Helmet cam's... who's got them and are the any good?

Yeoer

Hi,

Let me start... today i am not a happy camper at all... on my usual commute to work i was 'almost' knocked off by a guy driving a 7 tonner lorry... real close call which left me a shook up at first followed by mad as hell!!! I'm pretty sure the guy has done it before... if not him its the same type of lorry... 7 tone blue curtian sided white lorry.

Anyway this lead me to think i need to do something if i intend to keep riding to work. In the winter changing the route is pretty out of the question as the route jumps up distance and stepness real quick!

Do any of you use helmet cam's to capture your commute and also catch the reg numbers of dangerous drivers so if it is the same people you can try to do some about it, name and shame or report to the police, i'd even send it to my local TV station.

If you do, which ones are the best, and has anyone uploaded any footage to the likes of youtube etc. i was thinking of a 720p model.

Thanks

bails87

Contour HD (or one of the newer models) for helmet mounting.

http://youtu.be/JoZrHyJGKvY?hd=1

There's an example of the footage quality.

Yeoer

bails87 wrote:

Contour HD (or one of the newer models) for helmet mounting.

http://youtu.be/JoZrHyJGKvY?hd=1

There's an example of the footage quality.

Thanks, which model is that and how much was it? the quality looks really good.

I read your comments about your video, it looks like the police aren't that interested :x i surpose they are better off spending there time handing out on the spot speeding fines or stopping people for having their fog lights on and giving them an on the spot fine or handing out on the spot public order on the spot fines... hum think there might be a bit of a theme there! ie no need to do anything more than just collect the money...!

That guy was pretty close but i have to be honest i get that kind of thing a lot... this morning was MUCH MUCH closer as the lorries pull you in as they go past! what makes me really mad is they think they don't need to cross the white line to pass... or even indicate!!!! do they not realise its the indicating that tells the guy behind the lorry there might be something to look out for.....!!!!!!!!! :evil: :evil: :evil:

bails87

1: get Cyclecraft by John Franklin, it sounds like you might need to take a wider line to discourage 'squeezes'.
2: It was bloody close! I don't know how he didn't hit me.
3:It's a Contour HD.

Yeoer

I'm stuck between a rock and a hard bit really... i can't ride a wider line (which i normally do) because this section is on a bend which has a fast approach meaning for 75 yards its pretty blind, so i'm better off riding close just in case someone is driving too fast and doesn't see me untill the last second.

BTW Nice camera, might be a bit out of my price range though.

king_jeffers

I use http://www.dogcamsport.co.uk/dogcam-bul ... amera.html

Does the job, quality is so, so. As always get the best you can afford, looking back I should have got the Hero :-/

bails87

Yeoer wrote:

I'm stuck between a rock and a hard bit really... i can't ride a wider line (which i normally do) because this section is on a bend which has a fast approach meaning for 75 yards its pretty blind, so i'm better off riding close just in case someone is driving too fast and doesn't see me untill the last second.

Seriously, get cyclecraft and follow what it says. You're hiding in the gutter and making yourself less visible, making close passes more likely.

BTW Nice camera, might be a bit out of my price range though.

Yeah, they've got a lot more expensive, I think I only paid £120 for mine.

CraigTheBiker

I recently bought a Veho Muvi camera from Amazon and I've been quite impressed by the quality of the footage so far - considering I only paid around £50.

I'm planning on doing a full review on my blog in the near future.

On a more general point, though, I'm not really a huge fan of using helmet cams for name and shame. I appreciate the footage can help to demonstrate the bad driving that goes on out there but, ultimately, having a camera on your helmet will not keep you safe.

Road position is far more important. Sometimes it is better to position yourself so that you are an annoyance, forcing drivers to give you more room. That can irritate other road users at times, but occasionally that has to be done to ensure safety. It's better to be the victim of a few stares or blasts of the horn than being the victim of an HGV!!

Team4Luke

mine, rechargable USB into PC, size, weight, quality, price are great, downside, 1.5 hours battery life, on/off light is way to small to see, button doesn't have a good feely click on/off so hard to tell if pressed it on or not, fine if you just switch it on for whole ride for commuting though.

http://www.dogcamsport.co.uk/dogcam-bul ... amera.html

denzzz28

helmet cams will only put you in to more risk IMO.

yes its nice to have one just in case someone knocks you over but having one will just make you a poor cyclist. most cyclist who have cams on their head lose their ability to avoid accidents why? because they always have to prove how stupid motorist are. for example: most cyclist have a good sense of anticipating accidents. but since you have a cam to record the incident, instead of avoiding the accident you will have the tendency to go for it. why? "BECAUSE YOU HAVE EVERYTHING ON VIDEO!!".

Im saying this through personal experience and also from videos that ive seen in youtube, I always say most of the incidents in those videos can be avoided and they are not that unusual. I have to admit, i use to have one and i notice since having one my riding style change from good to worse. I am always a defensive cyclist. and im pretty well good at anticipating accidents and I always have avoided accidents pretty much 100% but when i had that camera on my head all i can think of is "oh i have to use this cam to prove how stupid motorist are in London" instead of "oh i already know that London Motorist are stupid so ill just concentrate on safe cycling". so after 2 weeks i stopped using it and as a result I ride much safer and im less stressed cycling around London.

well this is just me, my experience and my observation, im sure this reply will have plenty of negative responses especially from those die hard headcam users. but hey, its a free country.

CraigTheBiker

denzzz28 wrote:

well this is just me, my experience and my observation, im sure this reply will have plenty of negative responses especially from those die hard headcam users. but hey, its a free country.

Well, you get some support from me. The only reason I have got a cam is to take footage of my cycle tour, not to take footage of bad driving. I completely agree with you about the footage on Youtube. In many cases (not all!) I watch the videos and think to myself that the cyclist could have done more to avoid the situation in the first place.

The Northern Monkey

vids from my contour HD in my sig

Great camera!

downfader

denzzz28 wrote:

helmet cams will only put you in to more risk IMO.

yes its nice to have one just in case someone knocks you over but having one will just make you a poor cyclist. most cyclist who have cams on their head lose their ability to avoid accidents why? because they always have to prove how stupid motorist are. for example: most cyclist have a good sense of anticipating accidents. but since you have a cam to record the incident, instead of avoiding the accident you will have the tendency to go for it. why? "BECAUSE YOU HAVE EVERYTHING ON VIDEO!!".

Im saying this through personal experience and also from videos that ive seen in youtube, I always say most of the incidents in those videos can be avoided and they are not that unusual. I have to admit, i use to have one and i notice since having one my riding style change from good to worse. I am always a defensive cyclist. and im pretty well good at anticipating accidents and I always have avoided accidents pretty much 100% but when i had that camera on my head all i can think of is "oh i have to use this cam to prove how stupid motorist are in London" instead of "oh i already know that London Motorist are stupid so ill just concentrate on safe cycling". so after 2 weeks i stopped using it and as a result I ride much safer and im less stressed cycling around London.

well this is just me, my experience and my observation, im sure this reply will have plenty of negative responses especially from those die hard headcam users. but hey, its a free country.

Absolute rubbish.

Firstly in most of the youtube footage it is clear the cyclist actually DOES avoid collision (not through any contribution from the other party I might add). It is not the camera that defines the incident or the actions of the cyclist, it is the environment they find themselves in.

If you truly appreciate freedom you'd be in support of the message that cammers are trying to put out (about both drivers and cyclists). The actions of some on our roads severely limits the freedom of some and puts many, many off riding bikes.

Bassjunkieuk

@denzzzz28 - I'm afraid I also disagree with the view that using a helmet camera makes you a worse cyclists, the whole "I must catpure footage so I'll INTENTIONALLY put myself in danger" is absolute BS, do you really think any cyclists is going to risk serious injury or even being killed for a few hits on Youtube?

It's completely unfair to judge camera users by the clips, firstly you have to bear in mind they are generally ONLY posting the poor driving they encounter and have to put this in perspective with how far they ride and how many interactions they have with motorists. I know for at least myself and Gaz this comes down to between 10-15 mile rides into London each day, passing a few hundred vehicles, and you may get on average 1 or 2 incidents a day. I've had periods where everything has been very good then can get 4 or 5 idiots on one leg - it's swings and roundabouts.

As for the "they are avoidable" it's very easy to say that when your sitting in front of a computer with a nice little video title and description that describes how things will pan out, hindsight is a wonderful thing after all :-)

I personally think having my cam as made me more aware of my riding and helped me improve, I have had comments on several clips about how I could have done things better or even pointing out where I've gone wrong when I've been moaning about other road users :-) There is also the excellent Silly Cyclists video series produced by Gaz, which I have contributed to on many occasions, which tries to point out to other cyclists un-safe riding techniques and situations they should try to avoid.

alidaf

Avoid the Muvi, and avoid the ACT 20 and its derivatives (Chilicam etc). Neither are any good in low light and both skip frames. The muvi is hard to mount to a helmet unless its out on a stalk. I have one of each and am sorry I didn't spend more on a decent cam. The muvi is relegated to rear duty, clipping onto a tag in the back of my rucksack. The ACT 20 is a 720p (Chillicam) version but the quality is really bad and nearly half of all frames are blank. The muvi demands high class (6 or above) sd cards and the ACT 20 eats through space very quickly but has a decent battery life.

bails87

As for the "they are avoidable" it's very easy to say that when your sitting in front of a computer with a nice little video title and description that describes how things will pan out, hindsight is a wonderful thing after all

Exactly, look at the videos on my youtube, from the one I linked to above, nothing I could have done to avoid any of them, other than not being on the road in the first place.

I've said it before: A camera is extra insurance in case something goes wrong, it won't prevent something from happening, and it won't lessen any damage. If I've got a camera, I know that everything I do is recorded, so I can't say "ooo, the driver just started having a go at me for no reason, then squashed me against the kerb" when the video shows that I (for example, and I don't ever do this!) jumped a red light and told him to fark off when he beeped his horn after braking to avoid hitting me.

Just because you can't ride safely when you've got a cam doesn't mean other people also can't.

And OP: avoid the cheap ebay cams, just not worth it, poor quality, short battery life, utter failure to work in anything other than bright light means they're useless for me at least, with a fairly long commute, often in dark/dusk/dawn conditions.

gaz545

Have a read of my guide to buying a helmet camera. Got a lot of usefull information in there.

Buy the best camera you can afford to replace. The more expensive ones genreally are better.

Origamist

denzzz28 wrote:

helmet cams will only put you in to more risk IMO.

yes its nice to have one just in case someone knocks you over but having one will just make you a poor cyclist. most cyclist who have cams on their head lose their ability to avoid accidents why? because they always have to prove how stupid motorist are. for example: most cyclist have a good sense of anticipating accidents. but since you have a cam to record the incident, instead of avoiding the accident you will have the tendency to go for it. why? "BECAUSE YOU HAVE EVERYTHING ON VIDEO!!".

Im saying this through personal experience and also from videos that ive seen in youtube, I always say most of the incidents in those videos can be avoided and they are not that unusual. I have to admit, i use to have one and i notice since having one my riding style change from good to worse. I am always a defensive cyclist. and im pretty well good at anticipating accidents and I always have avoided accidents pretty much 100% but when i had that camera on my head all i can think of is "oh i have to use this cam to prove how stupid motorist are in London" instead of "oh i already know that London Motorist are stupid so ill just concentrate on safe cycling". so after 2 weeks i stopped using it and as a result I ride much safer and im less stressed cycling around London.

well this is just me, my experience and my observation, im sure this reply will have plenty of negative responses especially from those die hard headcam users. but hey, its a free country.

How very true. When they fitted flight data recorders (aka black boxes) to aircraft, pilots stated to behave differently. There were incidents of planes buzzing air traffic control towers, overshooting runways, doing loop the loops on the way to Malaga, playing chicken with each other, and worst of all, BA and Lufthansa Jumbo pilots would even engage in pretend dogfights over the channel. It's madness, why do they persist with these flight data recorders when it's obvious that pilots "instead of avoiding the accident...will have the tendency to go for it" same with cyclists, I suppose.

Bassjunkieuk

@Origamist

downfader

Best thing I found about the camera was the potential for learning. I got other, more experienced cyclists to view the footage and give me views on how to tackle this junction, or that traffic island or bend in the road... I also find its such a calming measure. I've no need to lose my rag with some idiot and feel peeved off all day, its on camera if it comes to the worst.

My advice is to think of a budget and double it. CCD cams will work better at night, CMOS not so well. CCD is about 2/3rds to twice as expensive as similar spec'd CMOS cams.

Agree with advice on avoiding the ATC range by Oregon Scientific. They're not what they were 5 years back. Bit of a shame as I liked the way they made the old ATC3k.

Check out Camsports, too. Not as fully featured as Contours but slightly more compact. Some footage examples from the HDS-720p:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IHIa0IfNJO4 - Low light
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OP5ZajeUXTM - slightly overcast
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uUDyi6uj9rM - sunny at Sky Ride
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FSsNdmHCssY - p***ing down

MD80 Muvi clone:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bcpHJLiQutw

HQ2 wired bullet into a HQR2 recorder:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QiAEqAUwCu0

Bought most of my kit from Dogcam Sports, the MD80 came from Maplin.

Origamist

The new GoPro 2 looks good.

downfader

Origamist wrote:

The new GoPro 2 looks good.

For the money yes. Bit more of an on-bike cam imo, a little bulky on head
(Son of the Winds on youtube should know )

Very wide angle lens and good quality footage. They've used them in BBC sports for about a year now (along with 2 of the Camsports)

Bassjunkieuk

Origamist wrote:

The new GoPro 2 looks good.

Have you seen the full 3D setup for the GoPro's? A rather expensive and bulky solution as you need 2 camera's and a "special" case which case a lead to link them together and sync their recording :-) Could be a rather handy way of showing just how close that close pass was :-D

downfader

This guy reviews loads of cameras. Even the 3D GoPro set up:

http://www.youtube.com/user/PointOfViewCameras/