Totally OT: spy camera testing in car

[deeaa]

A boring test video of me driving in my neighborhood last night.

Gotta say, these ten-buck keychain cameras really rock!
F_gYp0X15gM

[deeaa]

Here's an equally boring short clip during daytime (cycling to work as usual)
3thIIpv3Bm8

[Tig]

The cycling one wasn't boring at all, especially for us riders. My experience riding in snow is very limited, so that was cool, er, cold!
Here's a local group of riders who record their races and adventures on youtube... Pedalmashers (http://www.youtube.com/user/therealpedalmasher?blend=3&ob=5).

[poodlesrule]

Here's an equally boring short clip during daytime (cycling to work as usual)
3thIIpv3Bm8

Nice ride, pretty countryside, good roads.

Amusingly, it reminded me of when I play Tux Extreme Racer* on my veerrry slow laptop..!

*[where Tux navigates slalom gates down snowy mountains and score by catching herrings]

[deeaa]

The cycling one wasn't boring at all, especially for us riders. My experience riding in snow is very limited, so that was cool, er, cold!
Here's a local group of riders who record their races and adventures on youtube... Pedalmashers (http://www.youtube.com/user/therealpedalmasher?blend=3&ob=5).

Wow, it must be superb to cycle in that kinda desert environments. Lotsa free terrain/trails etc...here's no place except some rare trails that aren't completely filled with woods I think...there must be some but I don't know of those. I pretty much just cycle to work etc. for convenience's sake.

It's spring already so it's not cold at all, barely sub-zero...but the streets are uneven with hard ice, you know, during the day it melts already to a slush about 2" thick, and then when it gets dark it freezes into very uneven a surface filled with deep tire grooves and footprints etc...can be very hazardous to drive; especially if your front tire drops into a ready-made frozen tire groove it's bye bye pretty easily as you can't steer it just follows the groove. Also hard for car suspensions, the uneven icy roads.

[Spudman]

Here's an equally boring short clip during daytime (cycling to work as usual)
3thIIpv3Bm8


That's what I'm going to do with mine when the trails dry out.
What did you do, tape it to your helmet?

[deeaa]

The handlebar...the helmet cam moves too much. It'd need a really wide angle lens to work well on helmet.

[Tig]

Most riders I know mount theirs on the helmet since the handlebar tends to vibrate more.

I don't live anywhere near the open desert areas like in a few of the Pedalmasher videos. Those are some awesome epic rides, similar to what Spud and SVL get to enjoy.
My trails are in the trees, tight, twisty, rolling and between 10 and 20K loops.

[Spudman]

I'm still going to try this with a helmet mount. It should be a hoot.

[deeaa]

Yeah I guess if the cam has any stabilizer kinda thingy helmet works best...this has nothing like that, and when I tried the helmet it wobbled so much I got nauseous within ten seconds of watching...same even walking, no matter how stable I tried to keep it, it's unwatchable. I was actually quite surprised how stable the handlebar proved to be in comparison. It had sharp trembling but it doesn't screw up the image nearly as badly.

But yeah, should be completely different with a 'real' camera.

[bcdon]

Gotta say, these ten-buck keychain cameras really rock!

I've never heard of these low-cost cameras, do you have a link?

[Spudman]

I've never heard of these low-cost cameras, do you have a link?

Knock yourself (http://shop.ebay.com/i.html?_trkparms=65%253A1%257C66%253A2%257C39%253A 1&rt=nc&_nkw=keychain+spy+cam&_sticky=1&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_sop=15&_sc=1)out.

[bcdon]

Knock yourself (http://shop.ebay.com/i.html?_trkparms=65%253A1%257C66%253A2%257C39%253A 1&rt=nc&_nkw=keychain+spy+cam&_sticky=1&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_sop=15&_sc=1)out.

Thanks! It's amazing that they can sale these things so cheap. I'm sure the CMOS sensor isn't that great, but these little things have great hacking potential.

[Eric]

I'm impressed that you bike in ice like that. What sort of bike/tires do you use to navigate that crap?

[Spudman]

I'm impressed that you bike in ice like that. What sort of bike/tires do you use to navigate that crap?

I don't know about Deeaa, but I just use regular tires with the pressure down just a bit. I can ride through all but the heaviest slush that way. Ice is no problem. It's the wind chill that is the killer. Brrrr.

[deeaa]

Yeah, it depends on the type of snow, temperature and all that what is best. I use rather thin tire on the back and a studded tire in the front, not like race bike thin but regular touring tires, and I keep them quite hard all the time - more pressure in them than in my car wheels. Soft wide is good on snow and such, but here it's mostly either deep soft slush, and you want a thin hard wheel that can cut thru it to find a stable surface underneath, or just plain very hard ice, when you want some studs in the front.

I have only used studs for some 5 years now, used to never have those, but it does take some of the stress away from the work commuting, as now I can also brake with front wheel and it's safer.

Also these days I wear a helmet and rarely drive among the cars. Used to be in highschool I would just race with the cars downtown sans helmet or studded tires all winter long...usually won because on a bike I could just drive thru red lights whereas the cars had to stop :-)