I have the Olympus TG Tracker. It was a loop mode so you don’t run out of space on a card as it records over previous footage if needed. It’s waterproof as it sits and uses standard camera mounts. I got one refurbed off amazon for 180 and it looks brand new.

 

Mike,

Great question. Camera selection is dependent upon application. If I read right, you want something that is "permanently" affixed to the bike and recording at all times when you ride. This eliminates the GoPro right off the bat, and indicates you want a dash cam solution. The difference is, when power is applied to dash cam, it is recording always, fills up the SD card and then writes over the old files. In this manner if you have an incident, the camera will have already recorded the previous 2-3 hours or so of video for you to peruse on your computer by removing the SD cards. You can select the size of the video files. For example 5 min each or 10 min each.

Go to Amazon, search for Dash Cam and sort by prices from low to high. Get yourself a $25 dash cam and try it out. If you're happy with it, get a couple more, to have front/rear and a backup in case of damage or loss. Good luck! And keep us updated.

 

You can set a GoPro to record on a continuous loop.

I have a Hero 5, with a 64G card and it records 5 or so hours of 4K video.

My 2018 Softail also has a USB charging port. So I should be able to bar mount the camera and have it charge from the USB as I ride. Haven't tried that yet as it's still winter - but I will definitely try it when it warms up.

Battery life on the GoPro sucks when recording 4K. I'd only get around 1 hour from a battery....

 

And thanks to my go pro mount breaking, my camera just flew off my front fender and across three lanes of traffic to get run over.
I went back to get it and it still works so that’s pretty cool. Somehow it stopped recording before it happened so no footage.
It’s scraped up but held up pretty great but thinking I might add a tether to the rear of the camera just in case that happens again.

 

So, I don't have any pics handy. (Bike's at home, I'm at work. Too damn cold, even in Dallas.)

For the front camera, I used the little angle brackets that come with it, along with a hose clamp, to secure it on my Heritage to a bar that runs across the front.
The rear camera, also with a provided bracket, I used one of the license plate reflector screws to mount it just beside the plate.
As to the controller unit...ah, that's a pickle. I have bags, and as of now I can't really take them off if I wanted because the controller, speaker and the wire jumble are in there. Along with the controller for my LED lights, too, unfortunately. When the weather is nice enough (or sooner, if I shove my poker tables out of the way and bring the bike in the house), I want to try to figure out some way to relocate everything. I had bought a waterproof box from Amazon, with the intention of putting it on the rear fender, behind the license plate, but turns out that while the box would fit great there, it won't hold all the wires and units. I could get a bigger box, but I'm thinking that my best bet is likely to get as much of the wire under the seats and get just the controller units in the box. I have rubber grommets and the tools to proceed, but not really going to cut it alone without wire bundle relocation.

When (or if) I get to it, I'll document the whole thing and put it on my blog. Likely won't be in time to help you out. Soonest I'd likely get to it would be the last week of March when the wife is out of town for a trip to Morrocco. Maybe sooner, can't promise. On the header picture on this blog page of mine (https://twowheelsonebike.wordpress.c...ing-your-bike/) you can see the wires to the front and back camera, though the angle isn't really good enough to see the cameras themselves. I'm sure I have more pictures, but need to be at the house to go through them.

 

Thanks for the write up and answers to my questions. Your camera lense mounting locations and methods seem reaasoable and close to what I was imagining.
However, regarding the DVD module it seems it comes with a mounting bracket that it clips into (correct me if I'm wrong) that is intended to be mounted in a protected place.
I like the idea of a weatherproof box, but would like to find a place up in front where it would be easily avvailable but out of sight. I don't want to locate in the saddlebags for just the reasons you mentioned.
My bike has a USB port on the left side just below the Gas tank on the frame. With a USB spliter I can easily power both this system and my Phone.
I'm thinking possibly of using velcro to mount the DVD bracket, or a weatherproof box/bag, to the inside of my Windshield tucked down near the cutout area for the headlight. Hopefully all excess wiring can then be hidden under the tank and/or under the seat.
I expect the system to arive soon, but since I don't have it yet, can you tell me if there is enough wire lengths supplied to locate the DVD module up front.

BTW....It will warm up!!!!

Thanks again,

 

I can't recall specifically, as it was about 8 months ago I did the install. I can say that I never felt like there was any shortage of length available and that I have a nice, fat bundle of wires to manage! The system works great, I only had one early issue with it. There as a wreck right in front of me that my wife and I (two-up) barely avoided being involved in by my quick-thinking zoom-out-of-reach. When the police showed up, the driver at fault proclaiming it was the other guy's fault (it wasn't), I went to the bike to see if I could show him the footage. I found that it hadn't been recording for some reason! I changed the setup to always make the audible "Recording started" so that I'd know if it wasn't if I didn't hear it. Haven't had any problems since. I put a fat SD card in there for max loop ability. I mounted the little red "Save this file" button on the metal that is between the tank and the forks (that the windshield attaches to). Truth is, I should be checking the video more often to ensure that it's still all good. But I don't.... bad tech guy, bad!

Good luck with it. If I get some better pics, I'll let you know with a reply to this post.

 

I just posted a lengthly write up with pictures of my install on another thread. Please go to https://www.hdforums.com/forum/off-t...sh-cams-3.html if you want to read it.

 

Frank got me in gear to get some pics of my install. My pics and textual details are just below his post on the other thread. (Fortunately, I was able to ride to work today, so was able to get out in the parking lot and snap the pics.)

 

I added some comments below his comments on the other Thread.