Inexpensive Onboard Video
Oct 8th, 2009 by Leo
My first ride video…
There are lots of reasons you might want to make ride videos: You might be going someplace with a spectacular view, or with amazing roads that you’ll want to brag about later; you can use video to analyze different parts of your riding technique, or join the ranks of YouTUBE moto-vloggers. Now if you’ve been squeamish about strapping your costly hi def video camera or point and shoot onto your ride, and you’ve thought about getting a camera just for your bike, here’s my mini-review of the GoPro Hero Wide camera.
I purchased the Motorsport edition which comes with four (or five if you include the one in the display box) adhesive base plates that you can stick on, along with four mounts which attach to the camera casing. The camera itself sits in a clear plastic waterproof/shockproof case. There is also a well-made suction cup mount, which is what I used to mount the camera to the tank of my bike. The MSRP is around $199, but you can find the full Motorsport kit for around $130 on EBay and at local stores (that’s what I paid, with free shipping). You can also purchase any of the components separately, so make sure you’re buying the entire Motorsport kit and not just a spare camera (spare camera retails for around $130 on Amazon – so you’re better off getting the kit).
You can judge the video for yourself. I tried strapping my $500 Lumix camera to shoot hi-def video and found that the lighting and the vibration made the video completely unusable. So for me the GoPro did everything I hoped it would do.
But here are some of the Cons.
- It doesn’t come with batteries or an SD card.
- Reviewers on Amazon complained about short battery life. My ride was only about an hour, and the two AAA rechargable batteries made it the whole way without incident. If you were going on a long ride you’d want to carry spare batteries and SD cards.
- There is no LCD screen on the camera so you can’t see what’s on the video until you get home and load it onto your computer. There is a red light that blinks to tell you that you’re recording. But you have to be careful in making sure it’s in video mode and not time-lapse picture mode (there’s a small icon screen on the front face). Press the front button once to turn the unit on, but if you press it again it switches the picture mode, and the mode icons can be hard to see.
- 170 degree wide angle lens means you can’t really use this for home videos or non-motorsport purposes…unlike a Flip camera which can be multipurpose and similar in price (although not quite as durable).
Have any tips or thoughts about on-board video? Share the wealth in the comments section!
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Pretty remarkable lack of vibration, and sound seems pretty good.
I’ve taken videos w/ the Flip and a helmet mounted vHoldr. The Flip + “Action Mount” Has some pretty horrendous vibration problems. When you get up to 6-7k rpms (on my twin) the video starts looking pear-shaped. That is after augmenting the mount with styrofoam to tamp down the engine vibration. Also, the video on the flip does not appear as crisp as the Hero, and (obviously) doesn’t have the fish-eye lens. That being said, the flip wins points for having a viewfinder, having easy recharging, easy download of videos, and a tiny form factor.
The vHoldr (not HD version) wins points for being a helmet mounted cam. However, the audio is terrible (all wind noise at anything past 10 mph), and the video is a bit washed out. Also, battery life is questionable, and I’ve found that the camera sometimes shuts itself off. Once I lost a fantastic video of some amazing twisties in WV because of that. Very disconcerting.
Pretty cool, but still seems a bit much considering the limitations you point out. I’d buy one as a $70-$80 dollar toy, but not for $130 or more.
Also, you totally busted yourself with this video for failing to button-snap the chin strap.
Haha I never do the button snap – do you? My gloved fingers aren’t coordinated enough. It flaps around when I’m sitting up, but not when with my head down…or if it does, I don’t feel it.
I use the GoPro quite a bit and I am disappointed most of the time. Impossible to get decent sound and the lighting need to be perfect. Other than that it is a smart setup with a lot of potential. I mounted my Sony cybershot to a metal rod and retro fitted it to the rear footrest on my sportbike and got some good stuff…check it out….
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_VSQSyl-FcE
Hey Mike,
Good video! And the passenger peg is good mounting point – the suspension takes care of bumps and vibrations.
I agree the Go Pro doesn’t get good sound – but I’m surprised yours had trouble with lighting. I thought that was one of its strengths… The interface is cryptic, so it’s hard to tell, but perhaps there’s a brightness setting that’s out of whack?