Best on-bike vid cam?

I've been looking for a vid cam for my trackday bike. I am the proverbial anti-techie, so I need something very simple to operate. I do want a very good picture though.

I've perused GoPro, Garmin, Sony, Drift, Contour and Relay, and now my head is spinning with too much info that I don't really understand.

Question #1: what is the best choice for ease of use and picture quality?

Question #2: Is there a vid cam I can get that will allow me to edit or download online so that I don't have to use a laptop?

Question 3#: Do any of the cams with a GPS function also have lap timing capabilities?

TIA

Rodger

 

STG has a couple of different camera options (and all of the accessories). Personally, I like GoPro. I suck at electronic stuff and it was easy for me.

There are programs you can get so you can overlap the data from your lap timer (lap time/RPM/speed/etc) with the video after the fact and the end result will be a video, with all kind of information on the screen. I don't know of any cameras that double as a lap timer.

 

Editing? Downloading? This is the same Rodger I know, right? I can't wait to see that.

Bro, keep it real.

 

Couldn't you just hire a guy to ride on the handle bars and draw you're laps...?

Plenty of time..he wouldn't even have to be fast at drawing.

 

haha... my favorite polaroid joke was to put pictures of zoo animals in the film tray then offer to take peoples pictures. The WTH looks always make me giggle.


Cant beat a gopro for ease of use. D/L speeds are slow but the bluetooth and remote sync are pimp.

 

gopro is the gold standard these days. teh silver 3+ is the best value out there, see if you can get a package deal somewhere like costco. I'm guessing they may have a new model out soon as I saw some deals on the 3+ units recently??

other than that, the only one I've seen recently that impressed me was the Re-Play units. simple, easy to use, durable and a nice range of mounts.

you might take a look at the Garmin Virb elite as it does add some GPS functionality and might be fun to compare some things.

I usually shoot 1080p 30 frames a second. It's very nice to have 60fps if you want to do anything slow motion but most computers/editing software chokes on higher frame rate stuff and the files get very big.

 

With the amount of used ones on ebay I wouldn't buy a damn thing new. You can pick up a Hero HD one for Under $125 on ebay. Simple to use and the resolution is 1080 30fps anyways which is more than enough

Also remember you may be throwing it down the road at any point. Take that into consideration.

You can easily set it to one touch record and you hold one button to record, hold the same button to turn it off. That simple

 

Stay away from the Contour, it's complete crap. The GPS isn't accurate to 50 ft, the program that it comes with can't do hardly anything if it even worked, the company has gone out of business and closed their sharing site = removed everyone's videos without warning (all lost now), and you can't upload the videos anywhere through the program anymore because of their stupid hooks into their own site.

If anyone sees the owner(s) of Contour, please kick them right in the nuts for me.

Oh, and on the lap-timing questsion: No, the contour GPS is so inaccurate that your lap-times would be completely random if you are lucky enough for it to have recorded the data to begin with. An example, I ran the camera this past weekend with GPS on and it said max speed of 25mph on the back straight of Tally (4th gear on ZX-10R), sound right?

Now, there is an expensive solution for GPS time and camera (I'd love to have this, but it's too much money right now:
http://www.aim-sportline.com/eng/products-car/smartycam-hd/

 

i have a contour. i don't use the GPS but the program it came with works fine for me. i have all my videos on there, can edit them, share them, upload more, etc. not sure what your problem is with them, maybe it's user error.

 

The original ContourHD is a solid camera. If you were foolish enough to rely on their crap application and website for all your video processing and hosting needs then you are to blame for that one. There are and were plenty of other ways to get the same things done.

 

What version of storyteller are you using?

 

I'll have to check, but it's an earlier version. And i have the CountourHD.

 

I had assumed their data acquisition was proprietary and I needed their program to extract it, so what are these alternatives you speak of?

 

Never heard of Ion. The Pro3 may be the top of the line unit and will do 60FPS in 1080. Battery life is only 2.5 hours though. Specs:

The iON Air Pro™ 3 WiFi has the following specifications:
Lens Type: Fixed Focus (1m) sharp glass.
Sensor Type: 12mp
Video Resolutions: FHD 1080p: 1920 x 1080 (16:9), 30fps/60fps. HD 720p: 1280 x 720 (16:9), 30fps/60fps/ 120fps.
Deafult Switch Settings: Full HD: 1080p/30fps. HD: 720p/60fps.
Field of View: (Degree of Angle) 1080p/60fps = 160 degree.
Video Format: H.264 compression, saved as MPEG4 (.mp4) file.
Aperture: f/2.8 (high performance in low-light situations).
Light Sensitivity: Super low light (>1.4 V/lux sec)
Exposure Control: Auto
White Balance: Auto
Microphone: Built-in mono with AGC (auto gain control) 3.5mm external mic jack input.
Audio Format: AAC
Capture Modes: Single Shot, 10 Phot Burst, Timelapse.
Photo Resolution: 12MP
Average Recording Times: 1080p/720p: 8min / GB.
G-sensor (Auto-rotation): Yes
Slide to record: Yes
Waterproof: Up to 15m/49ft.
Construction: High quality metal barrel.
Dimensions: (H x W x D): 37 x 107mm.
Weight: 142 grams
Battery Type: 1200 mAh Lithium Polymer.
Battery Life: Approximately 2.5 hrs
Charging: Via USB to computer or optional power adapter.
Low Battery indication: Yes
Memory: MicroSD card, up to 64GB capacity (not included).
Dual File recording: Yes
TV out: HDMI - Composite.
Wi-Fi: With included Wi-Fi PODZ™
PC Connection: USB 2.0 (data connection and battery charging).
PC Compatibility: Windows Vista, 7 and 8: Mac OS x 10.4.11 and later.
App Support: With included Wi-Fi PODZ™.

http://usa.ioncamera.com/ion/ION-Air-Pro-3-Wi-Fi-HD-Sports-Video-Camera.html

 

Their GPS data may be. I was only referring to the original CountourHD and video.

 

If you can let me know, I would appreciate it. Mine fails to upload because it can't connect with the Contour server after I go through authentication. After it fails to find the server, it aborts the upload. I can upload the files to YouTube directly of course, but they lose the data overlay and I have to use a different program to shrink them down /clip the videos.

 

Yeah, the no case thing is cool for snorkeling. I'm just surprised I haven't heard of them.