Wednesday, September 6, 2017

Looking Back: Goodbye To My Hero

How's that for a title to scare off just about anybody? If I saw that on some other blog I read regularly, I would sigh while following the link, wondering who died now and how depressed the author was gonna make me.

Good news! Nobody died! My original GoPro HD Hero (note lack of number) finally calved. I was very happy with that camera. It came with me on pretty much every bike ride and was tossed around for over 6 years without a whisper of trouble.  I must have been pretty tuned in to its physical state because I had replaced it with a Hero 4 Session just two weeks before! I had done that because the battery wasn't holding much of a charge and the lens had some scuffs on it that were visible in the video sometimes.

Once I had the new camera, I mounted the old one in a rear facing position on my bike rack:



I got some pretty good stuff out of it before it stopped working, too, some of which will show up here on the blog/youtube over the next little while. I shouldn't say it has stopped working though. I mean, yes, it will no longer record video, but it is still working pretty damn well at keeping cars off my back, literally. The GoPro in its little clear enclosure is pretty familiar to most people now, so I think most drivers clue in right away to what it is. This is good, because the way I've mounted the new Session it is not visible to drivers behind me; it doesn't stick up off the top of my head like the old one did.



I'm very happy with the Session so far; it is waterproof without a housing and the sound quality while riding is way better. It is also smaller and I like the flat surface over the lens, which is easier to clean and protect from damage (I'm using a clear sticker protector thing) than the rounded one on my old camera.

Well, wasn't that just fascinating? It's pretty bad when the best thing I can say about a post is that it wasn't about anybody dying, but there you have it.

Yer Pal,
R A N T W I C K

PS - Full disclosure: I have not received a nickle or anything else for the nice things I just said about gopro cameras. Hmph.

7 comments:

Richard Sleegers said...

Aw man, I waved to your back just this morning knowing you had a rear cam! (Couldn't quite catch you as you crossed through the light and turned to take the bridge access.)

RANTWICK said...

I saw you in my mirror and wondered if it was you. That just sucks! Ah well, I'm sure we'll have plenty more chances to wave :)

Steve A said...

Rantwick, always a MASTER of timing. It'd be interesting to see if the non functional camera is more effective at keeping people from getting too close than a good rear light. Certainly not in the dark, but I suspect also not during the day since people would have to get up close to see it compared to a rear light. I imagine they might back off quicker from a camera than a rear light. I sense a future Rantwick science experiment even better than the attempt to change traffic signals with a magnet!

John said...

I often think a "YouTube" logo on the back of a road vest may have value as a deterrent to motorist. =)

RANTWICK said...

Steve - I see the two as serving separate functions; my rear light (super flash on the back of my helmet) is about being seen, and the cam is about discouraging bad behaviour despite my being seen. As for my magnet experiment, f___ off.

John - I've sported a youtube sign on the back before too! You are correct.

RANTWICK said...

Steve - As for being a MASTER of timing, you will see the real thing in my next "Encounters with Rantwick" post.

Steve A said...

Poor Rantwick, scientific failures often tell us more than the successes. How else would we really KNOW for sure that magnets don't change induction signals and that Simple Green really doesn't corrode aluminum? Without such inquiries, we'd all still be cowering in fear whenever an eclipse occurs instead of figuring out how to watch it without our eyeballs burning out.

Post a Comment