Dash Cam

What is your budget?

I love helping people pick out dash cams but there is a wide range of products. Some people above are recommending some on the affordable (but low feature) end, comapred to the high end like blackvue.

Cheaper cams typically will just record while you are driving, many cheaper ones now have built in gps or wifi so you can download files to your phone when you need them by connecting via wifi. Many of the cheaper cams have a half assed parking mode. Sometimes having anything is better than nothing, but for example the anker cams use internal batteries that keep the camera on in a low power state mode when power is cut to it (such as your 12v port). If it senses an impact while parked, it wakes back up and starts recording. The problem is it takes a few seconds before it can wake up and start recording. If the person drives off immediately you might miss them, and you also don't get the actual impact.

more advanced cameras such as from blackvue and thinkware (which will all be over $200 with a hardwire kit and large memory card) have buffered parking mode. They sense that the car is no longer driving (both companies do it in a different way, thats another in depth explanation) and switch to parking mode. while in parking mode they are buffering 10 seconds of footage on their own internal ram. When they sense motion or an impact, it saves that prior 10 seconds, plus 10-20+ seconds after, so you capture the whole incident. blackvue and thinkware both have slightly different features in parking mode tho, this is just a quick rundown. They also both alert you when you get back to your car how many impacts it sensed, although sometimes its just you slamming your door when you get back, but you will hear a beep if thats the case. sometimes me slamming my trunk in my car sets it off.

Here is an example I recorded a hit and run last winter, you will see it was recording even before I got to the car and witnessed this ladies horrible park job before she eventually hit and runs the car next to her. I was able to contact the victim, and pass the video over to insurance so the jeep driver, even tho she lied and claimed she didnt do it then claimed she wasnt aware, ended up getting 100% fault.

https://youtu.be/HM84gM1a4Zw

 

Ive got a cobra, gift from the wife. I don't recommend it.

 

Personally I really dont recommend gopros. I got a gopro hero 7 black myself, but do you really want to have to manually start and end your recording every time you get in your car? Also gopro batteries may not be suitable for long term recording in the hot sun since the inside of a car or between the windshield and dashboard can be like a green house. the time you forget to hit record could be the time you needed it.

A good ash cam will turn on and start recording by itself, it should be a set and forget device. It is worth checking every once in awhile if its still working tho if you don't have one that alerts you.

 

Here is my recent top 10 dash cams, covers my favorite from affordable (~$50) to high end (~$500+). It is long but I tried to really pack in as much information about each cam and their pros and cons. I typically do one of these videos around xmas/new years.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J5TRmtdOyeg

 

I use this one and have been very happy with it, I have a couple of their wifi cameras as well to watch my dog at home and no issues with the quality at all for the price.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07GRV85NP/ref=emc_b_5_mob_i

 

This Jeeper is obviously mentally deficient and shouldn't even be allowed to drive a nail.

 

I agree.

 

I have the apeman. I kludged it into a gopro mounting bracket using a dremel and superglue. It captures surprisingly decent footage for the $40 price, most license plates are legible in its view. Plus it was fun to see what the dealer really does during my free oil change. (No surprises, it sat in the back lot for an hour, then they did the proper oil change and had a discussion to not give me my complimentary car wash, out of fears that my softopper might be a liability.)

My one gripe is that I ran the hardwire down the drivers pillar, and now my radio reception sucks. I might have to investigate further on what I fucked up.

 

I don't know if you're familiar with Wirecutter, but they review and recommend all sorts of products, and seem to be fair and unbiased about it (they also update their recommendations from time to time). Here's their Dash Cam write-up.

 

I use a Vantrue X1, does real well.

Currently hardwired to fuse box.

 

Street Guardian SG9665GC. Small, 1080p video, amazing nighttime quality. Quick double tap on the big button in the middle to save clips.

Street Guardian SG9665GC V2 Dash Camera (2016 Edition: Supercapacitor, Sony Exmor IMX322 WDR CMOS Sensor, 1080P/30FPS, 32GB MicroSD Card, USB MicroSD Card Reader, GPS)

https://www.amazon.com/Street-Guard...00U0OJMYG/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_product_top?ie=UTF8

Wow these things have gotten a lot cheaper, I think I paid much more for mine several years ago. I see they also have dual camera setups now.

 

@USDashCamera or anyone else. Which would be a good dul cam to use for recording trail rides?
For under $350 ish.

 

I prefer to use action cams. Sometimes I'll include video from my viofo a119 but I keep the time stamp on usually so if you do use a dash cam it's a good idea to turn off any time stamp type info cams usually show.

SJCAM makes some quality affordable action cams.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5LA22CsvcDo&feature=youtu.be

just watching your video @Lunercrab , I am in the market for a dash cam and wanted to see what's what for video quality
not sure what to make of this video and your claim...

looks like you might be in the wrong in this video, very careless driving if anything!
why are you in such a hurry to pass this truck that you can obviously tell has blind spots all around them!!

if the authorities can determine the truck and trailer have a turn signal on, looks like they are making a WIDE turn into a driveway?
you clearly are speeding up to pass, on the right, which is highly unadvised in most circumstances, this one you should never pass a trailer because they just might be needing to make a big right hand turn like it appears they are doing here,
but of course I was not there in person to witness

0:20 clearly shows them having to make a wide turn to get into the driveway
the truck probably should have had some orange flags on their back load to alert you but you yourself were very careless trying to pass this making it a dangerous situation

 

Been think of one too,

Is it better to have a forward and rear camera in one unit if they make that?

 

I am looking for something discreet and possibly portable, they will have to do custom install at local car audio shop
I have a problem having the rear window sliders that i do in mounting one in the back on the glass
it's over $400 with install of 2hours for the one I was looking at with wiring to ignition
i have to call back Friday to get website for the cam (i forgot to get that when I was there)

 

Yea, would prefer not having a separate cam (2 cams) that attaches to the rear slider.

Maybe that’s the only option for rear

 

i was in a rush and set up a stupid appointment to have it done without doing more research on what's available
certainly would prefer them to NOT drilling a small hole in the metal interior piece above the rear slider
you have reg cab so it could be differences in operation

and I certainly did not want some long cord hanging down plugging into down below... the lighter plug he showed me was almost 5 or 6 inches long!

 

If you guys are looking for a front and rear channel check out thinkware or blackvue. Their rear cams work on vertical windows and have a lot of advanced features. Blackboxmycar.com has really good install guides. It's very very easy. Blackvue also has an OBDII hardwire kit that's even easier, all you gotta do is hide the cables in the headboard. I did a group buy here for blackboxmycar and it was successful but the 2nd one flopped so instead blackboxmycar.com gives me coupon codes to give out, USDASH10 for $10 off orders over $100, USDASH30 for $30 off over $300.

They are on the price end, $250-550 for low to high end with a hardwire kit and large memory card.

 

are any of them able to run without hooking up with the lighter or ignition?
solar powered? or good battery?
any that just clip on to the mirror and can be portable, take it with you?