Mounting lights and camera on a helmet

DomN86

I never liked the idea of this "Mounting lights and / or camera on a helmet", seems a bit lethal to me, what if you fall off; seems to me that it will likely cause further injury upon impact, or another more worrying thought, the element on the helmet will place bad rotation forces on your helmet, which may cause a bad jolt and give a neck injury or breakage.

?

DomN86

I saw a video with a guy who had his camera mounted on his helmet, but around by the ear, so on the side, underneath. A bit more safer.

Wouldn't be able to mount a light though.

geebee2

DomN86 wrote:

I never liked the idea of this "Mounting lights and / or camera on a helmet", seems a bit lethal to me, what if you fall off; seems to me that it will likely cause further injury upon impact, or another more worrying thought, the element on the helmet will place bad rotation forces on your helmet, which may cause a bad jolt and give a neck injury or breakage.

?

Have you ridden with a light on your helmet?

If you are out at night, it's far superior to lights on the handlebars, because you can actually see where you are looking / where you want to see, rather than the direction the bike happens to be pointing in.

If you are worried about injury, ride a bit slower.

Oddly, I very rarely fall at night, probably because I ride more carefully. I did a muddy woodland trail on Saturday in the daytime and fell over twice, that I had ridden 4 or 5 times at night in the previous few weeks without falling once. Mind you, chatting to mates probably had as much to do with it as anything ( the night rides were all solo ).

cat_with_no_tail

Most light / camera mounts are designed to be break away, so they'll snap off LONG before your head does.

Also:
Helmet cam footage looks GASH! All of it! Without exception!

felix.london

Cat With No Tail wrote:

Helmet cam footage looks GASH! All of it! Without exception!

Presume you're talking about video and I'd agree but we've got some amazing (stills) shots just setting the GoPro to take a snap every 5 secs. The wide-angle lenses on these cameras make for some really interesting results

cat_with_no_tail

Yes sorry, video.

It's marginally better when using a well fitted FF, but still much too shaky. Your head just moves about too much. Any more than a couple of a seconds per clip is just too much.

Chest mount FTW!
Off-the-bike cameras FT maximum W

scarbs85

My concern with helmet mounts has never gone beyond low branches, what with the top of my head being a few inches higher and a few notes more expensive.

The Northern Monkey

Buy a cheap light.

bennett_346

Cat With No Tail wrote:

Chest mount FTW!
Off-the-bike cameras FT maximum W

Chest mounts impossible to get tight enough to stop it shaking itself to bits on anything super techy or big jumps.

Off bike cameras ftw indeed

cat_with_no_tail

bennett_346 wrote:

Cat With No Tail wrote:

Chest mount FTW!
Off-the-bike cameras FT maximum W

Chest mounts impossible to get tight enough to stop it shaking itself to bits on anything super techy or big jumps.

Off bike cameras ftw indeed

Not impossible at all, once mine is set it stays in place over even the most teeth rattling of terrain.

Setting the best angle however is something which requires practice (or an LCD bacpack)

DomN86

geebee2 wrote:

DomN86 wrote:

I never liked the idea of this "Mounting lights and / or camera on a helmet", seems a bit lethal to me, what if you fall off; seems to me that it will likely cause further injury upon impact, or another more worrying thought, the element on the helmet will place bad rotation forces on your helmet, which may cause a bad jolt and give a neck injury or breakage.

?

Have you ridden with a light on your helmet?

If you are out at night, it's far superior to lights on the handlebars, because you can actually see where you are looking / where you want to see, rather than the direction the bike happens to be pointing in.

If you are worried about injury, ride a bit slower.

Oddly, I very rarely fall at night, probably because I ride more carefully. I did a muddy woodland trail on Saturday in the daytime and fell over twice, that I had ridden 4 or 5 times at night in the previous few weeks without falling once. Mind you, chatting to mates probably had as much to do with it as anything ( the night rides were all solo ).

No.

I would imagine having a helmet light would be very helpful for illumination compared to a static handlebar light, in fact just been looking at the 'P7' and 'Fenix' torches for mounting, but I'm still not convinced that if I was to come off or get hit, having something mounted, would surely cause some kind of problem, whether it is the mounted element being smashed in to your head, or if it doesn't break off or doesn't break off quicker enough, and I don't know, for example, if one comes off and rolls the mounted element would stop you from rolling naturally :roll: surely that would result in a nasty head jury.

EDIT: Actually lol, I have rid with a light on my helmet, I used out of desperation, a 'head torch' which I fed through the gaps in the helmet, it was quite uncomfortable, and helped a little bit, but light was weak.

DomN86

Cat With No Tail wrote:

Most light / camera mounts are designed to be break away, so they'll snap off LONG before your head does.

Also:
Helmet cam footage looks GASH! All of it! Without exception!

--

All of it , I been looking at the 'Contour Roam 2', reckon it still be gash, I've seen the odd bit of bike video it looks ok.