Dash Cam

[cmbicycles]

My better half is interested in a simple dashcam for the car, so I wanted to see if anyone had experience with a decent one as I have none.

Preference towards recommendations for something simple and unobtrusive? Ease of "set it and forget it" and reliability are paramount, not looking for top $ either, guessing under $100 if that seems reasonable, open to opinions if I need to spend more/less. Thanks

[jimcav]

but I took advantage of the probikekit shimano camera deal for cyber Monday.
It is obviously for a bike, but imagine it could be sticky-mounted to the dash and it has ability to turn on at set times or gps points I believe. anyway it was $74
jim

[MattTuck]

I've been thinking about one of these also.

If you haven't read the wirecutter review of the options, it is worth it.

https://thewirecutter.com/reviews/best-dash-cam/

[unterhausen]

somewhat of a tangent, but I feel like the lane departure detection camera in my Prius should be able to be used as a dashcam.

[carpediemracing]

Originally Posted by unterhausen

somewhat of a tangent, but I feel like the lane departure detection camera in my Prius should be able to be used as a dashcam.

It can.

On some GM vehicles (Corvette? high performance Cadillac) there's a way to record your driving, with speed, rpm, etc. It uses the same camera, as far as I know.

CTS-V datalogger (factory option). Uses the same camera as the lane departure/cruise/etc (near the rearview mirror), although I think there are other cameras in action for lane departure (?):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ee4y0azDsQA

[tuxbailey]

I use a gopro knock off (dbpower) for dash cam in one car and it works fine. I have a G1W variant on my other car and it is fine too. They share the same software, operates the same way and serve the purpose.

I prefer the gopro knock off since it has a battery to keep the date/time current. when my G1W dies I will get another DBPower cam.

They are about $30 each.

[carpediemracing]

I use the following:
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...9SIA4KN1ER5435

I bought all of mine (four) for about $70-80 each, a number of years ago. In two cars I have two mounts each, front and rear. In our big SUV (currently an Expedition, soon to be a Suburban) I only use the front. On the Ford (I'll find out with the Suburban) the 12v outlets are not switched by the ignition, it's always on. The cam can be set to turn on when it gets power through the USB cable, but when a plug is always on you have to unplug it manually. In the Expedition I have a front that I plug in each time I drive. In the Honda/Nissan (and prior, in the VWs) we have them plugged in all the time and they turn/ed on only when you turn the ignition to "ON".

In the front. I make the rear very visible to discourage tailgaters. It's incredibly effective in that regard, drivers generally behave better when they think they're being recorded.


Rear cam:


A clip from one of them (720p). Maybe I should set it to 1080p, plates are harder to read:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b0w3XgqBlgo

For me the biggest inconvenience with what I have is that I have to remove the camera to save any footage. With a prior phone I used an app that allowed me to simply touch the screen to save the prior bit of footage (a user setting - could be 1-2 minutes). I could wait for a more convenient time to download footage. On longer trips that's a factor, like driving 18 hours to Wisconsin or 7 hours to northern Maine. It's less a concern if you're using the cam purely as a safety/accident/liability thing, but I like to save bits for other reasons (datalogging a corner on the way home from work, for example, or saving the transition from rain to heavy snow in just a few minutes of driving).

The app I used is Daily Roads, but it's limited by your phone's camera. With my then-new LG G2 the rolling shutter distorted footage, making it useless for playback. On the Motorola Droid I had prior, it was excellent. The app is also a resource hog, making it harder to, say, use your phone as a phone or navigation device. It's less useful as a rear cam as in most cars you don't have easy access to a rear view cam. I guess if you're in a Lotus Espirit then you have easy access to the rear window, but in a sedan or SUV, where the rear window isn't a few inches from your head...

If you have a second phone you can use only as a cam it would be good.

App link below (not me, not affiliated):
https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...yroads.v&hl=en

[Veloo]

I'm on my 3rd dash cam now. 4th if you count the one I got for my wife.
First one looked a lot like this one so I'm assuming it's the same. Cheap, unreliable, stay away from it. It was about $75 CAD back then.
http://blog.autodvdgps.com/car-elect...d-screen/8621/

I then went to the Mini 0806.
Great video quality, good sound. It was about $200 CAD.
Unreliable cuz it uses a battery instead of a capacitor. It died a few months ago so I had to get a replacement in a bit of a rush since I feel a bit insecure now driving without one.

Current cam is the Papago S37.
$150 and it went for $100 on Black Friday. I'd say $100 is a decent price but not really $150.

Wife's cam is the DDPai Mini 1.
It's very good value for a 1080 cam. Under $100 these days.
Don't like it for me cuz it's not removable. Wifi connection is not always good either but you can view videos on your phone which can be handy. Not the best 1080p quality but better than nothing and better than 720. Audio is OK but not great.

You get what you pay for so be wary of a lot of the sub $100 cams.
My friends have the Blackvue and they seem to be rock solid with excellent quality. I've seen two vids, one at night, and it was impressive. but they go for $300. My gripe is that I prefer a USB cable vs the 12V car plug cuz I want to have two USB ports available in the car charger. Guess I could find a cable but that's more time spent searching and buying.

My criteria:
1080p - a good 1080p - not all are equal
removable so I can clean the windshield and deal with any issues if needed
powered by USB cable
small
would like both a sticky and suction mount - sticky is more stable and reliable but I also want flexibility if I am in another car.
capacitor - not battery

Other considerations:
WIFI or Bluetooth connectivity is good to have but I am OK without. You decide if you think you'll need to show videos on the fly to anyone like a cop to show any evidence or even for your own tinkering.
Do you want to have a built in screen or are you OK controlling things via an app.
Do you really care for a much wider view angle? It can mean more fish eye curvature.

Stay away from units that use a battery as they are temperature sensitive.
I find reviews are OK but they can't review everything out there and I usually have questions about models that are not on a reviewer's list. You may wanna check out forums that have the model you are looking at and see what issues people are having.

The market is overwhelming. Try to buy from a place that takes returns. My first Papago S37 had issues but I got it from Best Buy.

About the sports cam for a dash cam. It records but you gotta remember that it won't start up on its own like a dash cam does when the car is powered on.
Also, the Shimano cam is a horizontal cam. It may be hard to get it positioned properly with the angle of the windshield and whatever mount you have to attach it to.

[bikinchris]

One dash camera I'd had not heard of that I just recently got info on was this one:

https://www.vava.com/dash_gs?utm_med...iAAEgIil_D_BwE

But it uses batteries, not a capacitor.