Helmet mounted personal rear view camera/display?

[pugsley]

Just came across this new product. It looks like it is mainly targeting motorcyclist but is also for cyclists. It’s a small wide angle camera and a micro display that mounts to the back and front of the helmet. Can’t figure out if it is something worth getting. Anyone heard of this thing? Any comments on it’s usefulness?

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/etobias/ilook360-a-personal-electronic-rear-view-vision-sy

 

[doolols]

It's only got a $2,000 towards its start-up capital of $45,000, so it might be a while until it comes to market. I can't personally understand why, as a cyclist, I'd need to know what's going on behind me, TBH.

 

[Parera]

I hate kickstarter. Hate. Hate. Hate.

The worst are the people that ask $1000 so they can blog/make art/do "research/etc about hiking the PCT or bike touring the California coast. You know, the crap us normal people do for vacation.

 

[ultimobici]

I hate kickstarter. Hate. Hate. Hate.

The worst are the people that ask $1000 so they can blog/make art/do "research/etc about hiking the PCT or bike touring the California coast. You know, the crap us normal people do for vacation.

LOL, couldn't agree more!

 

[ggusta]

I am sticking with my $15 bar plug mirror until further notice.

 

[ElChingon]

I'm sticking with looking over my shoulder...

 

[on3m@n@rmy]

I'm sticking with looking over my shoulder...

bingo. me too

 

[Fatclimber]

There's already a couple of other options that are much closer to being on the market. The Owl:

http://www.theowl360.com/

And also the Cerevellum:

http://www.cerevellum.com/#/home

I'm pretty interested in one of these myself. I'm currently living in an area where drivers aren't accustomed to cyclists on the road. Couple that with a lot of truckers and 3' of shoulder to work with and it can get a little sketchy. Looking over my shoulder is great but always creates a little instability, plus I don't do it as often as I should. I used a helmet mirror years ago but they jiggle too dam much and you also have to change your focus to something that's 6" from your eye(which I don't like about the op's product).

The Cerevellum is the only one of the 3 that mentions image stabilization, which seems like a big factor to me. It also continually records the last 10 minutes so if you do get smacked by a car, there is evidence as to what happened.

This may be excessive nonsense to many, but increased security and awareness is good. I spend an overwhelming majority of time riding by myself and could appreciate one of these products. Occasionally I'll get an oversized load coming up behind me with no lead car. Unless you happen to look back at the right time, you don't see it until it's beside you. It would be nice if the prices were lower.

I have never tried the barplug variety but may have to.

 

[avanti]

I'm seriously thinking of buying this frame mounted mirror:
http://sheldonbrown.com/harris/mirrors.html
Has anyone tried it?

 

[pugsley]

I think the main difference with the iLook360.com thing is that the whole thing is attached to your helmet / head. So I would think that would almost eliminate all the jiggling that you would have trying to look at something like a mirror bolted to your bike. Kind of like when you see these guys with helmet mounted cameras looking back at themselves. The whole thing moves together, no jiggling. There is a video that shows the actual display image, its better than I thought it would be. And with it just above your eyebrow you don’t have to search for a wiggling mirror

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/etobias/ilook360-a-personal-electronic-rear-view-vision-sy/posts

 

[Martin318is]

I'll wait for the version with a 360 camera view and a button on the handlebar.

Why the button?

When you press it, it immediately parcels up the last 30 seconds or so of video and emails it with GPS and Time stamps, to the police.