Camera for road rides

Never used one but "chilli-tech" cams were cheap and popular for capturing people's road angst last time I looked.

This question was asked on my road club FB last week and there were two answers; Cycliq (better) and Chilli(cheaper). And one outlier with a Garmin Varia (expensive).

I have a DJI  osmo 4 which takes decent quality video but it's quite expensive and the battery is only really good for about an hour. Could probably connect to a battery pack though.

Stabilization is pretty decent.

I suppose the real question is what are your expectations for the footage you gather "just in case anything happens" as you put it?

You can spend lots of money on a camera and still shoot wonky, motion sickness inducing crap that just about captures a reg' plate and some choice language, conversely a cheap camera can capture plenty of detail. Do you expect the rozzers to care about your exploits or is it just going to end up as YouTube, road-rage fodder?

You have cheap and expensive options given above, so just how invested are you in recording van/taxi drivers calling you nasty names?

Its just for in the event of an accident to proove what happened. Hit and run etc. Not interested in uploading videos or anything.

I have a GoPro but its an old one and really too bulky unless i mount it under the bars. Hadn't thought of that till just now. If thats suitable I could buy a rear cam and attach it to my saddle bag.

I got a Garmin Varia (715 - the one with radar + rear light + camera) about 2 years ago.

Went that way after many reviews of the Cyclic option said they were shite and failed in wet UK weather, batteries soon lost capacity etc.

It is on the rear, obvs! So no front view (do you want front or rear ? Or both).

Whilst DCR and GPLlama both moaned about it, I was wanting it as a 'dashcam' not a go-pro for uploading rad riding to the Internet.

I've been able to report 2x ****ish driving  to the Feds so far from it.  Reviewing video using the App is rubbish as the files are in 30sec chunks and the link between phone and device is dog slow. But I've taken the SD card out and used a  laptop to view, where its a lot better to do (and can get still images / frame by frame  that helped read the number plates).

The Chilli cam are cheap and cheerful, the 1080p one is  absolutely useless at night though, cant capture faces within a vehicle during the day and mine now struggles with number plates after 4 years of use

I did message Chilli cam asking if the the new 4k version was any better and got no reply from them (not the first time that has happened)

The Ghost XL camera is worth a look, bigger than the Chilli cam but better quality, very popluar with motorbikers

You say you are not going to upload videos etc... if you capture a close pass, people drving on the wrong side of the road coming towards you whilst they are over taking, basically driving like a **** and they could cost someone thier life etc.. then please upload them to your County's police Snap initiative

Ive uploaded a few it only takes a few mins, hopefully a letter from the police or even some re eductation and a fine may stop some drivers from doing stupid close passes next time and not put someone elses life at risk

https://www.freewheel.co.uk/tooo-cycling-rear-camera-light-combo-dvr80-tooorc01

I have one of these and the footage is way better than my old Cycliq. I'll be adding a front one when they arrive in the UK in a few weeks.

I have had a Chilli tech cam for a good few years, it's been robust and reliable and has always captured reg numbers when needed. It is however not much good at night as said. It's fallen off the bike at least once and been in crashes and not broken. The battery broke once, they sent me a new one for free. The newer version my partner uses on her bike seems to have better picture quality.

It will only be used in daylight. The Chilli tech cam was my first thought but keep reading moxed reviews about picture quality and number plates.

"(do you want front or rear ? Or both)."

I dont know. I guess rear would be best for close passes? If it was the Chilli tech price I'd get both.

Fly6 is now decent, but battery life struggles over two hour rides. My previous one was used in an inquest. So it served its purpose. My front Fly12 is currently brickware and serves as a paperweight. Front, I’d probably go for cheap go pro-like now. Just in case someone pulls right across me. Almost all incidents have, however, been from the rear, though. I’m happy with the latest Fly6 but always ride with an extra saddle rail light for emergency cover.

Having said that, my rear light of choice is now the Varia rear radar (without camera). It’s a great warning device, not a post-ride shit happened device. The combined Varia camera is a chunky beast. Maybe gen 3 will temp me.

+1 Chilli, have one and used sadly too often for providing evidence to the police.

I'd echo what's been said above: a bit poo at night (can't capture plates) but fine 95% of the time during the day. The plate can be a bit hard to read if the car's going very fast or at a bit of a distance, but you can usually read it no problem by going frame by frame if necessary.

Hoe are you finding the battery life on the Chilli? I mostly do 2 - 5 hour rides.

According to our club riders the current 4k Chilli will last about 2.5 hours. They used to claim 3, but had to give so many people their money back that they changed the claim 🙂

Around 4 hours on the 1080P Chilli cam

You can buy a spare battery from them for under£15 iirc, takes seconds to swap

I’d have gone for the Varia camera but there was a fair amount of internet grumbling about lack of image stabilisation (which seemed odd as Garmin did make action cams with this for a bit). Gen 2 can’t be far off now though…

The Varia camera is fine. Sure, it’s no GoPro but it’s not trying to be. I’ve never failed to get a reg plate off its footage when using the computer.

I find the best feature is the ability to only start recording when the radar detects something. Means the battery lasts ages and you don’t have mountains of footage to trawl through to find an incident.

It sounds like the Chilli cam MK2 1080p is the best option for me then. Not fussed about 4k, as long as the 1080p one is good enough to capture number plates when needed. My old GoPro hero 3 still has excellent detail but just too bulky for a road ride.

most of the "cheap" rear cams are crap. I've been looking into them for my road rides. For the front I just use my gopro with a battery pack attached. has male/female garmin mounts so east to fit. I'd want 60fps for number plates with 4k being much better.

Which rear cams have you tried?

I think ill go for the chilli tech csm but getting confused by the different models. I thoight it was just MK1 and MK2 but there is a MK2 Action cam and a MK2 pro bullet cam.

Anyone know the difference?

I quite fancy a helmet camera for mtb. but things like chilli cam are explicitly advertised for road. This would just be for dashcam-type recording no upload after a few near misses and issues with cars.

@mjsmke

not tried any. spend ages looking online at them. If I was only cycling for a short period then a gopro clone would be good enough.

Battery life is important for my needs. Rides will be getting longer in the summer so either needs to last up to 6 hours or a cheap spare battery like chilli but think thats just on their MK2 cam not the pro bullet cam. Just trying to find out the difference.

It is very annoying with chilli that it is only the basic one where you can have a spare BBC battery.

I guess the other is aimed just at city commuters rather than social riders

Yes. The 4k one has image stabalisation but no removable battery and a 2.5 hr run time. The MK2 cam is 1080p no stabalisation but has a removable battery.