Author Topic: Bike cam  (Read 2164 times)

Bike cam
« on: 17 October, 2020, 08:18:34 pm »
OK, I’ve had enough of being close passed and, today, had a van driver stop to threaten me after I (admittedly inadvisedly) shouted a rude name after he passed close enough for me to touch the side of his van.

So, in the interests of passing evidence to the police, what camera does the assembled crowd suggest and front or rear - or both? Ideally will move between bikes easily...

Thanks

Paul

  • L'enfer, c'est les autos.
Re: Bike cam
« Reply #1 on: 17 October, 2020, 10:38:49 pm »
I can’t answer your question but I do understand how you feel.
What's so funny about peace, love and understanding?

Re: Bike cam
« Reply #2 on: 17 October, 2020, 11:34:56 pm »
I use SJ4000 front and rear, found on ebay, but make sure it is a genuine one as there are loads of copy's out there

Re: Bike cam
« Reply #3 on: 18 October, 2020, 10:08:09 am »
Whenever I've looked for bike cameras the main problem seems to be limited battery life, not enough for a day ride.

Re: Bike cam
« Reply #4 on: 18 October, 2020, 10:48:26 am »
Whenever I've looked for bike cameras the main problem seems to be limited battery life, not enough for a day ride.
Portable power banks

T42

  • Apprentice geezer
Re: Bike cam
« Reply #5 on: 18 October, 2020, 10:59:16 am »
I use SJ4000 front and rear, found on ebay, but make sure it is a genuine one as there are loads of copy's out there

Well, cameras of that type are all Go-Pro knock-offs, in form & function at least. The SJ4000 appears to have better electronics than the cheaper ones: it does a bit better at avoiding picture tear on rough roads.

Whenever I've looked for bike cameras the main problem seems to be limited battery life, not enough for a day ride.
Portable power banks

...and spare batteries.
I've dusted off all those old bottles and set them up straight

Re: Bike cam
« Reply #6 on: 18 October, 2020, 11:11:09 am »
My action camera takes a large memory card (256gb) and allows a power pack to be plugged in when in use.  In reality even with a lipstick powerbank I can have continuous running for hours.

Spare camera batteries and a few 32gb memory cards for replacement every hour or so might work just as well in reality.  Spare batteries for my action camera come in a plastic case with a slot in the case lid for a memory card.  Just the job really.

There is also a rear light for bikes with a camera built in.  Could Google it but I cannot do links on the smartphone anyway.  I am thinking of such a device for the rear of the tandem.

Re: Bike cam
« Reply #7 on: 18 October, 2020, 11:16:00 am »
It's the Cycliq Fly 6.  I am sorely tempted.

They also do a Fly12 front light with camera but when the tandem is set up I'll have my action camera on the front anyway.

Re: Bike cam
« Reply #8 on: 18 October, 2020, 12:48:12 pm »
Thanks all, I’ll investigate...

SoreTween

  • Most of me survived the Pennine Bridleway.
Re: Bike cam
« Reply #9 on: 20 October, 2020, 09:58:31 pm »
I got a £21.99 £22.99 (it has gone up) F9 motorcycle actioncam off eBay recently. It is as good as your expect for the money.

The battery life is ok at a couple of hours. <- This was from memory which I'm doubting.  I know it matched what the spec said but I can't find the spec now!
There's zero image stability.
Image degrades rapidly in less than full sunlight.
The compression is pish, a blackview car cam gets far more in a given volume of SD.
SD size is limited to 32Gb.
It has an odd usb connector I've not seen before so only the cable it came with fits.

But for the money as a learning item I really cannot fault it. It is a sensible shape for a head cam rather than a stupid cereal packet shaped wind break. It attaches just fine with a loop of velcro rather than needing a scaffold of clamps, brackets & adapters. It's KISS. So long as the light isn't awful it'll get a number plate.

As a learning item if you have no idea it's a disposably priced educational benchmark.

[Edited with minor corrections and link added]
2023 targets: Survive. Maybe.
There is only one infinite resource in this universe; human stupidity.

Blodwyn Pig

  • what a nice chap
Re: Bike cam
« Reply #10 on: 21 October, 2020, 07:05:49 am »
Similar thing here, a Goodmans action cam, £19 from B&M stores, plus £7 for a 32 gb  micro card from Argos. Run time 1 1/2 hours. And it's good enough to be fun, but I won't be making any movies. It comes in a fully , i.e. UnderwTer , type case as well as an assortment of fixing , and also has sound.

ppg

Re: Bike cam
« Reply #11 on: 21 October, 2020, 08:09:14 am »
I've been using this one for a year or so and very pleased with it
https://bestactioncamera.net/akaso-brave-4-review/

Probably no different from any of the GoPro look-alikes but comes with useful accessories and the IS is pretty effective.
Run time per battery is over 90mins though I run it from a powerbank as it has the annoying tendancy to forget the time/date whenever the battery is removed????

I recently sent a scary moton pass video to the Avon & Somerset fuzz and was pleased/surprised to get a reply within a day saying they will take action, result!

Re: Bike cam
« Reply #12 on: 21 October, 2020, 09:54:10 am »
I bought a Cycliq Fly12 and Fly6 a few months ago after several friends were knocked off (at different times!). I previously sometimes used a GoPro Hero Session 4 (maybe?), though the battery life was not really conducive to it (to be fair, it did capture the last time I was hit and the police said that the footage was conclusive that it wasn't my fault).

The Fly12 and Fly6 (both "CE" versions) work quite well. The Fly12 (front) will last for a day ride - probably up to about 8 hours in my experience, presuming that you don't use the light function (i.e. just as a camera). The Fly6 (rear) will last a lot longer, even with the rotating red light running.

I don't think that you'd want to be charging them as you ride - the USB ports are not in a good position for that to be convenient.

The iOS app integration is okay - it mostly works.

One annoyance with the cameras generally is that they keep any footage that the deem significant (when they think that there was a close pass, for example). This is obviously useful, but it builds up and eventually fills the uSD card. The camera then has a habit of just turning itself off. Freeing up the uSD card involves either using the phone app (which works okay for this) or putting the card in a computer and clearing it.

The mounts for the front camera seem ridiculously expensive for what they are. I've taken to buying no-name Garmin mounts for all bikes (I have a Garmin GPS) that have the three-prong connector on the bottom, then I simply move the camera mount between bikes as necessary. The rear camera mount moves between bikes very easily - it's held on with velcro.

So far I've been mostly happy with the cameras. As with all current technology, it seems, they would benefit from having switches rather than buttons and the LED that shows you the thing is turned on is quite hard to see.

If I lost them I would re-purchase, which I guess is some kind of recommendation.

Re: Bike cam
« Reply #13 on: 22 October, 2020, 07:14:37 pm »
I bought a dogcam which was not very good.  Not enough battery to run more than a couple days commuting and the two cases where I needed it the image was too blurry to be able to use.  4+ year old technology though.
simplicity, truth, equality, peace

Re: Bike cam
« Reply #14 on: 24 October, 2020, 05:21:15 pm »
Thanks all, very interesting. Seems to be a decision between the Cycliq Fly 12 and 6 (looks like Gen 3 just released and a special offer on the pair) or a cheap GoPro copy.

Quite a price differential, but I suspect you get more and better backup with the cycliq.

Re: Bike cam
« Reply #15 on: 24 October, 2020, 06:11:18 pm »
I've tried a cheap GoPro clone (CrossTour) - couldn't get the mount stable, and quality not that great.  I use Garmin VIRB Basic (forward), & an ebay special* bullet cam (rear - lockblock on handlebars).  The latter ebay one has a spare battery (not used yet), & a battery life of 5+ hours.  Quality is OK-ish in good light/borderline acceptable.  Took ages to arrive from China.  Battery life means I just leave it running for the entirety of most rides.   Once tried the 'F9 ebay cam', but non removeable battery life went down to ~20mins in a year or so.

* like this ebay bullet cam
Cycle and recycle.   SS Wilson

Re: Bike cam
« Reply #16 on: 25 October, 2020, 09:31:19 am »
Quality and battery issues aside, bear in mind that a camera mounted to the front of the bike won’t capture as much as one mounted on your helmet. When commuting, I found that footage from a camera on the rear (Fly6) and one on my helmet that pointed wherever I was looking (including when off the bike) was the most useful when contacting the police.

Re: Bike cam
« Reply #17 on: 25 October, 2020, 10:05:40 am »
I've tried a cheap GoPro clone (CrossTour) - couldn't get the mount stable, and quality not that great.
A member of our club has a CrossTour CT7000 and I've seen the quality of his recordings in 4k
and 1080p and they're very good. Based on what I saw, I bought one too.

Re: Bike cam
« Reply #18 on: 21 December, 2020, 11:46:31 am »
The tyranny of choice!!

Well, I’ve ummed and ahhed and considered a preorder for the cyclic cameras but, given I’ve got lights they seemed expensive. So I’ve finally ordered the new Crosstour 9900 with a couple of batteries included. Inevitably, the Sd card will arrive later than the camera - first world problems.

Will update when I’ve tried it

Thanks all

Mike