Now that video is mandatory for pca racing, any suggestions for a good cheap HD camera without too many bells and whistles, preferably 2-lens for front and rear?

Already have Solo (non-DL) for predictive lap timing. Just need a cheap camera to satisfy pca rules and to review video occasionally. I see many under $50 on ebay -- wondering if they are all crap.

Or shall I stop fooling around and just go full retard with Aim MXL2 + SmartyCamHD combo?

This for SPB, if it matters.

 

Go full retard! Will give you Black Friday pricing!

 

I'd say go all in too.

If you choose not to, I think some of the cheap cameras have been ok for folks. Nikon just released a camera in the Go Pro form factor that looks very cool, but not cheap (~$500). I'd also check out something like the Virb.

 

Look at some of the HD dash cams, like the RoadHawk HD or Keihan.
I have also had good luck with the Contour Roam cameras, simple and easy to use with reasonable pricing. Battery lasts very well since there is no display.

Greg

 

Dashcams are good and cheap. As long as they're hardwired and they overwrite the old video with new, you should be set.

I use this company's cards in all the equipment I sell. https://www.amazon.com/Transcend-Dri...ts.gallery.181

$90, what can go wrong?

 

If you have no use for the video yourself, get two used GoPro Heros, preferably the old non-HD kind as they are bullet proof and batteries last forever. Nothing fancy - you just have to remember to turn them on.

 

Anyone tried this one? Dual lens (front/rear), auto on/off by plugging power plug in/out, auto cycle recording so never run out of memory, 32GB max. $45 (!)

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Full-HD-1080...-/111671624368

 

The big problem with all these cheap cameras is that the race car environment is VERY harsh. Vibration, harshness, rain, dirt, debris all conspire to cause these (and often even GoPros) to shake apart, first intermittently not recording, then nothing at all. You can buy a lot of cheap cameras replacing them every few races, though...

 

Where is GaryR when you need him? He has experimented with every camera there is. He now has Smarty HD FWIW.
Jerry @ Austin Motorsport is the man so contact him for great advice.
http://austinmotorsportsllc.com/

 

I have been using this for two seasons in my spec box ($64). I have one permanently mounted on my dash under the rear view. It's hard wired. The thing is bullet proof and actually takes great video (I also have one in each of my street cars too). The beauty is that you never have to touch it (I can't remember how many times I've forgotten to turn on my contour HD). It powers up automatically, and with a high capacity card can capture all the video from a race weekend (including when you're cruising through the paddock, or parked in the grid). it records in short (3-5 min) segments, so it's easy to grab a file when needed. Also, it has g-sensor to hard-record files if there is an incident (or you can hit the center button to permanently store that file, so it doesn't get overridden --- especially useful when streak gives you the finger and you want to capture it for posterity). I've been very pleased, so much so that I rarely use my contour HD any more.

https://www.amazon.com/AUTO-VOX-G-se...o+vox+dash+cam

 

Here is my rule of thumb:
Every time (and I mean every time) I went cheap on something I regretted it later and then threw the cheap stuff away (or sold it at a loss) and then bought what I should have bought in the first place.
If Peter offers you "Black Friday" pricing I'd say go for it

 

Can you pls explain what this means? How many hours of HD video does it fit on the max 32GB card?

Does the g-sensor get triggered by hard braking/cornering during a race so it hard-records everything, or maybe this doesn't matter since you can fit the whole weekend on a single card?

Thx for the suggestion!

 

At the same time, always and indiscriminately buying the most expensive option is far from optimal, IMO. There are probably many the cases where you didn't buy the most expensive option and things turned out ok -- you just file them under "reasonable" as opposed to "cheap". They get moved to the "cheap" folder only when they break.

 

Most of these things don't need a big card because they constantly overwrite the oldest footage.

When there is an incident, all you need are the last few minutes of footage before and during impact. No problem, as long as these things shut themselves off, somebody shuts them off or they have enough card to keep going until the car returns to the paddock.

 

how about a Gen 1 (non HD) smartycam? durable and should be able to find one fairly cheap another plus if you are interested in video it will also be able to hook up to the Solo for data overlay...