Stroud Valleys Loop

We keep coming back to this one for UK touring: 1440p looks sharp on a laptop, Wi‑Fi saves faffing with the card at the lay-by, and GPS tagging is there if you ever need to show where a clip was taken. Grab a polarising filter if you spend all day pointed at bright sky and bonnet glare.

Two bright screens make changing settings with gloves on less painful, and battery life feels less stingy on all-day drives than older action cams. Before you buy the combo, be honest about how you mount—extra batteries help only if you will carry them.

Same capable airframe as the pricier bundle; you just live with your phone as the monitor. Fine for calm evenings and quick set-ups—bring a hood or find shade when the sun is behind you.

Small enough that you will actually carry it, and it has bailed us out of car-park flat batteries more than once. Top it up every few months if it sits unused—lithium packs are only comforting when they are not empty.

Set a target pressure, let it shut off, and you are done without babysitting the gauge—handy when your hands are cold. It is loud under load, so we still cross-check the first fill against a handheld gauge we trust.

Comfortable in a mitt, wide enough for proper swipes on a frosty estate screen. It is not jewellery—just a solid morning tool you will not mind leaving in the boot.

Drop the phone in and drive—no magnets, no daily screwing. Dust builds up in the cradle over time, and tilt range is not cinematic, but for portrait maps it is hard to beat for simplicity.

Tiny brick that actually fast-charges a modern phone without cooking your dash trim. If two things draw at once, expect the speed to share out—fine when the second port is only a dash cam trickle.

Built-in cable means you are not hunting through crumbs for a lead at the services. The tail will wear eventually, but while it lasts this is the least stressful shape for travel days.

Cup lid is genuinely useful when you are sharing, and the size is easy to live with in a door bin. Paint chips if you let it rattle in a metal cup holder—wrap a sock or keep it in a sleeve.