wagonfanatic

Video cameras like Go Pros are an increasingly common accessory for cyclists who wish to document their rides or capture photographic evidence of dangerous drivers.

I think it would be tremendously helpful to have a single thread where users can review the different video cameras they use and provide insight for our broader cycling community.

There are many threads that discuss the pros/cons of biking with a camera, and if biking with one actually makes riders and the road "safer." That is NOT the intent of this thread. If you'd like to argue for or against cameras, please do so elsewhere. This thread is intended to be a one-stop shop for people interested in buying a camera and getting reviews from dedicated cyclists.

Right now there are a wide range of camera offerings, from high-end Go Pros to an array of much cheaper Chinese-clones. Helping cyclists find the right camera for their needs (and wallet) is an important niche that needs to be filled.

What kind of camera do you use?
How much did you pay for it?
How do you mount it?
What is the battery life like?
What software do you use to upload your videos?
Did it come with the camera/ is it easy to use?
Pros/ cons of camera?

Chris516

GoPro Hero4 Silver
$0, It was a gift.
Chest Mount Strap
90mins.
GoPro utility software
No, I downloaded it from GoPro's website. It is easy to use.
Pro-Clear picture, great mounting option; Con-None

wagonfanatic

By most of the reviews I've read so far, it seems like the Go Pros are still the best product out there. I'm really curious how the other competitors stack up though-- can you really get a decent cycling camera for $150 that will last? There are tons of others out there, but so many seem to be knock offs or have defects. The real question is which one is the best bang for the buck (although this all depends on what riders are looking for). For myself, I'm interested in getting 2 cameras-- one forward looking and one rear facing-- mostly to document aggressive city drivers (rather than have the highest quality HD video of sweet rides through the countryside).

ItsJustMe

Not really, IMO. You have to correct for the fact that they have a huge marketing engine that makes people buy them thinking they are the best, then you have a confirmation bias - people bought them thinking they're the best and they don't want to admit any shortcoming because that would be the same as admitting they were wrong.

I used to own a GoPro Hero3 Silver. I've owned about 10 action cams in the last few years, and honestly the GoPro was by a good fraction the worst. It had a number of problems and their support department was useless and abusive.

There's nothing wrong with the knock-offs. If you think a GoPro form factor will work for you, honestly the SJ4000 is as good a camera as the base level GoPros (and maybe even the next level up) and is a lot less money.

Personally on the back I have settled down to a Fly6. Up front I think I would go with a Drift Stealth2 if the lack of interchangeable batteries is not a problem.

Almost any camera that you buy these days (with the exception of some truly crap $35 eBay specials) that does 1080p video is going to be good enough for documentation purposes on a bike. What you want is:

- weatherproof. Not absolutely necessary if you don't intend to ride in the rain, but really nice, you never know.
- proper loop recording - should be able to just charge the camera and turn it on and off and not have to worry about erasing cards, etc. Some cams that say they have loop recording don't understand what it means (Garmin). Others have bad implementations (my GoPro could get in a state where it refused to erase any files and just shut down every time I turned it on)
- long battery life. 2 hours absolute minimum. 3 is comfortable, more than that is a bonus.
- Interchangeable batteries is a big plus. Double big if they're some kind of standard. I have an SVC200 that uses Nokia cell phone batteries which are sold by every street corner vendor on the planet for about $3 each.
- easy to turn on. Ideally one switch turns it on and it starts recording.

ItsJustMe

The current version of the Mobius, with the 850mah battery and the C lens, is quite good. It fails on the waterproof side, but it's quite small, very easy to mount with a bit of velcro or whatever, has a 2 hour battery life, quite good video quality (the C2 lens in particular is very good with low lens flare and good color rendition), has surprisingly good low light quality and very good light level responses (moving from dark to light areas, maintaining decent photo quality when the sun or a glare from glass is in shot, etc). It does proper loop recording, it can run from an external USB power source if you need really extended runtimes, and it can be set to automatically start recording as soon as you turn it on, which means single button start.

Here's a review

Techmoan - Techmoan - The Mobius Camera - The do-it-all mount-anywhere 1080p Micro*Cam

digger

Front camera - Contour 1080p
Rear camera - Fly6

Contour - bought used off eBay $150 if memory serves. Came with 3 batteries and some mounts.
Fly6 - $240 but got a $50 coupon from the company Cycliq for supporting ($) their new Fly12.

Contour - helmet
Fly6 - seatpost, but had to come up with alternative for my touring bike due to the large sadle bag and trunk bag. Blocked the camera view.

Contour - I have 3 batteries and when new they last about 2hrs 15 min. So about 6ish hours.
Fly6 - It has yet to die on any of my rides. About 5.5 hours.

Well to edit video I use the Videopad software by NCH. Software takes a bit of getting use to.

To upload (Youtue you mean) I just use the Youtube GUI.

The Contour comes with its own basic viewing software.

The Fly6 does not have any software for editing or viewing video.

Contour

Cons

Not much really. I'd prefer an internal long-lasting battery of at least 6 hours. But the batteries are pretty small so it is no big deal.

Pros
Super easy to use and that large on/off switch is great when using gloves and easy to find when you need to.
Watertight
Low profile
Rotating lens
Laser leveling

Fly6

Cons
I'd prefer 1080p rather than 720.
Would be nice to have differant recording options
Sound quality is crap when playing it back. Can hardly hear it.
Wish the rear blinky light was stronger/brighter

Pros
Bloody tough camera. Fell off my touring bike at speed once, zero damage and still works fine
Battery lasts a long time
Compact
Great quick release mount
Has a rear blinky as well as a camera

ItsJustMe

I've owned about 10 cameras over the years, but almost none of them are still for sale anymore so posting info on them would be useless. Here's a little info on current or nearly-current models

The Fly6 is a nearly ideal rear camera. The only downside is very limited mounting options. If they'd come up with some other options it would be great. I'm working on some 3D printed mount options myself.

Pros:
very very long battery life. Bike specific modes - leaning more than 15 degrees for more than 5 seconds triggers incident mode, where it records for an hour and then stops. Also if it doesn't move for 15 minutes (and isn't in incident mode) then it assumes you just forgot to turn it off and it shuts itself off.
Has a pretty decent taillight feature, bright enough for nighttime use (not IMO an acceptable daytime light).

Cons: Seatpost mounting is the only option. Too bad if you use a rack trunk bag, a non-tiny wedge pack, or any other seat or rack bag.


Up front, I've been through a ton of cams. Those still in production or close ones are:

Contour Roam:
Pros: Good form factor. Fair amount of mounting options. Swivel lens yay.
Cons: Battery life was ok but not stellar and no interchangeable battery. I don't think it had a loop mode (can't remember right now). Also had no screen and no way to change modes, erase files, etc without attaching it to a PC.

GoPro:
Pros: replaceable battery. Screen to allow changing modes, etc.
Cons: Form factor makes sense really only for chest strap mounting or maybe bar mounting (which for me results in video so shaky and blurry that it's unusable). The loop mode on mine was buggy, it could get into a state where it refused to start recording, it just beeped at me and shut down, requiring me to format the card (losing all content) to get it running again. I had several other issues where I found obvious bugs in their firmware but they would not acknowledge them. Was very picky about SD cards - I tried 12 and only 2 of them worked, even though all 12 worked fine in every other device. After using an SD card in that cam, usually it had to at least be reformatted before it would work right in any other device. In some cases, other devices wouldn't even recognize that there was a card after it was GoPro formatted.


I've got a Mobius on order. I've used keychain cams in the past and they produce OK video but have had very short battery life and were not waterproof. The Mobius has a 2 hour battery life and can be run from outside power so that may help. I'm going to attempt to make my own weatherproof (not waterproof) case, I have some ideas.

snow_echo_NY

What kind of camera do you use? Cycliq Fly6
How much did you pay for it? $130-ish?
How do you mount it? seat post
What is the battery life like? for 45 min a day, it lasts 2-3 days.
What software do you use to upload your videos? none, i just transfer the files.
Did it come with the camera/ is it easy to use? n/a
Pros/ cons of camera? it's pretty perfect. it's an excellent back light and an excellent camera. it's also seamless to use. the go-pro my husband uses is tricky to set up the loop. he uses it for the front and his own fly6 for the rear. the fly6 automatically does everything you want it to. it's bright, it records. it's seriously perfect.

ItsJustMe

As for software, if I'm just extracting a clip from a video, I use AVIDemux. It's free and fast and simple.

If I'm doing much more, I use Sony Movie Studio, which is a fantastic deal at $50 (for the platinum version which includes DVD/Bluray authoring).

I've never seen software that comes with a camera that was worth a spit.

wagonfanatic

The Fly6 seems like a really great option for a rear camera. I'm really looking forward to seeing what the Fly12 is like.

Does anyone else use a camera thats designed just to face to the rear?

Cyclosaurus

I haven't pulled the trigger, but after the research I've done, I am pretty sure this is the camera I am going to buy:

Amazon.com : Polaroid XS100 Extreme Edition HD 1080p 16MP Waterproof Sports Action Video Camera With Full Mounting Kit Included : Camcorders : Camera & Photo

The advantages are that 1) it's waterproof (requires no external housing), 2) I like the form factor better, 3) it comes with a number of mounts, 4) is cheaper (typically $129 but goes on sale for $99 pretty regularly). It supposedly has better low-light capabilities but I take that with a grain of salt. Of late I've had quite a few incidents I wish I had on camera so likely the next time it goes on sale I'll likely pick it up.

JoeyBike

I like Contour but back when they were temporarily closed for business (a couple of years) I had my sights set on an alternative and the Polaroid was the best option for me as well. I noticed you found that Contour's rotating lens was the best of the three but if I am not mistaken the Polaroid XS100 automatically senses the horizon and electronically LEVELS the image! I thought that was pretty cool. I find with my Contour cameras it is really easy to forget to rotate the lens if I am moving the camera around a lot like on my helmet, then my handlebars, then upside-down under my saddle filming backwards, etc.

You should let us know how the Polaroid does for you when you get one.

Cyclosaurus

Right, I really liked the auto-leveling feature. And oh yeah, I get material on every commute. There will be a youtube channel.

wagonfanatic

Commuting videos from different cameras would certainly enrich this thread...

Matariki

What kind of camera do you use?

Sony HDR AS-20

How much did you pay for it?
~$100



How do you mount it?
Handlebar mount



What is the battery life like?
at least 90 minutes


What software do you use to upload your videos?
None, I grab them off the camera via USB and edit them with a variety of software


Did it come with the camera/ is it easy to use?
Sony software is available for download, but I haven't used it.



Pros/ cons of camera?

Pros: Small, lightweight, waterproof (in case), lot of settings, great video.
Cons: No narrow angle setting, just 120 and 170. These are too wide to capture a lot of close detail. Waterproof case fogs up inside under certain conditions. This results in it looking like you are riding through a fog bank.

Chris516

Where is the product support?

Cyclosaurus

Not sure what you mean exactly. Polaroid has a support site with contact info, and you can download the software and manuals from their site. What else are you looking for?

Chris516

Ah, okay. I thought it was just sold by Amazon without any product support.

JoeyBike

All of the nicer cameras basically spit out the same image quality. Some handle low light better and others handle looking directly into the sun better, but otherwise, 1080p resolution is going to look pretty good from any camera, even some of the cheaper ones. You would have to run all of the sample cameras on your handlebars at the same time, then edit them in frames side-by-side to notice the difference. That is beyond the capability of probably everybody here, although it has been done. Just do a Google search. People who get paid to review cameras do these sorts of comparisons every year or so.

Cyclosaurus

The newest gopro does 4K video which in theory is much higher quality. But since 99.9% of people don't have a 4K TV or monitor and for most non-professional purposes it really won't be noticeable anyway it seems for video it's probably not anything to care about. What it does do however is allow you to grab 8 MP stills from the video which can be a pretty useful if you are trying to get a license plate or a clear shot of someone's face.

ItsJustMe

It's more about bitrate than resolution. If your bitrate is low, you could have a 10K sensor and theoretically be recording 10K video, but unless everything is standing still you'll just have a big blurry mess.

Often you can have plates be more visible at 720p than 1080p because the same bitrate is used, so you get less video compression on 720p.

Also the more light you have, generally the better (less blurry) moving subjects will be because the camera can use a faster shutter speed. In low light cameras shooting at 30fps either slow down to close to 1/30 second, or some will slow even more than that and just shovel a frame to the buffer when it can (IE it'll slow to 1/5 second shutter and push out 6 identical frames before moving another one from the sensor out). At that low of a shutter speed, on a bike you'll just get blurs.

Physics says that the only way to combat this is to have more sensor area picking up photons, or a bigger lens gathering light for the sensor (or both). Since we're always pushing for smaller cameras, it's a hard problem

Sony and some others get better low light performance by using "back lit" sensors - this is basically sensors that are built upside down, so that the wiring is underneath instead of on top where it stops light from getting to the sensors.

Most cameras however just amplify the signal when the light gets low. If your image is really grainy, that's what's going on. Really every camera is going to have to resort to that eventually when it gets dark enough.

wagonfanatic

Yeah, good point. I suppose durability, product support, and many of the questions I first asked are far more important than seeing video quality side by side.

KingCat

When deciding on a camera you have to ask yourself what is the purpose for the camera ? Are you using it for best quality images or for security and safety purposes ?

I have two Go Pro's. The Hero 3 Black is great image quality but battery life is horrible ( 65 minutes). I also use a Hero 3 White and the battery life is an easy 3 hours at 720 30fps.

Low lite on the Black is much better.

I mount one camera on handle bars for forward view and one on seat post for rear view.

ItsJustMe

I got my Mobius in on Saturday, here's a video I shot that afternoon. Youtube has compressed the video pretty badly, it was a lot clearer in the raw.
https://youtu.be/SGiZkoOGjpo

I still need to do some low light testing and a few other things before I can put together a proper video.

I'm still pondering what to do about waterproofing. For now I'm just running it with the clip-in and I'll just take it off if it's raining.

The options on this camera are pretty good. The manufacturer is the most responsive to consumer requests that I have ever seen, better than even any of the name brand cameras. They even make hardware changes because one guy requested them (admittedly, the one guy is the one that does very popular camera reviews on Youtube). The entire Mobius line was an offshoot of the 808 keychain camera made because people requested it.

Number400

I use dashcams in my cars and on the bicycles as well. No review yet but going with BULLETHD | World's First Motorcycle Riding Video Camera as it can handle the weather and I am assured by the vendor (Pier28) that it will run just fine on a battery pack. On our tandem I currently use a Mini0801 powered by a battery pack and it can run over 10 hours. It also can use the GoPro mounts. Going to run two on the tandem.

I use a Panorama IIs and a Blacksys CF-100 as well as the Mini0801. Despite being super cheap the 0801 does a great job of reading license plates.