Cyclist0108

I currently have a Sony AZ1 Actioncam that I often take on rides, primarily with the hope of recording or deterring attempts on my life. I very much like the small form factor, aero profile, and the quality of the movies. My primary concerns are that the battery only lasts for an hour or so (by far the most significant gripe), and sometimes it is difficult to resolve license plates unambiguously.

Can anyone recommend a video camera that I could set and forget for the duration of a 4 or 5 hour ride, but could be confident it would produce a meaningful record of a traffic incident, should I ever need it?

mcours2006

I've got this one, well, a couple of them; one for the front and one on the rear. It records 1080p at 30fps and is good enough to capture license plates.

The battery life is about 2.5 hours, but I have had it running for close to three hours. When the temperature is below freezing the battery life suffers significantly.

ItsJustMe

Battery life is always the problem; practically no camera has a 5 or even 4 hour battery life. I'm just about at the point of making one myself. An 18650 coupled with a Mobius should last quite a while.

BobbyG

My Contour Roam 2 gets about 4.5 hours. You might be able to use a USB cell phone battery booster to boost your camera time.

natnatroswell22

I'm sure there are several GoPro recording cam for cyclists out there, I would recommend one of their recent released product GoPro Hero6 Black. Well actually, it's in my wishlist too XD

Cyclist0084

+1

I run my Hero4 Session with an external battery, and have consistently gotten 5 1/2 hours of recording time, filling to the max a 64GB microSD card....and the battery has had plenty of power to spare.

JohnnyCyclist

I've used Rideye cameras front and back for almost 3 years. 1080p resolution, so unless the light conditions are bad you will get the license plate. I regularly go on three (3) 2-hour rides without recharging, so that's 6 hours. It could go longer, but since my rear blinky is almost dead after 6 hours, that's my recharge interval.

If you look for reviews, you'll see a lot of complaints. Maybe I take better care of my units, maybe I just got "good" units, whatever, but mine have been mostly trouble-free.

Agent Cooper

Funny to see this thread pop up here. I've just been thinking of getting my first camera, and started looking for one in earnest today. I might get this one just for the bright blue color. One of my motives in getting a camera is the deterrent factor. I figure people are just that much less likely to act out when they know they're being recorded. Also, I commute and haven't had any real problems so far but I figure why not have that extra insurance if something does happen.

Obviously I don't want a huge, heavy bulky thing stuck to my helmet, but I DO want something that will be seen by motorists. I want them to know I have it.

Any thoughts on this?

mcours2006

I'm not sure many people notice my camera just simply because it doesn't look like a camera. Most people are familiar with the GoPro type camera worn on top of the helmet or on the handlebar. Mine looks rather inconspicuous sitting on top of my helmet and behind the seatpost. If you want people to notice you might want to have something that looks like a camera.

Chris0516

I have the GoPro Hero4 Silver. I like it a lot.

Ryan Olivas

Same. I had that one and liked it so much as cam recorder during travel. Sadly, it went missing last year november. Will try their latest soon.

Chris0516

They are now at the Hero6

ItsJustMe

Resolution is NO guarantee that you will get the license plate. You also need a very high bitrate.
If a car is passing you at 60 MPH, you almost certainly will NOT get the license plate unless you're running a ludicrous bitrate, chewing up gigabytes in minutes. Video codecs work by taking a keyframe and each subsequent frame is just differences from the previous frame, and there are only so many bits per frame to do that. When cars are passing you quickly, freeze frame will just result in blurs, even when you have a high shutter speed (bright light conditions) because there just aren't enough bits to get all the data in the frame that changed.
For people in cities or winding country roads where traffic is only maybe going 10 or 20 MPH faster than you are, this may be true.
For me it's actually better in most conditions to run 720p, which is high enough resolution to get plates, but I'm not wasting bitrate on useless resolution instead of on frame diffs.

natnatroswell22

yea, I've seen it in walmart and the price is way too hurting to see...lmao