More and more dashcam evidence is convicting traffic offenders and protecting vulnerable motorcyclists involved in SMIDSY crashes.

Riders have a few options:

• Riders can wear a helmet camera which even Queensland police recommend and most police use, although victorian police still believe it is illegal;
• They can wear an action camera on their body, but these are limited in vision and difficult to deploy for rear-enders; or
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• Permanent cameras can be mounted on and hardwired to the motorcycle.

The latter is becoming more popular, especially for commuters as they are a fixture, difficult to steal and will start recording as soon as you start the bike.

Basically they are a set-and-forget option … until you need them.

Then they supply looped intervals of recordings so you can easily find the bit you need.

Latest bike dashcam

A new dashcam with the easy-to-remember name “Model MCDV2HD-W2G” is available online in December for $320 and through some specialist installers.

Not that you will need a professional installer.

Installation is easy with a Smart Power module that connects directly to the battery and switches power to the dashcam automatically after the engine starts and switching off when it stops.

With more bikes now using CANBus (a simplified wiring loom) and not having easy access to accessory/ignition power, the Smart Power module solves this issue.

The unit consists of two small front and rear cameras which are permanently fitted and difficult to see on most big bikes.

The front camera is a full HD 1080P device with a Sony IMX323 sensor that has a low light facility while the rear camera is a HD 720P unit.

This new model has a weatherproof main unit (IP65) and, of course, weatherproof cameras (IP67).

One of the niftiest features is that it has built-in Wi-Fi so you access it from a smartphone app (iOS or Android).

That should make it easy to access recordings while out on the road.

It includes GPS included to automatically confirm time and location of an event. 

The handlebar controller is retained from previous models to allow the rider to save particular files in a simple-to-find format.

You won’t need to search through a large number of video files to find just the one or two events that were notable. Pressing the button saves a file with a different prefix to allow quick and easy sorting and location. 

Data storage is by Micro SD card up to 128GB.

Distributors Chipatronic recommend and supply Samsung cards when you order (SD cards cost extra and depend on the size you order.) 

Video files can be re-played using the smartphone app or the card can be connected to a Windows PC where the files can be accessed and viewed in the same way as any external storage device.

Files are saved in MOV format which can be played by most up to date media player software including Windows Media Player, Photos, VLC and others.

To be able to view the maps from the GPS data on PC the user will need to download a free software package.

Source: MotorbikeWriter.com