Techalogic DC-2 Pro Dual Lens Helmet Camera

The Techalogic DC-2 Pro Dual Lens Helmet Camera offers good quality sound and definition, and the dual aspect is particularly useful for road safety. It does have some drawbacks, though, in particular the need for additional modules and chargers to achieve what many other cameras have built in as standard.

Our guide to the best cycling cameras shows how to capture your ride and relive it later.

The world of wearable cameras has been dominated by GoPro for the last decade, with that little box becoming synonymous with cyclists catching everything from poor driving to amazing vistas while climbing mountains in Provence. However, one thing that GoPros don't do is record both front and back simultaneously.

The DC-2 Pro Dual Lens does, with – as the name suggests – a lens at the front and a lens at the back.

Like the previous version we reviewed a few years ago, the camera has a pretty unusual shape, looking like a slightly bent pipe. This is well thought out – when you're riding you are seldom sitting with your head level, and this slight bend allows rear footage to be recorded effectively. Even in a tuck I was still getting decent angles from both, so I would be able to catch a vehicle racing from behind or pulling out in front.

The quality of the imagery is also surprisingly good from both lenses, with each offering 2K resolution (an upgrade on the previous version of this camera). The industry standard is 4K (the more pixels, the sharper the image), though other cameras offer more – GoPro's Hero11 Mini records in 5K, for instance, but in reality this isn't necessary for everyday use. I used the DC-2 to record a close pass and it picked up the number plate from a long way back and clearly showed the car as it passed me.

It can record at either 30 or 60 frames per second (fps). Frame rate references the smoothness of the video, so 30fps will capture a new frame at half the speed of 60, which means more movement between each frame and a slightly more shuddering effect.

These numbers are fine for everyday use when your main aim is to, hopefully, put off vehicles from dangerous driving or capture the details of those who do. It's comparable to the lower frame rates of other action cams, but the same as something like a Cycliq Fly6.

> What to do if you capture a near miss, close pass or collision on camera while cycling

I also used the camera for a number of gravel rides where the surface was naturally bumpy and unpredictable. Although there is always going to be a certain degree of wobbling, the DC-2 is more than stable enough that if you were to post something on YouTube it's unlikely anybody would complain about it.

Mounting

Mounting the camera was the first of several issues I found with the instructions – or lack of – for the DC-2. Techalogic gives you no guide or instructions on how to do it effectively. I ended up having to make an educated guess and hope it was correct. For a camera costing north of £200, this isn't ideal.

The mount itself is separate to the camera, and you can use either the flat or curved 3M mounts that you stick to your helmet, or the helmet strap mount if you either don't have space or inclination to stick something directly to the shell. Although I have not been hands-on with the original version, the mounts look like they're the same between the two models.

Once you have the mount in place, by whichever means you prefer, the camera fits to it with a GoPro-style adapter, with a quick-release clip so the camera can be attached or removed quickly and easily.

However, this all means that if you place the camera right on top of your helmet it sits well above it – the top is around 70mm above your lid. This results in a couple of things: first off, it gives a significant Teletubby aesthetic, to the extent that my three-year-old daughter thought I was dressed as one... Secondly, it makes it difficult to judge overhead obstructions, and I did catch the camera on tree branches a couple of times, which is less than ideal.

Techalogic does show it mounted on the side of a helmet, but only one of the six helmets I have could allow this, due to vent placement.

Operation

Operating the camera is through a single button on the top, which controls everything depending on the length of the press. A nice touch is that it gives you haptic responses so you are aware you have done something.

Our camera also came with a wireless remote, which allowed me to control it from my handlebar. This worked well, though it's an optional extra and costs £14.95 (or £13.95 if you order it with your camera).

This brought up the second issue I found with the instructions/information. While the haptic responses are very useful, not all of them are listed in the information. I ended up on a ride where it was vibrating every few minutes and I had no idea why. It turned out it was because I hadn't put the memory card back in, but there are no lights to signify this, and I had no idea what it meant.

Similarly, there is no dedicated recording light, and the haptics for starting and stopping recording are the same three small vibrations, so I was constantly guessing whether I was recording or not if I had stopped and started it a few times.

Instead of a single dedicated recording light – on or off – there are three lights that appear in different combinations which makes it confusing to know whether the camera is recording or not. A little frustrating, to say the least. And even though these are in the instructions, you're hardly likely to be carrying the instructions in a jersey pocket to check which combination is which.

Recordings on the camera have an auto delete feature, which means that you don't need to continuously clear your SD card, which is something we've seen in other lights like the Cycliq Fly6 and Fly12. In theory this is great, because it saves you the time and effort of clearing an SD card or getting halfway through a ride and realising your card is full. However, there is no auto-lock feature that I can find, which means if I get knocked off by a car and lie by the road for an hour, the footage may well be lost. The instructions once again don't give anything like the information needed either, with it saying that it will not delete 'locked files' but giving no indication of how a file is locked.

Extras, extras

The DC-2 itself costs £239.95, but we were given a few accessories to test that can be bought alongside the camera: a GPS module (£24.95), powerbank (£24.95), and that wireless remote (£14.95).

When I opened the box I was confused to find a portable charger, but it turns out this is a necessity in order to operate the GPS unit. The GPS unit is not built in, but is instead connected by a wire, and needs to be powered by the additional powerbank.

GPS is a standard feature on a lot of modern action cams – it can be useful to superimpose against routes or in the case of a collision to pinpoint exactly where it took place – and GoPros have had it since the Hero5, which was released in 2016. Having to use additional wires, charger and module to maintain the same functionality as a seven-year-old camera is not great.

That said, the powerbank can be used for anything else and it is superb, showing the percentage of battery and having two regular USB and one USB-C output ports.

Battery life

Talking of charging, the battery life on the DC-2 is a claimed three to four hours. In my experience I would say it is closer to the bottom end of that scale; I needed to charge it after roughly three hours of use.

Regardless, this is still very good battery life – the GoPro Hero11, which is £100 more, only lasts half of that time with similar settings. It is also an upgrade on the previous version, which offered only 2.5 hours.

As I mentioned, this battery life can be extended by charging with a powerbank – like almost every other action camera. However, unlike other action cams, the DC-2 doesn't have a replaceable battery.

Value

The camera's £239.95 rrp includes two 3M mounts and two helmet straps (one for horse riding, the other for cycling). The GPS module is an extra £24.95, the wireless remote is £14.95, and the battery pack is an extra £24.95, so the 'version' I used is actually worth £303.85 – or £295.85 if you order extras as part of the camera bundle, when discounts apply.

Sticking with its base price, the nearest GoPro would be the Hero10 at £249.99 (the latest Hero12 is £399). Unlike the DC-2, this includes GPS as standard, without the need for an external power source. It also has a max resolution of 5.3K compared to 2K. But you need to pay extra for additional straps – and of course it's front-facing only. You'd need an additional camera to record behind you.

So, add the Cycliq Fly6 to the equation, at £209. This has a similar recording quality, but it is definitely easier and more convenient to use as it can just be strapped to your seat tube.

But if you were to buy both the Fly6 and Hero10, compared with the whole Techalogic bundle you'd be looking at an additional £160 – though with more features.

So overall, I'd say it's pretty good value in comparison – although you can pick up two fairly decent individual cameras without GPS for less. For instance, the Wolfang 4K action camera is £69.99 (£49.99 on Amazon), so two of those would set you back £150 at most – and currently less than £100.

It all means making an accurate price comparison is difficult, but I wouldn't call this a rip-off.

Conclusion

Overall, I have mixed feelings about this camera. In isolation it is fine – it will pick up everything you need it to on the road from dual perspectives, and the image capture is good enough to pick up what's needed too. However, there are drawbacks, chief among them the poor instructions that make it much more challenging to use than it should be – there's some functionality I'm still yet to understand despite using it for over a month.

Also, the requirement to use a powerbank and multiple wires to add some basic functionality like GPS tracking is an inelegant solution and something I wouldn't be happy to ride with regularly.

It's good, but could be so much better.

Verdict

Functional dual aspect camera with great battery life, though the instructions are poor