The Tachyon XC Micro helmet cam can be attached to your lid with 3M dual lock tape or to your goggles with a clip. We’d recommend the latter, because the camera worked itself free when using the tape, even during light cross-country work. The goggle mount works a lot better, and at 102g the weight is pretty good too.
However you choose to attach it, the Tachyon’s easy to use – turn it on, close the back door then just hit the record button. The video shoots at 30fps at 640 x 480 VGA. That’s pretty slick at this price, but obviously you miss out on HD quality. TV cables are included, along with a USB memory card reader.
The Tachyon isn’t rechargeable and runs off two AAA batteries, which offer four hours of run time. It’s waterproof to 30m but the water-tight sealing does muffle the inboard mic. On the other hand, it does get round the ‘wind-rush’ problem that plagues some other helmet cams.
The XC Micro mightn’t offer HD recording but it does have more than decent quality and usability at a superb price. Our only gripes are that if you don’t ride with goggles then you’re stuck with the 3M mounting tape and we’re also disappointed by the lack of a rechargeable battery.