Helmet Cam advice

I use a spycam type thing that you can pick up from an electronics store. It goes inside the mouthguard. It has a smallish (about 2x3x4 inch) 12v battery that goes in my bumbag with my camcorder (Sony digital8). The camcorder records from the spycam.

I bought the spycam and battery from a local guy who makes helmetcam systems. It looks dodgy, and cost me twice as much as the individual parts would, but it does work well. Btw the helmetcam vid in my signiture is not a good example of the picture quality. The original is close to dvd quality.

how heavy is it?
do you have any problems with the cable?
is it comfortable?
can a guy ride with it all day long?
do you have to cut or alter anything on your helmet?

i have been wanting to do something like this for the last year or so.

how much does it cost?

thanks

You need to make sure your camcorder accepts audio/video in. Most of the Sony Digital8 & MiniDV cameras support this, but the older Digital8 cams are heavy. Also, the steadycam feature will likely be bypassed when using the A/V inputs, so you don't need to spend a lot of money on fancy features. If you plan on transferring video to your computer, you should look at the Canon ZR10 or higher, as they have a firewire & transfer is easy.

You can purchase the rest of the parts at www.helmetcamera.com. I haven't worked with them, but I've spoken with people that have been happy with them.

Good luck!

Check this site out, I have one from these people.
http://www.helmetcamera.com/

how heavy is it?

Tha camcorder is normal digital8 camcorder weight - pretty light as camcorders go. The minidv cameras are slightly lighter than the digital8's. The spycam weighs virtually nothing, and its battery weighs about the same as 4 d batteries I guess.

do you have any problems with the cable?

nope

is it comfortable?
can a guy ride with it all day long?

It's plenty comfortable enough to wear all day, but you will need to carry extra camcorder batteries and tapes or memory sticks.

do you have to cut or alter anything on your helmet?

On mine, the plastic grating on the mouthguard comes out, that's it.

how much does it cost

Cost me about what that helmetcam.com one costs, about twice the price of buying the bits and putting it together yourself.

Like readytorip says, a camcorder with firewire input/output is by far the best way to go if you want to edit on your pc or put the footage on the net. I think most if not all digital8 or minidv camcorders have firewire output, but they are also more expensive than 8mm, hi8, vhs and vhsc.