GoPro or Drift or..........?
 

For my next trip, I would like to shoot on bike video. At the moment it's a choice between a GoPro or Drift. Any consensus as to which is the better camera from a motorcyclist's perspective? Or are there other options I should be looking at? Only ever owned still cameras before, so video cameras are new to me.
Thanks.

GoPro has a good quality video, but a bad usability (annoyingly small button to turn camera on and off) and only 2h battery lifetime (if you use wifi-remote, then it will be even shorter).

No experience from Drift.

Contour usability is excellent (big slider), but video quality has not been at the same level as GoPro (do not know new versions if video quality is equal).

Look at the Sony AS1000RV complete with remote control: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Sony-AS100VR...ony+action+cam

You can get the older model AS30 for less pennies and the functionality is only slightly less. It has wi-fi & GPS.
I bought it because the stabilisation software the Sony use does give far less "jello", but the I also prefer to use 720 mode to reduce the fish-eye effect that bends buildings/trees/poles as you ride past.

Worth a looksee if you can find a local stockist.

I'm in the same position as you, and these were the two I was considering. My searching boils down, for me, to the GoPro being the superior image, but it's the Drift Ghost HD I intend to buy partly due to the better (in my opinion) functionality AND the better battery life. I could also not work out where the GoPro would go if I bought one. I like the idea of a camera that would point where I looked, and having a box strapped to the side of my helmet doesn't appeal; at least the Drift is relatively streamlined. I saw the Ghost images at the recent NEC, blown up on a 50" screen, and the clarity was excellent. Sold it for me.

Just gone through this process myself and bought the Drift Ghost. GoPro shoots the best video, but helmet mounting options were an issue for me. The drift runs nearly 3 hours on a charge and the included remote is great. Quality of video and stills is pretty good and I'm (so far) very happy with it.

I purchased a Drift HD in January this year & the quality of video is great.
However, it arrived just 1 week before a biking trip and consequently, some of my video is almost unwatchable because I hadn't taken time to familiarize myself with it nor the accessories (I have 20 minutes of filming the ground on the best part a trail ride!).
Tip: the microphone setting is set too high so minimize it or switch it off - otherwise wind noise is painful. Alternatively buy an external microphone & hide it away. There's lots of YouTube videos of how to do this.

I had issues with the external microphone and the rear locking unit but ActionCameras were fantastic in sorting them out :)

Whichever you buy, do ensure you play with it a lot :)

GoPro or Drift or..........?
 

Faced similar dilemma a while back, ended up going with a GoPro. Pros: lighter, excellent video quality (although I don't believe there is an advantage over Drift at this point), remote control app on my phone and iPad that work flawlessly. Cons: boxier profile which seems to be affected by wind more when worn on the side of the helmet or top but this is only noticeable at higher speeds. The battery definitely sucks. I picked up a bunch of batteries from DX which solved the issue for me. Of course charging all of them while I'm on the road may be interesting if we're camping for a while.

Drift is heavier but more aerodynamic when mounted to the side of a helmet. I've been following a Vlogger who just switched to a Drift and it crapped out on him while he was filming. There were a few other niggles he didn't like and I think he's going back to the GoPro. I have read more about reliability problems with the Drift line than GoPro which in part drew me to GP. I will admit that I have no personal hands on experience with a Drift however.

I'm pretty happy with the GoPro so far. I had an issue with the fob remote when I first got it which I think was software related as it's been issue-free since then.

I've had a GoPro for a few years (so its the older model without wifi) - used it on the bike & also diving & other wet stuff.
Its a good rugged camera but have pretty much given up using it on the bike cos its too much of a faf to keep turning it on and off - wifi model may solve that of course.
I reverted to my old Panasonic TZ10 on a RAM mount into the tripod screw - works fine if its not raining & means I only take one camera for bike shots & normal snaps.

Check out the new agar in Virb range. Had a number of cameras in the past and went for this one. Nice big on /off button, easy to use (can control from some gps and sat navs like the Montana) and cracking pic quality.


It also runs off a normal garmin battery - easy to charge on the bike by swapping the GPS one. And- the battery gives over 2 hrs recording no no need to carry a bag of go pro ones !


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Drift HD
http://youtu.be/RyA9ro8SH1k

Watch any documentary film maker and what do they use GoPro.

A little while ago I was featured in a BBC programme. They took some of my GoPro footage and cut it into the programme, and you could not see the difference in quality.

I like the GoPro, the case is very,very durable and easy to replace if you damage it. The lense is easily damaged with flying stones, no problem with a GoPro just put on a replacement.

Yes the buttons are a bit fiddly and the battery life is poor, but I carry a couple of batteries and charge the other one on the bike as I am going along. You can power from the bike when not using the waterproof case.

I mount my GoPro using RAM mounts. Personally I don't want anything attached to my helmet and when I watched a friends video with the camera mounted to their helmet I hated the wandering of the head and at times almost felt sea sick.

Gopro vs garmin virb elite
 

My girlfriend and I are using both cameras.
1x gopro hero
1x garmin virb elite
I used the gopro for a couple of years and never was entirely happy with it.

I would definitely buy a garmin. It has the main advantages that you need as a biker:
Easy on off slider button ( the gopro on/off button is a nightmare)
Energy safer function
Gps ( that I find really cool)
No fogging up the lens as it happened to me a couple of times with the gopro

I wrote a longer report about that on 3ptravel.com, if anybody is interested.

I used the gopro models hero and hero2. A friend is using the hero 3 and tried out the remote control. That solves the on/off problem. But that's using a lot of battery, so only good for short usage.

I got good results with the Contour HD action camera. They should be relatively cheap now.

No experience whatsoever
 

Hi folks as the title says I have no experience whatsoever with a a so called "action" camera. But what I want is a camera that I can attach to my handle bars, comes on when I turn the ignition on, and will record in a loop. Pretty much what my Garmin satnav does with out the recording bit. I am no David Bailey or Scott Ridley and the camera is basically for safety, ie recording the moment when that tractor pulls out in front of me or that mad dog shoves his nose in my spokes.

So a series of questions, does A any camera have the ability to recharge on the go straight from a mountable charging cradle wired direct to a bike battery?
B, Does any camera have the ability to record on a loop wiping out the last few hours of uneventful riding and starting a afresh like a home security camera? (My friends home security cameras record over anything more than 31 days old)

I have tried researching this subject but I do not know anybody with one of these things and most blurb rattles on about shakes, FPS, 180 somethings or other, HD, wifi and battery life. If the battery runs out just as that pesky tractor pulls out or whatever keeps the recordings on says full please make space then to me at least it is not worth having. ( I am sure the insurance company wont believe me when I sorry the card or whatever was full or I did have a camera on but the battery went flat!)

Any information would be most helpful as I don't want to spend money I don't have on something that could be used for an underwater remake of war and peace!

Thanks in advance.
GM

Replay XD Prime X video camera
 

Hi GM,

Have a look at the replay XD prime X video camera. It may fits your needs base on the info in the manual:

http://www.replayxd.com/wp-content/u...al_English.pdf


if you have a fast internet connection you can look at raw footage from the camera:

Prime X Raw Footage: Motorcycle Trip - Replay XD



Patrick

GoPro battery
 

I bought a GoPro battery eliminator off eBay and it is wired into the bike so there is no need for a battery.

Something like this one
Gopro Waterproof USB Battery Eliminator for hero 4 & 3+ UK Supplier | eBay

I can leave the camera turned of all day and only press when I want to take a video or photo.

I went through 2 contour HD cameras… the 1st one I exchanged, as it never worked, despite uploading new software and doing lots of stuff to it with help of their "help desk". The second one worked for about 2 minutes before not recording ever again. Massive waste of money !

I bought few months ago a Drift HD. I liked the fact it has a remote recording button. I can set the camera as Photo or Filming mode. I can then action the camera, while riding, with the remote button, to record or take pictures. Very cool.

My only initial confusion was that the button does no show if it is working, and the start and end buttons are not obvious. One has a round circle, the other a square. I keep forgetting which is which!
Also to switch from photo mode to film mode you need to take out the camera and go through the tiny screen menu. This cannot be done remotely. Shame. It would be a useful function.

I bought the camera specifically for taking pictures while on the go. It avoids the usual faff around of finding a safe place to stop, trying to find my camera in my tank bag or backpack, removing gloves and helmet etc… by the time we stop, usually we are too far from the spot, or whatever wild life I saw is long gone….

Both pictures and filming are fine, for what I need.

I had a crash recently while riding off-road. I went flying from a higher muddy ridge into the other side of the trail. I landed head and shoulder first into a pile of bricks under deep mud. My helmet was badly scratched, my shoulder hurt and the support for the camera, glued to the side of my helmet, was smashed. However, the camera, apart from some scratches on the plastic side, is still in good working order. Very impressed. It will be tested further this summer across northern Russia and the Stans. But so far so good! :D

Looking around, I found this: The Nextbase RIDE is the world’s first dash cam for motorbikes.
A bit pricey, but comes with hard-wiring kit. 4 hours on a 32 gig card.

Hmmm
 

Thanks for all the advice folks. It appears (although I did not know it) that what I want is a motorcycle dash cam. Thanks to Redboots for the info on nextbase ride. I have now managed to read reviews on this item and something called an INNOVV K1 Innovv motorcycle camera | motorcycel recordign system | car dashcam if I can find a European dealer or distributor I may give this a go as it seems to tick all the boxes for me.

Once again thanks for all the advice.

GM

It says they ship to the UK - 7-21 days.

Good find, by the way:thumbup1:

Hi again,
Old thread so revisiting.


I am looking (again!) for a helmet cam! Doh!
There are quite a lot of cheap Chinese stuff online. Anyone tried those?


I used my Drift Ghost cam for photos while in my last trip in central Asia and Russia. Photo quality was not great and I did not like the "fish eye" look. Oh and the remote button disintegrated within a nanosecond. Also the battery life is under 2 hours. So overall not inspiring.


I am now off to southern Africa for a 4 month trip. I would like to take photos on the go (mainly - not interested in filming!).


So any suggestion for reasonably priced camera I could fit to my helmet or bike?


I should I bite the bullet and get a GoPro?

My usual advice is: somebody else's barely-used GoPro that they bought at full retail and have not taken out of the desk drawer in six months.

Statistically you are very likely to know somebody like that.

I have to say that with the Hero 6 they have finally released a model that is potentially worth the upgrade from my Hero 3 - it's natively waterproof and comes with an LCD on the back, for 429 euros plus some bonus mounts and stuff - but honestly, any fairly recent model you can get for cheap will work fine.

The battery life problem is solved by having an external powerbank to run the thing off of - in your jacket pocket, for example. Incompatible with true rain-proofing unless you faff about with customizing the housing, though.

GoPro, way overpriced. Plenty of alternatives these days. Have a look at

Akaso v50

YI 4K+ Sports and Action Camera

Campark ACT74 Action Camera

The Yi 4K+ definitely seems like the way to go instead of the GoPro these days.

A few months ago I was also looking for a cam action and I came across this test video of the Sony FDR-X3000 by crossmen in the USA.

https://youtu.be/2fert4BM8ZU

I was convinced and I took this camera, I'm not disappointed, the optical stabilisation is great (B.O.S.S) here is a two personal video made in Brittany and during the last spring in Greece, small roads and trail, camera placed on a support type RAM. While the price is high but the quality is very good.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QtcTl0em4q8
&
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXBZpybrmck

Ciao,

I've been using a couple of GoPros and a couple of Chinese copies for the last three or four years now and tbh they're all a pain in the posterior to use on a bike. There's loads of mounts and clamps available so you can put them most places but using them is a different matter.

The number of modes and options available plus the awkward controls for swapping between them make them jacks of all trades but masters of none. The dedicated remotes for the GoPros (hanging on a lanyard around my neck) are probably the best control option but even those are often hit or miss while you're riding.

The image files from the GoPros are significantly better than those from the Chines cameras (although I don't have a Yi) but compared with what I get from my Nikons they're all pretty poor and need a lot of post processing. That's not too bad with stills but takes for ever with video files. That's the main reason I film in HD rather than 4K. As most of what I shoot on the road is either for me only or, at most, a small group of fellow, err ... 'enthusiasts' HD has been good enough.

4K video capability does seem to be a big marketing plus but how many people here film in 4K routinely from action cams without a 'professional' reason to do so? Pulling a (largish) still out of a video sequence is probably the only reason I'd currently use it but even with HD you can get usable images. This came out of an HD GoPro file and is currently used in a book (although smaller than seen below):


http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hub...i-40-biker.jpg

AnTyx's advice about buying someone else's vanity purchase secondhand is the way I've gone with the GoPros. I doubt I'll buy any more Chinese stuff unless it's for skiing or something where the damage possibility is quite high.

Not sure if the newer models still do that, but my Hero 3 lets me do a "one-touch" mode where it will automatically turn on and start recording in a given mode, just with one press of the power button. Still finicky to change modes, but it certainly helps - especially when the camera is on my handlebars or mirror stalk, so I can just reach over and start it when I get to an interesting bit of road.

There's one device that could be potentially a better recommendation than a GoPro, and that's the new DJI Osmo Pocket. It's got mechanical (rather than electronic) image stabilization, which could make a huge difference, and it's cheaper than the GoPro Black. The main problem is that it's not natively waterproof - there's a waterproof case, but it looks quite clunky - but it's definitely the first such gadget in many years that I'm considering buying with my own money.

I know people who have bought these and they report the reliability is very poor, and the customer service worse. One person had the recorder fail after just a week and all the factory were prepared to offer was to sell him a new one. Personally I wouldn't touch them with a bargepole now, they're cheap for a reason.

I am more hopeful about the V-SYS dashcam that I bought (but haven't fitted yet). It's also Chinese but I have heard better things about it from users than the Innovv. You can only buy it from China, unfortunately, but here's the link I used, and it worked fine for me.

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/SYS-...673122536.html

I've got a Hero 4 silver and a 5 black, with most of my experience with the 4 silver. As you say it can do one touch start and film but often that's not what I want so I normally have it on photo standby by default.

Changing it by pushing buttons or swiping left (not possible in the case) is a stop the bike operation. You can do it more easily on the GP remote and that's possible on the road if its quiet but even after getting on for 3 years with it changing anything on the front screen still needs me to sit down with a beer and the instruction book.

Mostly though I've been happy with them and got some good results. The extreme wide angle can give you some interesting results if you pick your subject.