I Bought A Body Camera And Another Drone

Last month, a close friend called me about an urgent situation he was in and if I was close by (since it was just a street away from my office). The situation? Policemen harassment. He wished he had body camera so he could record all happening without them noticing.

I thought it was a good idea, an insurance or personal safety type of decision. So I went online to read more about body cameras. Below is a summary of all I gathered:

1. Body cameras are different from spy cameras. They are not very inconspicuous and not meant to be used to spy on people. Best to think of them as your carry on CCTV. Use them to have video evidence of situations you might need to have evidence for. Heard of a car sales man who was saved because he put on the very brand of body camera I bought while showing a client a car and allowing the client test drive the car. The client eventually bought the car then later complained that there was a tear on one of the seats. As usual, it became a my word against your word situation, and for that type of transaction his superiors were more inclined to appease the client. Luckily, the body camera was filming when he was showing the client the interior of the car, and it actually captured the debated spot. Guess what, there was no tear there. So the tear must have happened after the client bought and took the car out of their premises. Another lady said she uses it when walking in a relatively unsafe neighboorhood. Some use it when walking their dogs. Some when jogging. Some when driving. And my friend would have used it when he was been wrongly detained by policemen (though spy camera would be better).
2. Most body cameras record in 5 min clips. They do record for as long as the battery lasts (mine lasts about 4 hours), but in chunks/clips of 5 mins long. That way it is easier to identify the clip that is needed/relevant and delete others.
3. Many body cameras can also be set to do just audio recording. So you be more relaxed to put the device out of sight and get just audio recording.
4. There are usually two categories you come across online or in stores: one for security folks and police, and another for regular people. The one for police is usually in form of a wearable vest and very very conspicuous. The one for regular folks is designed to be easy to carry and less attention grabbing.

After reading through many reviews on Amazon and other sites, I settled for one that had very great and positive reviews: ehomful Body Camera HD 1080P

I used DHL's eShop to place the order and to get the delivery of the item here in Lagos.

I also bought another drone.

The first one I bought about 4 years ago is not very easy to learn to fly with. So this time, I bought a beginner and even children targeted drone. It is very small and marketed as very easy to fly (and use to kickstart one's journey to flying bigger and more sophisticated drones).

Again, after going through heaps of online reviews and YouTube videos, I settled for HolyStone drones. Originally wanted to buy Holy Stone HS720 Foldable GPS Drone with 2K FHD. It has the best reviews and ratings (both on Amazon and the expert YouTube reviews I checked) as per value for money and sophistication. It is foldable and compact enough to easily carry to beach and events you'll like to film or fly it at. It has anti-loss features -- will return to you/home once battery is low, has a return home button to make it fly back to you/home from where it is. It has "follow me" which makes it automatically follow you at a set altitude and get you awesome filming without you carrying the remote or always pressing it. It has good (enough) cameras for hobbyist recording. And it's regarded as a generally good quality and feature rich drone.

However, it is not an absolute beginner drone. So I decided to go for a very cheap and highly recommended absolute beginner drone: Holy Stone Mini Drone for Kids and Beginners It is small and great to fly indoors, so perfect for learning.

Due to its low price, I decided to buy it on Aliexpress (so I don't pay shipping fee that is more than the cost of the item).