[Jibbs9]

Heres the preliminary test run I made of my helmet mount for the Contour Roam 2. I think the angle is good, but personally I'd like to have a little bit more of the instrumentation visible. Last night after I took this I switched the settings on the camera to capture in 'tall hd' (1280x960) and swapped the flush mount for the Roam with the 360 degree rotation mount, so I should never have a problem with the vertical angle again. I took it out last night again to test that angle and its just about spot on what I want. Didnt upload that though because its night so all you can see is a tiny circle of road. But really, I didnt upload it because I did something really embarrassing in the middle of it. (Traffic light at the top of a steep hill, three guesses lol).

Everyone can make fun of how bad I am at riding now! I've got alot to learn. I only made two really irritating mistakes in this video, which were lugging the engine around a culdesac (which I could have corrected I guess, I was just too lazy) and almost stalling shortly thereafter from turning right at a stopsign.

The roam itself is a fantastic camera. Very simple, very easy to turn on and off with the slider. Weighs nothing. Only gripe is that it doesnt have an external mic jack. The Contour+2 does but its $200 more. I'm looking around for a small portable recorder to wear inside my jacket to record with.

This video looks random and jerky in some places, that isnt a problem with the camera. Its YouTube trying to fix that my video 'looked shaky'. Apparently they do that by just smashing frames together to make it look smoother or some crap but it really just makes it look like I'm having latency issues in real life.

 

[CBR_Dave]

I've got the Countor Roam (1), and on my Shoei X-12 I get the a fair amount of the side of my helmet in the shot, even on HD, where the viewing angle is "narrowest".

How did you avoid the helmet getting in the shot?

Did you mount it on your helmet?

Dave

 

[Jibbs9]

The camera is mounted far enough forward that it actually points a little bit across my line of sight instead of straight forward. So if you mount it forward far enough you get less helmet in the camera


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[Jibbs9]

Here's a side shot

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[spdklls]

I had trouble getting my Contour Roam just where i wanted it too...ended up settling on having it on a Ram ball clutch mount. Two gripes I do have with the roam..one is it only lasts 2.5 hours max..no matter what resolution it records in..really sucks when you take a 5 hour ride and want to record it all.

Two..even after the camera shuts off after 2.5 hours..when I go to download the video..its been divided into 2 -3 separate clips instead of one single solid video...that has pissed me off from day one and still bugs the $hit out of me even today when I record with it.

the video below are some different places I tried placing the Roam when I first got it

the video below shows the ContourRoam on the Ram clutch mount where I put it now on rides

 

[Jibbs9]

The first place I tried mounting it was on the tank, but it ended up annoying me that I could mostly just see the sky and no really so much of the road. Like I said and put the picture up of, if you mount it just past the point on your helmet where it starts to curve back to the nose, you can get an angle where it doesnt show much helmet at all. I didnt think about it but those pictures are actually taken of where my helmet mount is NOW, which is actually not *precisely* the same place it was in the video. I had originally put the profile mount on my helmet but I wanted it angled a little bit more downward, so I took the profile mount off and put the 360 one on. It is more or less mounted in the same place, but might be different by a millimeter or two. I took a video with it last night and loved it, and will put up a daytime video of it in the next few days when it isnt 28 degrees when I get home from work with a windchill of 19. If youve ever seen any of RidingWithTom's videos on youtube, the camera angle is very similar to those. Since I use my recordings as much to critique my own riding as I do for enjoyment, I like to be able to see my hands on the bars too. I like the side-helmet cam, but yeah, it can be frustrating until you get the angle figured out to where a whole half of your screen isnt the side of your head

I also find that when mounting at this angle I have to rotate the lens about 5 degrees to level it out, which is no big deal thanks to the camera. I havent recorded longer than about 20 minutes with mine yet so I cant speak to the battery life but the 2.5 hours is kind of disappointing. I wonder if you could rig a usb charger to your bike somehow and just run with it plugged in lol

 

[CBR_Dave]

I also find that when mounting at this angle I have to rotate the lens about 5 degrees to level it out, which is no big deal thanks to the camera.

Thanks for all the info! I have mine mounted a bit further back for a more straight on view, and its not too bad, only clips a bit, and I dont mind it too much, especially with my dark tint shield/visor. Using the rotating mount made it too easy to get the angle right. I might tily mine down a little more.

I also had to rotate mine to get it level...really annoyed after my first go...the world was slanting badly LOL. Then I remembered the sweet laser level and aligned it with the bricks on the house and all set!

Attached is a screen shot of my view out in the mid-north of South Australia.

Dave

 

[CBR_Dave]

I had trouble getting my Contour Roam just where i wanted it too...ended up settling on having it on a Ram ball clutch mount.

Cheers, I'd like a bike view perspective, might have to check that out.

Dave

 

[Jibbs9]

Thats a good angle IMO Dave, definitely not enough helmet to be obtrusive and you can still see whats ahead at about 11-oclock pretty well. Also, I'm jealous of that road. I wish we had anything that straight and empty here. You have to go out west to get roads like that in the US

 

[spdklls]

I havent recorded longer than about 20 minutes with mine yet so I cant speak to the battery life but the 2.5 hours is kind of disappointing. I wonder if you could rig a usb charger to your bike somehow and just run with it plugged in lol

Roam website says you can buy a car charger for the Roam and plug it in while recording and it does extend recording time A LITTLE LONGER but the roam website wont say how much or even guesstimate...I did end up buying the roam car charger ($29.99 yikes) but havent tried it yet..I will add here that the website states you HAVE to use the Roam car charger in order for this work and not any other charger...why, I have no idea..maybe they just say that to increase sales and profits?

And when I mounted the Roam on my helmet..the closer towards the front I got, the more the Roam pointed towards the side rather than straight ahead..guess it depends on the make/style and shape of your helmet..plus when I removed the 3m tape and mount to change position one time..it pulled a chunk of the decal off the side of my helmet along with it..lol...

 

[spdklls]

Cheers, I'd like a bike view perspective, might have to check that out.

Dave

the ram clutch mount perspective would actually be the bottom youtube video I posted above a few posts earlier...

the top video one is of other places I tried placing the roam first..including various places on my helmet

 

[Jibbs9]

Yeah I had a bit of difficulty getting the profile mount off my helmet when I put the 360 mount on. I ended up tugging on it til one tiny corner released, then shimmying it off with a flathead screwdriver. No damage to the helmet, thank god. Since my helmet has a graphic it would look REALLY retarded with a big hunk of it missing lol.

But at least we know the mounts mean business, right? I dont feel like theres much danger of this thing flying off my head.

 

[SDM]

Old post I know, but I got a great deal on a contourroam1 I have been doing videos of my rides, they came out okay, found out through a little research that you can update the original contour with the contour2 .bin file, gives you 720P at 60 FPS what a major difference. So far havent filmed anything exciting other then the crazy a** traffic we have here in Philippines.

I started with the side mount on my helmet but kept getting the front of my helmet in it so i moved it to the top of my helmet, gives a much better view.