R Mackow

Anybody use a helmet cam? What camera work well with it? What camera work well period?

I have two POS cameras and wonder if the next one I buy is going to be a loser too. #1: a Nikon digital w/a 4GB SD card - camera shuts down by its self in about 10 minutes.
#2: Panasonic w/16GBHC/class 6 card. This camera is a video camera, card supposedly will take 3.5 hours of video, but the POS battery will only last 45 minutes. In practice a fresh battery didn't last 30 minutes. can you see me bouncing this camera off the salesmans head?

I finally went back to my Hi8 camcorder at Pocono two weekends ago. I can get about 3 hours of video on a tape and battery lasts all weekend. I taped 3 20 minute sessions w/ plenty of taping time to spare.
Are there any winners out there? I want a clear video to play back on a TV screen and long battery life. I bought my second camera at a local "camera store" but for all their advice was worth I should have thrown my $ out the window.

davidfarmer

Unless you want a remote camera, I LOVE my Sanyo xacti. It uses a flash card, so it's small and light, so I can mount it with a $5 ebay security cam mount (plus a few tiny bungies for stability). I literally riveted it in place, and hit the track. Even though the tripod mount on the camera is plastic, it is light enough that it seems to be more secure than old DV cams I've had. Plus, tape will ALWAYS lose tracking eventually.

wmckeenster

http://www.goprocamera.com/

works well!

CodeBlack

Can it be mounted to a harness bar? I just answered my own question on their site. YES, mounting for roll bar is extra

wmckeenster

I does come with a host of suction cup and double side tape mounts but you would need a specific mount depending on your roll bar size etc.

Poor-sha

Really? I have one and am lucky to get 30 minutes of it before the battery dies. I went out and bought 8 sets of AAA NiMH rechargable batteries and even right out of the charger I have to remember to turn the camera on right before I got on track or I won't get the 20 minute run in. Since I can't reach the camera to turn in on once I'm buckled in it's been a non-starter.

Also, the audio quality is horrible. On High all you hear is a rattling noise and on Low you can hardly hear anything.

Drug Delivery

I can get more than 1hr of video on the GoPro with a fresh set of NiMH rechargeable batteries. However, the glare the camera picks up is absolutely terrible when mounted to the harness bar. Mounting it to the windshield using the suction cup is dramatically better. Some clubs won't let you do that if you have an instructor with you. I'm going to put one of the sticky mounts on the roof of the car, which should yield quality video. Sound with this unit is terrible so if you want to hear your car, you'll need to look elsewhere.

dvandentop

i 1st tried mine at the last track event and right out of the box my batteries didnt last worth a damn either, the sucky thing is the memory card gets full fast!

Sidney004

Me too, I take three set of freshly charged 1000mAh NiMH batteries with, otherwise it is hopeless to get a full hour of recording.

Try removing the rubber gasket, it improves the quality somewhat.

Joy of 6

I had battery lasting problems also and bought a power inverter that plugs into the cigarette lighter. No worries now

The Spark

I was thinking of getting one of these. I liked the various mounting options - especially outside. Does it have a remote for starting/stopping? Worried about the lack of recording time on battery.

I have a Canon camera mounted to my harness bar but can't turn it on once I'm strapped in the car. If I don't start recording within a few minutes it shuts itself off so I end up recording sitting on the grid. It does have a remote which helps starting/stopping recording. Battery life is great. I can record over an hour with the battery pack and the SD card holds lots of video.

Drug Delivery

Tried that. There is more sound but there still a lot of "crackling" as others have complained about in other threads.

I thought by taking the protective lens cover off the front that it would help reduce the glare but that didn't work either. GoPro really needs to work through these minor details that irritate current owners and keep potential buyers away.

wmckeenster

use lithium batteries, I get pretty much the whole weekend out of them....rechargables are no good....I also use a 2GB high speed card for each session and have been happy with the results....

hope this helps

bb69

I bought one of the Aiptek HD cameras and used it for the first time this weekend. The battery lasted most of the day and a 20 minute session used about 1.3GB. You can buy replacement batteries for something like $14 and I picked up a package of 4 2GB SD cards at Costco for $27. The camera will accept the high capacity SD cards, but my computer won't; hence the reason for the 2GB cards. The video quality is great, and you can't beat the price of the camera. I paid $130 at Best Buy for it. I just ordered a $30 wide angle lens for it. It will have to be taped on, but it seems to work well from what I have heard. I am going back out May 9th, so we'll see.

Ken

bgx12

Ken, is that a Hard Disk camera? Just wondering how that worked out.

bb69

No. It records to either its own onboard memory, or SD cards. The camera worked well other than the lens cover getting cracked by some road debris. That was not camera specific though.

Ken

wmckeenster

do you have any video to share so we can see quality?

bb69

Not yet. I haven't edited the files down and posted them anywhere. However, I found the camera after seeing video someone else here posted. It's in another camera thread. You can probably find some on the net as well. I will try to get mine posted pretty soon, but I did have to put a piece of plastic in front of the lens after the cover shattered.

Here is a link to one of the test videos I took. It is just a short clip looking at my back yard. It was also taken after sunset.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HEqm4fbiiEU

Ken

Falcon

Holy Chit! What's that white stuff that seems to be everywhere in abundant amounts?

klasik-69

I have one and the batteries are not an issue. I get about 50 minutes of video and still have plenty of battery left. Limitation is the size of the SD card. I have a 4 GB card & they say you can now use the 8 GB with special software you can download on the internet.

Sound: the camera is in a waterproof case, hence not much sound. They advise you can remove the lens cover to get sound in but then the camera lens is exposed to the elements if mounted outside. Inside wouldn't be an issue. In spite of that, I was able to get some sound.

Mounting inside the car: If you bought the wide angle lens camera, you'll find the inside view to be of little value. For inside mount, get the regular lens.

I think this camera is a great value for outside mount on the hood, fender, etc. Its pretty good, very cheap and has a lot of different mounts provided. For inside the car video, I'd go with a regular video camera not bother with the gopro.