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Oregon Scientific ATC-2000 Helmetcam
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When riding my recumbent trike, I often have moments where I am admiring the view and think, “Man, I wish I had a camera to capture what I’m seeing.” Sometimes it’s a beautiful sunrise. Other times it’s a hilarious scene of 30 firemen getting a man out of a tree. Either way, the trike can often take me to places that I don’t often go on other vehicles. And I love being able to share my triking adventures with others.
While the commuter bag is completely capable of holding a camcorder, I rarely want that kind of weight dragging me down. First, I thought I could simple carry a digital still camera around with me that could also shoot video. But even with that, when I found a great scene and tried to capture the moment, I had to pull over, take the camera out of my bag, change settings, wait for menus, and then start filming which was often too late. The best solution was a little camera made by Oregon Scientific called the ATC-2000.
The ATC-2000 is superior to most cameras in this price range for many reasons. It’s self contained, rugged and records to an SD card rather than a tape or hard drive. This means that you can go over bumps, drop it, and shake the camera and it keeps on recording. Other cameras will either shut down, or stop recording until the motion stops. Having a motion-sick camera for a recumbent trike ride is not an option. The ATC-2000 is also waterproof. No, not water resistant. It’s truly water proof. You can take the camera swimming underwater with you and film the whole thing. That’s great because I love triking in the rain. Also, the ATC-2K is lightweight and comes with the gear you need to strap it to your helmet, frame, mirror, pirate hook, or whatever else you might have. I’ve strapped it to my motorcycle, my vespa, my car, my dog, my radio controlled car, even my own arm. It works great.
 There are only a few drawbacks I can see with the ATC-2000. The SD card limitation of 2GB is a bit frustrating. While you can fit larger cards into it, the ATC-2000 formats your SD card to FAT 16 rather than FAT 32. This means that you can only use up to 2GB to record. Still, that’s up to two hours of recording time, which is nice. While the ATC2K does record at full 640x480 resolution and 30fps, the lens is so small that you often get a picture bend during high motion very similar to that of a webcam. Obviously, having the lens so small helps to keep the ATC-2000 very rugged and able to withstand high impact, but it’s still something good to be aware of. Also, after a  few months of using it, the buttons become harder to push. Now, this is a really good thing if you drop you camera on the buttons. But is lame when you’re quickly trying to get it on and ready to record.
The ATC-2000 takes two AA batteries that last forever. Okay, maybe not forever. But I’ve been using my camera off and on for over a month now and they still are running strong. For sure, the camera has been on for at least 20 hours total, because that’s how much footage I have. I love how easy it is to work with. I’ve got mine mounted right next to my mirror (I’m not a big fan of having it strapped to my helmet) which is still easy to turn left or right while riding to get the shot I want.
Overall, with such great quality, rugged performance and an incredibly low price at just around $100 this is a no-brainer purchase. After just one week of using it, I ended up buy another for my friends to use while we rode. (Mostly because I wanted more shots of me and less of them.) I’m looking to buy even more. They’re so lightweight and you don’t even notice them when you’re riding. But they’re also so fun; you instantly wonder how you ever rode without one. If there’s one accessory I’d recommend this year, it’s the Oregon Scientific ATC-2000 extreme helmetcam.
To watch a video of my ride filmed with the ATC-2000, click here.
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