Long Weekend Ride to Prince Edward Island.

FJRMaineiac · Jun 4, 2023

My son is getting married in the fall, which means that he will have less time than usual to take off from work for extended motorcycle rides this year. Just before Memorial Day Weekend, he hatched the idea of riding to P.E.I. - a place we had not visited in about 10 years - and back then, he was a pillion rider. He is all grown up now and is a monster rider with his Super Tenere. He rode from Albany, NY to Maine to meet up with me on Friday night and we headed north by east to PEI.

I have been playing around with action cameras for a while and this year I decided to pick up an Insta360 X3 - 360 degree camera. I am still learning about its capabilities, but I think it added to the shots I got on this trip. For the record, the video in this compilation included shots from an original GoPro Hero (2014 I think) - side of the motorcycle shots, Akaso V50 Elite - chinbar mounted shots, Vsysto dash-cam - front and rear shots from under the head and taillights, and the Insta360 X3 mounted in a variety of locations - mostly on the handlebars, but also low on the left side by the passenger foot peg, and at the end of a selfie stick behind me for that "drone footage" effect. Still shots were mostly with my Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra. I hope you enjoy it:

Robert

harper · Jun 4, 2023

I hope you saw the Bay of Fundy tide swings.

RossKean · Jun 4, 2023

harper said:
I hope you saw the Bay of Fundy tide swings.

Not sure about his routing, but you wouldn't see anything of the Fundy tides between Bangor and Cape Tormentine (Confederation Bridge) unless you did a significant detour. PEI is on the Northumberland Strait (not Bay of Fundy).

FJRMaineiac said:
He rode from Albany, NY to Maine to meet up with me on Friday night and we headed north by east to PEI.

Could you put up a Google Map of the routes you followed? I got some sense of it from your video but not sure of a couple spots. I have been over most of the Main/New Brunswick roads MANY times. I live in New Brunswick, but rarely go over to PEI. Long for a day trip (3.5 hr each way from Fredericton) and pretty busy with tourists in the summer). Haven't looked into camping over there, but should do that sometime - spend a couple days and tour it more completely. Lots of rural roads but not especially exciting inland.

Interesting array of cameras! I find the 360° view one a bit distorted for my taste, but being able to have the full coverage is priceless in some instances. Superwide view lacks detail. I was looking at the Akaso action cameras and wonder what your feelings are about them? Seems to me that the GoPro knockoffs do a pretty credible job with technology and quality that lags a couple years behind (for a quarter of the cost).

harper · Jun 4, 2023

RossKean said:
Not sure about his routing, but you wouldn't see anything of the Fundy tides between Bangor and Cape Tormentine (Confederation Bridge) unless you did a significant detour. PEI is on the Northumberland Strait (not Bay of Fundy).

Hey, to me it's all in the neighborhood. When I rode to Nova Scotia I took the ferry from Saint John, NB, to Digby, NS, and went to the Bay to see the tide swing. I stayed in Coldbrook and saw the tides at Hall's Harbor. I apologize for failing to run up highway 7 from Saint John to see you but in all fairness in 2019 I didn't know who you were. I went to PEI on the way home.

RossKean · Jun 4, 2023

The Digby ferry doesn't save a whole bunch of time unless you are specifically visiting western Nova Scotia once you consider having to be there well before boarding. It can be a nice break for road-weary travelers.
I'm planning on Alaska next year and may swing down to Vancouver area to visit my sister. Thinking about some of the PNW, but not sure yet.... (Long trip from the East coast.)

In the right location, the Fundy tides are quite remarkable.

FJRMaineiac · Jun 5, 2023

RossKean said:
Not sure about his routing, but you wouldn't see anything of the Fundy tides between Bangor and Cape Tormentine (Confederation Bridge) unless you did a significant detour. PEI is on the Northumberland Strait (not Bay of Fundy).

Could you put up a Google Map of the routes you followed? I got some sense of it from your video but not sure of a couple spots. I have been over most of the Main/New Brunswick roads MANY times. I live in New Brunswick, but rarely go over to PEI. Long for a day trip (3.5 hr each way from Fredericton) and pretty busy with tourists in the summer). Haven't looked into camping over there, but should do that sometime - spend a couple days and tour it more completely. Lots of rural roads but not especially exciting inland.

Interesting array of cameras! I find the 360° view one a bit distorted for my taste, but being able to have the full coverage is priceless in somstances. Superwide view lacks detail. I was looking at the Akaso action cameras and wonder what your feelings are about them? Seems to me that the GoPro knockoffs do a pretty credible job with technology and quality that lags a couple years behind (for a quarter of the cost).

Thanks for the correction on the Northumberland Strait. My mistake. I can post some Google map views later today when I get back to my computer.

I agree that some of the distorted fish eye effects from the Insta360 can be a little distracting. Sometimes I think they add to the shot and sometimes I would like to remove them. There are ways to do that in post but I didn't have the time to play with those features yet.

As for the Akaso, mine is a few years old, but I do like it. It claims to shoot in 4k but I will admit that the newest GoPro models shoot clearer footage, but the improvement in quality isn't enough to justify the cost difference for me at least. My son uses 2 different GoPro models and swears by them. Having said that, if I were to buy another action camera, I would probably go with another Akaso. I think they are a good value for the money.