Bullet Camera

It's a bit of a jiggle but you can work it. Will try to take some photos of the undersea area tomorrow

Hi Phil, don't suppose you could post the photo. I'm imterested as to where you squeezed the recorder unit in. I looked and the only space under my seat is further back st the moment which would stop me getting at it easily and might end up wet in bad weather. I have previously thought of using a small bag but had dismissed it as too difficult. Maybe I need to apply a few brain cells to a bag solution again.:confused:
 
Hi Phil, don't suppose you could post the photo. I'm imterested as to where you squeezed the recorder unit in. I looked and the only space under my seat is further back st the moment which would stop me getting at it easily and might end up wet in bad weather. I have previously thought of using a small bag but had dismissed it as too difficult. Maybe I need to apply a few brain cells to a bag solution again.:confused:

I fitted the Hex in the tail on the riders right hand side (wot I are pointing at) spare wiring going into the hidden space (to find the hidden space, you have to take off the rear racking and the silver plastic "furniture" that secures the seat.) the wiring takes longest with the hex. The rear camera wire is coiled down in there at the rear too. The power unit for the Innovv is self tapped to the rear mudguard under the bit that runs between the front & rear seats. I keep the DVR unit in a snap-loc plastic bag that is cut down and then re-sealed with tape around the wires. This doesn't make it waterproof big time, but it's better than nowt.

I can send you more info by email if you pm me your email address
 

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I have the INNOVV K1 system fitted front/rear on my bike and can heartily recommend it. Www.innovv.com you can buy direct from the manufacturer

A lot of good cameras out there, but they all seem both bulky and "visible". The camera heads on this unit are fully waterproof and they don't stand out at all. There is no requirement to take them off when you stop. The system records in HD and as there are 2 cameras, you get front/rear POV. It's all linked to GPS and if you prefer, there is an on/off switch rather than having the system running all the time the bike is powered.

You do, though, have to make or adapt some form of bracket for each camera (I can send a drawing of my brackets if you want them) the cameras have a standard "camera threaded hole" (1/4" whitworth?) on 3 sides

+1 for the K1. Fit and forget and great quality.
 
I fitted the Hex in the tail on the riders right hand side (wot I are pointing at) spare wiring going into the hidden space (to find the hidden space, you have to take off the rear racking and the silver plastic "furniture" that secures the seat.) the wiring takes longest with the hex. The rear camera wire is coiled down in there at the rear too. The power unit for the Innovv is self tapped to the rear mudguard under the bit that runs between the front & rear seats. I keep the DVR unit in a snap-loc plastic bag that is cut down and then re-sealed with tape around the wires. This doesn't make it waterproof big time, but it's better than nowt.

I can send you more info by email if you pm me your email address

Hi, thanks for the photos. I can see from them that perhaps I need to think about a slight adjustment to my hex ezcan wiring. I think if I lift all the silver plastic I can loop the bulk of the wires in the bit over the mudguard leaving space for a recorder unit as you have. It'll have to wait now though as I'm off to France soon and haven't time to dismantle the back end. Still something to fettle into place when I get back. TVM :D
 
Hi, thanks for the photos. I can see from them that perhaps I need to think about a slight adjustment to my hex ezcan wiring. I think if I lift all the silver plastic I can loop the bulk of the wires in the bit over the mudguard leaving space for a recorder unit as you have. It'll have to wait now though as I'm off to France soon and haven't time to dismantle the back end. Still something to fettle into place when I get back. TVM :D

A word of warning from my experience... have a hot air gun handy. In their wisdom, BMW see fit to drive the bolts in at about 4K foot/pounds with half a hundredweight of thread-lock paste on them. I BROKE two T40 sockets trying to get them out before I was advised to warm the bolts with a heat gun if they wouldn't loosen..
 
Fitted the Bike Bro today.

I ordered the handlebar manual control/manual capture switch, gps and vibration power unit.

Relatively straightforward, just a case of patience with the routing of the wires - using a thin tube as a guide (attaching the wires/connector to this) it was easy enough. The only panels that needed removing were the battery panel and the nearside lower tank plastic panel. I also lowered the licence plate holder to thread through the connector for the rear cam.

Most tricky for me in fact was working how the Velcro fastening worked for the manual control/capture switch :)

The control unit and power unit were an easy fit under the pillion seat.

I would attach photos of the install, but the only account I’ve ever used for this sort of thing is photobucket, and which (a) I think now limiting free links and (b) is asking for an old email for me to sign in. So if anyone has suggestions on that front let me know.

Some observations. First, on quality, wires and connectors look fair quality but the unit itself seem a bit insubstantial and cheaply made. The screen resolution on the unit is naff. Not that any of this matters to me, since for me it’s fit and forget, and take out the sd card as and when required.

On functionality, the vibration power supply seems to work like a dream, so pleased with that. And the manual control for on/off (if so desired) and the manual capture button appear to work as they should. However, I haven't been able to get the gps working (it has full line of sight), so have emailed Nortex on this.

The cams are very neat, and is one area where they perhaps have the advantage over the innov units. I have one sitting underneath the front headlight, to one side, and the other is under the seat, above the licence plate (both fitted using the supplied 3m sticky pads).

The software player (which you download) seems to do the job – it will play the file loops seamlessly, and I see that it stamps events (I need to play around with the G-sensitivity).

Wouldn’t be fair to take a view on cam quality just yet. It came set up with 720 * 480, and I’ve yet to try it in 1280 * 720, or played around with the brightness. Also, the cams need straightening up a little (the lens work on a swivel and lock system).

However, here's a taster of two unmarked police cars with blues and twos.

[video]https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B7fHozxWcphVWWNuNEhHTEtRemM/view?usp=sharing[/video]
 
To add, I fancy that even at 1280, the quality isn't gong to be that great - and not as good as the Innov K1. I think the benefits over the Innov are simply the cam, unit size, vibration power unit, and price (you'd have to add import duties when buying direct from the US). Yer takes yer choice...
 
To add, I fancy that even at 1280, the quality isn't gong to be that great - and not as good as the Innov K1. I think the benefits over the Innov are simply the cam, unit size, vibration power unit, and price (you'd have to add import duties when buying direct from the US). Yer takes yer choice...

I'm with Yofi. The cameras appear a bit wonky too?
 
I'm with Yofi. The cameras appear a bit wonky too?

Phil, as mentioned, they simply need straightening. They have a locking swivel mechanism that allows you to turn the lens. It was too late yesterday to get around to adjusting, as well as experimenting with settings. I'll get a fuller measure of the quality today, but my expectations are that it won't match the K1.

Anybody who wants the basic cam without the vibration power pack, gps and manual controller can pick one up on the slow boat from china for sixty quid. Don't go to nortex!
 
Interesting thread. Is it possible to 'split' the front and rear views when editing of are must they always be shown together
 
Yofi I couldn't tell from the video but when the cars are closer can you read their plates? Ultimately that's what I want from the camera. In the event of an incident I would want to provide the footage as evidence, if no plates can be read I imagine that makes life harder? You say you think the Inovv would be better quality footage, can you capture an image of a car 2-3 car lengths in front of you and maybe Phil can as well? It'd be interesting to see the difference if that's possible.
 
Author, if you look at the previous clip, at 0.20, you can see the plate clearly. This is on a 720 setting. As you’d expect it’s quite a bit clearer on 1080, which I’ve now tried. Note, there’s quite a bit of reduction in quality from the original to the clip I’ve posted (through google drive). There would be no problem in reading plates for a car and a bike travelling in opposite directions at 30 mph, and I would expect that the plate of a car heading directly towards a bike at speed could be read.

Comparing the 1080 quality to the clips I’ve seen of the Innovv, my early (by no means fully formed) thoughts are that they have similar saturation capabilities but that the Innovv has greater clarity, despite its evidently lower refresh rate. Also, there’s much more information being saved, since playback is a larger size. This might also explain the loss of detail when uploading through google drive etc (@MW – no you can’t unsplice the footage, the playback software is even more basic than is usual).

Would I buy the Innovv over the Bike Bro? Well yes, even overlooking the additional advantage of the Bike Bro's small cams and the vibration power unit (not keen on splicing into wires) - mainly because of the larger size of information being packed into each file (allowing larger size viewing on screen) and the impression of greater clarity. I would also note that the gps appears very weak on the Bike Bro – any loss of line of sight e.g. trees, and it seems to fail. (I have, however, read similar about the Innovv?). I did email Nortex on this: disappointingly, no response to date.

Not least, I’d buy the Innovv over the Bike Bro because the Nortex Bike Bro is just a ‘C6’ cam on which Nortex have (or have had) a branded splashscreen attached. Am I allowed to call out rip-offs on this forum? You can pick one up on ebay for 60 quid (without the manual controller, gps, and vibration power unit).

At 60 quid vs the 300 you’d pay for the Innovv after duties, the decision becomes more difficult. If I were after a fit and forget device, I might just plump for the C6, but only because I’ve not convinced from the footage I’ve seen that the Innovv justifies its price tag either. I have a blackvue cam in the car, and despite some criticisms of its video quality, it’s easily superior in daytime image quality to the innov (and of course the C6/Bike Bro) and has additional and/or better quality functionality. Have to say though, been quite impressed by the night footage for the Innovv.

Perhaps at 60 quid, the C6 is worth a swing whilst other cams come onto mkt?

PS: I see that some of the additional components that Nortex are bundling with the C6 are part of this offer, but which would appear to have a better quality processing unit (dual 1080).

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/Che...a35f06f2fbe1fcef-1502742229532-05253-VnYZvQVf
 
I need to update my last post to note that Nortex did I fact respond to my support request, but this had gone into my junk mail box. Indeed, was a very comprehensive and fully supportive response, including offer of immediate replacement of the gps box. So a big plus point if buying the package from them.

The gps is in fact working fine, although the software is a bit limited in that it doesn't appear to allow you to stamp the speed on the video output, but instead only take this from a very crudely performing 'dial' readout on the player.
 
Further update.

As I suspected on picking up my email, Chris from Nortex is a reader of these forums, and has sent me a very full consideration on aspects of my review, which I feel I need to convey. I'm sure Chris would feel content in my doing so.

Chris has informed that out that the versions of the camera being sold elsewhere are in fact copies/clones of the Bike Bro. In light of this, I must withdraw my comment about the Bike Bro being a 'rebranded' 'rip off', and would like to publicly apologise. Clearly, original equipment involves a significant design and production investment, and which will be factored into price. Chris is also keen to point out that the Bike Bro is available additional hardware and options not available on generic cameras and, importantly, their products are backed by a 12 month warranty and 7 days a week technical support. Also, they stock a full range of spares, and that repairs are carried out in-house at their UK factory.

For my part, I feel quite bad about this, but hope my posts go in some way to acknowledge my wrongs and put the record straight.
 
Based on this forum topic info. I have ordered a Bike Bro. On balance it seems to meet my needs especially not needing to connect to the can bus system and it's from a UK source. I'll post up after I've installed it and given it a test run.
 
Based on this forum topic info. I have ordered a Bike Bro. On balance it seems to meet my needs especially not needing to connect to the can bus system and it's from a UK source. I'll post up after I've installed it and given it a test run.

There are certainly things to be commended about the system, such as the vib power pack and the smallness of the cams, and the quality is good enough for the purpose intended. I would additionally note the technical and product support offered. I would also note that the gps now seems to work on most, possibly of my video segments (not sure why this didn't appear to be so at first).

To mention also, Chris tells me that the gps player (video playback software) is due to be released in the near future (he shared a screenshot with me). One aspect being addressed is the analogue/dial type speed indicator (will be digital) although I would still like to see an option to choose to have a mph stamp on the video itself.
 
Another update. I'd had the unit on and off a few times for various reasons, and upon a re-install last Saturday I found that the unit was firing up but then shutting down. Over the weekend I exchanged few emails with Chris from Nortex and we settled on the possibility being a fault with the wire for the manual controller. (Possibly I bent it on the reinstalls, though not sure). Chris sent out a new controller by first class mail, it was fitted, and solved the issue. Could have lived without the controller I suppose but one its main benefits is the reassurance it gives that the unit has switched on when the engine starts. (Have to say, impressed with the vibration power unit as well).

So first class support from Nortex!
 
Another update. I'd had the unit on and off a few times for various reasons, and upon a re-install last Saturday I found that the unit was firing up but then shutting down. Over the weekend I exchanged few emails with Chris from Nortex and we settled on the possibility being a fault with the wire for the manual controller. (Possibly I bent it on the reinstalls, though not sure). Chris sent out a new controller by first class mail, it was fitted, and solved the issue. Could have lived without the controller I suppose but one its main benefits is the reassurance it gives that the unit has switched on when the engine starts. (Have to say, impressed with the vibration power unit as well).

So first class support from Nortex!

All well here also Yofi. Nortek has updated my DVR today to increase the length of individual clips to typically 5 mins on D1 and 3 mins+ on HD. This makes viewing a trip with auto change to the next clip easier on the eye for whole trip viewing. For a dashboard/event camera system it makes a good job of being an action cam system.
 
All well here also Yofi. Nortek has updated my DVR today to increase the length of individual clips to typically 5 mins on D1 and 3 mins+ on HD. This makes viewing a trip with auto change to the next clip easier on the eye for whole trip viewing. For a dashboard/event camera system it makes a good job of being an action cam system.

Having nobbled my gps cable, Chris from Nortek has just sent out a replacement free of charge, and with postage paid! Following an email discussion, he's also had his engineer send me a specially prepared firmware update to increase the g-sensitivity threshold (I wanted to reduce the number of events being captured by road shocks/high speeds). Never known customer service like it!
 


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