UKC

Looking for a compact helmet camera to wear on the road bike. 

Suggestions welcome. Ideally budget end of the market.

Any camera will be a pain and feel pretty heavy on your helmet, I'd suggest putting it on the handlebars. 

Assuming it is for safety reasons rather than getting shots that you plan to watch back? Any GoPro or similar will have a wide enough view to capture everything going on in front of you.

How budget ? The GoPro session is a good option.

I've been told Aldi do a rear light combined with a camera - essentially a cheap version of this

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/rear-lights/?ea=4294625852

Seems a reasonable idea if you are getting pissed off with close passes, but whether the police will take any action is another matter

A word of caution:

https://road.cc/content/news/133135-did-michael-schumacher’s-helmet-cam-c...

My suggestion would be not to mount a camera on your helmet.  It worked for the Red Devils when John Noakes jumped with them but you tend to keep a fairly static body position when in freefall.  On a bike your head will (should) be much less stable and static.  Headcam footage where the shot swishes from side to side as the rider checks behind for the tailgating/close passing idiot is fairly useless. as well as being disorienting to watch.  (As captain paranoia points out, there are also possible safety concerns with having a shockproofed lump firmly attached to the sacrificial shell which is supposed to help protect your cranium in a crash.)

Handlebar mounting is a bit better, but having tried it myself I think you might be surprised how much you unconsciously move your bars to keep your bike upright, even on a smooth, straight road.  Better, but still not a very stable platform.  I'd like to try a mount that fits on the head tube, to eliminate the steering wobble, but haven't found such a thing yet.

I am currently experimenting with chest mounting, using a reasonably priced chest mount from Decathlon (who also sell reasonably priced sports cameras, though I've not tried any of them - but only because I already own a cheapy 1080p GoPro knockoff that I got from eBay or Amazon five or six years ago).  Arguably it's more discreet than a headcam - and doesn't make you look quite as daft as having a camera perched on your head IMO.  So far it seems to work OK, and has failed to injure or kill me when I took a fairly spectacular tumble yesterday out in the hills.

Bear in mind that the current generation of cameras have much better stabilisation than the older versions / cheap knock-offs, so handlebar shake could be reduced quite significantly. 

I had a play around with one of those Aldi rear light / camera combo's at christmas, didn't see any on-bike footage, but it is a very neat, sturdy little package.

I have a Veho MUVI NPNG on a K-Edge Go Big Pro handlebar mount.

Look at the Argos store on eBay for them - mine was about £130 at the time, but the price is pretty fluid.

I liked my Muvi. Small and light enough to not notice the difference on the helmet and on a breakaway bracket so you're not going to snap your neck off in a freak accident. Helmet mount makes much more sense to me as it records where you're looking. 

I only got rid as I couldnt be bothered editing the content. 

Thanks for all the replies, especially considering the risk of injury with a camera strapped to my helmet. I only want it from a safety perspective.

I have a GoPro at the moment so will give that a go. 

Quite like the idea of it being mounted on the head tube rather than the handle bars. Will have a play.

Does anyone use a non gopro style one mounted on the handelbars or stem? I'm looking for one with a loop function and there doesnt seem to be a lot out there that isnt quite expensive.

Yes, but then the wife can see which girls you've been eyeing up

I just delete the files unless I remember there being anything of note on them.

The Muvi K2 can be set to loop - http://www.veho-muvi.com/muvi_product/k2npng/

As it is, mine is set to record in 15min chunks and hasn't yet chewed through the memory card before the battery runs out.