Review: Transcend DrivePro Body 30

Quite thankfully I “grew up” as a police officer during the time before body cameras existed. Not that I did anything I wouldn’t want to have recorded, but it’s another piece of equipment you have to make sure is working properly, worn properly, on when necessary, off when necessary, maintained, powered, etc. It’s one more thing to maintain. That recognized, we also have to recognize the power of the bodycam. The liability protection value is HUGE (sometimes immeasurable) and that value far outweighs any inconvenience that exists with maintenance and proper use. Both sides of the “coin” now stated, we also have to agree that having a bodycam that makes use as convenient as possible is a good thing; one you don’t have to worry a lot about; one that does what it’s supposed to in a manner and fashion that makes your day a bit easier.  Enter the Transcend DrivePro Body 30.

I received my test unit several months ago and have worn it for testing in a variety of situations. It’s size and weight made it easy and convenient to wear.

·        Size:               3.75” x 2” x 1” (approximate; I don’t measure mm)

·         Weight:          4.6 ounces

Beyond size and weight, my next two major considerations are battery life and durability. I tend not to be gentle with items I’m testing. In fact, I tend to either intentionally abuse them to see how much they’ll put up with before failing, OR I simply ignore they are there and go about my activities assuming the unit will put up with whatever happens.

The battery life is published as 12 hours of recording time with the caveat that it may be less when some features are used, i.e. the infrared LEDs. The charging cord is USB compatible and comes with the requisite wall plug attachment. I think I ended up recharging the battery more in my vehicle than I did in any wall outlet. At one point I had recorded for approximately ten hours without having recharged the battery – although I HAD stopped recording to download video. Unless you’re using the infrared LEDs, it’s safe to say this unit will last a complete working shift, even if you’re recording for the entire shift. The battery life indicator is right on top of the unit and easy to understand. For anything over 67% of battery life, it’s green. Call that 2/3 or more of life. From 66% to 32% it’s orange. Call that 2/3. For anything 31% or less, it’s red.  Call that “go recharge your unit as soon as possible.”

With battery life no longer a concern, I had to consider the durability of the unit. I wore mine for testing under a number of conditions – some professional and some recreational. I wore the test unit:

·         To go on a five mile hike

·         Running on my elliptical

·         Cutting down and sectioning some trees (chainsaw and axe work)

·         Driving off-road in the Appalachians

·         During interviews at crime scenes

·         On several accident scenes while the investigation was performed

The only things (law enforcement related) I didn’t do while wearing the unit were fight someone and arrest someone. The weather for most of the above listed activities was cold with temperatures running between 20°F and 50°F. On some occasions it was snowing and on others raining. The only adverse observation I could make of the unit was that water spots still mess up a camera image. When a bodycam company figures out a way to prevent that, they’ll have performed a small miracle.

Satisfied with battery life and durability, I took a look at some of the other features. The quality of image is beyond what I would require and the image stabilization built in makes for decent recordings even when you’re doing something like running or swinging an axe. Even the bumps in off-road terrain didn’t manage to mess up the recording unacceptably. The unit records in *.MOV format and is capable of 1920x1080 resolution at 30 frames per second. 30FPS is better than what Hollywood used to use for big screen movies, so I’m pretty sure it’s sufficient for our work.

The internal storage is 64 gigabytes (Gb) which should be more than sufficient for most of our uses. The DrivePro Body 30 is also equipped with an easy-to-use (literally a push button) snapshot feature that allows you to take still photo images without interrupting the recording and while you’re in the midst of an investigation, etc. For documenting a crime scene, fatal traffic accident, etc. this feature can come in very handy and prevent investigators from later having to pause a video to capture an image OR having to pull out a second camera on scene to take those photos.

The last two “luxury” design features of this camera really made me appreciate its ease of use: its connectivity options and the DrivePro Body App you can pair it with on your phone. The DrivePro Body 30 supports both Bluetooth and Wi-Fi Connectivity; one for setup and switching modes (Bluetooth) and the other for live streaming videos to iOS and Android mobile devices. Read that again: LIVE STREAMING. Too cool.

The second item, the DrivePro Body App allows you to adjust camera settings, access recorded footage and access snapshots immediately. The App allows users to embed / mark / identify each recording and snapshot with a user ID and timestamp.

For mounting/wearing, you have two options: I used the heavy-duty clip to attach the unit to my jacket/shirt for the large majority of the testing I did. The only time it came off was when I (literally) had a whole tree push across the front of me and rip my shirt… and tear off the camera. The second option is a hook-and-loop plate that allows you to “stick” the camera to a surface. The two mounts are interchangeable so you can wear the camera most of the time and then switch to another surface as need be.

If you’re looking at getting numerous DrivePro Body 30s (or another of their bodycams) for your agency, you should also check out the TS-DPD6N docking station which provides a complete management, charging and data upload solution for six cameras at a time. It is equipped with a LAN port for setup and a WAN port for data upload while cameras are charging. The management software requires Windows 7, 8 or 10.

All in all I was very impressed with this handy unit and feel it would serve any agency very well. For more information, check out Transcend online.