Bike camera for commuting, Chilli cam?

So after another near miss tonight its time to get a camera on my helmet for commuting

Budget is £100 and it has to be 1080p HD, internal battery (no wires or battery packs) works well at night/in the dark, helmet mounted

So far Ive found this

https://www.chilli-tech.com/action-cameras/action-camera-for-cycling/Bullet-Camera-For-Cycling

I’ve got a Chilli cam, it should be fine for what you need, except for one point – it’s not great in the dark. It works, but only if it’s light enough from street lighting or whatever.

You won’t be making any movies with it, but it has a sharp enough image to read a number plate, and it works as well in the dark as any camera you’ll find within your budget.

I have that chilli bullet cam(used once) more Mtb now so don’t use it. Just not got round to listing it yet

Can’t recommend the chilli cam for night time unfortunately. Nowhere near enough detail on number plates. Decent in the daytime. Maybe a second hand gopro would be better, but not sure what low light performance is like on older models.

got one and returned it, it was okay but i felt i needed better quality footage

I’m using that camera and echo the comments above. It’s ok but not brilliant.

I’ve got two other cameras, the drift is really good but the app didn’t work with Android 10 so I can’t use it (conveniently) any more.

You can find them here…
https://m.pinkbike.com/u/thepodge/buysell/

When I used to live in the city I used an Olfi HD camera for filming my commute. Cost me £100 and is pretty decent quality for the price.

Cheers for the replies

Decided late last night to up my budget and bought a Drift Ghost XL for £128

Mainly used by Motorcyclists, its gets good reviews and seems to work well in the dark

https://www.sportsbikeshop.co.uk/motorcycle_parts/content_prod/454072

I really liked the cycliq stuff but does look like the pricing has gone bonkers.

Being a light and a camera worked well for my commute. YMMV.

Let us know how that Drift works out. May have to consider one myself.

I had a Cycliq camera, it wasn’t very good at all, the unit is a really good idea, but the app on Android wasn’t very reliable, sometimes took an age to get it to record. Sold it in the end.

So the camera has arrived

First impressions it seems very good, easy to use, nice big buttons, camera lens easy to rotate for different mounting options

Which brings me to the mounting options, it comes with two clip holders, one flat and one curved, which have a 3m sticky pad on them

As this camera is meant for motorbike riders with their nice smooth/curved/flat helmets means this wont work on a mtb or road bike helmet due to the vents and lack of large flat or curved surface area

So Ive had to make something up to mount it on my helmet, ill be using this camera on at least 3 helmets so it had to be something that was quick and easy to remove/fit

I took and old BBB Velcro strapped helmet light mount

https://bbbcycling.com/uk_en/bls-70-helmetmount

Hacksawed off the mount leaving me just the base plate and Velcro strap, i roughed up the base plate with some sand paper then cleaned it with some isopropyl alcohol and attached the flat clip holder using the 3M sticky pad

It feels rock solid so should be good

Will be testing the camera’s night time abilities tomorrow morning on the way to work at 4.30am and its daytime abilities on the way home so will post back with some footage etc….

Nice bit of ingenuity there! Looking forward to the performance review.

UPDATE

So during the day the camera films number plates fine but even with the camera set at 1080P and 30 frames per second the quality isn’t great but would be ok if needed in event of an incident

As for night time well its pretty useless, the problem is the bike’s lights hit any number plates which then the camera cant see, the number plates just show up as bright white which is no good

One way of my commute is always in the dark so having the camera not being able to read number plates half the time is no good to me so its on its way back to Amazon for a refund

I really liked the cycliq stuff but does look like the pricing has gone bonkers.

Being a light and a camera worked well for my commute. YMMV.

pre-ordered both the new front and the rear cameras last Black Friday as they were discounted (still expensive though!!) The front only arrived last week (although been too busy to unbox it!) and the rear, due to volume of orders apparently, not due to arrive until April! Will try to get it on the bike this week & post up my thoughts on it.

Probably good you didn’t go for the chilli cam. The only time I’ve felt a driver should be reported was when the camera moved onto its next timed chunk. For some reason it loses a couple of frames.
The car was going quick enough to see it next to me in one video, then be far enough up the road in the next that the plate was unreadable in broad daylight.

If I’d come off due to moving into the kirb in avoidance I’d have no record of the plate. As it is it doesn’t really matter and I deleted it.

I had a Cycliq camera, it wasn’t very good at all, the unit is a really good idea, but the app on Android wasn’t very reliable, sometimes took an age to get it to record

Not sure I follow – on the current models the app just controls the settings for recording, light modes, beeps etc – once I’d set it up I barely need to use the app again. Recording starts when you turn the camera on, stops when you turn it off.

FWIW the Cycliq can suffer the same burnout from number plates in the dark, I think it’s likely to be a common issue for any camera with a light relatively close by. I’ve managed to pick out plates as cars pass but lose it as soon as they get in front.

Ah, disappointing about the poor night-time performance. Ta for the update!

I have found any actual proper close pass will be seen at night using the chilli cam, its not perfect but does the job.
Had mine just under a year. The battery broke in mine after about 9 months, got sent a new one for free.

Anyone used a Gopro 8 or 9 for commuting?

Thinking if im going to buy another camera then i may as well get one that can be used on the mtb as well as commuting, family days out etc…

After looking on the web it seems pretty much any headcam is going to be pretty much useless at night due to the reflectiveness of UK number plates and the lights on my bike