Hey buddy nice post, cool stuff as well. If you're looking for an action camera GoPro's are good but I think there's some better bangs for your buck.
The iON Air Pro 3 IMHO has a nicer picture than GoPro's and is a much better bang for your buck, that particular model also has an external mic jack as well which many action cameras lack.
Then you have dirt cheap setups like I picked up from Ali Express just to test out if I even wanted an action cam. I got mine for $36, it's like a knockoff SJ4000 which is like a knockoff of a GoPro. Not a great picture or audio but dirt cheap and came with a full accessory bundle.
I ultimately bought a used GoPro Hero 3 off of eBay for just under $100 and it came with a few accessories, that's one plus of buying on eBay oftentimes you get a couple hundo worth of accessories people bought and your getting it all pretty cheap as well.
Glad I read your post reminds me I need to get out and do more riding
I wound up upgrading to a used GoPro Hero 3
*** Forgot to add if your looking for a really good budget cam checkout the Mobius. Many people sleep on what a great camera it is, only downside is there's no external mic jack if that matters to you but you can easily solder one in.
Hey nice to hear from you again man. Wow nice of you to go through all the trouble of writing down your recommendations. I'll be sure to check it out. Thanks for the nice words and for checking my post. Yeah get out there and ride!
Oh and thanks for the help man. That's great! I didn't expect that! :)