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Most of dedicated bike and helmet cams are far too expensive. I usually buy the cheapest decent bike and I also bought a relatively cheap decent e-bike, both of which needed replacement tires and brake pads right away, much sooner than you'd normally need on a more expensive bike, but once you replace them, it's cheaper overall. I don't want to spend a lot of money on a camera if my bike is cheap too. I use one of these GoPro Clones, back when it was $35, a few years ago, for the front camera. https://www.amazon.com/Dragon-Touch-Underwater-Waterproof-Accessories/dp/B07B2W96JH You do have to wipe/format the SD card every once in a while. I had it for a few years before I got my e-bike and just repurposed it for my front bike cam. Each battery lasts about 60-70 minutes, but you can buy more and have a bunch ready to swap out. If your trip is short, these are fine. I just use it because it was repurposed and my one way ride was short enough. It also happened to have a bike handlebar mount, so it worked out. For the rear Camera, I bought a "Mini Spy Camera" which isn't all that mini. It was around $45 and is no longer offered on Amazon, and here's a link to the closest thing I can find that was like it, which is also currently unavailable. I bought it for something else at first, but then repurposed it for my rear bike cam. https://www.amazon.com/Anlork-Wireless-Surveillance-Detection-Monitoring/dp/B0D4TH2KBC Mine has a usable velcro strap mount the worked perfectly with my bike rack. I think they've been supplanted by smaller and cheaper cameras that aren't 4k. https://www.amazon.com/Bagandcute-Wireless-Camera-Best-Surveillance-Surveillance-Detection/dp/B0FGPZYYPR These can run all day or multiple days. Those are generally dashcams and need to be plugged into separate power. You can just get a larger SD card, with that spycam or go pro clone and periodically wipe the card, when you don't have any accidents during your previous days. Lower resolution 1080p should work well enough for that. If they're close enough to hit you, you'll have a clear view of their license plate. There's this dumb take on dashcams, clearly not understanding what it's for. https://linustechtips.com/topic/1449409-almost-everyone-is-wasting-money-on-dash-cams/ No wide angle lens will get a good detail at distance, even at 4k. If they do eventually have an 8k camera, a wide angle lens still wouldn't get good detail at a distance. Besides, that's unnecessary. Those license plate scanners that police use are narrow angle lenses that are aimed at a specific spot to catch the license plates from a distance. Wide angle lenses are for capturing the activity around you to prove your innocence. You only need their plates if they hit you and when they're that close, you'll have their plate details clearly on camera even at 720p. A 480i camera would probably work at that distance too. If they're too far away, why would you care? That cheap "spy cam" I got has no screen and can run all day, and multiple days. I originally got mine to stick between the fence slats to catch the a55hole that kept throwing their dog crap baggie into my hedges. When I trimmed the trees over the area where my outdoor camera could catch the view, they stopped coming by, so I reused it for my rear bike cam. Most of those go pro or "spy cams" cameras are rechargeable or come with rechargeable batteries. You just need to find a set with mounts that work on your handlebars and rear rack. Otherwise, you'd need to rig something up. That's the only way you can go cheap. These cheap work arounds are good enough. I don't need super high resolution or color matching, just something to prove fault and catch a hit and run if it ever happens. (This reminds me, I should copy off the image of that SUV that swerved into the shoulder and nearly hit me yesterday.)