Sports/action camera - tomtom bandit?

the_rover
the_rover Posts: 402
edited November 2017 in Road buying advice
Evening.

I'm hoping that I'll be able to start commuting again in the new year after a bit of poor health and I'm thinking about getting a sports camera.

I need something that will last at least 2 hours, will transfer data via Bluetooth or wifi, is waterproof and works well in poor light. I don't like the look of square type cameras like the go pro and I'd spend up to £200.
That has lead me to the tomtom bandit camera, so I'm hoping someone has one and can give me the low down on it or some views on another type?

Cheers Stuart.

Comments

  • mfin
    mfin Posts: 6,729
    Isn't a gopro hero 5 session better at image stabilisation, go look at the comparisons on youtube shot on road let alone off road. It's about £250 though, but it is tiny ...I dunno about the rest of the specs, I just see suspect image stabilisation on the bandit examples, perhaps it's examples of an old version. That 2 minute look meant that if it was me I'd be doing research like that, and that would way override any preference of what the camera looks like!

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rSWCZY8dv-M

    ...I think you'll be best posting in the commuting section for advice, as only a subsection of people on here will be into this kind of thing.
  • bendertherobot
    bendertherobot Posts: 11,684
    GoPro 5 seconded. Get it from Halfords, order in for free, use BC discount? £225.
    My blog: http://www.roubaixcycling.cc (kit reviews and other musings)
    https://twitter.com/roubaixcc
    Facebook? No. Just say no.
  • the_rover
    the_rover Posts: 402
    mfin wrote:
    Isn't a gopro hero 5 session better at image stabilisation, go look at the comparisons on youtube shot on road let alone off road. It's about £250 though, but it is tiny ...I dunno about the rest of the specs, I just see suspect image stabilisation on the bandit examples, perhaps it's examples of an old version. That 2 minute look meant that if it was me I'd be doing research like that, and that would way override any preference of what the camera looks like!

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rSWCZY8dv-M

    ...I think you'll be best posting in the commuting section for advice, as only a subsection of people on here will be into this kind of thing.

    Your right, the reviews and footage on the GoPro look very good and it's much smaller than I thought.
    Might see some discounts on Black Friday otherwise I'll do as BTR suggests and I'll use my BC discount at Halford's.

    Cheers,
  • redvision
    redvision Posts: 2,958
    On the Amazon prime sale a few weeks ago they had the gopro hero 5 session bundle for £244!
    I would expect a similar deal on black Friday.

    You won't regret buying a gopro. Hero 5 range is just brilliant.
  • the_rover
    the_rover Posts: 402
    redvision wrote:
    On the Amazon prime sale a few weeks ago they had the gopro hero 5 session bundle for £244!
    I would expect a similar deal on black Friday.

    You won't regret buying a gopro. Hero 5 range is just brilliant.

    Thanks, it's gone on the Black Friday list along with a new vacuum, some fancy dining room lights and an iPad!! :mrgreen:
  • bendertherobot
    bendertherobot Posts: 11,684
    The Rover wrote:
    redvision wrote:
    On the Amazon prime sale a few weeks ago they had the gopro hero 5 session bundle for £244!
    I would expect a similar deal on black Friday.

    You won't regret buying a gopro. Hero 5 range is just brilliant.

    Thanks, it's gone on the Black Friday list along with a new vacuum, some fancy dining room lights and an iPad!! :mrgreen:

    iPad. Right, best way is this. Find whatever electronic crap you have knocking around, PS and Xbox games, DVD boxsets and stuff. Find out how much all that is worth as CEX vouchers. Then find an A grade iPad at a CEX store near you.

    I think I paid around £100 for an iPad Air 2, 128GB plus Cellular.
    My blog: http://www.roubaixcycling.cc (kit reviews and other musings)
    https://twitter.com/roubaixcc
    Facebook? No. Just say no.
  • the_rover
    the_rover Posts: 402
    bendertherobot wrote:
    The Rover wrote:
    redvision wrote:
    On the Amazon prime sale a few weeks ago they had the gopro hero 5 session bundle for £244!
    I would expect a similar deal on black Friday.

    You won't regret buying a gopro. Hero 5 range is just brilliant.

    Thanks, it's gone on the Black Friday list along with a new vacuum, some fancy dining room lights and an iPad!! :mrgreen:

    iPad. Right, best way is this. Find whatever electronic crap you have knocking around, PS and Xbox games, DVD boxsets and stuff. Find out how much all that is worth as CEX vouchers. Then find an A grade iPad at a CEX store near you.

    I think I paid around £100 for an iPad Air 2, 128GB plus Cellular.

    I'll have a look Chris thanks, I'm using an iPad 3 at the minute which works ok for bkool but isn't up to the spec for zwift, big ring etc. I've been looking at the new iPad 2017 128gb as that looks good enough for me.
  • bendertherobot
    bendertherobot Posts: 11,684
    https://youtu.be/RAlDO0zDUyY

    CX footage from yesterday, bear in mind that's quite bumpy so you can see how good the stabilization is.

    Also, that pixellation. That's youtube. The original is so clear and free from artefacts it's untrue.
    My blog: http://www.roubaixcycling.cc (kit reviews and other musings)
    https://twitter.com/roubaixcc
    Facebook? No. Just say no.
  • the_rover
    the_rover Posts: 402
    bendertherobot wrote:
    https://youtu.be/RAlDO0zDUyY

    CX footage from yesterday, bear in mind that's quite bumpy so you can see how good the stabilization is.

    Also, that pixellation. That's youtube. The original is so clear and free from artefacts it's untrue.

    Looks good Chris, thanks for showing it.
    I looked in the sales but the price didn't change, however I found out over the weekend that I can buy E vouchers via work for halfords which will save me 7%. Add to that to the BC discount and that takes it to approx £210. I was waiting to see if the price moved this week ( cyber Monday ) before getting one.

    Where did you get the accessories from?

    Re the CX - I've been to watch a few events up here recently, the conditions have been awful but it really got the juices flowing!! Both for me and my 5 yr old! I need to get over some health issues but I'd like to have a go next year. That looked like a good course.

    Cheers. :D
  • trivial_poursuivant
    trivial_poursuivant Posts: 1,136
    I’d have gone with the Garmin Virb Elite

    Better battery life, great lense and resolution.

    The other thing that makes it better is the battery is removable so you can get a second and swap out for a further 3 hours on longer rides.
  • shmooster
    shmooster Posts: 335
    You mean the original Virb? I've got a virb elite and it's quite old tech now, 2 generations ago. It's heavy compared to existing cameras and low resolution. Worst thing about it is the sound quality where you don't hear a lot other than background noise.

    Personally I'd be looking at the Session 5 or an Ultra 30 if I could find a good deal on it, although I understand the Ultra isn't what the OP is after (wrong shape, wrong price).
  • redvision
    redvision Posts: 2,958
    The Rover wrote:

    Looks good Chris, thanks for showing it.
    I looked in the sales but the price didn't change, however I found out over the weekend that I can buy E vouchers via work for halfords which will save me 7%. Add to that to the BC discount and that takes it to approx £210. I was waiting to see if the price moved this week ( cyber Monday ) before getting one.

    If your quick:
    https://www.sigmasport.co.uk/item/GoPro ... amera/EM1H
    Use code cyber20 and get an extra 20% off. Takes it to just over £200!
  • bendertherobot
    bendertherobot Posts: 11,684
    The Rover wrote:
    bendertherobot wrote:
    https://youtu.be/RAlDO0zDUyY

    CX footage from yesterday, bear in mind that's quite bumpy so you can see how good the stabilization is.

    Also, that pixellation. That's youtube. The original is so clear and free from artefacts it's untrue.

    Looks good Chris, thanks for showing it.
    I looked in the sales but the price didn't change, however I found out over the weekend that I can buy E vouchers via work for halfords which will save me 7%. Add to that to the BC discount and that takes it to approx £210. I was waiting to see if the price moved this week ( cyber Monday ) before getting one.

    Where did you get the accessories from?

    Re the CX - I've been to watch a few events up here recently, the conditions have been awful but it really got the juices flowing!! Both for me and my 5 yr old! I need to get over some health issues but I'd like to have a go next year. That looked like a good course.

    Cheers. :D

    That's an easy course, but also a really hard one. I do better when the technical stuff equals stuff out. CX is brilliant.

    That Sigma deal looks best for the Session 5. One in the post above.
    My blog: http://www.roubaixcycling.cc (kit reviews and other musings)
    https://twitter.com/roubaixcc
    Facebook? No. Just say no.
  • the_rover
    the_rover Posts: 402
    redvision wrote:
    The Rover wrote:

    Looks good Chris, thanks for showing it.
    I looked in the sales but the price didn't change, however I found out over the weekend that I can buy E vouchers via work for halfords which will save me 7%. Add to that to the BC discount and that takes it to approx £210. I was waiting to see if the price moved this week ( cyber Monday ) before getting one.

    If your quick:
    https://www.sigmasport.co.uk/item/GoPro ... amera/EM1H
    Use code cyber20 and get an extra 20% off. Takes it to just over £200!

    Cheers, ordered it. I had an email from them with the deal but I've had the pleasure of Xmas shopping with our Peg so I'd missed until now! So, another expensive day!

    Thanks again. :D

    Cheers.
  • bendertherobot
    bendertherobot Posts: 11,684
    You'll need this to go in it.
    https://www.amazon.co.uk/Toshiba-Exceri ... gb+sd+card
    My blog: http://www.roubaixcycling.cc (kit reviews and other musings)
    https://twitter.com/roubaixcc
    Facebook? No. Just say no.
  • the_rover
    the_rover Posts: 402
    bendertherobot wrote:
    You'll need this to go in it.
    https://www.amazon.co.uk/Toshiba-Exceri ... gb+sd+card

    Ordered! :D
  • bmxboy10
    bmxboy10 Posts: 1,958
    redvision wrote:
    The Rover wrote:

    Looks good Chris, thanks for showing it.
    I looked in the sales but the price didn't change, however I found out over the weekend that I can buy E vouchers via work for halfords which will save me 7%. Add to that to the BC discount and that takes it to approx £210. I was waiting to see if the price moved this week ( cyber Monday ) before getting one.

    If your quick:
    https://www.sigmasport.co.uk/item/GoPro ... amera/EM1H
    Use code cyber20 and get an extra 20% off. Takes it to just over £200!


    That code isn’t applicable to the Go Pro
  • redvision
    redvision Posts: 2,958
    solboy10 wrote:
    redvision wrote:
    The Rover wrote:

    Looks good Chris, thanks for showing it.
    I looked in the sales but the price didn't change, however I found out over the weekend that I can buy E vouchers via work for halfords which will save me 7%. Add to that to the BC discount and that takes it to approx £210. I was waiting to see if the price moved this week ( cyber Monday ) before getting one.

    If your quick:
    https://www.sigmasport.co.uk/item/GoPro ... amera/EM1H
    Use code cyber20 and get an extra 20% off. Takes it to just over £200!


    That code isn’t applicable to the Go Pro

    It was up to yesterday.
  • the_rover
    the_rover Posts: 402
    The code worked fine yesterday, probably limited to " cyber Monday ".

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