$50 helmet/bike DV camera/recorder

[ks-waterbug]

Came across this and thought I'd share! Suppose to hold about 5 minutes of video with a 32mb card... For the money might not be a bad investment!

HELMET CAM, BIKE MOUNT CAM, ETC...

 

[Turbo-Torch]

When FPS isn't advertised it's usually pretty bad.  It's 320X240 res will also look very outdated.

Two weeks ago I stopped off at Officemax and they had Sakar hybrid digital camcorders on the clearance table for $45 bucks so I picked one up.  Once I got it home and opened it I looked at the back page of the owners manual to find it only does 9 FPS at 320X240.  Not only did that suck but there was no screw mount on the bottom to hold it to the Busa's camera mount.

I took a 5 minute video from my car and the quality was pathetic.  At 40 mph everything looked like stop motion clay animation and was very blocky.  It also used 3 AAA batteries.  A new pack of Rayovacs lasted less than 3 minutes.  Fresh out of the charger high drain Nimh batteries lasted exactly 5 minutes.  Useless item that I returned the next day.

Stopped off at Best Buy and found an Aiptek on sale for $89 (regular $150).  Same size as the Sakar but does 30 FPS at 640X480 or 320X240.  Quality is amazing and the included lithium ion battery lasts for about 2 hours and charges quickly in its pod.  Accepts up to a 2 gig SD card for hours worth of videos.  Does all kinds of other things like playing MP3s and movies on its rotatable 2.4" screen.

Here's a pick mounted up (the decal comes off).

I can plug the helmet speakers in to listen to MP3s or watch TV shows while travelling.  Ok...watching videos while riding a bike is kinda stupid but it's doable is someone chooses and the screen is very sharp.

 

[manatrader]

Hey Turbo do you shoot through the smoked windscreen?

 

[CAT3]

I'm still looking for a smaller digital camera...I'm using a Sony now, but its similar to the palm size models. Been checking out the Hard Disc models, JVC has a new line of them, including HD Recording, the video quality is amazing, but haven't tied one on the Busa yet.
I swap out to the stock screen when video'ing, a light smoke will work, but the dark smoke is a no-go.

 

[hayabusa99b/w]

looks cool!! like to see how clear the videos are off of that thing

 

[V8N3T]

Thats exactly how I feel. Sometimes things are to good to be true. As far as anything worth while, you want 35fps+. Frame rate is a must have, you can adjust around the res and quality settings later. Real life feed should be 55fps+. Extreme feed with outstanding feed would be 85fps+

 

[dadofthree]

 

[Turbo-Torch]

(manatrader @ Dec. 02 2006,12:58) Hey Turbo do you shoot through the smoked windscreen?

Yeah but I haven't had a chance to try out the new tank mount yet. Day after I received it the weather took a major turn for the worse.

I did get a chance to try it out before that by fastening it with a couple small bungies to the triple tree.

Here's a small clip taken as I pull out of my driveway. I slightly dumbed down the quality on it to reduce size. It's shot through the stock windshield and the image stabilization feature was turned off.
Don't expect anything fancy as I took it slow and easy not wanting my new toy to slip out of the bungies.

http://www.weacceptfoodstamps.com/movie1.wmv

For $89 bucks the quality is halfway decent and I'm real happy with it.

 

[GoldenChild]

if you want a good decent camera try these,can't be beat..

Good Camera

on a ride with camera[/url]

 

[heavybusa]

good info guys, I do appreciate the vids you guys make for us.

 

[fsusux]

(Turbo-Torch @ Dec. 02 2006,15:18) Stopped off at Best Buy and found an Aiptek on sale for $89 (regular $150).  

I got an Aiptek at BB too (same deal, $89). Took it back 2 days later. Still pics were terrible. They were either very blurry or garbled. I never did try to shoot any video with it. Guess I got a bad one.

 

[Turbo-Torch]

Something seriously wrong with the one you bought. Maybe somebody knocked it off the shelf, those plastic blister packs offer no protection. Was yours black or silver? I didn't think the 5 megapixel black version was out in June.

This is a pic I just took off my back deck. The 640X480 resample to fit it in this post doesn't do it justice. The full size pic on my PC is incredible.

 

[ks-waterbug]

Good info folks...

 

[fsusux]

(Turbo-Torch @ Dec. 03 2006,14:21) Something seriously wrong with the one you bought.  Maybe somebody knocked it off the shelf, those plastic blister packs offer no protection.  Was yours black or silver?  I didn't think the 5 megapixel black version was out in June.

If I remember correctly it was a 3mp. I agree that something was probably wrong with the particular camera that I got. That's why I didn't throw up the red flag and say "It's junk, don't buy one!" I ended up getting a Nikon Coolpix L4 that I absolutely love. Like your backyard shot, 640X480 doesn't come close to doing the full res version justice as far as quality and clarity go.

 

[jjmetheny]

(manatrader @ Dec. 02 2006,14:58) Hey Turbo do you shoot through the smoked windscreen?

I have a dark smoke screen that I shoot through. As long as it isn't too dark out it will be ok. There is a video in my sig that you can definitely tell when it is early morning or late evening.

 

[manatrader]

Thanks, for the info, will help in my purchases.

 

[inthexring]

I think I found one I am gonna try, won't get it til Christmas

link to Oregon Scientific