BriteStrike flashlight w/built-in video camera?

[Techjunkie]

I just discovered this item in a catalog I received in the mail today, and I'm really interested in hearing more about it. As far as gadgets added to flashlights go, I think adding a hidden video camera (with audio) is about the coolest I've seen yet. Cooler than laser pointers or UV/IR add-ons, anyway, in my opinion.

Can anyone relate any experience with it or know if there are any other products like it? I'd love to see an actual video (or beam shot :p) taken with the built-in camera.

 

[65535]

Planning on spying on unsuspecting people, most recording is illegal without subject consent, just FYI. Sounds interesting I guess, but I never quite understood why you would want to go around recording unless you were on the job.

 

[luke_DF]

Planning on spying on unsuspecting people, most recording is illegal without subject consent, just FYI.

while this is local and national law dependent, it's not quite true with regards to subject consent. a lot depends on the area - public vs private - and also the use of captured footage.

anyway, sounds like a strange idea. what would be the purpose of this device? it's entirely unsuitable for undercover recording, if that's what they had in mind. perhaps some first responder or military applications, but this also seems unlikely.... I look forward to being proved wrong, and seeing all lights equipped with cameras by mid summer ;)

 

[chenko]

It just makes no sense to me. I've tried hard to figure what that could be for, but the uses I thought of could rely on much more suitable and convenient gear.

 

[Viper715]

I think the original idea is sound. I saw some from another manufacturer a while back. I think the intent was patrol officers. At night I always have my flashlight pointed at the interior of a car I am stopping or at the subject I am interviewing roadside. Where car video only points at the car you can't see what is going on inside of the car or if you have events occuring of frame of the car camera. The flashlight would provide 1st person acounts of events that are often disputed in court i.e. if someithing was in plain view or not as one example. But in practice to have to download the video after every shift and file it blahblah it seems to be more combersome. It could serve it's purpose but not the best solution in my opinion. I don't know hom many times have have thrown my main flashlight to the side during a scuffle or foot chase. I think some of the other vidoe soluthions they have come out with are better but still not perfect, nothing really is.

 

[kramer5150]

Shot this with my cam-corder this evening... sorry for the crudity of the recording.
http://www.youtube.com/user/MuvoTX#p/u/0/_hhdRuMi7qI

 

[Techjunkie]

I think the original idea is sound. I saw some from another manufacturer a while back. I think the intent was patrol officers. At night I always have my flashlight pointed at the interior of a car I am stopping or at the subject I am interviewing roadside. Where car video only points at the car you can't see what is going on inside of the car or if you have events occuring of frame of the car camera. The flashlight would provide 1st person acounts of events that are often disputed in court i.e. if someithing was in plain view or not as one example. But in practice to have to download the video after every shift and file it blahblah it seems to be more combersome. It could serve it's purpose but not the best solution in my opinion. I don't know hom many times have have thrown my main flashlight to the side during a scuffle or foot chase. I think some of the other vidoe soluthions they have come out with are better but still not perfect, nothing really is.

That's exactly one of the two uses described in one of the write-ups I found online. The other was for females to carry in their purses to ward off attackers and to get the perp on camera at the same time.

I was thinking another possible off-label use might be as a scope. There are times when I pull cable in a tight attic or down a wall and my head wont fit where the flashlight would. I can't afford a video scope (or a $400 flashlight with camera built-in either, for that matter), but it seemed to me this might come in handy that way too (identifying obstructions or clear paths). There's probably lots of practical uses besides LEO use if you already own one, but none that would warrant the price tag.

Mostly, I just thought it was kinda cool.

 

[Techjunkie]

Shot this with my cam-corder this evening... sorry for the crudity of the recording.
http://www.youtube.com/user/MuvoTX#p/u/0/_hhdRuMi7qI

Is that a funny coincidence, or did you have that saved on your DVR or something? I'd never hear of anything like this before and now I see two different ones in one day. That one in the news article looks like the idea is the same, but much less compact. (Might as well duct tape a video camera to a lantern flashlight/spotlight.)

 

[jhc37013]

Shot this with my cam-corder this evening... sorry for the crudity of the recording.
http://www.youtube.com/user/MuvoTX#p/u/0/_hhdRuMi7qI

The light actually had a pretty nice beam with some good flood and from what I could see not to bad throw either. The camera quality didn't look bad either. I would like to have one. Taking beam shots would be easy.

 

[Robin24k]

I think this one looks a little less suspicious...

http://www.brickhousesecurity.com/hidden-camcorder-flashlight.html

 

[kramer5150]

theres a DX version too.

 

[kramer5150]

Is that a funny coincidence, or did you have that saved on your DVR or something? I'd never hear of anything like this before and now I see two different ones in one day. That one in the news article looks like the idea is the same, but much less compact. (Might as well duct tape a video camera to a lantern flashlight/spotlight.)

totally coincidental. I was watching my local tech-news program, and before the commercial break they said "up next... a camera flashlight for night duty police..". I remembered this thread. I was doing some youtube video editing at my PC, so my camera was all ready.

:thumbsup:

 

[KuKu427]

To have a video record of what happened when you picked up your flashlight in the middle of the night to investigate a strange noise, chase off some vandals?
I could have seriously used this in the past... would have saved me a lot of explaining...