Dashcam

[Austin Branson]

Greetings, oh sage ones,

I believe it only a matter of time until one of the locals takes me out, so I am looking for a decent quality dashcam - has anyone experience of these things? My wife bought me one for Christmas, but right out of the box, it didn't work.

Regards to all,

Austin

[jojim65]

Austin,

 

I'm sure their will be plenty of opinions on this.

 

I have a Nextbase 402g, wired directly to the car so no visible wires and it works extremely well. Definition is superb and the SD card will hold about 8hours driving before it loops.

 

The video is literally as I drove away from having it fitted and a car pulls out in front of me, not a drama but useful to keep.

 

Jim

 

[peejay4A]

A decision you'll have to make is whether you record/display your current speed. That can be a double edged sword. Of course, to we law abiding folk, that might not be an issue.

Edited May 4, 2016 by peejay4A

[rogerguzzi]

Hello All

I have been thinking of one of these for a while(but which one? there are dozens) and everybody seem to recommend a different one?

 

I thought I would trawl the tinter web again(just to confuse me) and I found this one

 

http://dashcams.co.uk/shop/tsumara-g3-32gb/

 

I like it because it is small some look a bit big for a Spitfire windscreen.

 

Anybody tried one? here is a report.

 

http://www.practicalcaravan.com/reviews/accessory/34253-tsumara-g3

 

Roger

 

ps or this(see now I am getting confused again)

 

 

http://www.trustedreviews.com/rac-05-gps-review

 

http://www.practicalmotorhome.com/reviews/accessory/34203-rac-05

Edited May 4, 2016 by rogerguzzi

[peejay4A]

I have one in the Land Rover from E-prance bought on Amazon for not very much. It's fine.

[foster461]

The biggest problem with our little cars is that we are invisible to people expecting a larger vehicle with more lights so the most likely scenario is that you get T-boned or rear ended.

 

Stan

[Bodiam]

I too have the Nextbase 402g, like Jim, fitted as a package deal by Halfords after I had been clouted by a hit and run driver ( yes, I know, stable door, horse etc!)

 

Quite unobtrusive next to the rear view mirror, soon forget it's there, though I have to say it has made me think more about my speed now it is being recorded.

 

There are some appearing on the market which record forwards and to the rear and prices are beginning to come down.

 

John

[JohnG]

Austin

 

I wanted to give a dashcam a try, but, wanted to 'try before I buy' so to speak.

 

I bought one of these, with the idea that, if it suited my needs, I would spend some dosh on a more expensive option.

 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1080P-HD-CAR-DVR-Vehicle-Video-Camera-Recorder-Dash-Cam-G-sensor-HDMI-GS8000L-/351352382660?hash=item51ce3be4c4:g:NTAAAOSw6dNWSXIB

 

Cheap; yes!

Works; certainly!

Happy; yes, and surprised that it works as well as it does

 

 

It has been in the car 18 months or so now, is doing a fine job and is not at all intrusive

 

Note;

Night time performance leaves something to be desired, but, as I tend not to use my '6' when it's dark, this is not an issue for me

Edited May 4, 2016 by wjgco

[peejay4A]

At that price you can't go wrong. If you want GPS and the ability to plot your route on a map then it'll cost more.

[Peter Cobbold]

Austin

 

I wanted to give a dashcam a try, but, wanted to 'try before I buy' so to speak.

 

I bought one of these, with the idea that, if it suited my needs, I would spend some dosh on a more expensive option.

 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1080P-HD-CAR-DVR-Vehicle-Video-Camera-Recorder-Dash-Cam-G-sensor-HDMI-GS8000L-/351352382660?hash=item51ce3be4c4:g:NTAAAOSw6dNWSXIB

 

Cheap; yes!

Works; certainly!

Happy; yes, and surprised that it works as well as it does

 

 

It has been in the car 18 months or so now, is doing a fine job and is not at all intrusive

 

Note;

Night time performance leaves something to be desired, but, as I tend not to use my '6' when it's dark, this is not an issue for me

Irresistible.....ordered.

I'll have a go to see if it will pick up a strobe light on the crank timing marks. "measure spark timing while you drive"

Edited May 4, 2016 by Peter Cobbold

[ptjs1]

Austin,

 

As you've seen there are a myriad of options and prices out there! I did the same as wjgco and decided that I needed to try out the technology before I fully committed. So I bought one almost exactly the same as the one that wjgco bought. There are 3 basic types of these being sold by a whole load of sellers on ebay. And even the prices of these vary! I paid £7 for my first one and £8 for my second one!

 

They are great for understanding what you do and don't want in a dashcam. There are lots of things apart from the film quality to consider such as

 

- ease of mounting,

- length of cable and power mounting

- night vision

- viewing angle

- gps capability

- motion detection

- recording "in the past" ie will save previous 30 seconds after motion detection

- battery capability

 

What I can tell you from my experience of 2 of the very cheap ones is:

 

- Film quality in daylight is really quite good for such a price

- They all lie about the viewing angle. The cheap ones have various claims from 120-170 degrees. Rubbish! I measured both of mine at about 35 degrees! So be aware as 35 degrees means that it probably can't pick up anything before the end of your wings.

- They claim IR LED night vision. Rubbish! They just have one or more small white bulbs which actually makes night vision worse IMO if you turn them on So, it's just recording at night in colour with the expected much reduced visibility.

- Fixing clamps are really quite good, particularly the ones that use a standard screw thread to attach to the camera.

- You need to provide your own SD card (not necessarily a bad thing)

- I set mine to do five minute looping as I considered you really only need the last few minutes. This worked quite well.

 

In summary, you get what you pay for. But, if you recognise the limitations and particularly the false claims, you do get an ok rather limited angle image during daytime driving.

 

I suggest you buy a £7 one first, run it for a week or two and then decide where to go from there.

 

Cheers

 

Paul

Edited May 5, 2016 by ptjs1

[JohnG]

Austin,

 

They are great for understanding what you do and don't want in a dashcam. There are lots of things apart from the film quality to consider such as

 

- ease of mounting,

- length of cable and power mounting

- night vision

- viewing angle

- gps capability

- motion detection

- recording "in the past" ie will save previous 30 seconds after motion detection

- battery capability

 

What I can tell you from my experience of 2 of the very cheap ones is:

 

- Film quality in daylight is really quite good for such a price

- They all lie about the viewing angle. The cheap ones have various claims from 120-170 degrees. Rubbish! I measured both of mine at about 35 degrees! So be aware as 35 degrees means that it probably can't pick up anything before the end of your wings.

- They claim IR LED night vision. Rubbish! They just have one or more small white bulbs which actually makes night vision worse IMO if you turn them on So, it's just recording at night in colour with the expected much reduced visibility.

- Fixing clamps are really quite good, particularly the ones that use a standard screw thread to attach to the camera.

- You need to provide your own SD card (not necessarily a bad thing)

- I set mine to do five minute looping as I considered you really only need the last few minutes. This worked quite well.

 

In summary, you get what you pay for. But, if you recognise the limitations and particularly the false claims, you do get an ok rather limited angle image during daytime driving.

 

I suggest you buy a £7 one first, run it for a week or two and then decide where to go from there.

 

Cheers

 

Paul

Austin

Paul makes a couple of very valid points

If you want night vision . . . . . Don't buy cheap, as I pointed out, night performance is not good

Loop options are good

I find that the viewing angle is acceptable . . . . .not 135° but, acceptable

With 2x zoom, I get the front of my '6' in the picture, plus, the number plate of the car in front is clearer.

 

You get what you pay for . . . . . Absolutely.