Recommend me a cycling camera

[jesusbuiltmycar]

A couple of years ago I bought a dash cam for the car, as a 'just in case'; to date I have never had to submit any footage from the camera to the police and life is generally too short to be reviewing and uploading footage of numpties to YouTube...


After one too many nasty incidents cycling I feel like I should use an action camera as a just in case. I would like a simple/cheap camera that I can set to continuous record and simply charge after every ride. Ideally the camera will have a removable battery so that I can carry a spare for longer days.

I know some cyclists on PistonHeads use numpty cameras when cycling, if so what do you recommend.

[anonymous-user]

saw Currys had a Go Pro Hero 7 for about £120 the other day, I'd look at either that or the Drift Ghost X which is about the same price. i know afew bikers with the Drift and they like it for frame rate

[indigostr]

+1 for the ghost x.
Comes with some sticky mounts good enough to fit to bikers helmets.
Purchased mine from local Harley dealership.

I use this clamp on my handlebar and ghost screws on : ( https://www.amazon.co.uk/UTEBIT-Adapter-compatible... )

Edited by indigostr on Wednesday 1st January 23:50

[EarlofDrift]

Can't go wrong with a GoPro Hero 5 or 7.

You can get cheap copies from Amazon/ eBay but none them will take the punishment as well

[untakenname]

Have never really got on with helmet cams and prefer them mounted in the bike.
The older Garmin Virb is good for mounting into the bars and has decent battery life, the picture quality isn't as good as some of the more modern cameras but is still reasonable.
I use this one built into a light for the rear cam and it's pretty decent and just as useful as a front camera
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B077NNSRDL

[Gareth79]

pablo said:

saw Currys had a Go Pro Hero 7 for about £120 the other day, I'd look at either that or the Drift Ghost X which is about the same price. i know afew bikers with the Drift and they like it for frame rate

Hero 7 is £118 here, with stock at the moment:

https://www.johnlewis.com/gopro-hero7-white-camcor...

Looks like the battery life is quite good - 146 minutes at 1440p30, perhaps even a little longer in 1080p.

https://gopro.com/help/articles/block/hero7-batter...

I looked into the Drift Ghost a while ago and the Amazon reviews have a lot of 1* reviews for all types of reliability (waterproofting, software etc). The downside of the Hero 7 White is that it doesn't do looped recording (you'll need to format it each time) and no removable battery. Also the shape doesn't lend itself to side helmet mounting. Helmet seems best if you only have one camera really, otherwise dodgy driving beside you will go unrecorded.

Edited by Gareth79 on Thursday 2nd January 01:07

[bakerstreet]

What ever you get make sure you have something that is super easy and quick to turn on and off as otherwise you simply you won't use it.

Make sure you have a charger at the office and spare batteries too as once again that will be a reason for you to abandon it as a daily practice.

I ran my old GoPro Hero3+ for a while and the app for the start/stop was pretty flakey, as was the battery, so I just canned the idea.

I'd also advise mounting the GoPro to the bike rather than your helmet and see if you can get some kind of QR mount too. You don't want the faff of that GoPro screw fit everytime you need to remove it.

[Sensibleboy]

I use a Hero 5 camera with one of the stem bolt topcap mounts. It's very stiff which results in a decent picture quality unlike plastic clamp on mounts.

[Akz]

Ideally you want a camera with a long battery life. I used to use a first edition Garmin Virb and it would do 2:40 or so hours to a battery. This was good. That got a bit worn out over time and I decided to "upgrade" to a YI 4k. I bought spare batteries but regardless it became a right faff. The battery lasts about 1.5 hours and most of my rides are just over that so I'd inevitably end up not bothering to stop to change the battery.

I'm not aware of anything on the market besides Cycliq and the Drift offering that have an extensive battery life. The Cycliq devices don't have great video quality - good enough for dashcam uses but not for creating videos.

[lickatysplit]

olfi, can't fault it

[jesusbuiltmycar]

I currently have a Gopro Hero5 session which has a built in battery which is why I have not considered using it as a. cycling dash cam.

I was quite tempted with the GoPro Hero7 White until I realised that the battery is built in meaning that it would only be useful for shorter rides (after a years use I would imagine that the battery would degrade to the point whereby it would struggle last more than an hour)...

[jesusbuiltmycar]

Does anyone on here have any experience of the Cycliq Fly6 Ce camera?

After being assaulted on Sunday by a thug I need to get a camera ASAP and from what I have read the Fly6 (rear light camera) loks discrete and has good battery life

[chunkytfg]

jesusbuiltmycar said:

Does anyone on here have any experience of the Cycliq Fly6 Ce camera?

After being assaulted on Sunday by a thug I need to get a camera ASAP and from what I have read the Fly6 (rear light camera) loks discrete and has good battery life

I have the Fly12 front camera/light and the Fly6 CE rear light/camera.

I'm not 100% sure I can recommend the Fly6CE though. Seems to me the battery life isn't very good. I have a 50 minute each way commute and i'm struggling to get a day out of a full charge. Seems every time I get home or to work it's turned the light off and is just recording! Not very impressed and more than likely going to get rid and get something like a Gopro of some description

The fly12 front camera I really like though. Works well, easy to use and has 2 convictions to it's name so far.

[T350 Al]

I've had 4 of the Cycliq 6 units, from the second gen onwards. All were warranty replacements (good) all suffered from water ingress in around 9 months (bad). After the last unit failed, they refused a warranty replacement, which is sort of fair enough, but fundamentally the camera isn't fit for purpose given where its meant to be placed on the bike and its potential exposure to water. Its a real shame as the camera quality was good and the battery easily lasted for a club ride.