Drift Innovation X170 (Sport camera offered by Cli-Max accessories)

When Tom of Cli-Max Riding Gear and accessories asked me to test out and write a review on this product, I jumped at the chance. Not because Tom was offering me compensation but to get to play with the newest toys and not have to buy them first was worth it. If it fits on or can be attached to a motorcycle in any way, I want to play with it. Boys and their toys.

Bottom line, the Drift X170 camera is a well designed, well thought out and an excellent buy for its indented purpose. My only consideration for this review was using it to take videos from a moving motorcycle. In my opinion, it is far superior other ‘sport’ type cameras within this price range. The additional capabilities of the Drift X170 camera outweigh any of the minor negatives that I found.

The camera captures high quality video (720 x 480 pixel) and 5 mega pixel photos. The most significant features that set this unit apart from its competition are the built-in color LCD screen for playback and a wireless RF remote control.

The view screen allows you to review shots that you have taken. With the Hero camera, for instance, it was not until you are able to put the SD card into your computer that you discover that you have spent the day taking clips of the sky or the pavement. In standby mode, the screen shows you what the lens sees; therefore you are also able to align your camera for the best angle when you mount it. Additionally the lens rotates thus allowing you to mount the camera any way (vertical or horizontal) that want. Once mounted, you just rotate the lens until the view is correct.


The remote control allows you to mount the camera anywhere and then use the remote control to start / end videos or to take still pictures. In my test, I found that the remote control was very effective up to 10 – 15 feet. So unless you have a very long motorcycle, you should not have a problem.

In addition to the unit and its remote, the good folks at Drift Innovation include a wide range of mounting options including a headband mount to use as a helmet-cam and a wrist band for the remote. But more importantly that that is that this unit has a standard ¼” tripod mount. Using this mount, you can attach a RAM ball enabling you to mount the camera with any of the wide range of RAM mounts available.


This was the option I selected for my evaluation.

The following pictures show the camera with the RAM ball.


For mounting, I chose to mount to my upper tank guard with the view finder facing up where I could see it while riding.


As previously stated, this unit comes with a wide assortment of mounting options to include an elastic band to allow you to mount to your helmet (or head). I have tried using a helmet-cam and that does give you the ability to turn your head to catch a scene off to the side you want to capture on film. A helmet cam, however, does lose the sensation of being on a motorcycle when viewing the clip. That is because as you lean through a turn, you and the bike are leaning but you head stays (or should stay) vertical. By mounting on the bike itself, as you lean thru a turn, the camera leans as well thus providing a more exciting viewing experience.

The kit includes a writs band for the remote control but that method is awkward to operate while riding. I used zip-ties to attach it next to the clutch handle and that worked great. I could easily turn the video on and off while riding. Also the Drift camera has a small led light that shows green while in stand-by and red while recording. By mounting the camera where I could see it, I could see the light and have the reassurance that it was operating. This was extremely difficult with the Hero camera because you had to look at it directly to see verify it was on (leaving me with a lot of clips of my ugly mug staring into the camera).


Sound: The sound on the Drift camera is a far improvement over the Hero camera that has the microphone inside a sealed case. The only way I could find to get the Hero camera to pick up sound was to remove the rubber seal on the camera case, thus rendering the camera vulnerable to rain, dropping in river crossings (my specialty), etc. The Drift camera has an external waterproof mike that does an adequate job of picking up sound. During my tests, however, the camera picked up my engine sound like a blender full of marbles. Oh, wait, I guess a Beemer always sounds like a blender full of marbles. Unless you have a big v-twin, it’s probably best just to override the sound with music from Steppenwolf. But the mic was useful for leaning over and describing the scene for later recall.

Well, lets get on with some test of the camera and to demonstrate the effect if the camera leans with the bike. One important thing to note is how the picture remains focused. I have tried this same view using other cameras and at times the picture would become fuzzy because it was unable to focus fast enough. In the event any LEO is reading this, I will not admit to my speed for this video, but suffice it to say it was a brisk pace and the camera stayed focused. Close up pavement, however, does become a little blotchy

Note: if the stream appears jerky, it is your internet connection and not the camera. Let the viedow fully load and try again.



The drift camera also has the option to take still or sequence stills. Following is a collection of various stills taken with the Drift unit and then strung together in a slide show clip. Again, I am moving at an aggressive pace but the still pictures have a pretty good focus and clarity.



Wide-Angle (Pros and cons)
I recently had the opportunity to ride the Pacific Coast Hwy (Hwy 1), in California. As I rode this twisty route I was of course paying attention to the road but from my peripheral vision I could see the cliffs and the ocean on one side and mountains on the other side. An exhilarating experience. I used a standard focus video to capture this ride but was very disappointed with the outcome. With a standard lens camera, all you could see was road and it missed the real view. As you can see in the previous examples, the Drift has a very good wide angle lens and you have an excellent view of the sides as well as the front. I sure wish I had had the Drift camera for that ride.

But with all good things there are some negatives. While the wide angle allows you to make great moving shots, it is not so good at portrait type pictures.

If the object is far away, the Drift takes a nice and interesting shot. Up close, the view becomes very fishbowl like. So you still need to bring a convention camera for good still shots.



I don’t know if it is possible, but it would be nice if it were possible to change to a standard lens. Such a feature, however, may increase the cost too much and nothing can take as good as a portrait picture as a camera designed for that purpose. This is a ‘sport’ camera and does a great job of its intended purpose.

I would like to see an auxiliary power capability that would allow you to power the unit from the vehicles electrical supply instead of burning batteries. That would be a nice feature, but not critical as it did seem to be fairly efficient with the batteries. I would suggest using lithium.
The provided instructions leave a lot to be desired. It says nothing in five languages. The first time I took this camera out, I just swung by Tom’s office and got the camera and the information booklet thinking I could just read up on it at my next stop. Not so. To use this camera requires sitting at home with it and playing with the features before you intend to use it. Some of its operations are not intuitive and as stated, the instructions provide little assistance. Once figured out, it is simple enough to operate.

It has some negatives, but its positives are so far ahead of the competition that this unit is highly recommended as a ‘sport’ camera to capture those riding moments.

- Beemer Bob

Here is another VIDEO from a Dual Sport ride by an Drift X170 owner. VERY CLEAR VIDEO.

VIDEO LINK
and another Video Link.