAGE

Hi all you commuters I am about to embark on the commuting thing and am interested in the idea of one of these, and was wondering (prob a mega stupid question but....) was there a difference between the ATC2000 and the ATC2K on a link elsewhere on this forum ???
Are they the same ??? :? :?

skyway

I've got one of these cameras but I'm struggling to find it comfortable to use and it's been stuck in my cupboard as a result.

Where is the best place to mount it ?

TIA
Jay

redvee

ESSEXMIRAGE wrote:

was there a difference between the ATC2000 and the ATC2K on a link elsewhere on this forum ???
Are they the same ??? :? :?

Both exactly the same > Google ATC2000 & ATC2k and spot the difference in the results

DavidTQ

skyway wrote:

I've got one of these cameras but I'm struggling to find it comfortable to use and it's been stuck in my cupboard as a result.

Where is the best place to mount it ?

TIA
Jay

I use the short velcro strap and mountit to the side of the helmet using the vents, wrapping the strap under the bottom edge of the helmet then feeding it back through the loest vent, very stable and completely unnoticeable to me when riding.

for ultimate comfort although not as good footage you can mount it on the handlebars using the suppied handlebar mount, better there than in the cupboard...

Will take a picture this evening if I remember

skyway

Thanks.

I've mounted mine to the top center of my helmet as it seemed a bit heavy on one side

PrettyBoyTim

I have the ATC2K camera (exactly the same as ATC2000 - the '2K' just stands for 2000).

I use rechargeable batteries, and I tend to find they can just about last two days (Which is about 2h 40mins of recording). I find it's very useful to have a little USB2 SD/MMC card reader (mine's pretty similar to this one) as the transfer rate using a cable on the ATC2K is *really* slow.

I just delete the old footage at the beginning of each ride.

My ATC2K is attached to my handlebars. You don't get as much control over where it is looking, but I don't like it on my helmet. Also, as the helmet won't quick-release under force, I'd be worried about the possible consequences of having it on the helmet in the case of a collision.

DavidTQ

OK heres some pictures of my helmet cam:-







What the picture doesnt show so well is that the strap that holds the camera on goes round the lowest vent as well as the second vent up, just a case of routing the cable to get a really decent tight fit.

The red line between the camera mount and the helmet is some red wax that I used to adjust the angle of the cam to get the road in better. The wax from edam cheese... Kind of gross but it works . The camera is really solidly mounted no wobble at all, I dont feel any pull possibly because the helmet is a good fit, might be something to do with the adjustable band in the helmet, it clasps my head quite nicely and by time the chins straps are done up as well theres just no movement from the helmet and so I dont feel any weight related pull. I think the helmet fit is vital here, its not "tight" its just well moulded to my head.

DavidTQ

From a fresh charge, so far this week my batteries have done 4 hours recording, plus over 2 hours switched on attached to the pc (left it plugged in and switched on last night - it doesnt auto power down when attached to the pc) , no low battery indicator yet.

Im using Duracell 2650mah rechargeables, Im guessing that not all 2650mah batteries are equal??

These are what I got:-

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Duracell-Suprem ... 424&sr=8-3

Although I got them on offer...

redvee

The ACT2000 got a mention on the techno page of todays Daily Star

http://rapidshare.com/files/88154477/ds ... 080131.pdf

DavidTQ

Done over 5.25 hours recording now on one charge... An hour or so extra I put down to good batteries but this is double what most people say they get out of a set of batteries... Im running it at maximum resolution and 30fps. Are others running at lower settings or something?