Best camera for a lazy and tight-fisted IT numpty

And this is the driver at Sainsbury's cash machine, showing a common feature of combining GoPro and the ubiquitous white car beloved of offenders. However, you generally can get a frame or two with legible plate straight out of the camera, and it's easy to correct any individual image in Windows anyway. Mostly, all plates are detected even on the other side of the road

you can pull Strava data into the Cycliq app for putting gps into videos ,but Ive never bothered so dont know how useful it looks in the edit.

the Gopro software or lack of it, always put me off, plus my gopro hero was no good on battery and wasnt reliable enough, plus a pita to take off/reattach to the bike all the time.

Cycliqs seem good on battery, but is flawed with its lens being way too easy to scratch, and the earlier models were prone to water ingress, that theyve since produced accessories to solve both is sort of admission of that.

theres a new version of the 12CE out Im surprised there havent been more reviews of it yet online.

Ive also tried the kind of cheaper end and theyre adequate but you do lose out on usability and image quality compared to the more expensive ones imo

you can pull Strava data into the Cycliq app for putting gps into videos

Waste of time and won't be believed- phone linking doubts etc. Has to be native in the camera. It works really well on the Hero7 Black- speedo readings very similar to non-GPS cycle computer

On the drift ghost, I just take the card out and plug it into the pc. Most sd cards you buy come with a card holder to plug into usb, so I rarely use wifi.

WiFi does not seem to be reliable enough to transfer a video without failing on these internal wifi transmitter server type devices. Never worked on whatever Fly12 used, and never has worked on the Ghost XL. Sneakernet* works every time.

*Back in the early days of local area networks, sane people wrote things to a floppy disk and walked across the room rather than waiting a couple of weeks for the network to transfer a file over 50KB.

I do the same. I only use the wifi to run two cams in master/slave mode so the front cam controls both and settings are duplicated.

Good overview.

I would go for a Garmin RCT715. It's 3-in-1, so just a single unit to fix to the seat post and will turn on/off with your head unit. No need to fiddle with any buttons on it. It's pricey at £350, but you could argue good value if you were to buy a radar, camera and light separately.

Second choice would be a Fly 6. I note there is a Version 3 about to be released. They've reverted to the charge port on the side, rather than the top as on the CE. So hopefully those water ingress failures are a thing of the past.

I bought 2 cheap (<£50) action cameras and tried to bodge them to work on the bike before giving in and shelling out for a cycliq (fly 6 non-CE).

One of my cheap cameras was actually excellent value, it was a Shimano CM-2000, a £300 action camera I got discounted for £50. Whilst it's got great mounting options, is really light and waterproof with super image quality (as good as a GoPro), including image stabilisation. The battery lasted 2hrs tops and though replaceable, you couldn't actually buy a replacement! The buttons were also incredibly fiddly and the app a bit pants. All in all, it did the job, but was such a frustrating experience to use I gave up on it.

Agree ref RCT715. Pricey but cheaper & smaller than separate light/camera/radar. Hardware is good, battery life is good, quality is good, companion app less so - but software can be fixed. Works well with Garmin Edge of course (swipe down, press "save clip") and I've made several subs so far to local op snap. 

This is a screen grab of a clip, punishment pass for having the temerity to filter past at a traffic light, hopefully the police have actioned just for overtaking on crossing zigzags if not for the extreme acceleration close pass of me. 
 

Edit - I don't have a red tyre, it's the light!

No offence for the zig zags (assuming you were moving).

You maybe right, I'll defer to your knowledge/interpretation, it's just that I always thought that one should never overtake moving traffic on a crossing. 

HC191

191
You MUST NOT park on a crossing or in the area covered by the zig-zag lines. You MUST NOT overtake the moving vehicle nearest the crossing or the vehicle nearest the crossing which has stopped to give way to pedestrians.
Laws ZPPPCRGD regs 18, 20 & 24, RTRA sect 25(5) & TSRGD regs 10, 27 & 2

I've shown the Google Streetview here, it's no place to overtake at full throttle in an electric car with insane 0-30 acceleration 0.5m from a cyclist. 
 

If you dig into one of the regs listed, it actually refers to motor vehicles where moving but any vehicle if stopped.

OK, understood, but they were driving like a c*** and when you feel the whoosh of the wing/door mirror on your elbow, you want the t*** to at least get a letter off the police with some advice about passing other road users in a safe and considerate manner. I'm not posting the video as I don't have/want a YouTube account and it's still with Dorset Police Op Snap, but trust me, it wasn't "sorry mate I didn't see you" it was "have some of that you biking ****"

It's ok, you don't have to convince me that you were subject of really poor driving !!

I found the reg

https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1997/2400/regulation/24/made

30km/h on the screen grab, and they went past like a scalded cat in an EV. 

Image quality on the Garmin looks good, but I really like the time/location/speed overlay on the video. Have you added that in post or does the 715 get all that data streamed live from the head unit?

If so, that's another big advantage. Just having accurate time is a big plus, as the clock drift on the Cycliqs can be quite noticeable.

Nothing edited in post on that, straight out of the unit. The overlay can be configured to use time/date, GPS position, speed. All set by the head unit, so it's switch on and go. 

Ref quality, the previous grab didn't show the vehicle plate for obvious reasons, here's another grab showing the clarity of number plates. I saved this clip while pulling out of a segregated bike lane to go around a parked car.

V similar experience with Cycliqs - won't touch them again.

IMHO anything that relies on a rubber port cover for an outdoor device and then attempts to blame water ingress on 'user error' is a straight out scam. 

Ghost XL battery is great - but image quality is so-so.  Sometimes struggles with numberplates, you'd be lucky to get a good view of a driver face with it.

Basically a 2nd hand GoPro is the best bet.  With image stabilisation, even their HD versions are pretty good.   

That's why the cycliq make the best cameras for cyclists. Battery life is good, the video is very clear (except in low light conditions) and the SD card storage is self-managing with it over-writing older videos. You can also mark a video to not be auto-overwritten, but I can never remember what button that is.

hawkinspeter wrote:

I don't think trying to confront drivers with their dangerous driving is going to achieve anything as they'll either get very defensive or very aggressive (maybe both). Just go with sending it to the police.

I've at least been listened to if I calmly state the problem or infraction, explain that it tends to kill people, ask them if they could avoid it in future and thank them.
No-nos are shouting, swearing and banging or otherwise touching their precious tin box.
And for sure send to the police - each submission takes 45 mins now.
Might help that I'm a girl ...

Friday it was a 15cm close pass at 30mph in a 20mph by driver breathing laughing gas from a balloon - driver was so laid back he had trouble forming coherent words at the next lights ...