@rand asks:
I’ve been thinking of getting cameras to collect evidence in case of a crash (like with a motor vehicle). But the cameras I’ve seen seem to all have drawbacks. (Battery life, low resolution, too many extras, pricey).
I’d like to find a 4k camera, long battery life (or a swappable battery). Does not need a screen, wifi, etc.
Q6. Do you use a camera for documenting rides? What would you recommend?
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@rand @bikenite A6. I've tried a few:
* GoPro knockoffs: Low cost, poor image quality. Road vibrations with a slow sensor readout lead to tons of jello-y, unusable footage. Still frames looked sheared by maybe 30%. I tried gimbals, springs, rubber bumpers, but couldn't make it much better. The more expensive knockoffs probably have better stabilization and faster sensors. I also think a real GoPro would probably work way better.
* Small mirrorless cameras or point and shoots: Better image quality but usually too heavy to work well. I'd be scared of them breaking, or their weight would make them unstable on the clamp.
* Insta360: Good footage and stabilization. But uses a ton of storage space, not great battery life, not cheap. Maybe one of their smaller models could work?
* Phone: I haven't tried a phone mounted on the handlebars, but handheld phone video is good if I'm able to ride one handed. But this wouldn't work well for your use case. Maybe worth trying mounting an old phone w/ power bank?
@rand @bikenite
I have been using a GoPro Hero 7 for 6 years. Hero 7 and newer versions are good at compensating road vibrations. Image quality is good enough to read licence plates. It is not sufficient if you need pictures of the faces of car drivers. Its footage is of limited use at night. Its battery last 1 hour in loop mode only (half an hour at < 5°C). Sometimes it freezes if your SD card is too full or there have been to many writes since you formatted it the last time.
@ascentale @rand @bikenite A6) I do not use a camera to record my rides. I often thought about it; but then the personal experience of a good friend ( @mhoye ) being hit by a car, capturing the event in high fidelity, and submitting the evidence to the local police *and repeatedly getting national press coverage* resulted in him being given the runaround for years with no results.
I bought motorcycle armor.
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@rand it might indeed be worth a shot, if you can find a camera sufficiently sharp to positively identify the face of the driver. That inability seems to have been the sticking point for the several folks I know who have been in similar situations.
I still think a bike camera might be a really fun thing, but I haven't heard of one ever being successfully used to deal with a collision post facto; only ever as a discouragement in a verbal confrontation.
I'm really sorry you got run into. ):
@gnomon @rand there can be very different thresholds for reporting a pure traffic offense and reporting a collision or more serious crime (assault, etc). Also there are differences for civil cases damages compared to the others.
And a video can solve things before it gets courts involved.
It may not be a panacea while still being useful.
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GoPro. I found the cheap knock offs on Amazon were just not worth the effort.
A6. I got a GoPro Hero 9 because I thought it would be fun to make some ride videos (turned out not to be my bag) and I had a bunch of Amazon US credit thanks to my mother.
As others have mentioned, it has about two hours of battery life. I can carry three batteries and still not have a full day's ride coverage (e.g. today's metric century came in at 7 hours and a hair total elapsed time).
The Garmin Varia RCT715 lists battery life of 4-6 hours. If that suits your needs, it's probably the best choice and it's considerably cheaper than a GoPro.
@oheso @ascentale @bikenite I have a GoPro HD, with an extended battery, waterproof case. And GB of sailing footage. I never found the time to go through it all to find any interesting stuff. I never got a newer one (despite numerous pitches from them to do so), because of battery life. swapping batteries in the water just doesn't cut it, it has to last the length of my time on the water (or at least the interesting times!)
The reviews I've read on the RCT715 all say the video isn't that great (1080p), hard to pick up license plates. #BikeNite
A6:
I got a Garmin Varia a couple years ago when I started more gravel/road biking. My hearing/attention not being as good it is an early heads up for approaching vehicles and has been great for that (also changes light pattern). I paid extra for video version, mostly out of curiosity. There's two video recording modes: all of the time, and when radar detects something. It's 1080p or 720p, audio optional. It saves a LOT of video, broken up into a fixed file sized chunks w/datestamp, wrapping to overwrite older videos after it fills. An "incident" option makes a file that doesn't get overwritten.
The videos I've looked at have been good, maybe if it is mounted higher the view of driver might improve (esp. big trucks)?
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I ride with three cameras: a GoPro Hero10 on my handlebars, a Cycliq Fly6 jury-rigged to the back of my rack, and a Drift GhostX on my helmet.
Ironically, the one time I needed the footage (a driver deliberately threw a drink at me), it was at night, and the plate numbers weren't legible, because they reflected my headlight too brightly.
A6: I have used front and rear cameras for at least a decade now. Currently a CYCLIQ Fly12 Sport front and Garmin RCT715 rear. Previously I had an Akaso front (Go-Pro like) and a random cheap Aldi rear. I mainly use them as extra insurance in case of close passes/collisions, especially when riding home from late/night shifts at work.
@ascentale @rand @bikenite A6. Depending on where you are, I think the problems others have pointed out can come into play - cops and society are SO crooked on this that they will ignore clear evidence and keep dangerous drivers on the road.
That said, I feel it's still good to have evidence and there are other reasons to film.
As a brokey person, I bought a v.1 GoPro on sale and have been using that. I still have some difficulties getting the hang of it. But a helmet mount is great #BikeNite
@ascentale @rand @bikenite because then the camera is looking where you are. That doesn't help you when someone you're unaware of is creeping up from behind somehow, but for most things it's better than a static-mounted camera, IMO.
The difficulties I have are knowing which button presses get me in which mode, and the PITA old GoPro software for Mac. But I can access the regular files directly and edit them in something else. #BikeNite
I had a fly6, which was fairly good but:
1) didn’t seem like the lens field really caught the severity of some close passes enough that LE would care—perhaps a combination of front AND rear lights would help but hard to mount anything up front on TT bike
2) it stopped powering on after 2 years but was deemed “out of warranty”, which made it an expensive brick. I didn’t replace it and I hardly ever ride road anymore so don’t know if I will get a new camera in future
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