CanadianBiker32

I have an older GoPro 2 and a Gear Pro, good cameras, thinking of updating and getting a 3rd camera
from all of you who own different action cameras
what ones you recommend? is go pro best? what about the Garmin one and sony? etc? feedback please

bobwysiwyg

Might consider a Mobious. No bigger than a pill box decent run time/battery usage. I don't use mine all the time (i.e. not a defensive tool), mainly on country/gravel rides to capture wildlife or interesting terrain.

raqball

I have a GoPro Session that I run on the back of my bike. I keep a USB battery pack in the saddle bag and run a cable to it, that's secured to the seatpost.

The Session gets about 1 hour and 45 minutes from it's 1000mah internal battery pack so by using a 3000mah USB stick I can triple that run time and still have the Session internal battery as well. All in all I get get about 6 plus hours of run time from the combo.

Photo of my setup:



I've had several cameras. A Virb (original) a Virb 30, A Fly 6, a Fly 12, a Shimano CM1000, a Yuntab Warrior, a RidEye, and the Session. The Session is my favorite due to it's size and light weight. When set to 1080p and 60fps the video is crystal clear.

longbeachgary

Sorry for hijacking but do you just leave the little door open? Or did you just remove the door entirely?

raqball

I leave it open. I live in the desert so it rarely rains and when it does, I wimp out and don't ride that day.

I'd suggest closing the door in bad weather though and just run it off the internal battery under those circumstances .

longbeachgary

Thanks for the info. I run out of battery long before I would run out of memory.

raqball

Yeah the downside to the Session is it's battery life. When I run mine @ 1080p and 60fps I get about 1:45 to 2 hours from the internal battery. I did get stuck in a storm last year and just unplugged the cable, closed the door and pedaled on. When the rain stopped, I opened the door and plugged back in.

ItsJustMe

GoPro has never been the best, they just have a hell of a marketing budget.

One I'm looking at right now is this one: https://a.co/eCn3qhK

6 hour stated battery life, 1080p, nice mounting profile (versus GoPro "strap a brick to you" style)

Also that version has an enhanced nighttime sensor that they claim is better than the GoPro Hero 4 Session.

1nterceptor

raqball

Had one returned it.

The mounting options are garbage, built in SD card means that if it gets corrupted the entire camera goes to the trash.

I suppose it might be a good option for some, depending on where and how it's going to be mounted but my biggest issue was the built in SD card. Storage gets corrupted and it's a paperweight.

ItsJustMe

OK good points.

I don't really care about mounting options since I always design and 3D print my own anyway, even when I owned a GoPro. I didn't realize that an added SD card wasn't an option, but I guess I'd be willing to risk it since I've never had an SD card fail and I would just be buying a 32G card and putting it in forever anyway.

Still, quite a bummer. It's amazing that it's so hard to buy a camera with a 6 hour battery life. I really don't consider having to run cables to the camera to be a viable option. Just one big thing to break, a huge point of vulnerability in what should be a robust system.

raqball

Agree!

Almost all of these cameras have some type of constraint. Most of the smaller ones are battery life. The ones with decent battery life have other constraints.

The Fly 6 gets good battery life, has loop recording and a removable SD card but it's only 720p @ 30fps and the mount is terrible! Also only intended for rear use.

The Session is small and light and has a removable SD card but it does not have loop recording and the battery life is terrible.

The RidEye is pure garbage and should be avoided at all cost! I see they have them on sale now for $99 but it's not even worth half that. Water ingress issues, camera issues, GoPro mount adapter breaks, no lanyard ect. JUNK!

The Virb 30 is okay but very expensive. Battery life is also pretty bad.

If they make a new version of the Yuntab Warrior, I'd love to see integrated GoPro mount and a removable SD card. If they did those two, it would be a winner!

The perfect camera for cycling would be something like this

1. 6+ hour battery life
2. Loop recording
3. 1080p minimum
4. GoPro mount (it's the standard and gives tons of options)
5. Date and time stamp
6. Removable SD card

Oddly enough not a single camera out there has this covered. The Fly 12 does but it's also expensive, heavy and only intended for use on the front.

rumrunn6

I like smaller cameras that are waterproof without requiring an additional big housing

Kaminokaze

I did find this for the GoPros. Which looks like a good option. I have not used it but would be interested if other have used it and what they think.

canklecat

I've been pretty satisfied with the Ion Speed Pro for the past year. It's better suited as an action cam rather than the traffic documentation cam I really need. The ultra-wide lens doesn't record fine detail in license plates reliably. But for only $50-$60 it's good. It's been rainproof as-is, no need for protective housing.

Main limitation is the 90 minute run time per charge. On dry days I can plug in an external USB battery for continuous running. But this compromises the weather resistance -- it's necessary to remove the rear cap that shields the USB and HDMI ports, etc. And it's a kludge. Usually I need to strap a small pouch across the handlebar to hold the battery and snake a USB cord to the camera.

A relatively cost effective solution would be to buy another Ion Speed Pro and just swap out cameras, then recharge one in a dry bag while the other is running.

dim

I have the new Garmin Virb Ultra 30 on the front and the Cycliq Fly 6 on the rear

I spent a long time deciding which front camera to buy (The Garmin Virb or the new GoPro Hero 5), but the Garmin seemed the better option for cycling, as it connects to all my garmin sensors (heart rate strap, speed sensor, cadence sensor etc).... easy to use and also has voice recognition (which works).... battery lasts just under 2hrs, but you can charge it on the go. It does not come with a micro card, so budget for that aswell. (I spent close to £100 for a 128 card

The Cycliq Fly 6 is a brilliant rear camera (battery lasts approx 6hrs) and it's a pretty decent light aswell. Mine is the newer version with the velcro strap.