Dash Cam recommendations

[Devilchrono]

So, I think it's about time that I put a dash cam in the truck. Got out to it from work this afternoon and see that there's a couple of scrapes that, why they should buff out, weren't there when I left my house this morning. No note was anywhere to be found, and this is the second vehicle that I've come out to in the parking lot there with marks on it that weren't there when I arrived. I'm looking for one that is easy to install, records while the truck is off, and has a pretty easy user interface. Any help you guys can offer is greatly appreciated.

[Acid666]

I have a cheap one in my Silverado. Great for what it is, but it helped me learn what I wanted and didn't want in a better one. If you want one to record all the time, it's going to run off your battery nonstop. You can get some that have an impact detection so when something hits your vehicle it'll turn on and record. Problem is by the time it boots up and starts recording the damage is already done, and that doesn't even guarantee you've got footage of anything. You might have gotten hit from behind and only recording forwards.
I'm currently looking for a good one for my Z06. The wedge one seems to be one of the better choices for me because I want it completely out of the way. It'll completely tuck under the mirror. The one I have now actually has to be shoved further towards the passenger side since the way it mounts to the glass doesn't allow me to tuck it behind the rear view at all. I think if you can get over the recording all the time you can probably find what you want.

I'll try to chime in with more later when I get home.

[NeonJonny]

i heard Magellan maKes a good one. it records only when the vehicle is moving GPS speed logged. buddy got out of a speeding ticket with it. no clue on the model. id rather have a dash cam than a gobro.

[rockchops]

How long are you leaving the truck sitting for? That's gonna be a ton of memory if it's sitting for 8 hours recording nothing

[goIftdibrad]

dat static drain too

[Devilchrono]

It sits in the lot here for 8 hours a day.

[goIftdibrad]

It sits in the lot here for 8 hours a day.

... like most cars?

Like seriously, that drain will hurt battery. Get one with its own battery or get a solar trickle charger. Your design basis should include 360 recording too since most parkinglot impacts are on the sides.

I mean, i get it, it aggravates me too, but not alot you can do about assholes in parking lots and you are going through alot of time and effort to capture something on video then have little or no evidence available to track them down and get reparations even if you did catch them on candid camera.

Also, unless you are doing weekly detailed checks of your car, you will need a massive memory card.

Its a huge investment of time. Have a DD that is 'fewer fucks given' and let this shit go and like live life man.

[Devilchrono]

It sits in the lot here for 8 hours a day.

... like most cars?

Like seriously, that drain will hurt battery. Get one with its own battery or get a solar trickle charger. Your design basis should include 360 recording too since most parkinglot impacts are on the sides.

I mean, i get it, it aggravates me too, but not alot you can do about assholes in parking lots and you are going through alot of time and effort to capture something on video then have little or no evidence available to track them down and get reparations even if you did catch them on candid camera.

Also, unless you are doing weekly detailed checks of your car, you will need a massive memory card.

Its a huge investment of time. Have a DD that is 'fewer fucks given' and let this shit go and like live life man.

This is why I'm asking questions, I honestly don't know much about dash cams, but do feel they would be a good invest in both of my vehicles given the times we live in now. And of course, it doesn't have to be on all the time I guess, as if I can't find one at a decent price that has an internal battery, I don't want to have it be a constant drain on the trucks battery itself. It's also not so much as a "gotcha" for every little thing that happens, but it'd be nice to be able to see just who exactly is doing it so I have evidence if I ever need to go down that road with a police report if the damage gets more than being able to be buffed out.

[goIftdibrad]

... like most cars?

Like seriously, that drain will hurt battery. Get one with its own battery or get a solar trickle charger. Your design basis should include 360 recording too since most parkinglot impacts are on the sides.

I mean, i get it, it aggravates me too, but not alot you can do about assholes in parking lots and you are going through alot of time and effort to capture something on video then have little or no evidence available to track them down and get reparations even if you did catch them on candid camera.

Also, unless you are doing weekly detailed checks of your car, you will need a massive memory card.

Its a huge investment of time. Have a DD that is 'fewer fucks given' and let this shit go and like live life man.

This is why I'm asking questions, I honestly don't know much about dash cams, but do feel they would be a good invest in both of my vehicles given the times we live in now. And of course, it doesn't have to be on all the time I guess, as if I can't find one at a decent price that has an internal battery, I don't want to have it be a constant drain on the trucks battery itself. It's also not so much as a "gotcha" for every little thing that happens, but it'd be nice to be able to see just who exactly is doing it so I have evidence if I ever need to go down that road with a police report if the damage gets more than being able to be buffed out.

just trying to offer a different perspective.

I keep saying that I should get a dashcam, but never actually do.

[Acid666]

The issue with getting one with a "big battery" like you say, is that you don't replenish the battery enough with daily driving. Most will have a really small battery to save weight and money and they only really run to allow you to access menus when they're not plugged in. I think mine only lasts for about 3 minutes once I turn my vehicle off.
If you're worried about memory space, you really shouldn't be. They all loop in segments and then record over the last segment. I've got mine set to record in 2 or 3 minute loops. And I've got an impact detection set to where when it detects a major accident it'll take that loop and lock it so it can't be deleted. I think my 64 gig card holds up to something like 8 hours or so.

Here's what I've got. Keep in mind, it's the best bang for your buck. It's super cheap... And was the first one I decided to go with. The camera + a memory card cost me something like $75 total.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00JJ ... UTF8&psc=1

I decided on that one because of the reviews here http://thewirecutter.com/reviews/best-dash-cam/
They basically said it's a great cheap entry level one. It records pretty good. I've managed to get a few things on camera. One thing I'd bump up on my next cam is the resolution because this one kind of struggles with reading license plates depending on the lighting and how far away they are.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=35Mev67WqY8

I mainly got it because I just wanted to make sure if someone wrecks into me that I'm covered when not at fault. I wasn't really interested in recording when it was parked.
My next one will likely be this wedge one because I want one for the Z06. The glass is a lot more angled than my Silverado so I want something that's sleeker. Also I need it to fit completely behind the mirror and this will tuck all the way underneath it. In the truck I can deal with a little bit of windshield space being taken up on the side of my rear view. On the Z06 I want to be able to see as much glass as possible.

[Acid666]

Also, you should look into a hardwire kit. I'm currently trying to upgrade mine to this, and when I put a dash cam in the Z06 I intend to hard wire it as well. There's a bunch of hard-wire kits out there, but the ones I like are the one's that are connected to a fuse.
https://www.amazon.com/Spy-Tec-Dash-Cam ... m+hardwire

With this one, you can tie it into a fuse that's only one when the car is running (my choice), or you can tie it into one that's always got power. When the battery voltage drops below a certain amount it'll kill the connection and save your battery from being drained. This may be what you're looking for, but you'll only get X amount of time out of it.

The reason I want a hard wire kit is because in my GTI the cigarette adapter where this thing was powered only turned on when the car was on. So I kept it plugged in 24/7. In my Silverado, the cigarette lighter gives power any time something is plugged into it so the camera stays on all the time and I have to manually plug and unplug it every trip. I'm used to it now, it's part of my startup routine when I get in the truck, but I'd like to just turn my key and never have to worry about it. Because occasionally I do forget about it.

[Acid666]

Have you decided on anything? Since I got my bonus I went ahead and ordered some new gears for my pop up headlights since I've been putting it off... I'm debating on getting a dash cam for the vette. I was considering splurging on a high end one with rear view capability. Considering $300 to be my price limit.

[razr390]

I bought a $40 dash cam, records in loop, but no recording when the car is off. It does it's job.

[Devilchrono]

I have not decided on anything yet, and sadly probably won't be able to until after the first of the year. Still looking around, but haven't found anything yet that really sparks my interest. The more I think about it though, trying to find one that records even when the truck is off isn't worth the hassle in the long run though.

[Acid666]

My hardwire kit came in today. I need to figure it out. It's got a fuse connection so I've gotta find out where I should put it. You put it in a fuse that's got power only when the vehicle is on, or to any other fuse and then this little box kills power when the battery gets below a certain voltage so it doesn't drain it.
I need to figure this shit out.

Ok, got it. The fuse thing is actually a piggyback. So you pull a fuse out and put this in its place and then put a fuse in the side of it.
This was the kit I ordered


And this is how the fuse adapter works


had to find images to figure out how it worked. This'll be pimp to install. No more plugging and unplugging into my damn cigarette adapter.
I think I may pull the trigger on the pricier dash cam for the Z06 soon.

[Acid666]

I'm pretty close to pulling the trigger on a dual camera dash cam for the Z06. I installed the hardwire kit on the Silverado today and it kinda got the bug in me to get both my vehicles wired up.
I'm THISSSSSSSSSSSSSS close into getting the BlackVue DR650S-2CH, I'm just not feeling the price tag. There's a model down that's about $100 cheaper but I can't find it anywhere online that's not South Korea. After digging a little into the others it's still looking like the BlackVue is what I want. What I'm looking for is stealth and wifi so I can access it on my phone. It's got a cloud based backup thing but I'm not really interested in that. Same with the GPS. I don't really need it.
Still doing more research before I order it.

[Acid666]

Let's update a dead thread that no one cares about! WOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
So after riding home from the Cars and Coffee in Baton Rouge Saturday and witnessing a Chevy 1500 diesel pass an 18 wheeler on the shoulder and throwing a tire tread from the shoulder into the air and into the slow lane, I've decided it's time to finally choose a dash cam for the vette. My truck has one and I've got it hard-wired, so I'm doing a similar setup again.

I wanted the Blackvue so bad, but I can't justify the $390 price tag. I really wanted stealth, and the ability to get my videos on my phone thru wifi, but the price is just ridiculous when you consider I can get a single camera that records in better 1440P for a quarter of the price. I may still get a 2nd rear camera, but it'll be super small. Rear cameras are more for rear endings, and a 2nd view if someone's driving aggressive. It gives better context if you can prove they were right on your ass and harassing you.


I decided on the Viofo A119c because it's wedged and stealthy, and has higher quality video. Along with the fact that it's $89. A quarter of the price of the Blackvue.
I ordered a 64 gig card, a hardwire kit, and 2X reverse cameras. I'll be putting one above my license plate, and one on the front of the car. Reverse cameras are super cheap, so I just dished out and got them both. I'll be on the search now for a way to switch channels between the front and rear. I need to find an RCA switch or some shit where I can go between the two. I'll figure it out later. It might require me taking the RCA cables and stripping them and soldering it to a switch.

[Devilchrono]

Sadly, I haven't gotten to spend a lot of time looking and reading reviews right now; life has gotten a little hectic at the moment so I've been just trying to get things squared away. I'm gonna try to do some reading on that one though Acid, as I think it'll work for what I'm looking for; and it's cheap enough I can get it for both the truck and Rav4 at the same time hopefully.

[goIftdibrad]

Let's update a dead thread that no one cares about! WOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
So after riding home from the Cars and Coffee in Baton Rouge Saturday and witnessing a Chevy 1500 diesel pass an 18 wheeler on the shoulder and throwing a tire tread from the shoulder into the air and into the slow lane, I've decided it's time to finally choose a dash cam for the vette. My truck has one and I've got it hard-wired, so I'm doing a similar setup again.

I wanted the Blackvue so bad, but I can't justify the $390 price tag. I really wanted stealth, and the ability to get my videos on my phone thru wifi, but the price is just ridiculous when you consider I can get a single camera that records in better 1440P for a quarter of the price. I may still get a 2nd rear camera, but it'll be super small. Rear cameras are more for rear endings, and a 2nd view if someone's driving aggressive. It gives better context if you can prove they were right on your ass and harassing you.


I decided on the Viofo A119c because it's wedged and stealthy, and has higher quality video. Along with the fact that it's $89. A quarter of the price of the Blackvue.
I ordered a 64 gig card, a hardwire kit, and 2X reverse cameras. I'll be putting one above my license plate, and one on the front of the car. Reverse cameras are super cheap, so I just dished out and got them both. I'll be on the search now for a way to switch channels between the front and rear. I need to find an RCA switch or some shit where I can go between the two. I'll figure it out later. It might require me taking the RCA cables and stripping them and soldering it to a switch.

in for reviews.

[Acid666]

Came home early because I'm super high on my hours and likely to not get overtime for it, so I said f it... Plus my dash cam and reverse cams are in. Don't have the hardwire kit in yet though.

You guys will love this. I've got a secret admirer at the dash cam manufacturing plant in China.
Open up the dashcam.... here's what's inside.

[wap]

[Desertbreh]

Came home early because I'm super high on my hours and likely to not get overtime for it, so I said f it... Plus my dash cam and reverse cams are in. Don't have the hardwire kit in yet though.

You guys will love this. I've got a secret admirer at the dash cam manufacturing plant in China.
Open up the dashcam.... here's what's inside.

She love you long time....

[Apex]

[Acid666]

Got my dash cam in. I've been forced to do all these damn mods in the dark since I've been working so damn much. Wiring is all hidden, powers up when the car is on accessory or runs, I've got it completely behind my rear view mirror so I don't even see it, and the red record light isn't in view unless I dip my head down. It's definitely stealth and out of of my line of site. Will post videos once I get the car out.

Rear view cam is drilled as well, waiting till I have daylight to run the wiring. That will be easy too. Toughest part will be figuring out where I want the switch to go.

[Davestr]

http://www.roadandtrack.com/car-culture ... -your-car/