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This review covers my experiences with this camera from 2015 (?) to october 2021. Then it was end of life ...
The Mobius 1 action camera is on the market for years already. In fact it is already outdated, but read this article and don't hesitate to get one ! Then it's successor, the Mobius Max, is not very handy for cyclists.
For a very friendly price (of only about 20% of that of the "market leader") you have a very user-friendly camera. Which is very suitable for use while cycling and especially when mtb-ing. Also all parts can be bought separately which is or will be a great advantage. And for just as nice prices you can buy all kinds of handy accessories.
Due to the absence of a screen it is very flat which is a big advantage in off-road use and installed on your helmet. The full-HD recording quality of 1920 x 1080 pixels is simply super, both in terms of sharpness and exposure.
However, I use the 1280 x 720 pixel format, with even 60 frames per second (selectable). The reason for this are the sizes of the files. The 1280p version of the film below is 430Mb and the 720p version is 130Mb. That 720p version is shown here, at 7 minutes length and in the original mp4 format. So the version shown here certainly does not do justice to the true qualities of this camera !
This is an impression of a downhill near Florac, France and below are the heightprofile and ridedata. These data is created from the gps-file with GPS-Track-Analys.Net.
In 6265 offroad-only meters 376 meters down (and less than 7 meters up), so officiëel 6%. Maximum 47 kmh, average 22.8 kmh and more than half (53%) of the time faster then 30kmh.
And this is a timelapse created with 115 pictures, taken per 2 seconds and played back per 350 milliseconds.
And one of 29 photos, taken per 5 seconds and played back per 250 milliseconds.
Because this camera is used worldwide under a lot of conditions, it has been developed enormously. There are many user groups, such as motorists, dashcam-enthousiasts, flight enthuosiasts, rc fans, modeltrain enthousiasts, cyclists, security enthusiasts, etc, etc, etc. Within their own hobbyworld they make sure that every technical detail is discussed and further developed.
The camera can be setup in the modes video1, video2 and photo. Each of these modes can be set exactly to your own liking using a free setup program. Which you can also buy as an app, so using your phone (plus usb-OnTheGo adapter plus usb1 cable) you could use the app to set things up on the go. Although I can't really imagine what use that would have.
All imaginable modes are available such as picture and video quality, number of fps (from 5 to 60), timelapse, motion detection, on and off options, date-time entries, auto-off time, upside-down recording (hanging camera), viewangle selection, and much more. All photography options (exposure) are also adjustable as desired. You can save your preferred setting(s) in the setup programm.
But with the basic settings you can start right on the road and you'll see that you have nothing left to be desired in terms of image quality, regardless of lighting conditions.
While on the way, the operation is also simple and therefore easy. There are three buttons on top of the device. They work as an on/off-button, a mode-select-button and a recording start/stop-button.
Very convenient is that you can setup the device to start * automatically in the pre-selected mode by simply (only) pressing the power button. Within 2 seconds the (preferred type of) recording will start.
Pressing the powerbutton again stops recording, automatically saves the file and turns off the device. Especially this control * method is really super handy while riding your bicycle (mtb, loaded trekkingbike, don't watch it, just touch it !).
In the pictureshow you can see that the powerbutton is raised. This is an extra that I created myself with a drop of glue. Put a drop of highviscosity glue on it, turn it upside-down hanging on ie two matchboxes and let it dry. With this "option", when mounted on a helmet, you will always find the (only) button you need without having to look for it. Also in winter when riding with thick fullfinger gloves.
By the way, the silver parts are not buttons but cooling fins that are needed when used in very hot conditions, e.g. when used as a dashcam in the sun behind the windscreen in the car.
The only disadvantage is that there is no waterproof housing for sale. For use on a bike, however, this is no point as you will have little wish for shooting in the rain. However, in case of doubtful weather, it may be useful to bring a plastic bag to store the device in.
After some years I got the impression the battery was slowly giving up. Mobius uses the rear-led to indicate the status of the battery by blinking 1, 2 or 3 times at startup. This is not very informative and the setupprogram has no batteryinfo at all. Besides that the Mobius chargingsystem is "different". The green led does not blink but turns green solidly all the time. Most annoying is that it turns off when charging is ready and so stops. It then does not attract any attention anymore and chance is high you forget turning the charger off. I ordered a new battery in china and that helped.
Tip 1 : Keep the original foam package and attach the lid to the base using a wide piece of adhesive tape. By putting the camera back in there and then put an elastic band over it it is safely stored.
Tip 2 : If you have raised that button with glue it is adviseable to make a small hole in the lid so that the button is not pressed by that lid. Then if it got started recording it will completely fill the memorycard or completely drain the battery, whatever comes first. And you can not empty the memorycard in the camera since the only option to do that is formatting it. But the formatting option is only functioning as long as the card is only partly filled.
Like the Mobius 1 the housing of the Mobius Maxi also collects dirt very well since the coating of the housing acts like glue.
Last but not least 2 I found a small toolcase in a china bazaar. I cut out the interior and put the foamcase of the old Mobius 1 in it. This is now a sturdy case that functions very well in storing and protecting the camera. The Mobius Maxi came in a nice and quite sturdy paperbox (but without foam) that however will not last very long when always cycling.
Tip : have a look at the articles XNViewMP 🖱️ and Photoscape 🖱️ for tips and tricks on editing pictures and creating timelapses.
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