Moist filtering with the Sena Prism Tube Wifi

[ad.hom]

They say a picture speaks 1000 words, I wonder how many a video counts for... In the below video, the audio drops on the 3rd clip (no-one wants to hear me swearing randomly inside the helmet after a particularly arduous day at the office). Excuse my ramblings in the start of the 2nd clip, and I'm waiting for YouTube to chop off the repeated ending...

Installation was breeze, and I can hear the audio prompts from the camera while listening to podcasts/music on the PacTalk (separate speaker inside my helmet), yet the Sena Prism mic doesn't really pick up the podcasts/music (meaning no real risk of copyright issues posting videos). Podcasts can be (barely) heard in the first clip, but for the others I'd turned it off due to filtering/splitting needing more concentration.

My reason for purchase was mostly safety/insurance claims, but I might put together some montages over time. Battery life is about 2 hours, and I have a 64Gb card installed in the camera.

Thanks to @AV8R for "letting" me stalk his posts to figure out what camera he has.

 

[AV8R]

You can use shaving cream (wax it on, wax it off) on bothe the face shield inner/outer surfaces and the windshield to prevent fogging. Nice job with the Sena Prism Tube WiFi. You can also put an USB small power pack and cable in your pocket and charge and use the camera at the same time, for longer use. My only complaint with Sena cams is the limit of 3gb per recording file size, which is like 10-15 minutes of record time depending upon resolution. Thus for longer videos, you would have to stitch them back together with a media program. Also, there’s a looping or run till full memory usage mode select that you change with a text file in the Sena recording folder.

 

[ST Gui]

What's the largest capacity card the prism will address? What res was used for your filtering vid?

 

[ad.hom]

My only complaint with Sena cams is the limit of 3gb per recording file size, which is like 10-15 minutes of record time depending upon resolution. Thus for longer videos, you would have to stitch them back together with a media program. Also, there’s a looping or run till full memory usage mode select that you change with a text file in the Sena recording folder.

I already have USB batteries coming out of the woodwork - part of the job, and use them for heated vest etc in winter.

Also, short press on the reset button switches modes (blue light flashes for loop mode, steady for continuous). Long press formats the card. Loop mode is 3mins per file, and the video above was stitched together using video editing software.

What's the largest capacity card the prism will address? What res was used for your filtering vid?

They say (I think 64Gb), but there's no reason it wouldn't take a 512Gb microSD. They just haven't tested it with one. I use a 64Gb card.

Resolution was 1080p@30fps. At that resolution, approx an hour is approx 13Gb.

 

[ST Gui]

They say (I think 64Gb), but there's no reason it wouldn't take a 512Gb microSD.

So you're assuming the controller will 'see' a 512GB card? They may well have not tested it with larger than 64GB cards but there are plenty of instances were larger cards aren't compatible so that's why I asked.

 

[ad.hom]

I agree, there are devices on the market that don't 'see' larger capacity cards. However, they're older devices, on older firmware.

To derail my own thread... The issue is that the file system has too much address space, on older devices. Think of it like a phone book. Over time, the city population grows, but the phone company don't add more pages to the book... You end up with a lot of unlisted numbers.

Newer devices have larger memory dedicated to the address lookups. Hence, can use more space.

Note that an older device will accept a HUGE card, if the device formats the card (it'll only create a partition as big as it can use, and you end up with unused space... which looks like wasted money until the SD card fault rate increases in the area you're using...).

Sena recommend 64Gb max, but that's a business decision. If the battery lasts 2hours, and 1 hour at max resolution is 13Gb, a full battery is only really good for 26Gb, and customers would get away fine with 32Gb. But maybe you don't want to dump the connects of the card while it's charging, so next step up is 64Gb, letting you ride 4-6 hours before the card is full. Sena likely haven't tested 256Gb under the same reasoning, it'd cost then money to do that testing, and for most customers, it's pointless. Since they haven't tested it, it's not a claim the legal team will let them make.

Note also that Amazon tried to sell me a 128Gb card on a deal with the Sena, and given the above calculation, I rounded down to save about 20GBP.

Finally, I just pulled a 256Gb card out of an RPi I have sitting in a box, formatted it with the the Sena and fired up the Sena briefly. Having checked the card in my laptop... The Sena did indeed create a 256Gb partition & successfully used it. There's no technological reason it couldn't use a 2Tb card, but that's where the next address boundary is... So without testing, I can't comment on 4Tb+.

 

[ST Gui]

I do understand how memory addressing works. That's why I mentioned the controller. My question was about how/if you knew it would see a larger card. Maybe I should have make it clear that I wasn't interested in whether or not it could use a larger card even if/though restricted to 64GB.

As I have no idea who's doing what with their firmware I asked. There are still modern (as in currently manufactured) devices on the market that have a cap on capacity all because business decisions were made to not use bits off the shelf that will see large capacities or bother to write firmware updates.

So not to put too fine a point on it you've made an assumption based on general knowledge and not on specific knowledge of the Sena's hardware components and firmware. I'm reasonably sure I wouldn't use a 512GB or even a 128GB card to it's capacity but I'd like to know if I could.

 

[ad.hom]

So not to put too fine a point on it you've made an assumption based on general knowledge and not on specific knowledge of the Sena's hardware components and firmware. I'm reasonably sure I wouldn't use a 512GB or even a 128GB card to it's capacity but I'd like to know if I could.

You're right, I've made an assumption - one that I've later checked (with 256Gb).

Finally, I just pulled a 256Gb card out of an RPi I have sitting in a box, formatted it with the the Sena and fired up the Sena briefly. Having checked the card in my laptop... The Sena did indeed create a 256Gb partition & successfully used it. There's no technological reason it couldn't use a 2Tb card, but that's where the next address boundary is... So without testing, I can't comment on 4Tb+.

I am 100% confident that the full 256Gb card would be usable, so yes, you could use it all, if you wanted. I'm 99.9% sure you could fill a 2Tb card (if one were manufactured & sold publicly).

 

[ST Gui]

one that I've later checked (with 256Gb)

Ok that helps thanks.

I'm 99.9% sure you could fill a 2Tb card (if one were manufactured & sold publicly).

I'd have to settle for 1T at the moment, if I were to roll that way. Thanks again.

 

[AV8R]

Im curious, since the Sena Prism Tube WiFi can handle much more memory than its internal battery, why run it at 1080p@30fps when you can run it at either 1080p@60fps (Full HD) or 1440p@30fps (Quad HD, aka 2K HD)?

If power consumption is the issue, power it with an external power supply as it can both record and charge at the same time.

 

[ad.hom]

30fps is sufficient for me, and 60fps will burn through the battery quicker.

Re charging, have you found a way to connect a spare battery so it that's waterproof (similar cable to the mic/speaker cable)? At the moment, to run a battery, the microSD slot has to be left exposed to the elements, and it rains too much here for that.

Also, my Prism unit has died - refuses to charge. A little more than a month after purchase. I'm waiting for Sena customer support to get in touch having opened a ticket with them. I'm hoping it's not water that's found a way into it - if so, the Prism is useless to me long term.

 

[AV8R]

1. Get an extra rubber dust cover, poke a tiny hole for the cable or even liquid black tape the hole/cable

2. My first Prism died similarly, but could run on external power (hence the internal battery died slowly). These are several years old, and prolly the shelf life expired before you got it. Also don’t over charge and cook the battery.

I sent back the first Prism and purchased the WiFi which is brand new. No problems yet. Don’t give them a reason not to replace yours by mentioning rain, as you don’t know that did it anyways. Just saying. They know they are selling the 3+ year old original Prism as new. Hold them to it.

 

[SupraSabre]

I had a INNOVV K1 model that drove me nuts when it would quit on me and all I would hear was that "Recording Stopped" message...

Last Novemeber when I went to the MC Show in Long Beach (CA), the INNOVV guys were there and sold me their K2 model for $40 below their show price, which was $260. How could I pass that up?

I have it mounted on my 2010 ST1300 and have had a few wet encounters while Lane Splitting (what we call Filtering)

Lane Splitting in the dark while raining

And then there is my rear camera:

Lane Splitting at night in the rain...rear camera

And BTW, I just let it continue to record and pick off what I what. Works great!

 

[ST Gui]

when you can run it at either 1080p@60fps

One of the factors determining what camera I may get is the ability to run at least 1080p/60f. If it had higher res at 60f so much the better.

So far every 30f 'dashcam' video I've seen has failed to clearly catch license plates. Not that it's not possible but it seems to need a perfect storm confluence of variables. I'd like to limit those as much as possible. This means it also has to be able to use external power although 2hrs at 1080p/60f would be fine by me for anything short of a road trip

 

[ad.hom]

1. Get an extra rubber dust cover, poke a tiny hole for the cable or even liquid black tape the hole/cable

Good point, well made. They ship a rubberised lens cap for when the camera isn't in use - that, with some hot glue & a spare 90degree cable should do the trick.

Don’t give them a reason not to replace yours by mentioning rain, as you don’t know that did it anyways. Just saying.

What rain?

I had a INNOVV K1 ... sold me their K2 model

I saw your posts & videos and did consider the K2. I went with the Prism WiFi for a few reasons:

1. Ease of fitting. No wiring to the bike, just glue 'n' go.
2. Worst case of insurance claim, a helmet cam shows what I'm looking at.
3. Your reports of battery drain when turned off. Possible to overcome, as I've posted in reply to your threads, but easer to just avoid by not having the INNOV.
4. Audio capture from my helmet, without wiring my head to the bike.

 

[SupraSabre]

Good point, well made. They ship a rubberised lens cap for when the camera isn't in use - that, with some hot glue & a spare 90degree cable should do the trick.

What rain?

I saw your posts & videos and did consider the K2. I went with the Prism WiFi for a few reasons:

1. Ease of fitting. No wiring to the bike, just glue 'n' go.
2. Worst case of insurance claim, a helmet cam shows what I'm looking at.
3. Your reports of battery drain when turned off. Possible to overcome, as I've posted in reply to your threads, but easer to just avoid by not having the INNOV.
4. Audio capture from my helmet, without wiring my head to the bike.

Glad to hear my review on the K2 was part of your review!

It depends on what you want I guess. I have a couple of GoPros and what I don't like about them is the continued maintenance you have to do for recharging the battery and clearing off the older files. I wanted something that would just start up when I turned the bike on and shut off when I turned it off...other than the battery drain. I have the parts to fix that, but haven't installed it yet, so I just make sure the bike in on the charger when it sits.

Also, that last thing I want to hear is my voice....I probably couldn't make it out very well, anyway...

 

[ad.hom]

what I don't like about them is the continued maintenance you have to do for recharging the battery and clearing off the older files.

With the Sena unit, yes, the battery needs charging (and only lasts 2 hours at best), but in loop mode, it just records I've the oldest 3min section so you never run out of space.

I like the GoPros for the battery life, but not the shape. I also ruled them out as I couldn't see documentation for loop mode, and frankly, the cost of the newer models.

Sena contacted me late yesterday, 48 hours after opening the ticket, to ask if I'd done the things I said I had when I opened the ticket.