Ok, I was thinking this would go into the "write ups" section, but I seems I’m the only one with this type of camera so this is more of a "hey, look what I did to my Jeep" kind of post... so here goes.

Ok, I have this rather tuff and rather versatile camcorder and got the idea to mount it to my jeep some how so that I could record my off road trips in a driver like point of view, or something cool, and this is what I came up with...

Ok, so here is what I used:

It’s an Archos AV500 with a 100 GB hard drive and camera add-on. The wooden handle is something I made myself so that I could use it as a hand held instead of having it strapped to my head.

So, the mount... I needed a place where I could put it so that I could see in front of me, and also within cable length of a safe place for the Archos (~2ft). I found that there is just enough room on the right side of the gauges on top of the dash for the unit to sit and a position on the mirror seemed to give a good angle.

As for mounting, I drilled a hole, put a clamp on, and then used a bolt and wing nut along with a number of washers to hold the clamp down while lifting it high enough to not press against the mirror. And this is what it looks like:



Surprisingly, this is a very sturdy mount and holds the camera in place, even at 80mph. And with the recording on the Archos being 1 hour per GB, I could in theory rec 100 hrs worth. It’s mostly filled with music and other random things right now, but I keep 10 GB free for such things. I also have the car charger for it, giving it infinite amount of battery life.

Here is a video made using it (it’s been posted on here before):
http://video.google.com/videoplay?do...42770572818181

 

Nice write up, love the video, just one question, the camera, make/model?

Where did you buy it and how much?

Thanks

 

Great setup. What camera is that?

 

The stability on that camera lens is awesome. Nice shots.

Ron

 

ok, here are the links for more details on the AV500 and the camera. You could probably find them for sale someplace online rather cheap. Archos also has a newer unit out that has more features to it, but you can check those out at the site. I brought mine about 2 years ago, so its a little out dated. However, seeing as how good archos products are, i wont be upgrading or buying a new one for several more years:

the AV500:
http://www.archos.com/products/video...global&lang=en

and the camera:
http://www.archos.com/products/video...global&lang=en


The newer AV605WiFi can also support the same camera (different plug but same camera) and goes upto 160gb instead of 100gb. But like i said, these things are tuff and built to last so i wont be buying a new one anytime soon.

 

When i brought mine brand new, it was $400 for the unit, and $200 for the camera. Now its much cheaper since there are newer units out.

 

Thanks for the reply, the camera now is about $150.00 and a new unit the 605WiFi will be out Sept 1st or there about. I will wait for that one.