Archos Helmet Camcorder (500876) (Discontinued by Manufacturer)

Great Product... Decent Picture, very portable. Not as high quality as an actual camcorder, but does the job. Couldn't find any way to zoom, which to me, is kinda important.

I hooked it up to my 604 and recorded at the highest setting and the video quality was not that great. The avi file it creates is not divx or h264 - I really dont know what file it is even though they say its mp4 ... If I try to play the file on my mac using quicktime it will not display... in fact it crashes quicktime! I emailed tech support at Archos and never got an answer to this. I am hoping a firmware update will fix the video quality recorded onto the 604. My Casio Exlim does a better job and it uses sd media .The camera itself seemed fine the whole recording issue is coming from the 604.

Awesome, having a blast with this item. Difficult to transfer image to other systems.

The helmet cam work well and interfaced easily to my Archos 404. The helmet cam mounting band was useless as it was too short to fit even the smallest helmets.

Excellent equipment ,very durable camera,I use it as a SUV CAM and BODY CAM in very harsh conditions ,brilliant picture quailty very robust .

THE GOOD...The camera does what it says. It will change your Archos X04 into a camcorder. You won't need to buy a hard drive camcorder.It's easy to hook up and comes with the portable DVR adapter. As an added bonus, the portable DVR plus Archos' proprietary A/V cable (they design the wiring so that it only matches their products)will eliminate the need to buy the larger DVR station. You can use this to record TV too. However, this cable is NOT included, but for $20, it's still cheaper than the full sized DVR.If you have the Archos DC plug, it will charge the Archos faster than USB.The camera does a good job as it autofocuses (quickly, I might add) and adjusts for white balance and lighting conditions (also quickly). While it's claim of filming in next to no light is exaggerated (I was in a dark room and it only produced snowy patterns over a dark screen), it will film better than some cameras that demand bright light. It will compensate in a poorly lit room.Playback on standard def TV looks good (well... that is the resolution it is actually designed for).THE BAD...Some will complain about the resolution. It is certainly not high def (and was not intended to be). The video does not look it's best on the Archos screen itself (or computer screens), but looks good on standard def TV through the A/V output(that is the resolution it was designed for). A critique could be that if the Archos can produce great video on its screen, why produce a camera that produces video not up to the same standard... Who knows? Cost? Size? I wonder if they will come out with a high def version...It doesn't provide the A/V cables or the DC plug (which the portable DVR can use). They must be purchased separately.You can't tell how much time/space you have left on the disk so that you can stop recording before the disk is full.The color of filmed objects is not always faithfully reproduced. (I recorded a red book which looked pink on the Archos screen).The so called "wired remote" is not very intuitive.There are some software quirks that shut of the screen, freeze up the Archos, etc. if you press a button not supported during a recording session. You have to reset the player.No zoom functions or other dedicated cam corder features (though it doesn't claim to have them).The listed features talk about a codec available and slow motion capture... I still don't know how to access these features.THE UGLY...The carry pouch is an ugly bag with a string. I had read that the Archos player itself used to ship with that dreaded soft pouch (which offered it no protection). I guess that since they designed a hard side case for the player, it appears that they are using the surplus soft pouches for this peripheral.The helmet strap, while functional (and included as part of the package) is pretty ugly. I guess it will look better on an actual helmet (it is a helmet cam after all, but who the heck wears a helmet that often).CONCLUSION...It's pretty cool and does what it is supposed to do. I doubt I'll use it during my action/adventures because, I fugure, that the Archos will probably break (the Archos site shows it being used during base jumping... can it withstand that?). I like it and recommend it.

First off I will give a slight proviso on the five star review. When I bought this I didn't expect HD quality video or even as good as a standard mini cam, therefore the video quality is above my personal expectations. So, it does what it says on the tin - it's a helmet cam which gives much better quality video results than all of the other "action" type devices that are within reach of mortal mans' pockets. The actual standard of build is bloody excellent with a high quality feel to the alloy camera housing. The helmet/head strap works very well with loads of adjustment and really securely holds the camera. It works amazingly well in low light and it seems to cope well with reasonably fast movement. Now it is fair to say that you live and die with the Archos multimedia player which is not going to take much punishment before it's busted. Fortunately the camera cord is long enough to be able to stow the Archos player somewhere safe. I used mine on a motorbike - I taped the camera to the body and stashed the Archos recorder under the seat out of the way. Worked fine. There is a start and stop on the camera cable and a mike as well. Operation seems to be okay although I'm never quite sure I've got it set up right each time which ends up with me having lots of video of itself whilst I check it's working. It will certainly video for over an hour on a full charge so you tend to get bored before it runs out. One small irritation is that there is a bug in the system. If you shut down the camera function, leave it connected and then restart the Archos the battery appears dead and it shuts down. I've always had to unplug the camera before starting up to avoid this error which even happens on a fully charged unit. If it does show up then you have to turn off the Archos and unplug the camera before restarting. It all goes back to normal then.