Dash cam
08-22-14, 06:46 PM
#1
Dash cam
Hey guys, looking to buy a dash cam. Been on ebay and such, and read a couple reviews, but i'd like to hear about any first hand accounts you might have!
I don't care if its yours or what you saw on your buddies, give me your unbiased review and perhaps where you got it also
cheers
Shawn
I don't care if its yours or what you saw on your buddies, give me your unbiased review and perhaps where you got it also
cheers
Shawn
08-24-14, 04:22 PM
#2
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I actually just got one installed last week (Zalman Zalbar), through a sponsor of another forum I'm on. The unit is fairly neat, as you can adjust the sensitivity of the "shock" needed to throw a recording into the SD card. It's always on and recording, but only saves portions of the video when an "event" occurs. IE, a large/quick jolt.
Also has parking mode, which uses either the aforementioned shock, or motion sensor. It's a 2 channel unit, so records front and rear, gives audible feedback as to when it starts to record (you can disable that).
My only gripe is that I wish the rear camera had a better resolution, though it still does 720p I believe. Picked it up from a place called motormaniac out in Richmond Hill.
Also has parking mode, which uses either the aforementioned shock, or motion sensor. It's a 2 channel unit, so records front and rear, gives audible feedback as to when it starts to record (you can disable that).
My only gripe is that I wish the rear camera had a better resolution, though it still does 720p I believe. Picked it up from a place called motormaniac out in Richmond Hill.
08-25-14, 10:23 PM
#3
I bought mine from banggood.com. Don't remember what model and I don't have an opinion on it as I don't have much experience with dashcams but it does what I need it to do. Prices on site seem decent but shipping time is long (4-5wks) as it comes from china.
09-06-14, 11:40 AM
#4
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I got a genius one from staples before christmas for $40. It normally retails for $100. It crapped out after a few months, and I got it replaced. It only records in 3 minute intervals, and it takes a bout a second to get to the next video. It caused me to a miss an unexpected 'drift' in my smart car. It would have been quite the video. I would personally spend the money on a gopro or a comparative unit.
The mount for the unit allows a bit of vibration in the video, and the night vision is not that great. It's sometimes unable to get licence plates that are literally 10 feet in front of the lens. FPS seems to be a bit on the slow side. And the user interface feels like it's from a 90's video tape recorder, if you know what that's like.
The mount for the unit allows a bit of vibration in the video, and the night vision is not that great. It's sometimes unable to get licence plates that are literally 10 feet in front of the lens. FPS seems to be a bit on the slow side. And the user interface feels like it's from a 90's video tape recorder, if you know what that's like.
09-06-14, 05:06 PM
#5
GoPro are not the greatest for dashcam use. It doesn't have the options like continuous play and the G shock save etc. I saw the one in future shop flyer this week, looks pretty good. Id rather that then the ones on ebay....just cant trust the quality
10-12-14, 09:38 AM
#6
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Sort of an old topic but I thought I'd add that I just bought a BlackVue DR650GW for the Insight and if it lives up to the reviews once I install it (currently being shipped), another will be purchased for the RX-7 and eventually the Cosmo.
A little expensive but it's a two channel front and rear unit. 1080P at the front, 720p at the rear, decent night vision, audio, parking lot mode with motion sensing, GPS marking and audio. Also Wi-Fi should one choose to connect up their smart phone but I don't know why one would do that (and they don't make an app for my BlackBerry). Got it as a deal online with an included 16GB SD card and "power magic" battery minder (cuts power to the camera if the 12V battery is dragged down too low).
This is something I've been contemplating for years. Anyone who knows me also knows how much crap I go through with other people damaging my car. For example, in March of this year (4 months after painting the Insight) the Insight was backed into, totalling the hood for almost $3000 in damage. And while the person responsible (a customer's wife, in their driveway) provided all information and cooperated (mostly) there have been times where the fault has been called into question. Plus, video footage dramatically changes a situation. I'm also currently in the legal issue of having to sue someone who caused almost $2000 damage to my RX-7, which I will be writing a story about once it is settled.
The driving in London has nose dived even over the past 6 months and it's sad that it is only a matter of time before I'll need video footage as proof.
A little expensive but it's a two channel front and rear unit. 1080P at the front, 720p at the rear, decent night vision, audio, parking lot mode with motion sensing, GPS marking and audio. Also Wi-Fi should one choose to connect up their smart phone but I don't know why one would do that (and they don't make an app for my BlackBerry). Got it as a deal online with an included 16GB SD card and "power magic" battery minder (cuts power to the camera if the 12V battery is dragged down too low).
This is something I've been contemplating for years. Anyone who knows me also knows how much crap I go through with other people damaging my car. For example, in March of this year (4 months after painting the Insight) the Insight was backed into, totalling the hood for almost $3000 in damage. And while the person responsible (a customer's wife, in their driveway) provided all information and cooperated (mostly) there have been times where the fault has been called into question. Plus, video footage dramatically changes a situation. I'm also currently in the legal issue of having to sue someone who caused almost $2000 damage to my RX-7, which I will be writing a story about once it is settled.
The driving in London has nose dived even over the past 6 months and it's sad that it is only a matter of time before I'll need video footage as proof.
10-12-14, 12:53 PM
#7
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So everyone is going to be running around with cams in their cars like Russia???
Sucks to hear about your situation Aaron.
I can tell you it's not only London where things have nose dived in regards to driving. Even heading down from where I am to the GTA is a dramatic shift in driving behavior. I just hope I don't have to resort to cams as well.
Sucks to hear about your situation Aaron.
I can tell you it's not only London where things have nose dived in regards to driving. Even heading down from where I am to the GTA is a dramatic shift in driving behavior. I just hope I don't have to resort to cams as well.
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10-12-14, 01:24 PM
#8
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An example of the poor driving lately in London is that in the past 2 months I have lost track of the number of drivers I've counted going the wrong way on a one way street. It's over 20. Yet until 2 months ago, driving since I was 16, I could count on a hand full of fingers the number of one way violators I've seen since 1996. Don't even get me started on the tail gating and since I've been rear ended, I'm very conscious about the distance people are behind me.
I actually prefer to drive in Toronto. It's more predictable.
But yes, more and more people are running around with cameras. Several friends already have them installed. Not just for the big stuff, but already the mirrors on both sides of the Insight are marked from other people's doors. And there is a large mark on the driver fender where someone obviously dropped something heavy and metal against it.
Then there are the liability concerns. With pedestrians buried in their iPhones (it always seems to be iDevices...coincidence?) walking out onto the road and paying zero attention to their surroundings, video footage could be pivotal for one's own protection. And cyclists...I doubt I need to elaborate on the typical cyclist to drive home my point. Oh yeah, cab drivers. 90% as bad as cyclists.
Thankfully though a good dash cam is invisible until it's needed. One shouldn't have to fuss with it as operation is automatic. Some insurance companies may even offer a discount if the vehicle is equipped (or so I've heard...I will be calling mine once I've installed the thing).
Diety forbid the Cosmo is hit once it's back on the road. I'd obviously need the cam footage for the YouTube series. And frankly I think that person would be screwed because it might be the most detailed documentation of a restoration ever...might be. Certainly I've not seen something which competes. Sure, 10,000 pictures is one thing but hell, every Cosmo episode is edited down from about 5 hours of footage. How many frames of video in 5 hours?
I actually prefer to drive in Toronto. It's more predictable.
But yes, more and more people are running around with cameras. Several friends already have them installed. Not just for the big stuff, but already the mirrors on both sides of the Insight are marked from other people's doors. And there is a large mark on the driver fender where someone obviously dropped something heavy and metal against it.
Then there are the liability concerns. With pedestrians buried in their iPhones (it always seems to be iDevices...coincidence?) walking out onto the road and paying zero attention to their surroundings, video footage could be pivotal for one's own protection. And cyclists...I doubt I need to elaborate on the typical cyclist to drive home my point. Oh yeah, cab drivers. 90% as bad as cyclists.
Thankfully though a good dash cam is invisible until it's needed. One shouldn't have to fuss with it as operation is automatic. Some insurance companies may even offer a discount if the vehicle is equipped (or so I've heard...I will be calling mine once I've installed the thing).
Diety forbid the Cosmo is hit once it's back on the road. I'd obviously need the cam footage for the YouTube series. And frankly I think that person would be screwed because it might be the most detailed documentation of a restoration ever...might be. Certainly I've not seen something which competes. Sure, 10,000 pictures is one thing but hell, every Cosmo episode is edited down from about 5 hours of footage. How many frames of video in 5 hours?
10-26-14, 10:11 AM
#10
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I installed my BlackVue DR650GW yesterday.
The front camera was mounted just below the rear view mirror. As the driver I can't really see it so there's little distraction (nothing much on the camera to distract anyway, just a few lights). The rear camera was mounted on the top middle of the rear hatch glass below the black shade strip.
Ran the wires through the headliner (had to take the whole thing down...fun) and then under the a-pillar trim for a fairly sanitary installation. The only wires visible are the wires to the front camera passing down from the headliner, and the rear camera wire which must hang down with enough slack so the hatch can be opened.
I cheated on the electrical and use an Add-A-Circuit fuse tap only because the cameras draw less than 100mA and I don't plan on adding more load, so a whole aux fuse box wasn't necessary. They come with a little module called a "PowerMagic" which allows them to run after the car is shut off for parking lot mode, but will turn them off if the battery voltage drops below 11.8V. Mounted that beside the fuse panel and made a little sub harness for the wiring.
Aside from accidentally mounting the rear camera upside down, it was straightforward if time consuming. The bracket on the rear allowed the camera to be easily rotated the correct direction but the software allows the video to be flipped as well.
Overall I'm impressed with the unit. I had to adjust the G sensors to keep from false triggering as the Insight suspension is pretty rough. Basically I had to max out the trigger threshold at 1G. There are separate settings for parking lot mode which are set much lower, on the order of around 0.2G which should trigger if the car is bumped into. At that point the last 5 seconds and next 5 minutes is saved.
Software is decent. Far better than I had thought it would be based on my experience with products like this. Allows DVR like timeline playback at multiple speeds, magnification, exporting files, digital signing (for tamper protection), logs events and G forces, logs GPS coordinates. The GPS log will show your vehicle on a Google map alongside the video, which is pretty slick.
In testing yesterday I already caught footage of a Transit van driver behind me picking his nose. And I mean not just *******, but full on nose-gold mining. But the point is that the cameras sit there and are ignored until they are needed.
The front camera was mounted just below the rear view mirror. As the driver I can't really see it so there's little distraction (nothing much on the camera to distract anyway, just a few lights). The rear camera was mounted on the top middle of the rear hatch glass below the black shade strip.
Ran the wires through the headliner (had to take the whole thing down...fun) and then under the a-pillar trim for a fairly sanitary installation. The only wires visible are the wires to the front camera passing down from the headliner, and the rear camera wire which must hang down with enough slack so the hatch can be opened.
I cheated on the electrical and use an Add-A-Circuit fuse tap only because the cameras draw less than 100mA and I don't plan on adding more load, so a whole aux fuse box wasn't necessary. They come with a little module called a "PowerMagic" which allows them to run after the car is shut off for parking lot mode, but will turn them off if the battery voltage drops below 11.8V. Mounted that beside the fuse panel and made a little sub harness for the wiring.
Aside from accidentally mounting the rear camera upside down, it was straightforward if time consuming. The bracket on the rear allowed the camera to be easily rotated the correct direction but the software allows the video to be flipped as well.
Overall I'm impressed with the unit. I had to adjust the G sensors to keep from false triggering as the Insight suspension is pretty rough. Basically I had to max out the trigger threshold at 1G. There are separate settings for parking lot mode which are set much lower, on the order of around 0.2G which should trigger if the car is bumped into. At that point the last 5 seconds and next 5 minutes is saved.
Software is decent. Far better than I had thought it would be based on my experience with products like this. Allows DVR like timeline playback at multiple speeds, magnification, exporting files, digital signing (for tamper protection), logs events and G forces, logs GPS coordinates. The GPS log will show your vehicle on a Google map alongside the video, which is pretty slick.
In testing yesterday I already caught footage of a Transit van driver behind me picking his nose. And I mean not just *******, but full on nose-gold mining. But the point is that the cameras sit there and are ignored until they are needed.
11-01-14, 08:27 AM
#11
I've got a GoPro Hero 3 Black I use as a dash cam & to record my autox / time attack runs.
I used to toss it up on my window and record the odd drive with friends, a few months back someone called in my plate saying they saw me weaving in and out of traffic running stop signs ect. I had 2 police officers show up at my door and issue me a ticket for careless driving ($700 and 6 points) as far as insurace goes its just as bad as a DUI and would case mine to almost triple.
I checked my computer and sure enough I was running my gopro that day I had hard video evidance that the events did not infact occure. showed up to court with the video and everything was dropped.
needless to say im really glad i was running a gopro & it records for longer than 3 mins at a time. i needed the full 20 min video from that day to get me off the hook. now anytime i take my FD i toss the gopro in and record, worst case i get a bunch of useless footage i can delete in a few months.
I used to toss it up on my window and record the odd drive with friends, a few months back someone called in my plate saying they saw me weaving in and out of traffic running stop signs ect. I had 2 police officers show up at my door and issue me a ticket for careless driving ($700 and 6 points) as far as insurace goes its just as bad as a DUI and would case mine to almost triple.
I checked my computer and sure enough I was running my gopro that day I had hard video evidance that the events did not infact occure. showed up to court with the video and everything was dropped.
needless to say im really glad i was running a gopro & it records for longer than 3 mins at a time. i needed the full 20 min video from that day to get me off the hook. now anytime i take my FD i toss the gopro in and record, worst case i get a bunch of useless footage i can delete in a few months.
11-01-14, 10:16 AM
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I priced that Blackvue on Ebay at around $429 and change.
Unless it's gonna do laundry and tuck me in at night I think I'll pass on that!
Unless it's gonna do laundry and tuck me in at night I think I'll pass on that!
11-01-14, 11:06 AM
#13
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Yes, the BlackVue is expensive. There are cheaper options. One could buy two $40 cameras and run one front and rear. Or simply skip the rear camera.
But the way I see it, $500 is pennies considering the problems that having video footage can solve. I hate to say it, but my RX-7 has been hit or otherwise damaged by other people 12 times at last count. In the past, video footage would have helped as my fault was called into question (I was never at fault).
Last spring, the incident which prompted me to paint the Insight would have been a lot different. I assumed I was at fault. And did until this year when I drove past the same intersection, stopped and took a very close look at the lanes. Nope, it wasn't me! The jackass other driver did as I thought...crossing roundabout lanes without signalling or minding other traffic. If I had the video at the scene, while the situation was not really hostile nor ugly, his fault would have been clearly established. And for my insurance company as well.
In less than one week of driving with the cameras I have footage of the following which I would consider incidents:
-A woman almost backing into me at an intersection (her rear view so clogged with stuffed animals she had no hope of seeing out the back). She was trapped in the intersection when the light turned and instead of clearing the intersection as one should, she illegally decided to reverse. It took 2 seconds of my horn and my quick reversing (I was WELL behind the line) to avoid a collision. Thankfully there was no one behind me.
-So idiot changing lanes into my lane about 4 car lengths in front of me to allow a bus to pull into his lane (we are required to yield to busses) and then randomly coming to a COMPLETE STOP in the middle of the lane for reasons I fail to grasp. Which caused me to hard brake while paying attention to the rear of me (thankfully no tailgaters). He had cut my stopping distance.
-Some punk kid in a red Talon turning in front of me to enter a parking lot a I turned right from one street to another against a yield, in a very visible intersection. He was clearly not remotely paying attention. Horn, brake, avoidance maneuver and one can even see on film the indifference in his face.
-Yesterday on the way home from work, a lady who did that "signal and change lanes simultaneously without looking" who nearly merged onto my driver fender. Luckily I had room to move over to the right.
And about a dozen other incidents (mostly extreme tailgating because apparently not racing at full speed from one red light to another is somehow improper driving, or accelerating smoothly is wrong) which aren't worth saving/mentioning.
But the way I see it, $500 is pennies considering the problems that having video footage can solve. I hate to say it, but my RX-7 has been hit or otherwise damaged by other people 12 times at last count. In the past, video footage would have helped as my fault was called into question (I was never at fault).
Last spring, the incident which prompted me to paint the Insight would have been a lot different. I assumed I was at fault. And did until this year when I drove past the same intersection, stopped and took a very close look at the lanes. Nope, it wasn't me! The jackass other driver did as I thought...crossing roundabout lanes without signalling or minding other traffic. If I had the video at the scene, while the situation was not really hostile nor ugly, his fault would have been clearly established. And for my insurance company as well.
In less than one week of driving with the cameras I have footage of the following which I would consider incidents:
-A woman almost backing into me at an intersection (her rear view so clogged with stuffed animals she had no hope of seeing out the back). She was trapped in the intersection when the light turned and instead of clearing the intersection as one should, she illegally decided to reverse. It took 2 seconds of my horn and my quick reversing (I was WELL behind the line) to avoid a collision. Thankfully there was no one behind me.
-So idiot changing lanes into my lane about 4 car lengths in front of me to allow a bus to pull into his lane (we are required to yield to busses) and then randomly coming to a COMPLETE STOP in the middle of the lane for reasons I fail to grasp. Which caused me to hard brake while paying attention to the rear of me (thankfully no tailgaters). He had cut my stopping distance.
-Some punk kid in a red Talon turning in front of me to enter a parking lot a I turned right from one street to another against a yield, in a very visible intersection. He was clearly not remotely paying attention. Horn, brake, avoidance maneuver and one can even see on film the indifference in his face.
-Yesterday on the way home from work, a lady who did that "signal and change lanes simultaneously without looking" who nearly merged onto my driver fender. Luckily I had room to move over to the right.
And about a dozen other incidents (mostly extreme tailgating because apparently not racing at full speed from one red light to another is somehow improper driving, or accelerating smoothly is wrong) which aren't worth saving/mentioning.
11-03-14, 06:05 PM
#14
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I fully agree the expense is warranted if the Problem is there.
But honestly My car doesn't see too much congested traffic so I would see buying a Cam as a Luxury.
I sort of laugh to myself when I drive,as I see others doing some crazy **** which I used to do when I was a teenager.Now that I am older and more "refined" (ahem..shuddap!) I just scream obscenities in the Van and most likely get pointed at..lol..(look at the old fart yappin away at himself!..lol!).
For that I should not have a Cam.it would pick up some stuff that can't be aired on TV..or the internet..
But honestly My car doesn't see too much congested traffic so I would see buying a Cam as a Luxury.
I sort of laugh to myself when I drive,as I see others doing some crazy **** which I used to do when I was a teenager.Now that I am older and more "refined" (ahem..shuddap!) I just scream obscenities in the Van and most likely get pointed at..lol..(look at the old fart yappin away at himself!..lol!).
For that I should not have a Cam.it would pick up some stuff that can't be aired on TV..or the internet..
11-05-14, 05:21 AM
#15
Well, I ended up buying the Genius DVR-FHD590. Its full 1080p with 30 fps filming, 128d viewing and all the other bells and whistles that most dashcams have. I did reviews on a lot of different cams. This one seemed pretty good, and I didn't have to have it shipped and such. It was on sale at Staples of all places.
I drive an hour to work and back every day, so anything to help out my case in the event of something is fine by me. Hopefully I never have to put it to use though...
cheers
I drive an hour to work and back every day, so anything to help out my case in the event of something is fine by me. Hopefully I never have to put it to use though...
cheers
11-08-14, 09:54 AM
#16
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From Thursday I have footage of an ambulance approaching in the rear camera. So I pull over as much as I can. The intersection is under construction so there isn't much room. The asshat behind me towing a trailer decides he doesn't want to wait, and not aware of the ambulance, pulls back into the lane beside me. Of course the intersection is mostly blocked so he gets one car length past me then has to stop. Meanwhile the ambulance is caught behind him and has to wait for the intersection to be cleared as the truck moron finally figured out there was an emergency vehicle.
I think once I have enough footage I'll edit together a YouTube montage.
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