Helmet bike mounted cameras

miro13car

100 kW
Joined
Mar 26, 2007
Messages
1,905
Location
Calgary, Canada
it is not about reviews or tech advice.
I am considering mounting camera on my ebike after couple of close calls with cars.
I mean when you record event with licence plates clearly visible....
what are the chances police would have a look at such video in your experience.
I know it depends where are you in the world
but what are your thoughts?
What riders do with those videos?


?
 
After youv'e been run over and killed, they might check it for evidence of who did it.

Other than that, I have my doubts that they would look at it.

I suppose it depends on where you live and the individual officers you are dealing with at the time.

Mostly they'd be useful to post on Youtube/etc as examples of what can happen when riding wherever you happen to be.
 
I'm pretty sure that in Houston, Texas, the police would NOT do anything if they had a video showing vehicular homicide. Why should they?
 
Cameras should be standard equipment on every car, and every cop too. This would help idiots to refrain their nature.
 
If you get killed, your heirs will get mo money when the attorney shows the video. Or if you survive, it might help cops find the hit and run driver.

People that just f--k with you, cops won't care, in the US anyway. And,, when I was younger,the LAST thing I would want is proof of how I rode then.

The downside is constantly having to charge the thing, put in fresh cards, etc. Be nice if all street motorcycles and cars came with cameras built in, and automatic recording of the last 24 hours.
 
It depends what kind of close call you're talking about.

If it's something criminal (eg intentionally trying to harm you) and you file a complaint the police are obligated to investigate it. Once an investigation is underway, they would be quite negligent to not view your video evidence.

Someone just driving badly and almost creaming you as a result, but not rising to the level of criminality, it's going to be at their discretion. There are cities that take the safety of cyclists quite seriously, Calgary is probably not one of them.
 
Here in Calgary
several times in police press releases they blamed cyclists for what happened to them despite clear evidence showing car driver at fault.
My close calls? passing me too close mainly.
As far as I know here in Calgary everybody is encouraged to report drivers to non-emegency police number if he has the plates. POLICE told me this on couple of occasions.
Endangering others while driving is taken serious here in Calgary.
But you must have licence plates.
 
Here, too close to Juarez and the cartels, cops are just focused on the problems caused by Oxy, and particularly the fake Mexican oxy, to worry much about cars endangering bikes. They do investigate when you die, or get at least hauled off in ambulance. Again, camera good for then.
 
Keep in mind what happened to Michael Schumacher, when he hit the snow with a helmet camera. These things can do serious damage to your helmet and skull if you come off .
 
Springforward said:
Keep in mind what happened to Michael Schumacher, when he hit the snow with a helmet camera. These things can do serious damage to your helmet and skull if you come off .

Agree, mount the camera on your "dash". You can buy cheap handlebar mount extensions that work great for this.

FYI, we have ebikes. You don't have to charge the thing, you just connect it to a USB and turn on "car mode" so whenever you hit your master switch the camera turns on. You can't do that with a helmet cam.
 
They sell front and rear lights that also have a camera built into them... There's lots of cynicism about whether anybody will do anything, but if it catches even one dumbass angry driver purposely hitting someone and leaving them unconscious or dead with no evidence, I'm all for it.
 
Was in Walmart the other day, and saw a pretty cool dash cam for 15 bucks. The neat feature was it turned on automatically when it sees movement, and then loops the film on a sd card.

So all you'd have to do is keep it charged, and put it on the bike each ride. A go pro would be a big hassle, starting it and stopping it all the time.
 
There's also a bunch of types on Amazon:
https://www.amazon.com/s?k=dash+cam&s=price-asc-rank&crid=3T3Z48BNON2TG&qid=1575340627&sprefix=das%2Celectronics%2C232&ref=sr_st_price-asc-rank
 
Aquakitty said:
FYI, we have ebikes. You don't have to charge the thing, you just connect it to a USB and turn on "car mode" so whenever you hit your master switch the camera turns on. You can't do that with a helmet cam.

Exactly. I bought a fairly inexpensive "dash-cam" and mount it to my handlebar. No need to change the card. It just fills up and then over-writes the oldest file. First in - First out. When I turn on my 12v system, the camera starts recording. I only pull the card out if something interesting happens and I want to copy it off.

As for the utility, I've mostly found it fun for recording some of the interesting and odd things that happen while riding - things ranging from friendly comments from cops, good Samaritan drivers trying to be helpful, and a super-bright meteor that shattered the darkness of the ride home one night. The notion of recording an accident and using it in some kind of legal proceeding is a remote thought.

I do like the idea that it records audio and could be useful in the unlikely event that I encounter an unreasonable cop. I have also used it to review more objectively what has happened in some of my traffic encounters that were closer to being problems than I'd have liked. It's nice to be able to review what actually happened rather than relying on my own biased memory and possibly improve on dealing with similar situations in the future.
 
Cams are wonderful on the streets. Every vehicle should have them fr and rr, especially since they became very cheap lately.

I wish they come mandatory on all cars and trucks, because I like my bikes clear of accessories. Lights are the only accessories that I add to a bike, for we can’t live without. I got rid of everything else, because I still crash my bikes once in a while, and break everything fragile. :twisted:
 
miro13car said:
wtuber,
can you provide link to product web page or any link?
did you buy from Amazon?

They had a flash sale and this cost me $32. I can't say if this is the best camera, but it works fine for my needs.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07DLG9GFG/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
 
Yeah like I was saying here https://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=65249&start=50#p1508709
the big hassle with helmet bike-mounted cams is constantly remembering to recharge it etc. You end up getting sick of it after a while...

I have 5volts from a voltage step-down thingy from my ebike battery wired up to the handlebars for a bike light that I never have to recharge, this has been great and constantly use for years now without fail.
This is why I think a cheap sports cam wrapped in sticky/copper tape around the front of the bike (with a hole cut for the lens) that also just runs of the 5volts on the handlebars is the way to go, I would also want to be able to control everything from the smart-phone, except maybe a simple dc power off cut switch along the 5volt wire to ensure the battery isn't drained if not using for long amount of time, this way I never have to physically access the camera.

The downside to handlebar mought
Something like this, costs for these sportcams isn't much these days.
https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Mini-Full-HD-1080P-DV-WIFI-Sports-Action-Camera-DVR-Recorder-Camera-AU/173887119101
https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Ablebro-MINI-WIFI-Sport-Action-Camera-APP-Control-Camcorder-Loop-Record-Waterpro/123781384158

I actually have this action cam which has a fair amount of those 'control from smartphone features' that I never use any more so I think this would make a good reuse of it, its just a bit bigger than the more modern ones
https://youtu.be/Tybp5I9ow3I?t=304

I bought one of these sealed "waterproof" step down voltage converts on ebay years ago and its still going strong being plugged in nearly 24/7 for years.
https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Waterproof-DC-DC-Buck-Step-Down-Volt-Converter-10V-60V-24V-36V-48V-to-5V-3A-Car/323561449565
I have bought those cheaper pcb barebones caseless ones but that didn't last for me.
 
Have a Sport DV cheapo that came with a flexible mount kit for handlebar or helmet. Works pretty well with some hours of battery power.



https://www.sportscams.co.uk/produc...2gb-tf-card-ideal-for-climbing-skiing-riding/

The tiny camera can be snapped in, is waterproof and use a max 32GB SD card. At first it's fun to review tours, it's possible to identify car plates and may help in case of accidents. But my main idea is to collect tours to show how fast city commuting with 25km/h really is.

Solderbro
 
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