Cameras?

Snakebite the 2nd

I am toying with the idea of getting a camera and was wondering what you guys thought about them?

I guess this has been covered before, but I was wondering what the latest opinions are.

Anyone use them?
What camera do you use?
Have you found them beneficial?

I was after a budget item, I can wipe it/charge it everyday if need be so massive memory or battery life is not a priority.
Quality wise I would like something that can record number plates, something I may miss if I get rattled and am too busy trying to hang on.

Go Pro is a bit out of my price range at the moment.

Are there any budget Ebay ones that are fit for purpose?

Thank you for the help.

Snakebite the 2nd

How does this one sound?

Product features
Ultra small size,ultea wide Angke of 120 degrees high resolution camera perfect combination design,more convenient in various occasions with multi-angle,1080p high analytic-al video shooting.
Bult-in 1/4 inch of low noise high quality photosensitive element,can capture ultra clear picture in darker occasion.
Aluminum alloy waterproof design, more suitable for outdoor extreme risk
Built-in lithium electricity,function of taking video as charging.
Built-in microphone
Built-in vibration motor, vibration prompt working condition
Support high capacity TF card


By the way, it's not from PC World

davis

You'll need to spend a bit of time beforehand practising shouting at drivers when you should've just let their misdemeanor go.

jamesco

Anyone use them?
Yep
What camera do you use?
Contour Roam HD
Have you found them beneficial?
Yep. The footage got me a decent settlement for one left-hook and the Met have prosecuted the driver for a second left-hook. A video is much better & easier than relying on witness statements and driver honesty.

Are there any budget Ebay ones that are fit for purpose?
Plenty of budget ones are out there, the challenge is something usable & reliable at a low price. Low light recording in particular is a challenge. The SJ4000 seems to be the best budget buy, but beware of fakes (even though it's something of a fake itself ).

bendertherobot

Plus side? great for evidence.

Minus side? Make you look for it

turbotommy

[url=http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=19674139#p19674139]bendertherobot[/url] wrote:

Plus side? great for evidence.

Minus side? Make you look for it

My thoughts too although I've never used one so...

philcubed

I've got an sj4000, good quality picture, fairly cheap off amazon. I use it with a handlebar mount for commuting, and chest mount for mtb. I have plenty of tedious footage of trees and fields now...

Snakebite the 2nd

Thank you very much for the advice, I'll have a gander at the SJ400.

Pufftmw

I've used them on/off for a few years and having one does nothing at all to change my attitude to other road users because of it - I shout at idiots regardless.

I currently have a Garmin Virb, which at £99 is good vfm in my opinion and not majorly expensive. Quality is not quite to GoPro levels probably but its easy to use and so far reliable. One of the benefits of the Virb for me is that it links to my Garmin Edge so that when I start recording the journey, it starts filming - 1 less button to remember to push on/off. It has GoPro type mounts, so a large variety of options and the detachable chasis mount itself is both simple to use but solid.

I'm of the "just in case" fraternity. If something happens, then it'd be good to have a record of what did, especially if the reason is disputed. I also use it for getting amusing/interesting clips from and also analysis of situations and how I might have influenced or not the situation.

Has it helped me? Not yet but then I don't know what my next ride will bring. I similarly have front/rear cameras in my car - again just in case.

frazered

the Fly6 and Fly12 look to be great options imo
https://cycliq.com/

adambruntlett

[url=http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=19674116#p19674116]davis[/url] wrote:

You'll need to spend a bit of time beforehand practising shouting at drivers when you should've just let their misdemeanor go.

Definitely need to be able to shout numberplates out - this way you also don't need to worry about the quality of the picture too much

adambruntlett

In all seriousness I can certainly see the use of having one for a 'just-in-case' scenario. Twice I've been left-hooked (no serious damage) recently and both times when I 'discussed' it with them the driver denied doing anything wrong, despite them clearly cutting me up when I was alongside them, not indicating and not looking (or looking after they had started to side-swipe me). Having camera evidence would certainly help if anything was damaged or I was injured.

As for the nutters who put stuff on Youtube and go around looking for trouble, well it's fun to watch and some of what I see is familiar, but they need to get a grip.

frazered

a grip of the persons cutting them up???

adambruntlett

[url=http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=19674742#p19674742]frazered[/url] wrote:

a grip of the persons cutting them up???

I've watched a lot of these (I get bored quite a bit) and in many cases I would argue that the cyclists who put videos up nearly every day go looking for trouble. I cycle through London from Walthamstow to Batersea and back every day - 12 miles each way, through some of the worst bits of the capital - and don't have the problems that some of these do-gooders do.Yes, I get cut up sometimes, close passes and occasionally have a few choice words but I honestly think that some of the better-known camera warriors go out of their way to agitate other road users and trying to get a rise out of drivers. See the recent incident with the driver falling over when chasing after that pillock of a cyclist. Both idiots, and I have no doubt the cyclist was winding the driver up to get a reaction on camera.

Kieran_Burns

I got my camera for entirely different reasons... kind of.

I regularly got huge amounts of courtesy from a particular company's lorry drivers and wanted to have some evidence of how good they were. I got a camera and forwarded the footage.

Since then I've filmed the more fun side of commuting / cycling with the odd idiot thrown in, and yes I have made complaints (which have all been upheld... the 'best' one being quite recent when I complained to a bakers about one of their vans almost taking me out. The MD is a mad keen cyclist who was contemplating fitting forward facing cameras to all their vans. They now have.)

I never go looking for trouble and it very rarely finds me, but then I have an over-riding philosophy of "act like traffic, be treated like traffic". It does mean I get the odd idiot but then no more than any other road user.

Garmin virb is dead cheap at the moment and I'm thinking about swapping my Contour HD for one. Incidentally, 60fps works better than higher resolution, 30 fps @ 1080 is more blurred than 60fps @ 720.

My youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbL_dtfWAO-ouulS-dpRCCA

rick_chasey

Where are you mounting the camera?

If it's on the helmet I would be more concerned with the reduction in effectiveness of the helmet.

Could even be more damaging in certain accidents than no helmet at all.

surrey_commuter

[url=http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=19675994#p19675994]Rick Chasey[/url] wrote:

Where are you mounting the camera?

If it's on the helmet I would be more concerned with the reduction in effectiveness of the helmet.

Could even be more damaging in certain accidents than no helmet at all.

Or the danger of your missus seeing the footage and getting evidence of your wandering eye

Snakebite the 2nd

I had initially assumed it would be helmet mounted, but now you have me thinking!

tarquin_foxglove

[url=http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=19676016#p19676016]Snakebite the 2nd[/url] wrote:

I had initially assumed it would be helmet mounted, but now you have me thinking!

From viewing videos on youtube I reckon bar mounted as far to the traffic side of the bar as possible.

A guy on this forum took some still shots at a variety of distances from a parked car and even when his bars were touching the wing mirror, due to the position of the camera on his helmet & the fish-eye lens it didn't look that close.

On_What

I've got a handlebar mounted go-pro, but I didn't like the idea of having it on the bike. It made me feel a bit more bulletproof, and as others have said you become one of those chaps who posts videos on youtube full of ranting and raving.

Having said that it does have it uses as described above, the memory bank has only so much storage

Snakebite the 2nd

Thanks again for the input.