Re: Action Cameras for Bikers

Actually a good deal, add another battery if possible 3rd party one and you are good to go

Re: Action Cameras for Bikers

I bought myself a 5000x last week while I was in Singapore. I got it for quite a bit of discount in total 11k odd excluding the GST. There's a big discount running esp in Funan Mall since it's gonna be demolished soon, wish I had gone a bit later more discount would've been given. BTW the SJ400 along with 16GB add'n card+replacement Battery+dual charger+mono-pod +add'n mount set was going for 190SGD which I was initially gonna get but I went with 5000x.

Anyway I took it out on my first bicycle ride today, though it was a bit of flop-show since I carried the wrong mount type! took the tripod mount and used a Bicycle mount! thing was the tripod-adjuster screw would come loose after a bit of riding on our super smooth surface . Had to remove it mid ride & put it back in the pocket to concentrate on the riding :P. But the video I got was terrific along with pictures the quality looks to be really good i.e. 720p.

Another issue is the file sizes are a bit high 1m30s video is about 140Mb. @ 720p 60fps. Will need to try and see how different settings affect quality & size.

Pictures are really good quality for a tiny camera. (I've only compressed the file for uploading & not edited it)


Will give more impressions & possibly upload a video once I've got the right compression tools & size small enough not to eat up my data plan.

Re: How to select a bicycle according to your needs and budget?

Here's some more pics from today's ride. it was short only 46kms as I had some work to attend to. Tried a different mount called 90" mount. This was much better to manage during the ride & didn't come loose other than a few times where I had to adjust it again. here's some pics.



still did not find something good compress videos with.

Re: Action Cameras for Bikers

Hi guys,


Can any one suggest me an action camera?
Confused between the Yi Action Camera ($85), Go Pro Hero 4 Session ($199), Go Pro Hero 4 Silver ($235), Go Pro Hero 4 Black ($449).


Yi looks the best option, with great batter backup, decent video output and bang for the buck. But, GoPro has got the advantage in the availability and quality of mounts. The prices are mentioned in dollars because the purchase will be made in the US and I have taken the price from Amazon.


I am planning to fix one as a chin mount on my helmet after I get my first bike , that's the only purpose of getting an action camera for me.
Also, there are rumors of Hero 5 being launched by the end of this year. So, will the price of Hero 4 in India then be equal to the current price in the US?

Re: Action Cameras for Bikers

All camera's have their pros and cons.
This is how GoPro Hero 4 Session looks on the helmet


This is how SJCam SJ400 WiFi looks on the helmet


SJCam Video Quality: Day


SJCam Video Quality: Night


GoPro Hero 4 Session: Day


GoPro Hero4 Session: Night
Quality sucks when compared to SJCam - you can barely see anything in the video.
SJCam has BSI image sensor which results in brighter night video.

Pros of GoPro Hero4 Session:

1. 1440P 30Fps video Max
2. 1080p 60Fps Video Max
3. 720p 100Fps Video Max
4. One button press starts the video - so very easy to start recording.
5. Small footprint - almost not noticeable on helmet. Makes it easy to carry too.
6. Dual mic that helps record clear audio - not that great for helmet
7. comes in non removable casing so mic is not muted and does not require a separate waterproof casing.
8. Is compatible with all GoPro and SJ cam mounts
9. WiFi
10. Bluetooth
11. recording light - that can be turned off
12. White light LCD that is visible at night. Even Hero4black does not have this.
13. wireless remote - sold separately
14. Smart cam, tells you when SD Card is about to run out or battery is low by giving you audio alerts.
15. very rugged and great build quality.

Cons:

1. non removable battery
2. lasts only 2 hours on 720p 60Fps - tested IRL
3. Requires Sandisk Extreme SD card or Lexar 612x. Both these cards are expensive
4. Need more than Class 10 card. Need UHS [3] Extreme speed SD Card to record video or a card that has 40+Mbps write speed.
5. Sandisk Ultra is not compatible for 60Fps or 100Fps
6. Records video is high bitrate resulting in very high file size and you will run out of card space. need minimum 64GB card.
7. Max 64Gb supported. Hero4 silver and up support 128Gb
8. Very clunky smartphone app
9. Very difficult to do setup or make changes
10. very difficult to pair the cam to smartphone app using WiFI or Bluetooth
11. Heats up quite a bit. Might kill your SD Card of you use something of cheap quality like strontium.
12. splits all videos in files of 2.1Gb or 12 minutes. You need the GoPro app to convert them to a single file that can take hours.
13. Even Sandisk Extreme can get choppy - You need SanDisk Extreme Pro for this cam.
14. Expensive cam
15. expensive accessories - if you buy genuine
16. Detects as Camera on the PC - so you need to copy the video to the PC and only then you can watch them.
17. Copy speed is slower than SJCam due to the above fact.

Pros of SJCam

1. Great night time video
2. Decent Day time video
3. records in a single file but is restricted to 4Gb due to FAT32 limitation.
4. LCD
5. WiFI
6. micro HDMI out
7. Very easy smartphone app and very easy to pair
8. removable battery
9. cheap and value for money
10. lots of cheap mount in the box itself - which is great for beginners
11. Easy to setup time lapse

Cons:

1. Fake 60Fps - this can record only at 30FPS at 1080 or 720p
2. Low bitrate video
3. low recording sound even without the waterproof casing
4. low bitrate sound - you need secondary audio stream and add it to video during encode - increases work
5. takes some practice to start the recording without the use of WiFI or even with WiFi as you need to sync.
6. battery drains very fast if wifi is ON - 1 hour max or lesser if you are doing fake 60Fps on 1080p
7. no Bluetooth
8. No remote
9. no warranty
10. max card size is 32Gb only
11. needs sandisk ultra or better for smooth video recording or the video will be choppy even at 30Fps
12. Detects as SD card reader on the PC and videos can be watched right from the cam.
13. After reaching 4GB file size limits the cam switches off by itself. This is very bad as you might miss a moment where you might think that the cam is ON but in fact it has gone off.
14. Plasticy and does not have a great build quality but can pass as decent quality for the money paid.

In India:
SJCam costs Online: 5.7k (US 5.7k INR)
GoPro hero4 Session: 22k (US 14k INR)

Now make your decision

Re: Action Cameras for Bikers

[MENTION=79452]Gollum[/MENTION] : Damn, copying the post on pc for future. Haha thanks for the detailed comparo

Re: Action Cameras for Bikers

lol no worries mate. If you need specific videos or images then let me know. 😊

Re: Action Cameras for Bikers

[MENTION=79452]Gollum[/MENTION] thanks so much Both have got a bunch of cons So, now the comparison is between Yi and Silver
btw the video from Session Night is missing..

Re: Action Cameras for Bikers

@gollium what about the Yi cam ?

Re: Action Cameras for Bikers

I don't have it so I do not have a personal opinion about it.
However, when I was doing my research about it I found that it is a mix between an SJCam and a go pro.
Quality is better than SJCam but price wise it is more expensive.

In other words, you can get both SJCam and Yi at almost the same price but Yi does not come with any accessory at all and when you buy them, you will have to shell out about 2k more for a set.
If you need just specific things then you may find stuff for cheap.

Problem with Yi? its waterproof mount may be a bit hard to find.
I do not think it has an LCD.(not sure)

Re: Action Cameras for Bikers

I have finalized on the Yi 4K action camera. Shoots better video than Hero 4 black, battery life is almost 2x when shooting 4K, 5GHz wifi band and costs half.
Also has a built in screen and the waterproof case is compatible with GoPro mounts.

The only con is that there is no support for external microphone. But, there is one Bluetooth mic coming in future.

Re: Action Cameras for Bikers

I have been watching reviews for Xiaomi yi 4k and it's gonna be the one. The only issue is availability in India. How are you buying it in India? And what about the mounts?

Re: Action Cameras for Bikers

You can get it from dx.com
They ship to India but it can take upto 20 days.

Yi is not officially released in India so you would not get any support for it here.
You will need to take a leap of faith.

Re: Action Cameras for Bikers

@Vishal_G I'm planing to get from US, and even dx.com has one at the same price. But, as @Gollum said, no after sales support for Yi Cam here in India. If it goes bad we might have to fix it on our own.

You can get one waterproof case for 15-16$ and after that you can buy any Go-Pro mount locally to mount it where ever you want.

Re: Action Cameras for Bikers

Mounts are generally same for all cams. The waterproof case of all cams are different.
Reason : Position of buttons