Are helmet cams safe?

[revvingit]

Been considering getting a helmet cam for a while but wondering if they are safe in the event of an accident?

[SAS Tom]

I don’t think there is any situation that mounting a camera to your helmet will improve it’s performance but there’s plenty where it will reduce it.

It’s up to you whether you accept that risk or not.

[Simes205]

I would consider what happened to Michael Schumacher.

[bogie]

If you really want one for a specific trip you can always mount it on your body or the bike. I used a chest mount on a trip across USA last year, worked great for capturing key moments of the trip. ...although you can end up with hours of video that you will never watch or review.....

Im into not strapping anything to the outside of my helmet....If you commute daily and want one "in case of accident" then maybe one the small tube like cameras on the bike, rigged to the ignition that records on a loop may be the answer?

..but dont forget, in event of accident, Police will take it as evidence, whether you want them to or not....so its a bit like a black box watching you all the time then. Why not put one of those on your bike and get cheaper insurance too ?....nope...not for me

[Jazoli]

You forgot to consider how much of a knob you look with a camera stuck to your helmet.

[sjg]

As a counterpoint, the BBC commissioned research into this, albeit with climbing helmets.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/safety/resources/safetynews/w...

I think chin or under-visor mounting (if using a MX or adventure-type helmet) give a better point of view than on top or the side and seem less vulnerable to causing rotational injuries if you were worried about that.

[graeme4130]

They're really dangerous on your helmet. You lid is designed to slide in a crash, and your camera would just cause it to dig in. I know they're designed to break off, but you try and break one off with your hand and tell me your neck could take that force when it wasn't expecting it.
Plus, like said above, you'll look like another one of the youtube bell ends that posts up every time a car does 1mph over the speed limit and indicate a fraction of a second too late

[Gavia]

bogie said:

If you really want one for a specific trip you can always mount it on your body or the bike. I used a chest mount on a trip across USA last year, worked great for capturing key moments of the trip. ...although you can end up with hours of video that you will never watch or review.....

Im into not strapping anything to the outside of my helmet....If you commute daily and want one "in case of accident" then maybe one the small tube like cameras on the bike, rigged to the ignition that records on a loop may be the answer?

..but dont forget, in event of accident, Police will take it as evidence, whether you want them to or not....so its a bit like a black box watching you all the time then. Why not put one of those on your bike and get cheaper insurance too ?....nope...not for me

Strap it to your body? That’s just as bad, being punched in the ribs by one of those is not going to end well.

Top tip for all camera wearers. You look like a bell end, you all ride like bellend Road Captains and you’re not always in the right, you bellends.

Did I mention you’re all bellends?

[Jazoli]

Gavia said:

Strap it to your body? That’s just as bad, being punched in the ribs by one of those is not going to end well.

Top tip for all camera wearers. You look like a bell end, you all ride like bellend Road Captains and you’re not always in the right, you bellends.

Did I mention you’re all bellends?

You carry on sitting on the fence there, don't tell us what you really think

[bogie]

Yeah, chest strap has downsides too if you go sliding down the road on your belly

...must admit it was trial and error as the bike mount I had vibrated too much, so went with the other mount that came in the bag to get some footage. Never bothered with it since to be honest,it was one of those holiday things.

So our conclusion:
cameras on body - nope - potentially more dangerous in an accident
cameras on bike - vibrates and provides excellent evidence to the Police...whether that is positive or negative depends on your circumstances

Edited by bogie on Sunday 4th February 14:08

[Willy Nilly]

I would consider how much trouble that bloke got into when he crashed his bike through a hedge after recording himself riding rather enthusiastically. It catches all of your misdemeanors too.

[lindrup119]

A chap I used to work with had one of these mounted to his bike. It did all the recording and looping he needed it to and I think it had an app if you needed to review footage. Not great if you need video from the perspective of the rider, but no chance of it punching a hole through your helmet/resisting a slide in an off.





https://www.innovv.com/

[Gavia]

It significantly reduces your front fork travel when braking though. Doesn’t look like it would take much before that started to be an issue when braking fairly hard.

[R8Steve]

Gavia said:

It significantly reduces your front fork travel when braking though. Doesn’t look like it would take much before that started to be an issue when braking fairly hard.

You would have to install it in a pretty daft place for it to do that.

[sc0tt]

Gavia said:

It significantly reduces your front fork travel when braking though. Doesn’t look like it would take much before that started to be an issue when braking fairly hard.

How much compression. That looks like it has a fair amount of travel in it before it got near the mudguard

[catso]

R8Steve said:

Gavia said:

It significantly reduces your front fork travel when braking though. Doesn’t look like it would take much before that started to be an issue when braking fairly hard.

You would have to install it in a pretty daft place for it to do that.

Looks to me like the above pic shows exactly that?

I don't know what bike that is & how much suspension travel it has but it looks to me like that will hit the front mudguard (and possibly even the tyre) under hard braking...

[Gavia]

R8Steve said:

You would have to install it in a pretty daft place for it to do that.

Have you seen where it is? The forks have got about two inches of travel before the camera connects with the front mudguard.

sc0tt said:

How much compression. That looks like it has a fair amount of travel in it before it got near the mudguard

It looks like a couple of inches to me, which isn’t a lot. Ironically, it’s highly likely that the incident that you want it to record is exactly the type of incident that will cause it to foul the mudguard and cause you to crash.

[R8Steve]

catso said:

R8Steve said:

Gavia said:

It significantly reduces your front fork travel when braking though. Doesn’t look like it would take much before that started to be an issue when braking fairly hard.

You would have to install it in a pretty daft place for it to do that.

Looks to me like the above pic shows exactly that?

I don't know what bike that is & how much suspension travel it has but it looks to me like that will hit the front mudguard (and possibly even the tyre) under hard braking...

You can fit it anywhere.

If you have an adventure bike put it there, no issues.

If you have a superbike and spend most of your time with it planted on it's nose mount it somewhere else.

There's a picture of a racer using one with his elbow down so if he has managed to make it work i'm sure anyone that does track days shouldn't have any issues.

[sc0tt]

Gavia said:

It looks like a couple of inches to me, which isn’t a lot. Ironically, it’s highly likely that the incident that you want it to record is exactly the type of incident that will cause it to foul the mudguard and cause you to crash.

[catso]

sc0tt said:

Gavia said:

It looks like a couple of inches to me, which isn’t a lot. Ironically, it’s highly likely that the incident that you want it to record is exactly the type of incident that will cause it to foul the mudguard and cause you to crash.

A self-fulfilling prophecy...