The Best Helmet Cameras
Capturing the ride from your own point of view was a novelty when this was written. It is now ordinary, and the category sorted itself out fast.
GoPro won, and then the field reopened. The Hero line remains the default and is still the safest buy for mounts and accessories, because everything in the world fits a GoPro. DJI's Osmo Action and Insta360 are genuinely competitive now, and Insta360's 360-degree models do something different: you film everything and choose the framing afterwards, which suits a helmet far better than aiming a fixed lens.
Stabilisation is the feature that changed the footage, not resolution. Electronic stabilisation on any current model turns the unwatchable juddering of a 2010 helmet cam into something people will sit through. If you are choosing on one spec, choose on that.
Mount it low and forward, not on top. A camera on the crown of a helmet films sky and looks strange; chest and chin mounts give a sense of speed the high angle loses. A helmet-top mount is also the one most likely to catch.
Cold kills batteries. Carry two or three and keep the spares inside your jacket. This has not improved much in fifteen years and remains the most common reason a day's filming stops at lunchtime.
The honest advice, which no camera company gives: film less. Two good ninety-second runs are worth more than four hours of footage nobody, including you, will ever watch.
Part of the guide to cameras and photography.