Tachyon XC, Helmet Camera Pt. 2

So I've had the Tachyon XC, Helmet Camera for a month and done some modest testing (the Northeastern US has been dealing with some snow). Two weeks ago I setup the camera for medium resolution and went out for a ride. I attached it atop my helmet and despite the make-shift helmet mount the camera worked great! It pretty much stayed put and followed wherever I looked. The medium res. wasn't too bad and the voice recording actually worked pretty well (big surprise). I've determined that I really don't like it on the helmet too much as I am rather twitchy and I'm looking all over the place. The next test will be to attach it to the handle bars and see how well that works. The final test will be attached to the frame. I'm now in the process of finding some open source video editing software that I can use to edit the half hour files (I recorded 2 hours worth of a 4 hour ride). I've had no trouble reading the files off the SD card and playing them on my Linux boxes. So far I am pleased with the camera. It's well worth the money and it works great!

Tachyon XC, Helmet Camera

Recently, while hunting down further information for the CJBC's Longest Day event, I found a rather neat video someone took of the 2009 Longest Day. The video came out pretty good but I felt it didn't fully capture the feeling of the Longest Day ride. I'm not some great photographer but there are certain things that standout on do this ride, such as: starting the ride before dawn, the early morning fog, some of the views on the early climbs and descents. The tunnel in Andover (you also need sound to go with this part ;-) and the list goes on. So anyway, I set out to see what was available for filming. I started with helmet cams and I found the Tachyon XC after reading a few reviews. The Tachyon was a bit more expensive but the overall quality was much better and the reviews were very positive. The available videos showed pretty good video quality. I still have some questions and soon I'll have some answers as I purchased a unit. :-)

So the other day my Tachyon XC and my Class 6 - 4G SD cards (x2) arrived. The XC can be purchased with a 32G SD card which is good for 16 hours of 640x480 @ 26fps with compression (H setting) video (up to 64 hours at the lowest quality 320x240 @15fps) but that card costs as much as as the camera itself. The camera is a nice small camera about the size of one of the double-A battery 2-4 Watt head lamps that are shown in the magazines. It's light but solid and comes with 3 different mounts. I've been playing with the side mount and it fits on the right side. I've been able to attach it to a belt, it has a slot for that, which fits around my hips. I'll need to work out how to attach it to my helmet and then my bike. For my helmet I would prefer it on my left side. I'll have to try it out on the top of my helmet, on the side, on the handle bars and on the frame. I don't have the handle bar mount but I think I have something that will work as well.

So far I like what I've seen, basically I've simply attached the camera to me and walked around with it. I set it to the best quality (640x480 - 30 fps with best compression), I'll give medium (320x240) a try later and see how that looks. My first test was a simple test, in my well lit computer room I held it against my chest and slowly spin around. I then plugged the camera into my server (running Linux) and copied the avi file over to the machine. Once on the server the avi played fine. So I expect that it will work with just about any modern OS. In fact I was surprised at how smooth the avi displayed. This camera works better than some of the other small hand held digital cameras I have. I didn't test the sound because while riding I doubt the sound would be very good (expect a lot of wind). Oh, in case your wondering, my other cameras wouldn't attach to anything very nicely and they eat batteries in a few short minutes. The XC is rated for several hours with the appropriate batteries (2 AA batteries). Next I tried the XC outside, during the day. In sun it works well but when I went inside my house the lack of direct sun light (and any inside lighting) caused the picture to be too dark to really see (still not a problem but good to know). I later tried it at night but it doesn't pick up much (I expected that). Oddly enough some of the lights the camera did pick up at night had an odd blue tint to them. As soon as I get some clear roads I'll do a night time test run. I have some wonderful roads that appear pitch black. I'd like to see how well it picks up the road with my MiNewt X2 lights.

Longest Day update

I've finally gotten my hands on the Longest Day information (the club has a small file box with the information. I now understand my role as chairperson a little better and what I need to get done soon. It also has information dating back to 1996 (Cool!) so further updates are in order to the web pages. As I'm busy with a bunch of things it may take me a couple of weeks to get that extra info on the pages.

The Longest Day meeting are set for the the East Brunswick Public Library on Tuesday April 13^th and Thursday May 18^th. I wasn't too happy with the dates but it was all that was open and Metuchen's library has broken links to their reservation pages (argh!).

As I've said before I'm ordering the Tachyon XC helmet camera. I figure if I start playing now I'll have it ready for the Longest Day. :-).

Longest Day 2010

As I've said before, I am the CJBC's Longest Day Event chairperson. So far I've started pulling together my check list of things to do and the one concrete thing I've completed (other that the web page) is the event date. It is: Saturday, June 12^th, 2010. I have to make sure none of the costs have risen but I'm still expecting the cost of the event as it was last year $35. The cost of a 2010 CJBC membership is $13 for the electronic membership (email newsletter). I think $48 for a double century is not bad! :-) Finally I've added a twitter feed: LongestDayRide. Let's face it it's a great way to get quick updates and I'll have plenty of those to come.

Longest Day 2010

Yes, I know it's still January. I only managed my first ride in a month last Saturday (Jan. 16^th). I will admit it felt great to be back on the bike and the 50F temperatures didn't hurt either. :-)

So starting in 2010, I am the newest Longest Day chairperson. Fran Sanchez, who did a wonderful job and set high standards (eep!) has turned it over to me. She has done me a great favor by sharing with me a lot of what needs to be done in preparation for the Longest Day (it's a lot of work). I hope I'm up for it. Anyway, starting some time in September 2009 I started working on the new format for my Longest Day page. I also kept a copy of the old page. That page won't be updated any longer. So far I've gone nuts. I've added a history section, an updates section, slide show, SAG Guidelines, Hand positions, Calendar, and a Poem by one of the original Longest Day riders. Today's Longest Day is a far cry from the first Longest Day back in 1980. We've certainly learned a lot since then. :-)