I heard about the RidEye camera through social media quite a long time ago. I then backed it through Kick Starter. This camera had a lot of promise so why has it taken me so long to write a review?
I have two GoPros, one for the front (Hero 3 Silver) and one for the rear (Hero 1). To be honest, when I finally received the camera, I wasn't sure if I wanted it anymore.
However, I installed it.
To give a fair comparison, I had them pretty much side by side. Here is some video of the comparison:
The first two things you notice are the blue hue and the vibration in the RidEye. It was raining, hence the crash. Yet the RidEye shows the sky as being blue. The mount is horrible. I did receive the newer mount but did not ever get a chance to test it.
The RidEye was then mounted on the rear of the bike. I removed the existing mount. As I had not ordered a GoPro mount (pretty silly on my behalf) I used a K-Edge mount instead.
It is mounted upside down, however the RidEye is smart enough to record upside down so the footage appears the right way up when viewing it on your computer. Pretty damn cool!!
The RidEye is designed to be like a video "black box". If it detects a knock, it will save the footage. The camera records and will not stop when the internal memory card (not replaceable or able to upgrade) is full. It simply overwrites the oldest footage. The detection of a knock (or pressing the on/off button) changes the file name so it will not ever be overwritten. As I had a 32GB model, this was never really a problem for me.
It also has fantastic battery life. My tests (at 720) gave me a consistent 8.5 hours recording time. My GoPro 3 is lucky to last 4 hours with the extra battery attached.
So why is the RidEye no longer being used? I certainly love the camera. However, my camera died. I had finished a group ride and wanted to use the footage to create a video but discovered the camera refused to "power" on. There is power as the blue LED works but you need it to turn red to access footage, etc. I have contacted Cedric and he is happy to replace it. I will be shipping it back to him. However I feel this camera works wonderfully as long as it never rains. The microphone holes above the lens appear to be a poor design. I have heard quite a few reports of water ingression and I believe water has killed my camera.
So I'll be sticking with the GoPros unless I can work out a way to waterproof the RidEye.
www.rideye.com for more information or to purchase.
