Cheap in-car camera / trackday use - with example Z4 video

[peddy]

Very nice! I can't believe the price!! Gonna have to get me one...

You should get one of those USB cigar lighter things... There was a thread about them a while back.

How many hours of filming can you get with one battery?

I hope you know that's a 60mph limit your're in at the start - how fast is 3000rpm in 4th in a 3.0?
...
BTW, what video resolution do you actually get, as the ad states 2 megapixel and then says 640x480 (VGA 300k pixels)?

3000rpm in 4th in a 3.0i? Erm.....

I think you're ok... it's around 60.

 

[Raify]

How many hours of filming can you get with one battery?

It's something like 2-3 hours recording time

 

[Z4 Beemer]

So is the recommendation to go for one of these from eBay for £15 ? How long does delivery take from Hong Kong a11y?

 

[Raify]

Here's the footage I took in St Anton:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EW7hBf1PLn0

You tube have disabled the audio, you'll have to whistle "The Cult - She sells sanctuary" in your head while you're watching...

 

[a11y]

Peddy, I've got one of the USB cigarette thingys but unfortunately you can't charge the battery while using the camera! Battery life seems to be enough for around 5GB of footage, but that's involving a lot of stop/starting and stand-by time so I guess you could fill an 8GB card if you ran it continuously.

The £15 Hong Kong ones are far better value than the £50 Muvi one, but has a lower battery life I've found. Plus I don't think the microphone is as good. But the Muvi one is NOT worth over 3 times the ebay one! Delivery on my Hong Kong ones (I bought 4 for mates too) was around 2 weeks IIRC.

And very nice Raify! What camera was that?


Finally, a video that shows off the audio capability of the £50 Muvi camera a bit better than my Z4 one:

[youtube]<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/mgIKuuU_kjo&hl=en_GB&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/mgIKuuU_kjo&hl=en_GB&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>[/youtube]

 

[Raify]

And very nice Raify! What camera was that?

Cheers, it was with the Veho Muvi one. I got it when Tesco's were doing them for £40 inc the sports kit. I was already considering getting one when they were £80 so it seemed like a bargain to me.

 

[a11y]

Bloody hell that was a bargain at £40 inc the accessories. I paid £54 for my Veho Muvi alone, plus another tenner for the accessories...

That's another thing to add: the £15 ebay ones come with all the accessories included, making them even more of a bargain.

 

[ksher]

I have just received my black muvi micro camcorder today from amazon (£52). Is it normal to record noise even the actual background is silent? How can I reduce/eliminate the unwanted noise?

 

[PawnSacrifice]

Someone at work wanted a cheap digital camcorder so I referred to this thread. When I checked with Maplin I noticed they had B grade stock at £29.99! With a 12 month guarantee that could be a bit of a bargain for anyone that wants to record their antics...

http://www.maplin.co.uk/module.aspx?moduleno=285263&C=brilliant1&U=P3%202010&T=micro%20camcorder&gclid=CLPEp4iHjqACFQGZ2AodOAkEdA

 

[mrklaw]

I hope you know that's a 60mph limit your're in at the start - how fast is 3000rpm in 4th in a 3.0?

not that fast? 80mph is about 2750rpm in 6th, so I bet its close to 60ish. I might have a check when I go home tonight.

 

[ksher]

I bought mine 2 weeks ago from amazon (black) for £52, and also the extreme sport kit (£14). It works well. I attach it in front of the sunvisor.

 

[mrklaw]

I hope you know that's a 60mph limit your're in at the start - how fast is 3000rpm in 4th in a 3.0?

I was bored on the way home yesterday, so checked.

In my 3.0 coupe the speeds at 3000rpm were

2nd gear - 25mph
3rd gear - 40mph
4th gear - 55mph (so fine in a 60)
5th gear - 70mph
6th gear - 85mph (estimated, fits with the pattern and 80mph was 2750rpm so about right)

thats in an automatic, don't know if manual gearboxes have different ratios. And was indicated speed so actual will probably be slightly less.

 

[klarky]

i got one of these off ebay too, i fully charged it and left it running, it recorded 1.5 hours continuous with a 4 gb card, i just left it on my windowsill. still not bad for the price

 

[navid.v]

Ally,

is this the same as your cheap one?

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Mini-Sport-Di...Camcorders&hash=item3cb8611ef7#ht_1821wt_1139

 

[a11y]

Looks like it - although mine's now dead after the battery refuses to charge, but that was after approx 18 months of almost daily use so can't complain for the price. I've replaced mine with a similar one which is more tube-shaped, but can't find it on ebay at the moment.

 

[navid.v]

cheers Ally

 

[Hotride]

Just bought one. Was considering a go pro hd hero, but $12 for a cheapo should provide some fun. I wonder how well it will go on the snowboard lol

 

[a11y]

I'd love to change up to something like the Go Pro HD but it's a huge price difference - I've come to the conclusion that it's only a toy anyway so not worth spending lots on! Well, I say I'm trying to come to that conclusion...

 

[Hotride]

My thoughts exactly. Plus I figure give the cheap one a go if I actually use it, then I may consider trading up. But I'm not even sure how much use it will get.

I payed a mint for the Olympus tough camera (water proof, freeze proof, drop proof etc) but lucky to use it once a month really

 

[jimbo1958]

I've been looking at the Panasonic HM-TA1 for some time. Tesco have them at the bargain price of £47.97. http://direct.tesco.com/q/R.209-0770.aspx
These are full HD offering 1080p or 720p.
Good reviews eveywhere with slight criticisms of low battery life of about 40 mins. Spare batteries available at Amazon for £6.99. http://www.amazon.co.uk/Capacity-Re...4?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1306833672&sr=8-4

Loads of suction mounts on Ebay, this one at £4.99 http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Car-Dashboard...69?pt=UK_Tripods_Monopods&hash=item2a10f9ddf1

Review here at £130 price
[youtube]V0Cc8sSQF40[/youtube]



Sample videos here
[youtube]n4vUCAC4Z_E[/youtube]

[youtube]p_dxJLDcZFI[/youtube]