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Are cheap action cameras any good for cycling?

Are cheap action cameras any good for cycling? We head to wish.com to find out

We go wild and spend thirty quid on wish.com on some cameras. How good was the quality of the action footage we ended up with?
by Liam Cahill
UPDATED Sun, Jul 24, 2022 14:11

First Published May 22, 2021

12

We use lots of action cams for videos on our YouTube channel. They add on-bike shots to our main camera footage with the DJI Osmo and GoPro Hero 8 Black the cameras that we use the most.

Both, however, cost over £300 which is a significant investment, but you do get good quality footage. Cameras are available at all price points, and if you can brave the online jumble sale that is wish.com you can get one that claims to film in high definition for around a tenner.

> Review: GoPro Hero 7 Black

But will it be any good? That’s what we’re here to find out! We’ve picked three more or less at random from what’s basically an endless list on wish.

First up is the snappily named HD 1080P/720P/480P Sports Action Waterproof Camera Photography for Outdoor Surfing Parachuting Diving Skiing Cycling Hiking.

This is the most expensive of the three at a whopping £13.84 and it looks the most like a standard action camera with a boxy casing.

> Review: DJI Osmo 

The stats that it boasts include a 5MP and 110-degree wide-angle lens. A water-resistant case apparently allows you to film up to 30 meters underwater. There’s also HDR Synthesis technology to “ensure you get a clear picture even in faint light.”

Next up is the equally well-named SQ11 Full HD Dashcam at £7.34. This is a little cube thing that also claims to shoot in HD. Excitingly it also appears to have a night vision function and the claimed run time is 100 minutes when recording at 1080p and 30fps. This one claims to have a 12MP camera so will it be better?

Last up the cheapest of the bunch: the HD Mini DV Camcorder DVR Video Camera Webcam Support 16GB HD Cam Sports Helmet Bike Motorbike Camera Video Audio Recorder at £6.65.

> Want to edit your footage? We took a closer look at GoPro Quick

The Mini DV/DVR MD80 is the smallest digital video camera in the world - or that is the claim. Advertised as being smaller than a BIC lighter, it claims to record 720X480 video in AVI format at 30 frames per second and “keeps away blur and distortions.”

It can be set to stand-by for up to 250 hours until it is activated by a sound. 

Ok, so three different types of cameras and a total spend of about thirty quid including postage. Dave roped in our Video Editor, Matt Howes to help analyse the footage by lending his vast wealth of knowledge. Which was the best? You’ll just have to watch the video to find out.

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12 comments

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fenix | 2 years ago
1 like

I bought a chilli cam for under £40 or so. So far it's been used by the Police for two traffic offences by dangerous drivers.

I don't think it'd be enough at night, but for daytime cycling it's very decent.

If I was going to make movies of my rides - I'd buy a go pro. Their quality is excellent.

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dabba | 3 years ago
1 like

I've tried a number of "good" recommended cameras from this site, and I've reverted to my Mobius camera because the so-called "good" cameras aren't good. It's the size of a matchbox, costs <$AUD90, and the images are far better than any of the other cameras that I've tried. It's not waterproof, but that's not usually a problem in Oz, but you can get a case to put it in that waterproofs it. Its battery lasts about an hour, but I usually run it off a powerbank that will give it more than I'll ever ride in a day. I use 1080 x 30fpm and the numberplates are quite legible at speed from up to about 10-15m away - better than any of the others. I've used this model Mobius ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7wmIyD1fM4M ) for over 8 years, and consider them a throw away when they play up. I've had a few of the Mobius 2 minis, but they don't seem to be as reliable as the one I'm still using. The Mobius 1 has got much greater capabilities than I use.

Have a look at the review on it here - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7wmIyD1fM4M

Avatar
GMBasix | 3 years ago
3 likes

If this is a series of videos, I'm looking forward to the next.  I think you've given a nice caveat for not buying cameras for buttons.  In fairness to the MD80, it has been around for a    l  o  n  g    time under different unbrands. It was part of the emerging wealth of models in its day, but its day has passed.

I am interested to know if you get as far as the decent-but-not-most-expensive cameras.  I'm still running a Contour Roam 2 on my helmet, but that seizes up every once in a while.  I want a replacement for traffic incidents, and I wonder about: the Cycliq range (I have a 2nd gen rear, but the reviews of newer models are too polarised for my confort; it's also not a helmet option); the Techalogic DC-1; Drift Ghost...others?

What (if any) works at night to read number plates? 

It also needs to last a reasonable length of time on the battery, &/or you can run it (in the rain) from a power block, and loop the files.

I bought a Chilli-tech, but it is not great - not even as good as the years-old Roam I was hoping to replace with it.  Poorer definition and doesn't match the quality illustrated in the publicity.  Better than nothing, and at around £40 not devastatingly expensive, but I already have better.

Go Pro seems to be the puppy's privates, but if that has to sit on my lid, just hit me with the truck now!

 

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dabba replied to GMBasix | 3 years ago
1 like

Refer to my post above.

I just bought a Drift Ghost XL and it's a nice camera, except for the quality of the image. I bought it for its waterproofness, but unless the image is any good, you're wasting your money. It lightened my wallet by >$AUD300 by the time I got bits to attach it to the seatpost. Not happy is an understatement!

Avatar
0-0 | 3 years ago
1 like

Are cheap action cameras any good for cycling?

Short answer: No.
Long answer: No, they're not.

Just buy a GoPro or similar if you want want a quality image with image stabilization.

Avatar
MattieKempy | 3 years ago
4 likes

I'm really sorry to be negative, road.cc, but this is a waste of your time and mine! 

Had you picked action cameras from between say 50-100 then we might have had a review worth watching but one for 6??

Come on - you're better than this!

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TheBillder replied to MattieKempy | 3 years ago
1 like

I'm not better than that.

The web is full of reviews of big name kit, but there's very little at this level. Quite interesting really, and the next price point up might just be right for people who want video that would be good enough for passing to the police for inaction but don't want to bore people with their gnarly rad snowboard nonsense.

More please, in lots of different product categories. Didoo shorts probably a high priority.

Avatar
Sriracha replied to TheBillder | 3 years ago
6 likes
TheBillder wrote:

for people who want video that would be good enough for passing to the police for inaction but don't want to bore people with their gnarly rad snowboard nonsense.

it's an important point - what do cyclists want an action cam for, and what qualities does that require?

I've argued elsewhere that a rendering a legible number plate is high on the list for cyclist, higher than cinematic IQ and frame rates. A fast shutter speed is necessary to freeze the subject motion, even though this comes at a cost to the other parameters. Give me a slightly noisy image and a pedestrian frame rate, but I want to read that plate.

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McVittees replied to MattieKempy | 2 years ago
0 likes

Agreed. " sub £30 cameras are crap" is hardly a surprise. 

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HoarseMann | 3 years ago
0 likes

These cheap cameras might produce a 1080p image - but it's usually upscaled from a much lower resolution sensor.

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Dnnnnnn | 3 years ago
8 likes

I was interested in the findings of this click-baity test - but it would have been much easier and quicker to absorb as text with links for the sample footage from each camera. Which I wouldn't have needed to watch anyway because from two minutes reading I'd have understood the key point, i.e. that they were all rubbish.

Maybe I'm just old-fashioned but I find text is so much more efficient than this sort of video.

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David9694 | 3 years ago
0 likes

I've got the AKASO EK7000 4K Sport Action Camera WiFi. £45 which looks a lot like the last one featured. The helmet mount and clear box gives you quite a chunky package, but there's something about it being seen.

Nice remote stop /start or shutter release button. WiFi function needs a bit more experimentation - I'm tending to remove the SD card to transfer to PC and charging up at the same time. 

good range of accessories like you got, picture is ok, takes a micro SD card, another Proprietary battery type (2 are supplied) and usb charger for the collection.  90 minutes life is claimed. If it has an audible way of telling you the battery is going when riding with it, I haven't heard it. 
 

 

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