What cameras are you using

hairyslug

My birthday is fast approaching, a camera is on the list, just looking for recommendations. I would prefer something small as possible, maybe a bullet style. Chances are it'll only be bike mounted so don't need a helmet/body strap. Would like something with a decent resolution. Also, what's the story with sound pick up. I was able to make something fairly basic where I was able to attach an old phone to my chest, picture quality was OK but sound was horrible, all I got was wind blast, is there anyway or minimizing that. Cheers

Paulw

I have a GoPro Session mounted at the front of the bike. All I get (audio wise) is wind noise.

To record audio, I have a GoPro Hero, on a chest harness mount, with an external mic wired in the helmet. I normally use the audio from that, mapped on to the video from the Session. So, I don't wear the Hero very often, only when I want to record a vlog or something.

I also tend to have a Contour Roam3 as my helmet cam.

I had all but the Contour before I started biking.

schaffer

Are you looking at using the camera for safety or vlogging?

Try Innovv.
They're more for bike mounting so voice capture is probably not an option.

I use a chest mounted GoPro but was looking at the Sony X1000V as a helmet mounted option.
You could also opt for the GoPro clones such as Xiaoyi Yi or SJCAM SJ5000. Supposed to be good quality for a fraction of the price of the GoPro.

Riva10

Hi Paulw, Have you the GoPro hard wired or just running off it's own battery.

Chippy01

I have a BulletHD fitted to my bike.
Always there, always on when the bike is running, large memory card, no batteries to forget/charge, well worth the extra dollars.

https://bullethd.com/en/12-cameras

https://www.innovv.com/shop--cart

http://www.halfords.com/technology/dash-cams/dash-cams/nextbase-ride-motorcycle-bikecam

http://www.tachyoninc.com/bikercam.html

Paulw

Riva10 wrote: »

Hi Paulw, Have you the GoPro hard wired or just running off it's own battery.

It's own battery. Lasts nearly 90 min. Never thought about hard wiring it.

cadete

im waiting on the fusar Mohawk, should release soon, expensive but looks like it COULD be really good

hairyslug

Bullethd looks like the one for me, are there Irish suppliers or UK.

Another question, slightly on topic, how do I calculate what load my battery can take comfortably, chances are I'll have phone and or GPS plugged in aswell as maybe camera, could this cause an issue.

Paulw

cadete wrote: »

im waiting on the fusar Mohawk, should release soon, expensive but looks like it COULD be really good

Looks kinda interesting, but expensive. And with the modules ... hmmm. I have a Cardo sho-1 bluetooth headset. Works great, and I can call a pre-programmed number by just three taps on a button. Great for opening our gate without having to stop. It also does communication to other Cardo devices, for bike to bike.

The Mohawk seems to be very US, and no full tech spec available (that I can see). I would like a camera that can do 1080p/100, but would settle for 1080p/50. I shoot all my video at 50fps, and can then downscale to 1080p/24 for TV. Shooting at 50fps also means I can do a slow motion effect on the video. The Mohawk seems to do 30fps, so not brilliant for action.

Also, from watching a video - https://vimeo.com/192640989 - the audio quality seems about the same as a GoPro (without an external mic). Does the Mohawk video connect to the headset for recording audio?????

I do like the shape of the camera, for helmet mounting, and the whole system seems interesting. I would love to see some "real world" samples of video plus audio.

Cian_ok

Chippy01 wrote: »

I have a BulletHD fitted to my bike.
Always there, always on when the bike is running, large memory card, no batteries to forget/charge, well worth the extra dollars.

https://bullethd.com/en/12-cameras

https://www.innovv.com/shop--cart

http://www.halfords.com/technology/dash-cams/dash-cams/nextbase-ride-motorcycle-bikecam

http://www.tachyoninc.com/bikercam.html

Is it good? The reviews tend to the extremes. People either love them or hate them (lots of broken ones).

Chippy01

hairyslug wrote: »

Bullethd looks like the one for me, are there Irish suppliers or UK.

Another question, slightly on topic, how do I calculate what load my battery can take comfortably, chances are I'll have phone and or GPS plugged in aswell as maybe camera, could this cause an issue.

Don't know about Irish or UK suppliers, you might have to do some searching on that. My missus got me mine as a prezzy from CalgaryDashCam.

Does your bike have an accessory outlet? If so, use it to power a relay that will drive a distribution terminal box. These can be bought ready made, or you can build one yourself.
The items you have mentioned however, draw very little power. Just make sure that the circuits your accessories are connected to are not live when the bike is off, so you don't drain the battery accidentally.

Chippy01

Cian_ok wrote: »

Is it good? The reviews tend to the extremes. People either love them or hate them (lots of broken ones).

I find it's ok. Hasn't failed me yet, anyways. The quality straight from the memory card to the PC is top class.

Load it up onto youtube, and of course the quality drops due to their compression tech.
Here's a clip from my Bullet from last year ......
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HAAJj86Qrxg

Wonda-Boy

I have had 3 Go Pros and 1 Drift, every time I get a Go Pro I am excited for the product but in the end its the same old same old. Terrible battery life on any generation Go Pro and constant corruption on any make of memory card you use, and this is the same on the 3 different models I had.

They are by far IMHO the most over rated piece of kit around, you can get the same picture and better battery life from cheap action cams.

The drift I had was good but very bulky and the audio was poor on a bike, the new drift was on paper brilliant and promised 4K but you could only run it at 4K at low FPS and the view was nerfed to bits. So you ended up running it at 1080p so why buy a 4K camera for that price.

Reindeer

Has anyone tried maybe one of those helmet cams like a Drift Innovation Stealth etc? I also was considering getting a cam, but mostly just for my own safety and insurance.

Riva10

I am using the Roadhawk Ride with about 3 years . No bells and whistles like GPS but very good quality playback. It is a bullet type camera and is hardwired to the motorcycle. When the ignition is turned on the recording starts and when it is turned off, the camera saves the last clip. Comes with helmet mounts and is very light and discreet.
https://www.roadhawk.co.uk/roadhawk-ride-r-cycle-camera

BaronVon

Reindeer wrote: »

Has anyone tried maybe one of those helmet cams like a Drift Innovation Stealth etc? I also was considering getting a cam, but mostly just for my own safety and insurance.

I have the Drift Stealth. I don't use it much but it's small and light, and you can reduce the mic sensitivity on it. I can also use it as a dashcam in the car, which is handy. I must actually start using it more......

Stiletto72

Have a look at the Roadhawk Bullet R+. I use it on the side of the helmet and sometimes hard wire it to a battery pack inside my jacket for longer runs. It can take a 64gb card. Very well made and sturdy, and a lot more discrete than a GoPro.

gerrowadat

Drift Ghost S, works grand, replaceable battery and external mic and takes cards up to 64gb which will get you 9 or so hours. I wouldn't go near the 4k one yet as wonda-boy says, seems a bit weak and no properly replaceable battery.

pudzey101

Following this thread now aswel bday is in a few days where are ye guys mounting the cams ?

Stiletto72

I also picked up a TomTom Bandit and have it mounted on the right side mirror stalk. Very good battery life and it also holds a 64gb card. The good thing about these is that the battery can be swapped out in a second and the battery itself holds the SD card, so when you swap the battery you also swap for a fresh SD card. It can also be hard wired.
The down side is that it doesn't loop record but if you have a second battery and card that isn't really an issue.

hairyslug

I ended up going with the TomTom, not allowed use it until my birthday but will try and remember to update when I've had a chance.

Stiletto72

hairyslug wrote: »

I ended up going with the TomTom, not allowed use it until my birthday but will try and remember to update when I've had a chance.

I'm very happy with mine but it's maybe just a bit too bulky to fit to a helmet for my liking. Others have no issue with it though.
I would advise picking up the waterproof lens cover for it as the standard one is only good for the average rain show and not really suited to Irish weather. They're available on Amazon.

thos

This thread prompted me to try the Innovv K1, dual camera system for my bike. Hard wired, dashcam DVR loop recording, with GPS.
I only have it on the bike 3 days, so not much feedback yet, but so far it's been fit and forget. Starts recording automatically on ignition on.
The cameras are quite small and discrete, easy enough to find mounting places. Mine are both mounted off-centre, something I might look at changing as makes you look quite close to some things, and road position can look a little funny when you cant get a reference point off the bike.
I got caught in that downpour on Tuesday, cameras did ok, front has the benefit of wind to clear the view, but the rear got a good bit of tyre spray, and wasnt as clear. The kit comes with lense covers to help protect the cameras. 1080p and quality seems good.
The microphone is part of the front camera, no option to wire seperately. Sound is ok, less wind noise than the helmet mounted GoPro, but being up front it's just my sewing-machine triple whirring away without any real exhaust sound. It picks up general noise off the bike, but cant say if it picks up anything else in traffic.
The GPS details are hardcoded into the video stream, which I don't really like, it can be turned off, but not sure if you can still log the GPS data seperately. It does have a speed cut-out - so once you go above X mph, it stops logging GPS. But I was hoping to be able to pull out some snippets without giving too much away. Also, if it doesnt pickup GPS signal on startup (if in garage or underground car park) it tends to leave GPS off for the first segment (I have 5min segments set - you can do 1,5,10mins) and only enable GPS again for the next video. In fairness, I've got the GPS under the seat, where instructions say it should have clear sky view.
The software doesnt seem to do picture-in-picture, so I havent looked at having Front+Rear overlay yet, it's been viewing front/rear as seperate videos, but I might be missing something here. It shows the route map from GPS, also means you can click on the map to go to that point of the video which is handy.

galwaytt

Stiletto72 wrote: »

hairyslug wrote: »

I ended up going with the TomTom, not allowed use it until my birthday but will try and remember to update when I've had a chance.

I'm very happy with mine but it's maybe just a bit too bulky to fit to a helmet for my liking. Others have no issue with it though.
I would advise picking up the waterproof lens cover for it as the standard one is only good for the average rain show and not really suited to Irish weather. They're available on Amazon.

I have mine mounted on the side of my Shark EvoOne One and I thought it would be distracting or annoying or cause wond noise or just be generally awkward or something.

Has turned out to be none of the above and can't fault it. I do wish it had loop record as an option though. I do find the remote a bit hit & miss as well .

Stiletto72

galwaytt wrote: »

I have mine mounted on the side of my Shark EvoOne One and I thought it would be distracting or annoying or cause wond noise or just be generally awkward or something.

Has turned out to be none of the above and can't fault it. I do wish it had loop record as an option though. I do find the remote a bit hit & miss as well .

I'm happy with the Roadhawk Bullet R+ on the side of my helmet. It's fairly discrete compared to some options out there. But if I didn't have that I would probably use the TomTom there.
Loop record would be a nice addition I must admit.
Here's a clip from my trip to France last week. As you will hear, the sound quality is not great as the waterproof lens cover completely blocks the mic. You would need to add an external mic for good sound. Video quality is pretty good though.

duskyjoe

Stiletto, on your advise I pressed the big magic road hawk eBay button! I see demon tweaks do a battery pack add on, but I've spent enough for one morning. Ps bought the battery pack....

Have a go pro hero, nice for short videos not looping. Think the road hawk will do the job re safety etc.

hairyslug

Am off to Wales tomorrow so will be able to review the tomtom after that, I only feel safe with it mounted to the helmet, I have a fear of it falling off the swing arm or removing paint.

Stiletto72

duskyjoe wrote: »

Stiletto, on your advise I pressed the big magic road hawk eBay button! I see demon tweaks do a battery pack add on, but I've spent enough for one morning. Ps bought the battery pack....

Have a go pro hero, nice for short videos not looping. Think the road hawk will do the job re safety etc.

You can get a cable from Roadhawk the screws on to the back of the camera. It has a full size USB male on it which I connect to a small battery pack located in my jacket inside pocket. For transferring video files to your PC I would recommend using a standard USB cable rather than this one though as it's very slow to transfer.
The battery pack that they provide effectively doubles the size of the camera footprint.

EDIT: One more piece of advice. The adhesive used on the mounts is utter ****e, under no circumstance rely on it. If you go to Woodies you should be able to find some No More Nails tape that is much better. It has a red back to it.

duskyjoe

Thanks a million Stiletto, your advice is really appreciated.

Stiletto72

duskyjoe wrote: »

Thanks a million Stiletto, your advice is really appreciated.

No problem at all.
This is the cable I picked up for it.

ED E

thos wrote: »

This thread prompted me to try the Innovv K1, dual camera system for my bike. Hard wired, dashcam DVR loop recording, with GPS.
I only have it on the bike 3 days, so not much feedback yet, but so far it's been fit and forget. Starts recording automatically on ignition on.
The cameras are quite small and discrete, easy enough to find mounting places. Mine are both mounted off-centre, something I might look at changing as makes you look quite close to some things, and road position can look a little funny when you cant get a reference point off the bike.
I got caught in that downpour on Tuesday, cameras did ok, front has the benefit of wind to clear the view, but the rear got a good bit of tyre spray, and wasnt as clear. The kit comes with lense covers to help protect the cameras. 1080p and quality seems good.
The microphone is part of the front camera, no option to wire seperately. Sound is ok, less wind noise than the helmet mounted GoPro, but being up front it's just my sewing-machine triple whirring away without any real exhaust sound. It picks up general noise off the bike, but cant say if it picks up anything else in traffic.
The GPS details are hardcoded into the video stream, which I don't really like, it can be turned off, but not sure if you can still log the GPS data seperately. It does have a speed cut-out - so once you go above X mph, it stops logging GPS. But I was hoping to be able to pull out some snippets without giving too much away. Also, if it doesnt pickup GPS signal on startup (if in garage or underground car park) it tends to leave GPS off for the first segment (I have 5min segments set - you can do 1,5,10mins) and only enable GPS again for the next video. In fairness, I've got the GPS under the seat, where instructions say it should have clear sky view.
The software doesnt seem to do picture-in-picture, so I havent looked at having Front+Rear overlay yet, it's been viewing front/rear as seperate videos, but I might be missing something here. It shows the route map from GPS, also means you can click on the map to go to that point of the video which is handy.

If you want to have more control over the data you can separately capture the GPS data as a GPX with an app on your phone then merge the two with Garmin VIRB editor (free for all cameras, not just Garmin).

duskyjoe

Up and running with the road hawk. Excellent piece of kit. All I want it for is for safety and playback. It's no go pro nor is it advertised as such. Battery pack add on a must. A big plus from me.

Reindeer

Stiletto72 wrote: »

I'm happy with the Roadhawk Bullet R+ on the side of my helmet. It's fairly discrete compared to some options out there. But if I didn't have that I would probably use the TomTom there.
Loop record would be a nice addition I must admit.
Here's a clip from my trip to France last week. As you will hear, the sound quality is not great as the waterproof lens cover completely blocks the mic. You would need to add an external mic for good sound. Video quality is pretty good though.

Here's me using the Activeon CX basic with the internal mic. The wind noise isn't quite as bad as yours, but it still makes the mic worthless for any real road work. I didn't realise until I looked closely at it that it has no external input for a mic . Anywho, you can easily hear my exhaust in the vid because it is basically a wide open standard Vance and Hines baffle on a pair of Short Shots behind 1.5 litres of Harley.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HheeV-34iSk

Stiletto72

The sound quality is not bad at all on that to be honest. The problem with the TomTom is that when you add the waterproof lens cover you cover the mic. I think that even with the standard lens cover the sound would not be great anyway.

Reindeer wrote: »

Here's me using the Activeon CX basic with the internal mic. The wind noise isn't quite as bad as yours, but it still makes the mic worthless for any real road work. I didn't realise until I looked closely at it that it has no external input for a mic . Anywho, you can easily hear my exhaust in the vid because it is basically a wide open standard Vance and Hines baffle on a pair of Short Shots behind 1.5 litres of Harley.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HheeV-34iSk

Sonics2k

Sorry for the bump on this one folks, but I thought it'd be a good place to post.

So, back in December I won a GoPro Hero 5 black from work and have been using it every day as a helmet camera, and as many people are often looking to get a camera, I thought I'd do a really quick review of it as I'm bored as hell in work.

The Model: https://www.amazon.co.uk/GoPro-HERO5-Action-Camera-Black/dp/B01LWK3MNR

Pros:

Video quality. Overall, this is really really good. I have it set to record at 30fps 1080p, though it can go higher with a faster SD card. Even driving at night the recording quality is very good, even when there is poor lighting on country roads. With a 32gb SD card I can get 1 hour of recording

Audio quality. It's not bad, it's also not great. It's mounted on the side of my helmet, and even with the wind reduction option added a lot of the playback is just wind, to the point where even the engine is largely drowned out.

Copying content: This is really simple, especially if you use the GoPro software. Plug it in, click the transfer option and done.

Cons:

Battery life.
Honestly, this is pretty damn abysmal, and you'd expect more these days. At best I can get around 2 hours or so battery life out of this at it's current settings, meaning it has to be charged every evening when I get home.

Size:

Weirdly enough, I'd put this as a con. The camera and mount are quite bulky, which in terms of protection is great, but it really really stands out. Depending on yourself, this might be a good thing.

Overall:

Well, I'd recommend it highly as a commuter camera for that extra bit of help, just in case the worse happens. The quality is more than good enough to pick up licence plates and faces, so in the event of a hit and run, the camera should get the details.

For people planning on a tour, I'd honestly pass on it unless you're willing to grab a tonne of spare batteries to bring along.

galwaytt

Stiletto72 wrote: »

The sound quality is not bad at all on that to be honest. The problem with the TomTom is that when you add the waterproof lens cover you cover the mic. I think that even with the standard lens cover the sound would not be great anyway.

I can attest that the sound quality with our without the cover is brutal.

I do have a separate mic in lead for it, but haven't been able to identify what mic you can use with it properly.

I also have an aux power lead for it, but ironically you can plug in either the mic or the power lead, but not both. Kinda dumb: one lead with two connector tails would be the answer...

Zascar

Is there such thing as a dashcam for bikes? Something that stays on the bike, hard wired in and just loopw recording. I'd like a camera in case of an accident but I really can't be arsed with charging and changing cards etc all the time.

thos

Zascar - this was my post earlier in the thread for the hardwired dashcam I fitted to my bike

thos wrote: »

This thread prompted me to try the Innovv K1, dual camera system for my bike. Hard wired, dashcam DVR loop recording, with GPS.
I only have it on the bike 3 days, so not much feedback yet, but so far it's been fit and forget. Starts recording automatically on ignition on.
The cameras are quite small and discrete, easy enough to find mounting places. Mine are both mounted off-centre, something I might look at changing as makes you look quite close to some things, and road position can look a little funny when you cant get a reference point off the bike.
I got caught in that downpour on Tuesday, cameras did ok, front has the benefit of wind to clear the view, but the rear got a good bit of tyre spray, and wasnt as clear. The kit comes with lense covers to help protect the cameras. 1080p and quality seems good.
The microphone is part of the front camera, no option to wire seperately. Sound is ok, less wind noise than the helmet mounted GoPro, but being up front it's just my sewing-machine triple whirring away without any real exhaust sound. It picks up general noise off the bike, but cant say if it picks up anything else in traffic.
The GPS details are hardcoded into the video stream, which I don't really like, it can be turned off, but not sure if you can still log the GPS data seperately. It does have a speed cut-out - so once you go above X mph, it stops logging GPS. But I was hoping to be able to pull out some snippets without giving too much away. Also, if it doesnt pickup GPS signal on startup (if in garage or underground car park) it tends to leave GPS off for the first segment (I have 5min segments set - you can do 1,5,10mins) and only enable GPS again for the next video. In fairness, I've got the GPS under the seat, where instructions say it should have clear sky view.
The software doesnt seem to do picture-in-picture, so I havent looked at having Front+Rear overlay yet, it's been viewing front/rear as seperate videos, but I might be missing something here. It shows the route map from GPS, also means you can click on the map to go to that point of the video which is handy.

Beta Ray Bill

GoPro is losing the market

5/6 years ago, everyone was using them, becuase at the time there wasn't really anything else

Sonics2k has already mentioned the Cons but add:

Battery - You can get uprated batteries but that's extra
Shape - GoPro is not a good shape to mount on a Helmet. Also in order to mount it somewhere correctly and be able to record for a few hours you need multiple connectors and a battery pack.... Now you've made it heavy and even more awkward to mount. Cue neck pain after about an hours riding. (I experienced this is Switzerland last year)
Price - The GoPro is VERY pricey for what it is.
The are loads of vids on youtube that compare the likes of this:
EvoDX Ultra HD - £36.70
To this:
Hero 5 Black Edition - £249.99
with not a whole lot of difference.

Smart Helmets will be on the market in couple of years, Sena are already developing one along with a host of other manufacturers and startups.
This will completely negate the need for an external camera.

In response to your question though.
I use a Drift Ghost, you cannot buy these anymore which is a shame, class camera. New one is useless though... don't buy that.

Sonics2k

grahambo wrote: »

Smart Helmets will be on the market in couple of years, Sena are already developing one along with a host of other manufacturers and startups.
This will completely negate the need for an external camera.

In response to your question though.
I use a Drift Ghost, you cannot buy these anymore which is a shame, class camera. New one is useless though... don't buy that.

Slightly off-topic, but I'm still not set on the idea of smart helmets, and that's coming from someone who is a massive fan of VR and AR. To me it seems all that stuff flickering on a HUD on your visor could be immensely distracting, and who knows how it'll work in the lashing rain and fog.

Beta Ray Bill

Sonics2k wrote: »

Slightly off-topic, but I'm still not set on the idea of smart helmets, and that's coming from someone who is a massive fan of VR and AR. To me it seems all that stuff flickering on a HUD on your visor could be immensely distracting, and who knows how it'll work in the lashing rain and fog.

I think they have a lot to offer:
Rear View Camera,
Front Camera,
HUD,
Interface with smart phone (IE OK Google, Navigate to X. OR Call John, etc)
Built in Intercoms.
Eventually, they'll Interface with bikes which could offer even more possibilities

Problem is though are Bikers Tech averse.
ABS, Traction Control, Anti Wheelie/Stoppy tech has (or had) been in MotoGP for years, but it's only finding it's way into the consumer market the last 3 or 4 years.

Riva10

Just received one of these. Bought it on the recommendation of a friend who has one and is very satisfied with his. Build quality looks excellent and the cameras are small and will be easily concealed.
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/3-0-Inch-1080P-Full-HD-Motorcycle-DVR-Motorbike-Video-Record-Front-Camera-and-Rear-View/32826754280.html?spm=2114.search0104.3.1.2ebe491dTcwmui&ws_ab_test=searchweb0_0,searchweb201602_1_10152_10151_10065_10344_10068_10342_10343_5722611_10340_10341_10697_10696_5722911_5722811_5722711_10084_10083_10618_10304_10307_10302_10059_10534_308_100031_10103_441_10624_10623_10622_10621_10620_5722511,searchweb201603_25,ppcSwitch_3&algo_expid=3406b093-9815-41bf-80ca-c6cb94df40ee-0&algo_pvid=3406b093-9815-41bf-80ca-c6cb94df40ee&priceBeautifyAB=0

BlackWizard

Riva10 wrote: »

Just received one of these. Bought it on the recommendation of a friend who has one and is very satisfied with his. Build quality looks excellent and the cameras are small and will be easily concealed.

Where do you put the screen? Does it go under your seat? I'd be worried someone would just yank it off thinking its a satnav or something.

Richard tea

Riva10 wrote: »

Just received one of these. Bought it on the recommendation of a friend who has one and is very satisfied with his. Build quality looks excellent and the cameras are small and will be easily concealed.
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/3-0-Inch-1080P-Full-HD-Motorcycle-DVR-Motorbike-Video-Record-Front-Camera-and-Rear-View/32826754280.html?spm=2114.search0104.3.1.2ebe491dTcwmui&ws_ab_test=searchweb0_0,searchweb201602_1_10152_10151_10065_10344_10068_10342_10343_5722611_10340_10341_10697_10696_5722911_5722811_5722711_10084_10083_10618_10304_10307_10302_10059_10534_308_100031_10103_441_10624_10623_10622_10621_10620_5722511,searchweb201603_25,ppcSwitch_3&algo_expid=3406b093-9815-41bf-80ca-c6cb94df40ee-0&algo_pvid=3406b093-9815-41bf-80ca-c6cb94df40ee&priceBeautifyAB=0

Can you post a video and review at some stage?

Ive been using a Sony action cam for about 4 years now. Its a quality camera but I could never warm to having a camera hanging off the side of my Helmet. Coming in and having to charge 2 batteries everyday is also a pain.

Riva10

BlackWizard wrote: »

Where do you put the screen? Does it go under your seat? I'd be worried someone would just yank it off thinking its a satnav or something.

Havent fitted it yet but will put the screen under the seat. The cameras are very small and no more noticeable than an eagle eye led.

BlackWizard

I feel the same as Richard. I use my GoPro as an incident recorder and casual action camera. I would prefer to have the incident recorder running at the time and not worry about charging it every day. I'm okay with putting effort into the action camera because that would be a hobby that I only do when out on an interesting drive. I could also then only turn on the action camera when I feel the need to record something.

Post up a review if you don't mind Riva

LLewellen Farquarson

Riva10 wrote: »

Just received one of these. Bought it on the recommendation of a friend who has one and is very satisfied with his. Build quality looks excellent and the cameras are small and will be easily concealed.
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/3-0-Inch-1080P-Full-HD-Motorcycle-DVR-Motorbike-Video-Record-Front-Camera-and-Rear-View/32826754280.html?spm=2114.search0104.3.1.2ebe491dTcwmui&ws_ab_test=searchweb0_0,searchweb201602_1_10152_10151_10065_10344_10068_10342_10343_5722611_10340_10341_10697_10696_5722911_5722811_5722711_10084_10083_10618_10304_10307_10302_10059_10534_308_100031_10103_441_10624_10623_10622_10621_10620_5722511,searchweb201603_25,ppcSwitch_3&algo_expid=3406b093-9815-41bf-80ca-c6cb94df40ee-0&algo_pvid=3406b093-9815-41bf-80ca-c6cb94df40ee&priceBeautifyAB=0

Just bought one, with gps option. I'll be hopefully fitting it on a k1200gt on Sunday. I'll try and post up pics and review.

Emmersonn

LLewellen Farquarson wrote: »

Just bought one, with gps option. I'll be hopefully fitting it on a k1200gt on Sunday. I'll try and post up pics and review.

Only yesterday got mine fitted. Came on Monday. Will be trying it today. powered it off the usb on power pack and picture quality seems very clear but that was only around the house.

LLewellen Farquarson

Hi all,
well, I installed the cameras yesterday, in between the showers. It was a bit rushed (due to the downpours), so I didn't get a chance to take any photos.

The kit itself is great, very well made, and each component is very neat. Each also has a lot of cable, so there is no problem siting them anywhere on the bike. The front camera and GPS module have double connectors so you can remove part of the cable if necessary. I ended up tying spare cable with cable ties and tidied up behind the faring. All cable ties, double sided sticky pads, self tapper screws etc. are supplied with the kit. The GPS, and Cameras come with sticky mounting pads fitted, as well as holes for self tappers, which I didn't use. It also comes with a USB cable to allow you to view the control unit screen off the bike. You can test everything before fitting.

Also the GPS unit is extra, but only costs around €20 so is worth it. It sets the time automatically and stores location and speed data on the recordings.

Fitting is fairly easy, if you are handy. I drilled a hole for the rear camera cable, and drilled holes to feed the cables into the fairing pocket where I am housing the screen (the K1200GT has a lockable glove compartment). You may not have to do this, depending on your bike.

The sequence was
1. Take off, loosen any required fairing, take off seats etc.
2. Drill hole and feed through cable for rear camera. Don't fix camera yet.
3. Drill hole in fairing pocket and feed cable into it.
4. Feed front camera up under fairing and drill hole and feed cable into fairing pocket. Don't fix camera yet.
5. Find a suitable place to mount GPS unit, stick it on and feed cables. This cable attaches to power unit, and feeds back to control unit.
6. Attach power unit (converts 12v to 5v) to battery terminals, mount in a suitable place and run yellow wire to switched live. This yellow wire signals the unit to turn on. On a CANBUS bike like the K1200, there is a switched live (normally for GPS) near the battery.
7. Find a suitable place on the handlebars/fairing to attach the remote control and run the wire back to the fairing pocket.
8. Plug in the control unit, turn on the bike and if everything works, replace fairing, seats, and master at your neat installation.
9. Mount the cameras so that they are viewing correctly. Once you stick them on with the tape, they are not going to move. They are also pretty light, so I didn't feel the need to screw them in as well.

All in all, a pretty painless installation. As i said, each of the units are pretty small, so you should have no problem fitting them onto most bikes. The only thing visible is the handlebar switch and both cameras. They are the size of led bullet lights, so unnoticeable. The GPS is mounted under a fairing, and is picking up the satellites with no difficulty.

I haven't used it yet, but hope to do so tonight. There are various configurable settings, including length of file (1/3/5 minutes recording) and whether Pre-recording is on. This took a while to understand. Basically, if pre-recording is on, then the unit turns on as normal, but only records when you press the remote. It then records 10 seconds before the button-press, plus whatever time (1/3/5 mins) you have set. Advantage is that you only record when you want, so it is easier to find files. Disadvantage is that you have to remember to press the button.
The other mode is that it records all the time and loops in the 1/3/5 minute times (which equate to files). When the SD card is full it starts to overwrite, unless you have locked a file. In this mode you lock a file/time slice by pressing the remote.

The remote has an led that flashes to show you the unit is on, and alters the flash time to show what is happening to a recording, e.g. recording locked.

It took me a bit of experimentation to discover that in "normal" mode, i.e. non pre-recording, it will lock the current file when you press the remote, no matter at what time you press it. So, say you have it set to record in 3 minute slices (the default) and you press the remote at 1 second into the recording. It will lock the 3 minutes (remote flashes twice as fast), and then revert to unlocked,(remote goes back to normal flash rate). If you press the remote at 2

mins 59 seconds into a recording, then it will lock that 3 minutes, and revert to unlocked (after 1 second). You can of course press the remote again to lock the next recording. It is just something to watch out for if you want to ensure a recording is not overwritten. In other words, each 3 minute file is a separate entity, and will be locked no matter when you press the remote.

Hopefully I've explained it clearly. In any event any file/recording is only overwritten when the memory card is full. I don't know how much each file takes, and will have to work out how much a card stores. Currently I have the supplied 32GB SD card in, but it will take up to 128GB.

In both modes it automatically locks the current recording in the event of a crash (presumably detected by g forces).

One thing I would say, is this is a great piece of kit, but only if you want a "dashcam" type of setup, i.e. your main focus is to record an accident etc. If you want an "action cam" type of setup, then get a helmet cam, e.g. GoPro. The

reason for this is that this unit will only allow you to record in 1/3/5 minute time slices. So if you want to record a longer trip, you will have to get into file editing etc. It can be done I assume, but a helmet cam might be better if that is your requirement.

Would I recommend one? Absolutely. Especially as I know two people who were able to prove that they were not at fault in an accident by showing the footage. One was t-boned at a roundabout (other person said they were speeding) and the other was when a van stopped after the lights and then reversed back into the motorcycle (and claimed that the bike when into them).

Emmersonn

Tried mine yesterday and was very disappointed with the result. Just went for a bimble up the road. I had the supplied Kingston 32 GB inserted. The camera gave the impression that t was not able to record the full amount of info received. The resultant video was almost in slow motion and was missing parts of the ride. What i mean is that in a period it was as if it was doing a time lapse. The supplied card was a class 10. I replaced this card with a 128GB card which I had purchased on ebay during the week and again headed off. Was out for most of the day until about 8 oclock last evening and have just checked the result. I am delighted with the new card. The picture quality is very clear front and back. The video is faultless so no complaints from me. As L F says above I would highly recommend a camera if only to avoid a "misunderstanding" in the event of an accident. and based on yesterday's videos I would recommend the above one. I am unable to post a video as I am only new to Boards. Thanks Riva10 for the link.

Just to give an idea of GB usage. I did just over 510 Klm and there is 1.1GB space in the 128 GB card.

D3V!L

Looks like Innovv have replaced the K1 with the new waterproof K2. I'll be think thinking about that for the near future.