[JustTryingToGetFromAtoB]

I know there will be other threads but I figure the tech keeps moving so I would put a new one. Kick me if this is rude.

After being on the receiving end of more needless shitty driving this morning, I think I’m asking Santa for a camera this Xmas. It needs to be easy to use and reasonably priced.

If I do send to the police it will usually be Thames Valley though I am tempted to go and find the bell-ends and give them the chance to respond to the footage first (the worst behaviour is almost certainly from people close to home). Therefore I need to catch ghe plate and preferably the face of the driver.

Topic

[Daveyraveygravey]

I ran a cheap one for a while

I ran a cheap one for a while, think it cost around 40 quid.  For me, it wasn’t worth the effort.  The battery life was around an hour, and some of my commutes are longer than that, so which part do you record?  The video was shaky, number plates unreadble, and I had to clear the memory card every few hours, so all in all there was no return on quite a bit of effort.

I also found it took away some of the joy of cycling for me.  I wasn’t going out to catch people, but the extra hassle of another piece of high tech kit to worry about if it was working, if it would run out of charge, yadda yadda yadda…I just want to ride.  Admittedly without being scared shitless every 5 minutes, but I’ve lived with poor driving for over 40 years.

[IanMSpencer]

Drift Ghost XL is adequate at

Drift Ghost XL is adequate at around £150. Seems to be more targetted at motorcyclists but works fine on a bike. Battery lasts lots of hours, more than my 80 mile rides need. Quality ok, below is an example of what it produced on a badly lit incident, me coming from shadow into bright light shining into camera. It was still usable enough to submit and I got number plate with no trouble. Normally it looks very good.

 

Rear I am using a Fly6 which I think is original or second generation (not a CE). Apart from producing AVI, again, long battery life and adequate quality without any clever stabilisation. 

Front and rear don’t seem to have any issues with lens damage, I just wipe mud off the rear camera with my gloves if it has got messed up.

 

[hawkinspeter]

I don’t think trying to

I don’t think trying to confront drivers with their dangerous driving is going to achieve anything as they’ll either get very defensive or very aggressive (maybe both). Just go with sending it to the police.

There’s a bunch of cheaper Cycliq imitations around, but I don’t know how they compare. From what I can gather, there’s still no decent competitor to Cycliq which is a shame as they’re expensive and have their own quirks (why can’t I keep my front and back cameras showing the same time?).

[jaysa]

Front, back or helmet?

Front, back or helmet? Battery life?
Fwiw, I run secondhand GoPros: Hero5 front and Hero 5 Session on the back.

Both are aasy to control from GoPro Quik app, and record number plates fine at 1080p50 linear mode, image stabilised.
A helmet cam would be best for driver pics, unless you can remember to angle a front cam at them.

Hero 5 is a bit of a lump but lasts well, Hero5 Session is neat as but only lasts 90 mins:

[Author]

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