Hat Cam Recommendations

S

Stenners

Well-Known Member
Joined
2 July 2014
Messages
1,074
Visit site
Yesterday I unfortunately had an incident with a dangerous motorcyclist whilst out riding and now I'm on the hunt for a headcam.

What does everyone recommend? I would like one that can clearly see number plates.
 
Pippity

Pippity

Well-Known Member
Joined
3 February 2013
Messages
3,410
Location
Warrington
Visit site
I have a Ghost XL that I love. Battery life runs 6-8 hours, which I think is the best on the market. It feels a bit heavy and unbalanced when you first put it on, but you soon get used to it.

A friend on the yard loves her Techalogic, which does front and back recording, but I'm not sure on the battery life.

Even the knock-off GoPros that you can pick up on Amazon for £20 can see numberplates clearly, though, so you don't need to spend a fortune.
 
J

jnb

Well-Known Member
Joined
1 November 2005
Messages
2,872
Visit site
I have a Cambox which is excellent. I also bought the V4Pro Cambox when it was Black Friday however the battery only lasts 45 min so I use the Cambox original for every day & the other one for things I'd like to upload to YouTube!
I also have a Chill Tech bullet cam (@£32 plus SD card) as it's very visible - you get an elastic Velcro strap and it's v easy to point out to idiot drivers! Much safer than anything big stuck to your hat and potentially smashing your face in in the event of a fall!
The Techalogic one looks good and records both front & back.
 
Rowreach

Rowreach

Adjusting my sails
Joined
13 May 2007
Messages
17,856
Location
Northern Ireland
Visit site
I have two, a Muvi which is tiny and light, clips on the front of a hiviz hatband, and was inexpensive, but the battery only lasts about an hour. I've just found a small charging pack though, so I might rig that up to use. I also have the Techalogic, battery life is over two hours (less if you're running Bluetooth) and the picture quality is good, but it's expensive at around £175, I find it heavy, it takes a bit of fiddling around to get the angles right, the app is a b*lls, and the front/rear recording is very clever but only really works if you never turn your head - and I like looking around for traffic and hazards and not just looking straight ahead!

the Techalogic is far more visible though, and I do think that helps to slow drivers down.
 
TotalMadgeness

TotalMadgeness

Well-Known Member
Joined
25 April 2014
Messages
718
Location
South Lanarkshire
Visit site
I've had many (see below) and out of all of them the Drift Ghost cameras are definitely the best for quality and battery life. You have to get used to the weight of the camera but after 5 mins I've forgotten about it. £129 for Ghost X and £149 for Ghost XL. Takes up to 128Gb.

Chillicams - I have had 2 but they never lasted - always start to fail between 6 months and a year. Battery life about 2 hours I think. Inexpensive, reasonable video quality just not robust.
Boblovs - cheap and cheerful clip on cameras - they capture number plates OK, battery life at least 2 hours. Not robust so don't last forever. Tend to fail between 6 months to a year. Good in that you can easily clip onto a Vbandz safety camera tabard, one on the front and the other on the back. You can also clip onto a hat band. Max 64Gb.
Techalogic DC1 - battery life is meant to be 2.5 hours, I get around 1.5 hours and I don't have the bluetooth or wifi on. Records front and rear but video quality not that fantastic (garish colours and loss of resolution off centre). Can capture number plates mind you and can be made highly visible. Expensive.
Cambox - hideously expensive with a shoddy 45 mins battery life. Also too discreet - I prefer drivers to see I am wearing a camera.
Aldi Balco - nice little camera which would have been ideal if they had used a fixed frame rate and stabilisation. The variable frame rate means that footage cannot be taken off the camera and edited. Battery life also poor (1 hour). I returned it.
Muvi - had one once but it appeared to be restricted to a 32Gb card with a rather poor battery life too.
 
Pippity

Pippity

Well-Known Member
Joined
3 February 2013
Messages
3,410
Location
Warrington
Visit site
TotalMadgeness said:
I've had many (see below) and out of all of them the Drift Ghost cameras are definitely the best for quality and battery life. You have to get used to the weight of the camera but after 5 mins I've forgotten about it. £129 for Ghost X and £149 for Ghost XL. Takes up to 128Gb.
Click to expand...

I'll be taking my Ghost XL to Cumbrian Heavy Horses this weekend, so that should test the battery life more than my usual amble around the block.
 
Spottyappy

Spottyappy

Well-Known Member
Joined
5 September 2008
Messages
3,598
Location
Home counties
Visit site
I’m another with a cambox. I really like it from the safety pov, as it would be very unlikely to cause an injury in the event of a fall.
the quality of the videos is very good too.
 
COldNag

COldNag

Wasting my time successfully....
Joined
23 July 2011
Messages
11,643
Location
Somewhere south of the middle
Visit site
Spottyappy said:
I’m another with a cambox. I really like it from the safety pov, as it would be very unlikely to cause an injury in the event of a fall.
the quality of the videos is very good too.
Click to expand...

That's what I like about my daughter's. She's worn it hunter trialling and I was fine with that. I wouldn't have wanted her to have something strapped on top of her hat.
 
ycbm

ycbm

Einstein would be proud of my Insanity...
Joined
30 January 2015
Messages
58,797
Visit site
TotalMadgeness said:
Chillicams - I have had 2 but they never lasted - always start to fail between 6 months and a year. Battery life about 2 hours I think. Inexpensive, reasonable video quality just not robust.
Click to expand...

I have one still in use which is 4 years old, the other failed at 2 years and started to eat battery. If they fail under a year I think they are still under warranty and the company that supplies them is reliable and will replace it.
.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top