Product Review: Monoprice MHD Action Camera

This topic has 16 replies, 10 voices, and was last updated 10 years, 9 months ago by n18.

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June 24, 2014 at 3:08 pm #1004685

dasgeh
Participant

Have you tried mounting it upside down (i.e. below the handlebars)?

June 24, 2014 at 3:23 pm #1004689

cyclingfool
Participant

I wonder if you could modify a Planet Bike headlight-type mount with a Dremel or some such to expose the threaded part of a tripod mount screw in some useful way. You can order their headlight mounts individually, either from an LBS or on their website w/ free shipping, I think.

This came up on a Google search. Appears a little less bulky and more affordable than the K-EDGE one you linked to. http://www.amazon.com/Minoura-Handlebar-Camera-Mount-22-29mm/dp/B005DMYRRC

There are also a ton of cheap DIY instructables out there that use only a couple dollars worth or items available an any local hardware store.

June 24, 2014 at 3:37 pm #1004692

americancyclo
Participant

@dasgeh 88971 wrote:

Have you tried mounting it upside down (i.e. below the handlebars)?

I think that would help with stability, but I also have brake cables that might be annoying to see in the video. maybe i’ll try that on the way home today.

June 24, 2014 at 4:01 pm #1004700

jabberwocky
Participant

I’m running a Hero3 black as my black box (it was an Xmas present). I’d be interested in:
-Battery life (the GoPro kinda sucks) and whether the battery is removable.
-Recording time
-Ease of use, especially as a commuting black box (is it easy to get to work and immediately delete footage if nothing happened, is it easy to turn on and off at either end and be sure its actually running, etc).

June 24, 2014 at 4:17 pm #1004706

Phatboing
Participant

@americancyclo 88978 wrote:

I think that would help with stability, but I also have brake cables that might be annoying to see in the video. maybe i’ll try that on the way home today.

Perhaps what you need is an arrangement such as this: http://problemsolversbike.com/blog/comments/free_diy_light_mount_via_urban_velo

Out of the way and everything.

I wanted to set it up for winter lighting, but Bikenetic doesn’t cut no steerer tubes in the winter.

June 24, 2014 at 4:20 pm #1004707

americancyclo
Participant

@jabberwocky 88987 wrote:

I’m running a Hero3 black as my black box (it was an Xmas present). I’d be interested in:
-Battery life (the GoPro kinda sucks) and whether the battery is removable.
-Recording time
-Ease of use, especially as a commuting black box (is it easy to get to work and immediately delete footage if nothing happened, is it easy to turn on and off at either end and be sure its actually running, etc).

Battery:
Battery is internal and non-removable. I’m in the habit of plugging in all my electronics daily when at work. Garmin, phone, video camera, and lights (when seasonally appropriate). The camera was charging all day yesterday and lasted my long commute home (2 hrs) plus this morning’s commute (45 min) and that’s just under the advertised 3 hr of continuous recording. I’m taking it on a trip this weekend, so we’ll see how the power does, and I’ve yet to test if it can record and run off aux USB power simultaneously.

Recording time:
Limited by the micro SD card size and battery life. claimed 6 hrs on a 32GB card (which I have).

Ease of use:
easy operation. slide switch forward to start recording. a small top mounted LED light turns green to indicate power, camera vibrates briefly, and then LED changes to solid red to indicate recording has started. The slide switch on top also has visual cues built in. The switch reveals green STOP or red REC displayed depending on toggle position.

deleting footage must be done through a computer. easy as deleting files off an SD card.

June 24, 2014 at 9:59 pm #1004736

peterw_diy
Participant

Thanks for posting the review!

June 25, 2014 at 5:05 pm #1004776

Bill Hole
Participant

Timely review for me. I ordered one yesterday before seeing this thread, mostly prompted by the road-rager I keep encountering on my morning commute, who has yelled at me while pacing me for blocks, and has tried to force me off the road. Time for evidence gathering.

June 25, 2014 at 9:12 pm #1004782

83b
Participant

Thanks for the review!

Do you have any sense yet for how well it captures license plates (especially in low light situations)?

June 26, 2014 at 1:08 pm #1004801

Subby
Participant

Excellent review, Shawn. I have the GoPro Hero3 and it works great in conjunction with the K-Edge mount, particularly b/c of the low profile. With the GoPro you have to use an aftermarket mount, because the stock mounts are garbAge (that’s french for trash). The other nice feature is the app you can use for remote control of the camera and the GoPro Studio software you can use to make movies (both free). The battery life is pretty bad (2 hours or so of HD) but you can buy reasonably priced aftermarket backup batteries. The biggest con of the camera and the mount is obviously price. That said, I am not leaving my kids any money when I go out in a fireball of crash on Mont Ventoux, so it works for me.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]6051[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=CONFIG]6052[/ATTACH]

June 26, 2014 at 2:55 pm #1004813

americancyclo
Participant

@83(b) 89072 wrote:

Thanks for the review!

Do you have any sense yet for how well it captures license plates (especially in low light situations)?

I don’t ride a while lot in low light at least at this time of year, but I’ll see if I can capture some footage in the next week or so.

June 26, 2014 at 2:57 pm #1004814

americancyclo
Participant

@Subby 89092 wrote:

The other nice feature is the app you can use for remote control of the camera and the GoPro Studio software you can use to make movies (both free).

Those features are both pretty cool. The monoprice is definitely lacking when it comes to features and software.

July 16, 2014 at 5:30 pm #1005989

Bill Hole
Participant

I had ordered one of these before seeing this thread. I received it and, after an additional wait for the memory card to come in, installed it on my helmet. Not wanting to spend the $16 or so for their helmet mount, I modified the mount from an old headlight so it could accommodate the larger mounting screw for the camera.

My reactions so far:
1. Resolution is pretty good for such a cheap camera, and it works well in early morning light (I leave the house between 6:10 and 6:20 AM).
2. It has no image stabilization, so the image bounces around a lot. I’m going to do some more work on my mount to see if I can make it a little steadier.
3. It can pick up license numbers if they’re fairly close, but not if the camera is getting jostled too much.
4. The battery lasts long enough for my commute both ways, which is about an hour and a half.
5. Video is stored in QuickTime format. If you want to view your video on Windows, Windows Media won’t play the sound. You should download QuickTime from Apple (or buy a Mac).
6. The microphone isn’t great – mostly you hear the wind rushing by – but it picks up my screams when drivers try to kill me.
7. The initial setup instructions were confusing. The OP’s instructions above helped me get going.

I paid less than $60 from rakuten.com. The price has gone back up to $84, but I definitely think it’s worth it.

Bill

July 16, 2014 at 7:53 pm #1006013

n18
Participant

TJ Maxx and Marshall’s are/were selling this cheap GoPro alternative for around $40, but it’s 720p, has very poor capture at night, and doesn’t have image stabilization according to the reviews.

@Bill Hole 90364 wrote:

5. Video is stored in QuickTime format. If you want to view your video on Windows, Windows Media won’t play the sound. You should download QuickTime from Apple (or buy a Mac).

You can use VLC media player, which is free and open source to view QuickTime and many other videos and DVD’s. You can also convert video formats from one type to another(See File–>Convert/Save), but it takes a “long” time. When installing it, make sure that you don’t associate all file types to VLC, just the ones that you want. It’s somewhat harder to use than Windows Media Player and Apple’s QuickTime.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VLC_media_player
http://www.videolan.org/vlc/

July 16, 2014 at 8:33 pm #1006018

cyclingfool
Participant

A big +1 for VLC. Great program to have on the computer.
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