Twenty20’s helmet camera helps you document your rides

Helmet-mounted video cameras have been around for a while, but a lot of the ones we’ve seen have had a slightly “kit-form” appearance – lots of wire, plug-in battery holders stuffed with AAs, more plugs and connectors than seem strictly necessary and an over-reliance on Velcro and zipties being some of the more common features.

Twenty20 cameras, now imported into the UK by Madison, aim to supply a slightly more polished product. True, it still uses a hook-and-loop fastener to attach it to your helmet, but it’s not like the kind of Velcro you might use to hold your watch on – this stuff is rock-solid. The waterproof, machined aluminium housing includes a simple but sturdy mounting bracket, while the cables emerge from a strain-relief sleeve at the back. The camera weighs 4oz – we’ve got one mounted on the side of a helmet and don’t notice the extra weight.

The camera itself uses a 1/3in CMOS sensor. It’s got a resolution of 400 lines, which is slightly better than the sensor probably found in the camcorder that you’ll be plugging it into. Twenty20 say that the advantage of its CMOS sensor over rival CCDs is much-reduced power consumption – the camera will run for 20 hours from one 9V battery, which lives in a neat housing complete with on/off switch. There’s also a microphone on a fly-lead to attach where you wish. All the bits join together with robust twist-lock connectors.

Twenty20 makes a big thing of its customer service – it doesn’t just want to sell you a camera, it wants to help you make the most of it. Its website has stacks of useful information and you can get access to a library of free backing tracks too.

We’ll have a full test soon – in the meantime there’re more details at www.twenty20camera.com and you can find your nearest dealer at www.ultimatepursuits.co.uk.