# Need advice about a Helmet cam



## ARTEMISBLOSSOM (Apr 3, 2011)

My friends and I are making a once in a lifetime (probably) trip this summer to North Dakota with our horses and plan on staying there a couple of weeks and trail ride. We would like to purchase helmet cams to video some of the rides and beautiful scenery. Have any of you ridden with helmet cams? What kind do you recommend ? We have no idea on what to get or even what features to look for other than it being waterproof


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## Brighteyes (Mar 8, 2009)

I helmet cam with a GoPro Hero3 Silver Edition. I adore it. Great video quality, light, tiny, versatile, tough, and waterproof as long as it's inside the housing. 

Here's a recent video:






(HD is a must!)


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## Darrin (Jul 11, 2011)

Don't own a helmet cam but have watched a lot of videos on the web filmed by them. I would say by far the best quality comes from Go Pro's.


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## phantomhorse13 (Feb 18, 2011)

I have a GoPro Hero2 and love it. Waterproof in the housing and so far branch-proof as well!

My ride last weekend:


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## michaelvanessa (Apr 25, 2012)

*thank you for shareing your pictures*



phantomhorse13 said:


> I have a GoPro Hero2 and love it. Waterproof in the housing and so far branch-proof as well!
> 
> My ride last weekend:
> 
> Foxcatcher 50 miler 2014 - YouTube


thank you for shareing your pictures.


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## Painted Horse (Dec 29, 2006)

GoPro are probably top of the line for the most advanced features. But they are a lot of new comers to the the Action Camera market that less money. You rarely find a GoPro on sale or discounted. But you can find the competitors on sale.

So on different note. What's the best place to mount a GoPro. Helmet, Chest Straps, or maybe on a Stick? I don't all my photos of me with a Go Pro stuck on my head. Maybe the chest strap would make the camera less noticeable. Especially in cooler weather where I'd have some heavier clothing. T-shirt weather it would be as noticable as the helmet mount. A stick mount lets you turn it other directions to video behind or to the side, But does it stay stable or show lots of shaking?

Next question. do you leave it record the whole day? Just bring multiple batteries and memory cards and just change them at rest stops. Once you get home you edit out the boring stuff. If you filled a 64gb memory card, every ride, It wouldn't take long to fill a hard drive. So you would have to delete a lot of it and only keep the stuff you considered good.

And the next question, How are you guys turning yours on/off. Do you use the remote, your iPhone GoPro app or just reach up and push the button with your finger.?

Just buying the camera is the first of many decisions to make


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## The Equestrian vagabond (Mar 14, 2014)

I use an older model GoPro, they're excellent. I've made a number of ride videos from them - here's one from the Moab Utah ride:

(here's the embed code, can I embed it?)

```
[MEDIA=youtube]KsWhjtl4DVc[/MEDIA]
```
or the link:

```
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KsWhjtl4DVc
```
(nope, those didn't work, but you can copy n paste!)


Painted Horse, mounting the GoPro on your head is probably your best bet for stability, unless you can ride one-handed and hold the GoPro on a stick - Dave W makes his fun ride videos like this. The GoPro is not too difficult to slip out of its mount on your helmet, if you want to hold it in your hand.

I have one big memory card (32 gigs) that I'll use for one 8ish hour endurance ride, and I carry about 4 batteries - a charged battery will last 2 to 2 1/2 hours. As for running the camera, they have a handy-dandy beeping system to tell you when you've turned it on and off (so you don't have to take off your helmet and look at it), and you WILL want to turn it on and off. The shorter the clips you take, the much more easier it will be for editing - easier and faster on your computer and software! I wait for pretty or different things along the trail and will take 30 second to 1 minute clips. Occassionally I'll let it run for a couple of minutes, but again the more of those you do, the huge-r the size of your clips, and the slower your computer/software will run when you load them into a program and start manipulating them. You'll also find it takes a LONG TIME to go back and look at all the footage you've taken! And you'll want to store your video clips on an external hard drive (unless you have lots of space on your computer) because they take up a lot of space, fast.

and yes, I reach up and turn the camera on and off by the buttons, listening to the beeping to confirm I'm doing it right.

the videos are a lot of fun to put together. it's like a giant puzzle with many pieces that will fit together a thousand ways. hope you get one and have fun with it!


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## phantomhorse13 (Feb 18, 2011)

The Equestrian vagabond said:


> (here's the embed code, can I embed it?)



Nope. Way to get it to show up is cut and paste the "share" link youtube gives you, then use the "link" option (globe with infinity sign, about halfway across the top of the text box you type into) and paste it there.

Then it comes out like this:


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## phantomhorse13 (Feb 18, 2011)

And I use my helmetcam in the same way EV does.

Yes, you certainly can't miss it on my helmet in pictures (or people seeing me go by), but that doesn't bother me. No weirder looking than the tights we wear. :lol:

It took me a little bit to adjust to the beeps to know what it was doing when, but not too bad. I too tend to take 30 second to 2 minute clips as something interesting comes up or happens, as its much easier to edit later. Also means I can generally get thru an entire 50 miler with only a single battery!


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## Painted Horse (Dec 29, 2006)

I'm probably going to try both the chest mount and hat mount. (sorry ladies, I just don't wear a helmet that often.) So I'll have to try the velcro or stretchy stuff around my cowboy hat, As I don't think the double stick tape is going to stick to felt hat.

A chest mount might work just fine, Just let it peek out of the V of my vest or coat. I know I have a swivel head, So the chest mount might minimize all the movement that a camera mounted on my head would catch. I'll try both and see which is more stable. Problem with the chest mount, is I think it would pick up all my huffin and puffin as I breath. I know my cannon hand held point and shoot camera did.

I bought a GoPro 3+ that arrived this week and now I'm just waiting on the mounts and accessories I ordered to show.

This video was shot with my hand held in Hop Valley of Zion National Park


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## The Equestrian vagabond (Mar 14, 2014)

thanks for the youtube link tip phantomhorse!


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## gunslinger (Sep 17, 2011)

You guys are starting to make me want one.....but I don't wear no stinking helmet....(satire ladies, satire)

Do they make a cowboy hat mount?

Any one use one without a helmet mount?


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## phantomhorse13 (Feb 18, 2011)

Painted Horse said:


> So I'll have to try the velcro or stretchy stuff around my cowboy hat, As I don't think the double stick tape is going to stick to felt hat.


Mine isn't held on with tape or velcro. :shock: Holy moly with the way I sometimes use my helmet as a battering ram in branches, I would likely have lost the camera a long time ago! 

My GoPro came with a harness of sorts meant to go around a helmet. Its got a big circular strap that goes around the outside of the helmet then another strap goes from the base of the camera mount straight over the top of the helmet and attaches to the back of the band. The straps are something like stretchy neoprene, with a bunch of "tacky" strips on the backside to help hold the helmet. Not sure if it would slip on felt or not.

Looks like this (camera is out in the pic, was in the truck charging):










Here you can see the strap that goes around the outside:


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## churumbeque (Dec 20, 2009)

I think the video is more suited for action like competing or training, not strolling. I would rather have still shots for a long trail ride and scenery.


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## phantomhorse13 (Feb 18, 2011)

churumbeque said:


> I would rather have still shots for a long trail ride and scenery.


I carry a normal camera with me on rides too, because I agree nothing beats a lovely scenery shot and the fisheye lens of the helmetcam isn't as nice for that.


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## MysticTrev (Oct 2, 2013)

I agree with the majority here. GoPro cameras! I just bought the GoPro Hero 3 White Edition. I have never used a GoPro before hand but the reviews on them were AMAZING and I looked at quiet a few videos made with them and all of them were beautiful!


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## gary78bronco (Jan 4, 2012)

Painted Horse said:


> I'm probably going to try both the chest mount and hat mount. (sorry ladies, I just don't wear a helmet that often.) So I'll have to try the velcro or stretchy stuff around my cowboy hat, As I don't think the double stick tape is going to stick to felt hat.
> 
> A chest mount might work just fine, Just let it peek out of the V of my vest or coat. I know I have a swivel head, So the chest mount might minimize all the movement that a camera mounted on my head would catch. I'll try both and see which is more stable. Problem with the chest mount, is I think it would pick up all my huffin and puffin as I breath. I know my cannon hand held point and shoot camera did.
> 
> ...



I need to make it out so some of the spots you go. Utah has a lots of different types of scenery.


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## trailhorserider (Oct 13, 2009)

I really want to get a helmet cam. Your guy's videos are awesome!

In the fall I go out and call elk and I sometimes see some really awesome bulls but it's hard to get pictures of them. And my hand-held camera is all herky-jerky when I try to get video on horseback.

Plus I am riding a green horse right now and I would love to be able to share our adventures with my family (because they don't ride). So a helmet cam would be really awesome for sharing my rides and wildlife encounters.


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## Painted Horse (Dec 29, 2006)

My experience with elastic type bands around my cowboy hat, ( from using those small head lamp LED lights on night rides) is that they crush the felt hat. After a few rides your hat is misshapped.

Plus I worry about how motion sick I will make anybody trying to watch the video, Because I'm pretty sure my head is always swiveling around to see everything around me.

So I'm going to start with the chest harness and experiment with it first. I think my chest would be more stable, less movement than the top of my hat.


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## tim62988 (Aug 30, 2012)

I know the go-pros are used a lot while people snowmobile so they should hold up just fine for horseback rides.

what I think could be a neat view would be rig up a mount right between the horse's ears on the top of the bridle

I'm not sure if it conserves battery or not but you can also set some of the go-pro's to take a pic every XX seconds


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