dash cam recommendations/reviews

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dash cam recommendations/reviews

aba500

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Hi, what dash cam do you guys use ? do you recommend it?
has anyone used those cheap $20 ebay ones? I'm assuming their total crap, but for the price Id take average.
 
There's a dashcam thread somewhere on this forum.

Spend a bit of time on youtube watching the dashcam clips. Many of them show which cam was used, and the quality of each can then be assessed.

The cheap ones will be adequate for a general view, but may lack definition if number plates need to be read. They can also struggle in low sun and in the dark.

The Nextbase ones seem to be very good, around £100. Cheaper but better than adequate seem to be viofo A119 and Aukey.

I'm still trying to decide whether I want/need one, but if I do, will probably go for the Nextbase 512 which has a rear cam option.
 
There's a dashcam thread somewhere on this forum.

Spend a bit of time on youtube watching the dashcam clips. Many of them show which cam was used, and the quality of each can then be assessed.

The cheap ones will be adequate for a general view, but may lack definition if number plates need to be read. They can also struggle in low sun and in the dark.

The Nextbase ones seem to be very good, around £100. Cheaper but better than adequate seem to be viofo A119 and Aukey.

I'm still trying to decide whether I want/need one, but if I do, will probably go for the Nextbase 512 which has a rear cam option.
I bought a Nextbase 212 more than 2 years ago. It was one of Halfords first dashcam offers at the time but not as cheap as the current one. I found it very good with good lowlight and bright sun performance. No problem with definition either, number plates etc were easy to see. I did a fuse box "plumb in" and the whole installation is very neat. It worked flawlessly until about 2 months ago when suddenly, without warning, it malfunctioned. Normally when you switch on the ignition, it makes a chiming noise and the screen illuminates briefly, recording starts and shortly afterwards the screen blanks with recording continuing until turning off the ignition kills the power. Now, when switched on, the chimes are heard, the screen lights off and it promptly shuts down again only to wake up with a chime, screen lights and it shuts down again and so on and so on, until you pull it off the mount thus killing it's battery access.

I asked in Halfords (it's out of warranty now) they said they'd seen this before and it's usually a defective internal battery. Went on line and googled it - a number of similar symptoms being mentioned. The battery is a polimerised widget (or something like that?) anyway, you're not going to buy it in Asda! Further investigation revealed that Nextbase quote circa £35 to replace it. So I guess it's a recognized problem?

I liked having it, especially on our journeys south into the madness that is motoring in the midlands! The picture this camera produced were very good and, I would imagine, easily up to the standard required for insurance claim verification purposes. Halfords have an offer on them right now and I'm trying to make my mind up whether to buy another - maybe they've improved them since I bought mine? Thinking of splitting the case and trying to identify the battery for a DIY replacement job! Then it could take up residency on the rear screen?

It's mounted in the Ibiza which does regenerative charging. That is to say the alternator output is ECU controlled - not dependent solely on the battery's state of charge - so, if I understand correctly, when in the cruise it charges pretty much as any other alternator does. When accelerating the field circuit current in the alternator is greatly reduced, by the ECU, so max engine power is available to do work. When on overrun or braking the ECU energizes the field strongly so that a strong charge is sent to the battery thus using some of the energy usually lost to the brakes - clever, eh? (but more electronics to fail!) I've been trying to find out what voltage this pushes the system to so that I can check it. - gonna wire my voltmeter to the battery terminals anyway so I can see what it's doing. I've heard it rumoured it can be, briefly, as high as 18 volts, which would be some amperage? but I don't actually know! Going to have a chat with the lads at AVW because it occurs to me that if it consistently pushes it that high the control circuitry in the camera may not be able to cope, which might explain this failure?

So. I won't be making another camera purchase 'till I know what the alternator is meant to be doing and then checked that it actually is!
 
Don't buy one!

Almost every dash cam clip I see is of an incident which could have been avoided if the dash cam owner wasn't being so stubborn - mostly because they have a camera and are always right. Even if by conceding they could have avoided the incident.

If you're having enough incidents to feel you need a camera - then you probably would be better off investing in advanced driver training. I drive 35-40k miles a year and have done for 12 years, yet have never felt the need to have a dash cam, or had an incident with another vehicle.

I hate this proliferation of consensual surveillance. People lost their lives in Eastern Europe fighting against it, yet we seem to be happy not only to be the most surveillanced country in Europe, but also the one most happy to film and report each other.
 
Hi, what dash cam do you guys use ? do you recommend it?
has anyone used those cheap $20 ebay ones? I'm assuming their total crap, but for the price Id take average.

I had a cheap one from ebay with built in GPS that worked for about 3 years but partially died (sensor) recently. I'm hoping for a Mini 0826 Ambarella A7LA50 on th 25th like this one
/www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Mini-0826-Ambarella-A7LA50-1296P-Car-Dash-Camera-DVR-Cam-CPL-GPS-Logger-Mount/312230704145

Things I personally looked for were no LEDs round the lens as they just reflect off the glass and arn't powerful eneought to light up anything else. A GPS so you get time speed and position data (GPS is in the stick on windscreen mount). Small screen (you are not looking at it while driving). The addition of a polarising filter helps reduce internal reflections off the windscreen.

I tucked mine behind (in front of?) the rear view mirror.

Robert G8RPI.
 
Don't buy one!

Almost every dash cam clip I see is of an incident which could have been avoided if the dash cam owner wasn't being so stubborn - mostly because they have a camera and are always right. Even if by conceding they could have avoided the incident.

If you're having enough incidents to feel you need a camera - then you probably would be better off investing in advanced driver training. I drive 35-40k miles a year and have done for 12 years, yet have never felt the need to have a dash cam, or had an incident with another vehicle.

I hate this proliferation of consensual surveillance. People lost their lives in Eastern Europe fighting against it, yet we seem to be happy not only to be the most surveillanced country in Europe, but also the one most happy to film and report each other.

I agree don't buy one if your purpose is to post videos online. I have one purely for my own protection. People do stupid things on the rod and it's good to have a independent "witness". I forget that it's there and don't even bother looking at what stupid driving it might have captured. Years ago I had someone do a rapid stop and then reverse into my car with a horse transporter because they missed their turn. Fortunatly I had an "official" (memeber of red cross) in the car and the transporter driver changed their approach when they saw them. I pesume they didn't know that a passenger witness hs little validity. A dash cam would have been very useful if it had gone the other way. Cameras can actually cause bad beheviour. A year or so ago I saw two cars "playing silly buggers" on the A14. Undertaking, blocking lne changes. Slowing down in fron and then accelerating when the other tried to pass. I kept well back but ended up behind the "lead" car after it turned off (scond car ent straight on) and noticed it had front and rear cameras. I could only conclude he was trying to force the other car to do something illegal or stupid on camera so they could post it online. That's not what they are supposed to be used for. Nor are they for you to use to "police" the roads.


Robert G8RPI.
 
If you're having enough incidents to feel you need a camera - then you probably would be better off investing in advanced driver training. I drive 35-40k miles a year and have done for 12 years, yet have never felt the need to have a dash cam, or had an incident with another vehicle.

Mrs dave was in her new car before i got around to fitting a camera as i left the old one in her punto. she was stationary in a que of traffic on the a12 when a woman drove into the back of her. now the woman has claimed mrs dave went into the back of her, even though the damage in mrs dave photos says different its still taken over a year to sort so far and still not resolved.
mrs dave had always said she didnt want a dashcam before this.
 
What Dave said.

Without a camera to back you up it will be your story vs theirs and however many witnesses they can muster.

It comes down to common not being common these days. Common sense, common courtesy and of course common decency.

Someone hit my ex's car at the Queen Elizabeth hospital car park. No note or any attempt to leave details. Her camera was triggered by the impact and got the number plate as it drove away. She reported the driver for leaving the scene and got a crime number (no idea if anything happened after that). I was a minor scuff that took about an hour to repair (including paint drying time).

If the other vehicle had stuck around, the driver left a note, details at reception or had the common decency to leave a simple bloody apology; the Police would not have been involved.

I used to work in Peterborough. It was the crash for cash capital of the eastern counties. Not having a camera in your vehicle is asking for trouble.

On a side note. I bought a "better than half price" camera for the back of my Mito to go with the one up front. I have literally cured 95% of tailgating. Now while I'm driving along at the speed limit, someone catches up to me, sees the camera and backs off. Brilliant! I might get a memory card and wire it up one day. :devil:
 
Today's surveillance society makes Orwell's 1984 look cute. But at least users have some control (e.g. what they post online, etc). I certainly don't want a smart speaker and have Siri turned off on my phone.

Dash cams would be great if hidden from the user and only made a noise when there's a problem or something unusual while you were away. Otherwise they are like rugby scrum caps - no genuine protection but make you more likely to take risks.

The data should be over-wiped after every drive so you only download what you need when you need it.
 
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