new helmet camera - but surely a safety issue on the helmet?

DF33
DF33 Posts: 732
edited June 2011 in Commuting general
Just received a small 'bullet' type camera that I'm going to fit to my helmet.

When I held it against the helmet to zip tie it, (3" long, 1" diameter, aluminium housing) it obviously stands proud. It immediately made me think of the consequences of a head first landing on the old napper, and the damage it could do with only a bit of polystyrene between it and my skull.

Everyone seems to fit these to their helmets without worry.

Any comments?

Can't say I'm comfortable with it but it's the best place for it to capture any vehicle cut ups etc as it follows where your looking and less vibration than the handlebars.

Am I being unnecessarily concerned?
Peter

Comments

  • wgwarburton
    wgwarburton Posts: 1,863
    Hi,
    Yes, you are being unnecessarily concerned.

    Cheers,
    W.
  • DF33
    DF33 Posts: 732
    Thought I'd get it in the neck (rather than the bonce) so to speak on this one. :lol:
    Peter
  • alan_sherman
    alan_sherman Posts: 1,157
    helmet cameras are not allowed in races for that very reason. Ditch the helmet and gaffer tape the cam to your head.
  • DF33
    DF33 Posts: 732
    Think I'll get one of those motorway lorries with the water cushion and big yellow lights to follow me everywhere instead.
    Peter
  • sheep_go_baa
    sheep_go_baa Posts: 35
    DF33 wrote:
    Think I'll get one of those motorway lorries with the water cushion and big yellow lights to follow me everywhere instead.
    Don't forget the motorbike outriders to warn, and where necessary stop, traffic in front of you too! :P
  • mark1964
    mark1964 Posts: 54
    edited June 2011
    Shouldn't be an issue since in a spill, the camera will come a cropper before your bonce. However, do remember if you mount it on top of your helmet to give yourself an extra few inches when going under low tree branches/doorways etc as I've nearly hit my helmet cam twice!.
    "Anything for a weird life"

    Zaphod Beeblebrox
  • jamesco
    jamesco Posts: 687
    Wouldn't have thought it would be a big problem. Wish I'd had a video-camera yesterday to capture this when it happened just in front of me:

    keyyht.jpg

    It would have made a great video!
  • CyclingBantam
    CyclingBantam Posts: 1,299
    How did that happen?

    Please tell me it was an old lady picking up the car to retreive her 20p that rolled under it...
  • bails87
    bails87 Posts: 12,998
    DF33 wrote:
    It immediately made me think of the consequences of a head first landing on the old napper, and the damage it could do with only a bit of polystyrene between it and my skull.

    I'd be much more concerned about the thing you're landing headfirst on.

    What camera is it, out of interest? Have you tried it out yet?
    MTB/CX

    "As I said last time, it won't happen again."
  • Keith1983
    Keith1983 Posts: 575
    Maybe you need a better way of mounting it so that the mount will fail upon impact?
  • jamesco
    jamesco Posts: 687
    CyclingBantam wrote:
    How did that happen?

    Please tell me it was an old lady picking up the car to retreive her 20p that rolled under it...

    I'd love to say that the car got flipped over by my wake, but it was a light truck (3.5 tonner) that collided with the car. A few of us (on bikes) were very lucky as the truck had just passed us, was slowing down, and any move to pass him on the inside would have put us right where the truck ended up after bouncing off the car. It was literally within touching distance.
  • DF33
    DF33 Posts: 732
    I'd be much more concerned about the thing you're landing headfirst on.
    What camera is it, out of interest? Have you tried it out yet?[/quote]

    It's a cheapo from 7 day shop.

    http://www.7dayshop.com/catalog/product ... _id=110355

    You can buy them with the sd card too from them. Tried it this afternoon. fine for having proof if you get knocked off the bike / taking the reg no. Not good enough quality for anything more, but thats all i wanted and if it gets broken / lost it's only £15 down the swanny.

    Less good is 7 days shop contact. email only. Sent them 2 questions, does this take any micro sd card or an sdhc card, also states suitable for mac but comes with mini cd rom disk, unuseable in the laptop and all download drivers are for windows, asked for a link for mac drivers. No response. (you can use it on a mac but have to use a card reader rather than just recharge plug in and download which is a bit of a faff).

    If you want a basic, excellent value headcam it's spot on. Otherwise spend more.
    Peter
  • downfader
    downfader Posts: 3,686
    The zip ties should be sufficient to snap on impact and will pose less of a problem.You prolly stand more a stand of a part of the helmet snagging and causing a rotational injury that way. Still a rare thing though.
  • desweller
    desweller Posts: 5,175
    WGWarburton wrote:
    Hi,
    Yes, you are being unnecessarily concerned.

    Cheers,
    W.

    That was unusually restrained... ;-). I'm sure, with a little effort, you could turn this into a full Helmet Thread!
    - - - - - - - - - -
    On Strava.{/url}
  • bails87
    bails87 Posts: 12,998
    DF33
    Thanks for that.

    I'd be interested in the battery life, I had an MD80 clone which was alright except for the awful battery life, I was lucky if I got 15 minutes out of it. I had two and they were both the same, with various SD cards.

    The video quality (same resolution as the one you've got)was fine, I'd only want it as 'evidence' in case something serious happened on my commute, not for recording every little incident or anything like that. But for my hour long commute it was useless.

    So do you get near the claimed 3 hours?
    MTB/CX

    "As I said last time, it won't happen again."
  • antfly
    antfly Posts: 3,276
    I've got one, it's a piece of crap but the battery lasts for ages {well over 2 hours} but you would need a huge card to take advantage of it as the saved files are enormous, when they work.
    Smarter than the average bear.
  • fredfredfred
    fredfredfred Posts: 6
    In addition to the battery life I'd like to know if it does take micro SDHC cards in 4GB-32GB sizes? As opposed to cable ties I'd be more inclined to use duct tape.
  • bails87
    bails87 Posts: 12,998
    How about a twofish lockblock? Dealextreme do cheapo equivalents for $1.50 or something like that.
    MTB/CX

    "As I said last time, it won't happen again."
  • fallingoff
    fallingoff Posts: 332
    I've just bought a micro-dv MD-80 clone (battery life of about 2 hours so far) then I saw this same camera...the thing that bothers me is the battery life again.
    Whereas with something like the Tony Hawks helmet cam you can use normal AA batteries so you're not limited by card size or battery use.
    TBH the picture looks on par with the micro-DV..I'll wait for the OP's update...perhaps a video post.. :wink:
  • DF33
    DF33 Posts: 732
    Sorry, can't do a vid post till next week as away and on phone.

    Battery life is 1 hour 45. Thats from new and will obviously decrease but good enough for commuting.
    Peter
  • bails87
    bails87 Posts: 12,998
    antfly wrote:
    I've got one, it's a piece of crap but the battery lasts for ages {well over 2 hours} but you would need a huge card to take advantage of it as the saved files are enormous, when they work.

    How big, roughly, for an hour?

    If I had one I'd ride in, connect to my laptop to recharge and delete the files (assuming nothing had happened) and then ride home with the recharged, 'empty' cam'

    DF33:thanks for that.
    MTB/CX

    "As I said last time, it won't happen again."
  • antfly
    antfly Posts: 3,276
    It's about half a gig for 5 mins so anout 6 gigs an hour. It's supposed to save files every 5 mins and record over old files when the card is full but mine rarely worked properly.
    Smarter than the average bear.
  • DF33
    DF33 Posts: 732
    bails87 wrote:

    If I had one I'd ride in, connect to my laptop to recharge and delete the files (assuming nothing had happened) and then ride home with the recharged, 'empty' cam'

    Thats all you have to do, USB charge and ride. Repeat.

    Mine auto deletes (ie records as a constant loop and is working well. Comments as above noted though, at this price some probably will fail.
    Peter
  • bails87
    bails87 Posts: 12,998
    antfly wrote:
    It's about half a gig for 5 mins so anout 6 gigs an hour. It's supposed to save files every 5 mins and record over old files when the card is full but mine rarely worked properly.
    Hmm, I've just realised due to security on my work laptop I could charge it but wouldn't be able to delete the files, I'd need a hefty SD card.....

    Edit: Ah, the auto delete thing would mean that I could just use an 8gb (which I'm sure I've already got)
    MTB/CX

    "As I said last time, it won't happen again."
  • DF33
    DF33 Posts: 732
    Unless you want to watch part of a ride etc, a 2 gb card will do. You only need 5 mins of time after an accident to record it. Just remember to turn it off so it doesn.t get wiped over.
    Peter
  • bails87
    bails87 Posts: 12,998
    DF33 wrote:
    Unless you want to watch part of a ride etc, a 2 gb card will do. You only need 5 mins of time after an accident to record it. Just remember to turn it off so it doesn.t get wiped over.
    Yeah, I suppose, in that case I've definitely got cards lying around.
    MTB/CX

    "As I said last time, it won't happen again."
  • optimisticbiker
    optimisticbiker Posts: 1,657
    I bought one of these...it arrived today. has the same resolution and not-so-wide-angle lens as the DV007 keyfob camera I am currently using (see vids link below) but should be easier to mount... will be nice to get the full commute in. Current cam takes one continuous video file so stops after ~53min (battery life is 1.5 hours) when it reaches a file size of 3.99Gbye (4Gbyte file size limit on FAT32 file system)
    Invacare Spectra Plus electric wheelchair, max speed 4mph :cry:
  • edb999
    edb999 Posts: 44
    with the md80 clones are you charging it from your computer? try charging it from a wall outlet with an iphone/usb adapter - makes a difference.

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