Category Archives: Body Cam

1257 Miles in an Electric Car – Part 1 – A Plan is Hatched.

Holzhausen’s drawings of the Model S
Holzhausen’s original drawings of the Model S

10th July 2017

I was sitting in my office in Martlesham on the 10th July 2017 chatting to a colleague about Tesla cars. The conversation had started after he noticed the framed artists sketch hanging on my wall.

I have driven a number of Tesla Model S cars in the past from the excitable P85+ to the ‘Insane’ P85D. They are very exciting cars to drive, not just because they are fully electric and pack extremely powerful single gear motors, but because you feel your are riding on the coattails of automotive history, participating in an irreversible shift change in motorvehicle technology. It’s very exciting!

The conversation moved on the the Model X and Model 3, Tesla’s entries in to the SUV and ‘affordable’ markets. The Model X has recently appeared in the UK, the Model 3 is two years away from being available. We continued to chat for the rest of lunch, but the seed was planted.

That evening I wrote an email to Tesla’s press office requesting the loan of a Model X for review. Nothing specific, simply available dates.

The next day I received a reply from Tesla, it’s explained that things were very busy with the Model X, but the 5th and 6th of October was available for a test drive, did that suit? I puzzled for a while, in the past I had been loaned vehicles for a little longer, to give me time to get to know the vehicle, two days seemed a bit short to get a proper review in place. So, I followed up with an email, requesting a little longer.

I quickly received a reply from Tesla asking what my plans were? OK, good question, time to put on my thinking cap.

15 July 2017

My initial idea was driving from Lands End to John O’Groats, but after a little bit of Googling, I discovered that this had already been done in a  Tesla and well documented on YouTube, there was nothing original to achieve in travelling down this this ‘road’.

But wait a minute! Was there? I live about 40 minutes from Ness Point, the most easterly point in the UK. Nestled in Lowestoft, Ness Point at first glance seemed a little unloved. Some thought and effort has been made to build a stone circle, with plaques showing distances to well known points in the UK. It’s quite nice, but the surroundings aren’t that impressive, but it seemed like the obvious starting point for a challenge and wasn’t too far from home.

Now to find the most westerly point of the UK.

Ardnamurchan Lighthouse sits on the most westerly mainland point of the UK accessible by a short ferry ride at Corran and a two hour drive along single track roads across an extinct volcano. There even appeared to be a ‘rapid’ charge point a few miles away at Kichoan Pier, which would set a challenge outside of Tesla’s ‘Supercharger’ network.

The plan was hatched, but it was just the beginning.

Matt Porter
The Gadget Man

The Gadget Man : Parrot Bebop 2 Drone with “Follow Me Bebop”

I’ve finished testing the Parrot Bebop 2 camera drone. A fully review is coming up shortly. In the meantime here is a selection of footage I have taken over the last couple of weeks.

The Gadget Man – Episode 76 – Transcend DrivePro Body 10 Bodycam

Transcend DrivePro Body Cam 10
Transcend DrivePro Body Cam 10

This week I talk about a new wave of devices aimed at both Police and private security firms. Body Cams allow for the collection of video evidence which is aimed at reducing the time wasted by conflicting opinions from police and witnesses to crimes.

I have been reviewing the Transcend DrivePro Body 10, a really excellent example of such a device, which is easy to set up, extremely simple to wear and operate and produces excellent 1080p video in both daylight and nighttime. The device has an excellent F2.8 160 degree wide angle lens and comes with a 32GB micro SD card included.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0WzGO7-4IEU

Video is split in to manageable sized files which means that en entire video file does not need to be viewed or copied to other media for use in court. It is also time and date stamped with the option of adding additional text to the file which is displayed on the resulting video.

The device is weatherproof and also includes a ‘snap shot’ button for taking 3.3mp image files. Operation of the video is simple and only requires the power button to be depressed to start recording and pressed again to stop.

Don’t forget to listen in to the stream to find out more about the Transcend DrivePro Body 10.

Many thanks to Transcend for providing me with a demo unit.