ExPatTyke

I started carrying a camera a few weeks ago, after one close pass too many.

I bought the Ion camera someone else mentioned, video quality in daylight is pretty good - not tried it at night yet - although the audio doesn't give much apart from wind noise.

The battery life isn't the best, 2 hours at best, although as mentioned above you can plug in a powerbank.

I mount mine on the handlebars, works very well there, and it's clearly visible to drivers - I've found that having a camera on display really does alter drivers' attitudes towards me.

exmechanic89

I plan on buying the fly6 and 12 very soon. It's obvious from some of the posters stories in this thread - and many others I've read, that vid cameras are a very worthwhile investment. I can think of 2 recent times myself where my having video of a driver situation would've resulted in them getting a hefty ticket or jail.

KraneXL

Action cameras nowadays are so cheap (Chinese) this is almost of no-brainer. For capture only you don't need any frills and they all have acceptable quality. If you do this you need two.

Seattle Forrest

That's true. Your friends and family might find some closure in justice though. And the more people do this, hopefully, the safer we all are. I mean, if it becomes widely known that a lot of cyclists are riding with cameras, because their footage keeps turning up in court, people will have to deal with it. As they've been putting red light cameras in, most people stopped going through "orange" lights.

canklecat

There were four hit and runs in my area just during the past month, three of them fatal. So far only one driver has been caught and that was because of some nearby surveillance camera video and some information from a witness. Apparently no cameras or witnesses to the other crimes.

Not all collisions result in deaths. Mine caused injuries, but those are significant enough to me. It was the one time in two years I hadn't used the camera. There were plenty of witnesses and even a police officer who happened to be near the intersection although I'm not sure he actually saw the car hit me. But if I'd used my camera it's likely the driver's insurance would already have settled. Instead I needed an attorney to represent me.

canklecat

Yeah, I have an Ion Speed Pro. Nighttime video quality is mediocre, noisy with poor dynamic range, blacked out shadows and blown highlights. It's only good enough to identify the type of vehicle, some gross characteristics such as body damage, etc.

There are some dash cams with much better nighttime performance. They usually need an external power source and have no weather resistance. But those can be homebrewed into a functional higher quality night ride video camera.

Shimagnolo

I've read a lot of POV & dashcam reviews, (and watched review videos), and for night use there is one image sensor that stands out: The Sony "Exmor" sensor. (There are various versions and part numbers.)
Sony uses them in their own cameras (obviously), and they also sell them to other mfgrs.
I've seen a couple dashcams that used them, but I don't recall the brands right now.

colnago62

canklecat

Incidentally, a few years ago there were questions about why so many Russian drivers managed to video record the 2013 Chelyabinsk meteor entry. It seemed like too much of a coincidence. Several news outlets explained that insurance fraud was so rampant in Russia that many Russian drivers were among the earliest adopters of dashcams to provide evidence in their own defense. So they just happened to be recording video when the meteor event occurred.

Cyclists and pedestrians are at far greater risk. Makes sense to record video. And pedestrians are struck and injured or killed by drivers in far greater numbers than cyclists.

Some of the most dangerous areas in my city (Fort Worth) for pedestrians are the hospital districts. Drivers routinely travel much too fast for conditions and ignore crosswalks and walk signals. After I was struck and injured riding my bike in May I had countless medical appointments. Some were within walking distance the same day, so I'd walk since I had no leg injuries and needed the exercise.

After the first day of nearly being hit by cars three times in less than a mile I began carrying my Ion Speed Pro video camera and displaying it very prominently as I approached intersection and as I entered crosswalks. It's amazing how well drivers can see when they're concerned about consequences. Suddenly there were vehicles backing up from crosswalks, coming to complete stops at intersections where pedestrians had right of way.

Part of the problem is bad street design. But it seemed pretty obvious that a major factor is that too many drivers just do not give a single damn about pedestrians or cyclists unless the drivers are concerned about consequences to themselves.

canklecat

Yep, a couple of good tech reviewers (including Techmoan on YouTube) have mentioned that. The Ion cameras are inexpensive, yet well made so I figured they had to cut corners somewhere. Good camera body and design with an obsolete sensor.

I plan to try one of the dashcams the Techmoan reviewer suggests on my bike, just to see whether it's a practical compromise. The cameras are often very inexpensive, but lack a power supply or weather proof housing.

Shimagnolo

Oh, yeah!
Techmoan was one of the first guys I found doing lots of dashcam reviews.
Sadly, he seems to be more into antique electronics these days.

I'm using a Mobius 1 camera as a dashcam in my car.
It was really geared toward remote-control flying models, but works well.
I originally tried a Mini 0801 and later an 0803, but they were unreliable crap despite good test reviews.
(The Mobius 1 is good, but the company went off the rails with the later versions.)

canklecat

Good to know, thanks.

Jazzguitar

spectastic

Austin TX. drivers are generally nice here. but i've ran into my share of d-bags.

bobwysiwyg

I occasionally ride with a camera. One the Mobius, very small, light and quite good. I also own an Ion Speed Pro, also good. I'm not enthused enough to use one all the time. Michigan is a single plate state. Getting an image of a plate coming up behind you, or coming at you is unlikely. Without that, I'm not sure how well they would care to investigate.

John00

I have a Sony action cam mounted on my handle bars that I have 3 batteries for I can swap. It's white and very visible. And an inexpensive Mobius, dash cam on the back run by a battery in my top tube bag. I've read too many stories from posters who have no memory of the accident, just remember waking up in the hospital.

canklecat

What @John00 says about memory is crucial. Memory loss is very common with concussions and head injuries. With a concussion, even without apparent loss of consciousness, many folks will not remember an incident clearly, if at all.

In addition to usually running a video camera, I also set my smartphone for Google to track my activities. These are recorded to my private timeline by default. It's a good option for a mute and objective witness. It helped confirm my version of events when I was struck by a car a few months ago, even though I didn't have my camera that day.

Google timeline tracking has also been useful to log my many medical visits. Occasionally there have been unexpected changes to appointments or locations so my appointment calendar isn't necessarily an accurate log. But the Google tracking is. It shows exactly where I was and when, even logged the name of the clinic in most cases. Occasionally it will prompt me later to confirm or correct a location and clinic name. But usually it's already there.

Might be useful for legal purposes if we're found unconscious and have no memory of what happened or how we got there.

Usually Google tracking must be enabled by the user, and it's private by default ("private" meaning only you and Google can see the data). That also means even a loved one, law enforcement or legal representative may not have access to that data. So you might consider authorizing someone you trust to access your Google timeline if you're incapacitated.

Incidentally, I've found Google tracking to be far more reliable than Strava or other activities apps. So if Strava glitches and you lost an important ride log, check Google timeline. You can reconstruct the ride from there. You'll need to download the Google data and convert it to a format Strava can use. There are online tools for that. It'll give a pretty good approximation of the basic ride data. It's even pretty good about telling the difference between walking, cycling and riding in vehicles without manually entering that info.

Colnago Mixte

For anyone that's been running a backward-facing camera, have you noticed any patterns in the types of people who do close passes? I never actually see who's driving when it happens to me. Is there a classic profile of a close-passer? I know a lot of them drive pickup trucks in my area, that's for sure, or some type of SUV.

Is it mostly men? I suspect a good number of mine of women, but without a camera ir's almost impossible to tell most of the time. I guess that's why they do it, because they assume you can't see them.

Lots of overweight people and folks with lit cigarettes?

KraneXL

Under 40, working class, arm hanging outside the vehicle, cigarette, height challenged with compensation issues (Ripley in the loader). Women who expand the cultural norm of going first to their driving. The clueless twenty-something.

Colnago Mixte

So, life's insecure DB's, essentially?

Sorry about the typos, but the font size in the box where you compose posts is really tiny. Does anyone else have this problem? I often have trouble telling comma from periods in there, especially when my eyes get tired. Someone suggested a darker background where you compose posts, I find it BLINDING at times, but that complaint fell on deaf ears.

Still I should have proofread.

KraneXL

You can't always tell by the person inside but the size and driving characteristic of the vehicle (as they approach) are usually a dead giveaway. Beware pickups and full-size SUVs.

Shimagnolo

You are dreaming if you think a camera can capture the occupants of a car as it is passing you.
Reasons:
1. Reflections off the glass.
2. Tinted glass.
3. Interior in the shade of the roof.
5. Wide-angle lenses of every POV/dashcam that make everything look smaller and further away.
6. As vehicle passes, the driver is on the opposite side from the cyclist he is passing.
7. Video capture resolution is worse when there is a lot of movement between camera and object.

As an example, here is a capture from my motorcycle rear camera of a stationary vehicle at a stoplight about 3 feet behind me.
1920x1080 resolution at 30fps.
What can you tell us about the driver?

KraneXL

Its not entirely that simple. It really depends on the resolution, frame rate and angle of capture. As for the reflection, a polarizing filter would have seen right through that windshield.

Colnago Mixte

I guess I will take you at your word on this, but surely there must be occasional times when the light is more favorable. So mainly good for capturing plates and vehicle make / model, eh?

Sy Reene

I was looking at one of the gopro hero Session models.. looks about as large as I'd ever consider mounting on a handlebar anyway. Anyone used one of these?
The fly6 looks good if you're rear-facing the camera.