In-Car Cameras - Your Opinion Please

Hey everyone! I'm Liz Miles, and I would really like GRM reader's opinions on the following cameras. I've only personally used the GoPro, so if you've had experience with any of the products please share them with me! I'm doing some research for a special project ;)

Chase Cam Traqmate Cam GoPro AIM/Smart Cam Race Keeper Race Technology

or any other product you know of!

reply to this thread or shoot me an email at Liz@MilesSpeed.com

Thanks guys!

Liz Miles www.MilesSpeed.com

Liz, after reading your bio on your site, I remember seeing you on Boyd's silly show where they just yelled at each other and somehow built cars. Did it go down like it was portrayed on the show or was the aired footaged so edited to just make it seem like you got a really bad deal?

I've only used a flip camera for in car video and that's mostly because we already had one. Just made a mount to attach it to my roll bar.

I've used a gopro with good results, but make sure you keep the number of flex adaptors to a minimum to cut down on vibration or it WILL look like you are driving through an earthquake

I used a Mustec DV9300 (I think that was it) it sucked. Go Pro works good in my friends car. I want one for my Dwarf but lack the funds for the HD version... Fact if thing don't turn around soon I might not even bother racing in 2011

Go Pro HD has worked for me in a variety of situations, from shifter cart helmet cam to in-car at the track. I have a friend who literally tapes one to the underside of his Pitts Special and does 5+g aerobatics with good results. Like Slyp_Dawg said, though, make sure the mounting is stiff, or you will have a view to have a sick stomach by.

I've got a Go Pro HD that works great - also a canon hv30 hd. canon has a better image, but more fiddly. Go Pro - wish it had a rear display or better info on capture settings - I've ended up with stills instead of video a few times (mostly when it was brand new).

GoProHD for me as well. I've had great success with mine. No experience on other cameras.

Are you still at PHR Liz?

My dad uses a GoPro wide angle. After I hit a wall ~90mph the mounts broke and it flew off the car into some tires, but was still in tact and working.Turns out my dad didn't turn on the camera, which is one of the downfalls, he got it right maybe 50% of the time. I also had trouble with it, but I was rarely the one turning it on. It has good picture and sound though. I got a Replay XD for my graduation present from OGracing. It has 2 buttons, on and off, so I can turn it on while I'm in the car easily, It comes with 2 mounts, SD card and it charges off of your computer via USB cable. For $180 I think this is the best deal out there. Here's My Vidoes with Replay XD and GoPro so you can decide what you like. The open wheel car has the GoPro, then IT car has the Replay XD.

Good luck,

Steven

T.J. believe it or not, it was real drama. Luckily I didn't feel like I was involved in it while I was there. I just did what I was supposed to do and kept out of trouble!

Thanks guys for the input on the GoPro, has anyone used any data acquisition recording devices?

Javelin - I moved back to NorCal last December and have been freelancing since then. I've been working on some columns and the Mustang project for PHR, but been working with other magazines as well. You might have seen my name in a by line or two in GRM and CMM

Liz -- shot you an e-mail with a PDF attachment. Let me know if you did not receive it.

/Rich

I use GoPro HD as well - inside, on the roof, on the side of the car, in the front air dam. Also used it on my sailboat, motorboat, mountain bike, and some other ways. Always works great, excellent video, low vibration.

I only wish it was a bit user-friendly when changing functions. I always have to bust out the manual to figure out which one is which, lol.

I've just been given an HD webcam, they can be purchased with either a fisheye lens or the regular type and are as cheap as $12 on Amazon / ebay etc. They feed into a dell netbook ($180 shipped from www.cedarpc.com ) which also does the datalogging (from a Megasquirt). I'm using http://www.racechrono.com/ on a windows based palm device for GPS data. The Racechrono interface is a little clunky, but you can export that data and use it in other datalogging / telemetry programs.

If I knew of a cheap / free GPS datalogger that would work on the Netbook, i'd have it all on a single unit.

There might be a better way to do it, but that's my dirtbag approach

I'd love to run a ChaseCam and I've noodled around with a pre-release version of the AIM. I've used a Traqmate a fair bit but never with video.

The non-HD version of the GoPro drove me crazy enough that I just stuck it on a shelf and left it there. Well, the second one. They don't like it when you drive over them.

I'm very happy with my Flip HD, in large part because it's just so easy to actually do something with the video.

Keith wrote: The non-HD version of the GoPro drove me crazy enough that I just stuck it on a shelf and left it there. Well, the second one. They don't like it when you drive over them. I'm very happy with my Flip HD, in large part because it's just so easy to actually do something with the video.

+1

Exact same situation and reaction (poor battery life and lack of internal monitor were my gripes for my GoPro.....definitely NOT a fan).

Very, very pleased with standard Flip. I'm also using a ~QStarz~ for lap data.

I have dozens of Flip videos online from my race car. Here's ~a sample~

Holy ressurection Batman!

I guess to add my .02, I just bought a Qstarz 5hz Bluetooth GPS unit and I have a spare iPhone 3G (volume switch broke, so I upgraded) that I'll Jailbreak to use with the external GPS.

Also picked up an Oregon Scientific ATC5K camera ($40 from the local Goodwill), which is ruggedized and comes with a remote, something the GoPro and others should really have. It only does 640x480, but it would make a great bumper, or underhood cam, etc. to get footage to combine with something from an HD camera.

For stitching footage and data together, Race Render is a fairly cheap and robust product. Like any video editing software, you need a pretty stout computer to keep the process from taking too damned long.

Back from the dead!

I've used Flips and I now have a GoPro HD Hero2. The field of view on the Flips wasn't cutting it for me, but the video quality was there. I've been happy with the GoPro. 110 degree FOV, hardened case ($15 to replace,) removable memory.

I don't like the bulk of the GoPro, and a bullet style cam would be nicer in that respect.

I had the GoPro HD for a while and loved it. Then one day while I was working at the motorcycle dealership the Countour rep came in. We started talking and I told him I had a GoPro, so he offered to lend me a contour for a month to try and convert me. Well, it worked and I ended up buying one from him.

I found the picture to be better and I also liked the size and shape of the contour much more than the GoPro. Just like the GoPro it has nearly endless mounting options.

The unit I ended up getting is the top of the line Contour+. It has some pretty cool features. You can stream the video live through either an HDMI unit or Bluetooth. It also has a GPS unit so you can track location, speed, etc.

The Contour+ is almost $500, if you look around(or befriend a factory rep) you can find them cheaper than that.

-Josh

Seriously geeked about that Oregon Scientific camera. I was looking for a camera to mount at wheel level to record cone closeness as well as wheel travel. This should do the trick. Awesome.

Too bad Liz didn't hang around.

Everybody is always talking about the GoPro. one of the thing i don't like about it is that in order to start and stop recording you have to go up to the camera and push a button meaning theirs no remote control .I found this one drift innovation dos and a holy lot more the GoPro don't have. a Gopro doesn't have a screen to revue the video you just shot.

The new compact, durable, easy-to-use Drift HD camera elevates the point of view camera market to a higher level with the most feature-rich, multi-functional, professional helmet camera available to date.

* 1080p High Definition Video
* up to 32GB Micro SD Memory Capacity
* 25 / 30 / 50 / 60 FPS in 720p
* 25 / 30 FPS in 1080p
* 9 Megapixel Still Photography
* ×4 Digital Zoom
* 170° Wide Angle Lens

http://driftinnovation.com/

you can find it on ebay for the same or less than a GoPro

A suction cup mount is sold sprite but you can get one on ebay for 20-50 bucks depending on the Quality you want

I use a ChaseCam setup. For me, you can't beat all that yummy data.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cBexReAl6N4&list=UUJrSUf7crCXWPev6Z6Blvag&index=2&feature=plcp

In reply to RCRX19:

Every comment you have so far is shilling for this new Drift camera. Are you some sort of canoe salesman?

Zombie thread, but my new favorite (based on one event using it so far) is Harry's Lap Timer Pro running on an iPhone. Couple it with a 5hz GPS and you have awesome data and video all in one. The only down side I saw so far was that it doesn't handle running out of space gracefully - on my second session (2+ hours, so it was a long session) the phone filled up and instead of just stopping recording it lost all the video. Other than that I love it.

Javelin wrote: In reply to RCRX19: Every comment you have so far is shilling for this new Drift camera. Are you some sort of canoe salesman?

Huh? Did you look at his comment history? Maybe he is shilling for them but he's got way more than just Drift camera related comments. Well, not "way way more" but definitely more.

I have two GoPro HD's and I love them. I mount one in the mouth of the car and another one inside the cabin.