Dash Cam

[Michel1960]

Can anybody recommend a good cam available in North America at a reasonable price. Something like the BulletHD Biker Mate ( cant find any , looks like its been discontinued or no longer available in Canada.

[OhioWinger]

Stay away from BulletHD, I tried one and had nothing but trouble.

Look for one with a DVR feature like Drift Ghost or another of your choice.

[Gar]

The bulletHD did have an issue with the video cable on early models but it has since been fixed with a replacement cable from a different manufacturer. I had a new one sent to me from Pier28 and it's been working great ever since. If you get the WIFI version they also had some odd issues with compatibility on some phones that was also fixed with a recent firmware update that you can download online from BulletHD.

[OhioWinger]

BulletHD, yes I had the cable issue too, also it was not water resistant as they claim.

I got tired of trying to keep it working and gave up on it.

[GJ-Trophy]

I've installed the Innovv K1 camera system onto the trophy. Which I've found very good so far

http://www.innovv.com/

[CecilSaxon]

You don't have pics of your install do you? Looks interesting, and as a commuter I think this set up looks promising.

[GJ-Trophy]

Originally Posted by CecilSaxon

You don't have pics of your install do you? Looks interesting, and as a commuter I think this set up looks promising.

installation is simple, just make sure you pick up a live switch feed from the bike to power the unit when the bike ignition is on. I will take some photos and share before I remove the K1 unit as the bike is being PX within the next few weeks. installation time 1.5 hour max if you have the tools and know where to mount/install the K1 unit items.

GJ-Trophy 

[AZBob]

I, too, have the Innov K1 installed on my bike. At first I didn't like it at all, it didn't record, would zonk out, etc. So many intermittent problems with recording. After a while, I noticed that the screen was telling me that the card was too slow (I have the DVR box mounted between the handlebars where I can see it). So, I changed out for basically the world's fastest SD card (it's WAY more expensive than even your run-of-the-mill "fast" cards). I've had no problems until this week, when it's started doing it again intermittently (so, that was about three weeks). I believe the card is full and it takes a few hundred milliseconds to delete files to make space, and so it puts up that message, but with this new card, it actually starts to record after the message (the old one, it would just die). It's also cooler out now, though, so I'm not sure if heat was also an issue (the DVR box as been confirmed to be temperature-sensitive by other customers and some reviews). So, I guess as part of my K1 maintenance, I need to delete the files off the SD card every once-in-a-while.

Overall, when it works, it's brilliant. Front and back camera -- I have the rear camera mounted right above the license plate, and the front is mounted under the headlight. It has a GPS with which it can overlay the coordinates, and optionally speed of your vehicle right onto the video (along with the date and time). The little box can review the video right on the bike if something happens, and it detects g-shocks and will automatically save those segments of video from being deleted. You can also easily mark a segment video not to be deleted via a remote button that you can mount wherever (mine is mounted on the left radio controls cube). It can also continue to record while on its own battery, or can record with the ignition off when a g-shock is detected.

That's not to say that even if it recorded 100% of the time perfectly that it would be a perfect piece... there are a couple of things I would like to see changed: 1) The cameras come with two different lengths of wire, one with a ~6' wire, and one with ~3' wire. Since I wanted my DVR box between the handlebars, I put the 6' wire camera in the rear (this is really supposed to be the front camera, as it's supposedly the one that houses the microphone). The 6' isn't QUITE long enough for that application. I had to buy a 1' 5-wire USB extender cable 2) Speaking of USB: USB connectors are NOT the right kind of connector for this application. Something that locks would work MUCH better. USB has a tendency to work itself out over time, and the pins on the cables tend to bend over time, making them useless. Since I have the DVR box mounted between the bars (in a Ram Aqua-box), I remove it every day (ah, thieves). I don't expect the USB cables to last more than about a year. 3) The DVR box is WAY TOO BIG. I mean, it's small enough, but given the functionality of my cell phone, it's about three times as thick. 4) Also, the DVR screen is terrible - I was hoping to be able to use the live view of the rear camera as sort of a rear-view mirror, but you can't see the DVR screen in daylight. Granted, their proposed mounting solution has you putting the DVR box under your seat where you can't even see it anyway, but I didn't want that. 5) The remote button LED is not bright enough -- if you DO mount the DVR box under the seat, you'd basically have no idea whatsoever if the thing is recording during the day because the LED light in the button isn't bright enough to be seen in daylight.

An example of a terribly dreary/rainy day as recorded by my K1 (some of the oddness of the picture is a filter Youtube applied):