I was wondering if anyone was using action cameras when they ride. I am debating on picking one up, but I am trying to figure out if they would be worth it or not. I am not looking to drop a ton of money on it, so any suggestions would be great. I was looking for something with stability control (kinda obvious). I know GoPros are great, but I think they are a little to much for the amount I will be using it
Thank you 
Hopefully this is in the correct category haha
I’ve had a gopro hero 3 and it lasted about 5 years. My replacement is going to be one of the sjcams from deal extreme probably.
I have had some experience in the same search over the past couple weeks, so I thought I would throw in my two cents. Similarly I didnt want to break the bank on a full on Hero, so I tried a couple knock offs.
Activeon CX from Best Buy comes with an extra battery and some basic attachments for 150$. Picture wasnt too bad I guess, but the sound was horrible. The only mic is in the front, and when in the case it only picked up wind or the chain guide and derailleur noise. If you are going to process your videos to play music instead, this may not be a bad option.
Last week I tried the Safari HD 2.0 from Henrys for 129$. It came with a boat load of accessories, some of them useful, some not so much - the handlebar mount was a POS, so I purchased the go-pro handlebar mount. Sound was a bit better. Full light the video was decent, but really bad in low light. Biking in the woods usually means a lot of canopy, mixed with an overcast day, the video results made me return that camera too.
I decided to double down the money and plop down 280$ on the hero 4 session (the little black cube). I have only had it a couple days now, but I think I am going to be happy with it. One may argue that the lack of a screen and a non-replaceable battery is a deterrent, but I like the phone app that controls it, and 2 hrs is plenty of record time for almost any given ride. Quality of the picture is pretty good, the sound is exponentially better. It also comes with a variety of recording quality - for exmple you can do 720 at 30/60/100 fps, and it does 1080 at 30/48/60fps. Because its small form factor, you dont need a bunch of connecting arms to angle it, just rotate the cube inside the cage. Less hardware to angle it means more stability. I havent tried it on the bars yet, but the helmet view has been good.
Hope this helps some.
In my experience stability is a huge problem for mountain biking. I used it on road, touring bike, and canoes all with great results, but not mountain bikes. Just too shaky. Most peoples footage is shit and unwatchable, including all of mine. There are a number of gyro stabilizers out there. I was watching some Moab videos that were perfectly smooth beautiful footage of fellas doing a technical dh run (Captain Ahab - totally recommend btw). But any of those that are any good are going to run you another few hundred bucks.
Got a cool mount for the top cap that makes for some good footage. …other people’s not mine.
Have to agree with @landandwater, it hard to get non shaky vid while riding on trails, handlebar mounts being the worst, helmet and chest mounts can get you some okay footage sometimes. I just have a cheapo vivitar that takes average quality footage. I usually just put it in a pocket and use it like a regular camera, works well that way.
Speaking of that, I use mine by setting it up to take photos every 10 or 15 seconds, mount it on my seat post facing backwards, and forget about it. Go home and pull a few good shots of your riding buddies.Shots like this
or this The potential is there if your riding buddies are cool enough. I donno about these fellers though.
The timer thing is a good tip for stills for sure. I mostly pull still shots from the video I shoot, then I can usually get just the right moment. Handheld is by far the best for non shaky video of course the hardest part is stopping riding to take the video in the first place!
You’ll get better quality shots from the camera when it is set to take stills. Video always has reduced quality because the image is compressed a lot more.
For anyone looking, I have a GoPro Hero4 Silver (I think, I’ll have to double check) that I am thinking of selling as I never use it and have only used it a few times.
I use an Ion Air ( you can get it at Walmart) and a SJ camera.
SJ4000 Review Here - http://fatbikerepublic.blogspot.ca/2015/08/xtreme-sport-sj4000-action-camera-cheap.html
I still use it, but sometimes when the humidity is high and I use the waterproof case there tends to be some steaming. I put a small silica jell pack inside the case and it seems to work. This is a nice little camera.
The Ion Air looks like a blue aluminum toilet paper tube, but much smaller. Waterproof as is without the need for other cases. My favorite helmet cam as it can attach to the side or top. No screen, but you get over that after using it for a while. It also vibrates when it is turned on so you don’t have to take off the helmet and look for the on light. Vibrates when turned off also.
My $0.03
I use an SJ4000 mounted on a full face—works pretty well although can be a bit shaky. You can fix in post but that’s not something I’ve tried out as most of mine have been stable enough without. I’ve tried on my regular shell and it’s much shakier, the weight and tightness of the full face helps a lot I found. I hear proper chest mounts are good as well, haven’t tried myself.
The SJ4000 itself is an incredible deal, by the way. Comes with many mounts and adapters, full 1080p, great colour, LCD on back, great reviews, and a fraction of the price of GoPro (last I checked).