Dual purpose helmet and car dash camera - Suggestions?

[Gixxerman]

I am wanting a camera for my car and also my helmet, and I would like to use the same one for both purposes.
Has anyone got any suggestions as to suitable models. The image quality is not that important as it is second to battery life in my requirements. I would like the looping and feature to save an incident to prevent it being overwritten. Would like to pay no more than £150 tops, and would have no quarms about it being a second hand one.

 

[Joffey]

I use my Garmin Verb in my car and on my bike, not on my helmet though, it's a bit heavy. I have it on my bars. Think you can pick them up new for about £100.

 

[hennbell]

The gopro has mounts for both

 

[Gixxerman]

Well I don't want a helmet mount per se. I just want a camera that will be suitable for a bike cam and a dash cam. So a bar mount would be more than adequate.

 

[Seevio]

I've got one of these arriving in the next couple of days. I also intend to use it as a dash/bike cam.

 

[summerdays]

MOD HAT ON: Posts not answering the OP's question have been removed, if you wish to discuss wearing helmets there is a specific thread for that. Thank you.

 

[numbnuts]

MOD HAT ON: Posts not answering the OP's question have been removed, if you wish to discuss wearing helmets there is a specific thread for that. Thank you.

Spoilt sport

 

[Mile195]

I have a Contour Roam 2. Sadly it does not loop, but you can put a 32Gb memory card in it which'll give you about 13 hours. On low quality mode at 25fps, 720p it'll get about 3.5 hours out of the battery when new. There's a Contour Roam 3, but it has Wifi and Bluetooth and other gimmicks which presumably chew up alot of battery life.

I've had it for over a year and I'm still getting about 3 hours out of the battery despite using it 5 days a week and charging it every night which seems pretty good.

 

[F70100]

I have just taken delivery of an unfortunately named Gitup Git 2 (pro packaging) which I bought on eBay from estore009 for £99. I chose this particular camera after reading and watching stuff at Dashcamtalk and Techmoan. It's the same physical size as a Gopro Hero 3+ apparently and is fully compatible with the Gopro ecosystem of mounts, brackets, harnesses, waterproof cases etc.

The package I bought was supposed to include a selection of extra mounts and a carrying case (on top of the accessories that Gitup include in the pro package) but this didn't arrive with the camera and to date hasn't arrived yet from estore009. I have been in correspodence with estore; they say they have sent the outstanding items but they haven't arrived yet... I think the post is still catching up after the hols! It won't be a big deal if the extra accessories don't arrive really, the camera and included accessories are still good value at £99 delivered.

I don't intend to use the camera as a dashcam but after watching Techmoans channel, I am assured that the basic dash cam requirements (file/video looping and automatically powering off and on with the ignition) are met by this camera. Apparently the video quality in low light (i.e. at night) isn't as good as dedicated dash cams. You might also want to consider if you would really want to leave something that looks like a Gopro permanently attached to your windscreen when parked.

Incidentally, I was in a cab the other day and in conversation with the driver. He had a dash cam that was a chinese cheapo from eBay (I think he said about £20). It appeared good enough for the task and didn't look like anything you would want to steal.

Anyway, if you can bear to look at my fugly mug, there's some sample footage here. Youtube doesn't do it justice though, the original file quality is excellent. My other videos (shot with an old Contour HD helmet camera at 720p, 30fps) don't seem to as badly affected.

 

[gaz]

I wouldn't use a GoPro. For a car dash cam you want the lens of the camera right up to the screen to get a good video. The GoPro shape and mounts make this rather difficult, so best avoided.

 

[steve50]

I wanted a camera for use on the bike but wanted to keep it cheap, I bought an ishare that can be both mounted on the bike or helmet, it can also be used in the car. I found the battery is good for approx 1.5hrs so I bought a back up battery that fits in my jersey pocket and connects to the camera via usb, this allows the recording time to be extended up to six hours +, I'm not sure how long it would record for as I have not run the back up battery flat. The camera is very light, and I don't notice the battery pack in my jersey pocket, the usb cable is fed through one of the vents in the back of my helmet and runs down my back into the jersey pocket with the battery pack. Total cost of camera and battery came to less than £60 and the camera is hd quality.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Sports-Came...&qid=1459665788&sr=8-1&keywords=ishare+camera
Battery pack; http://www.amazon.co.uk/JETech-2-Ou...=1459665866&sr=8-12&keywords=usb+battery+pack

 

[ufkacbln]

MOD HAT ON: Posts not answering the OP's question have been removed, if you wish to discuss wearing helmets there is a specific thread for that. Thank you.

 

[steve50]

 

[Tommyboy1289]

I've just received one of these (at a discount I might add), now I'm not promoting this particular camera, as theirs loads more out there alot cheaper, but in the menu it does have car mode, basically itll start recording with power and stop recording when power is removed, it can also record in segments, 3, 5, and 10 minutes i think, then when memory card is full it'll start re-recording over the first files.

With it being a clone of a popular type of camera all the mounts fit, so it's easy enough to get a windscreen mount and a helmet/handlebar mount.

The footage is awesome, I'm going to upload some to youtube in the next couple of days if your'e interested, but as i said have a good search of ebay/amazon as you'll get them alot cheaper than that.

 

[steve50]

They are good and much the same functionality as the mini cam that I have but it's the sheer bulk of the go pro or its clones that I don't like which is why (as well as cost) I chose the more discreet camera for myself. I've seen cyclists with the helmet mounted go pro and it just looks odd to have such a big lump of a camera stuck on top of the helmet imo.