Dashcam Recommendations

[Toms306]

Morning all,

Looking into getting a dash cam but I don't really know what I'm looking for lol...

Main thing is discretion, I don't want anything massive like the one Jordan has in his bimmer, that would annoy the hell out of me lol. I was wondering if it's possible to get one with a moveable lense so it would just look like another rain sensor but hide the main part in the roof or behind the dash...?

Also want something that will be clear enough to read numberplates, no point going for something that's really cheap if it'll be useless.

Not really sure of budget atm, but obviously not too much lol.

Any recommendations?

Cheers
Tom

[WiNgNuTz]

The one I've got isn't too bad, £27.99 off fleabay, comes with a 16gb memory card, and is fairly discreet. Sits nicely behind my rear view mirror, I can hardly see it from the drivers seat. I'll post up a clip from it later on, as well as a link to the ad if you like?

[Toms306]

Videos and links would be good yeah.

[1616six]

It's fairly discreet Tom, Not sure how you can say it's huge?! I can barely see it when driving.




You won't get anything smaller than a Mini 0801.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/E-PRANCE-Origina...B00F5WP990

[Toms306]

I can see it in both of those pics....therefore its too big lol. I don't want to see it at all, anything non-standard inside annoys me, hence never having boost guages and CC'd dashes lol. Don't even like aftermarket stereos or having to have a lead to the sat nav when its on...and I definitely couldn't leave the sat nav holder on the windscreen when not in use! Your windscreen would annoy me so much with that, phone and sat nav holder and the air freshner on the mirror!

Hell of a title on that link lol. Still looks pretty big though. Any idea if a remote lense is possible?

[eskimogod]

getting tempted by of these myself normally just chuck the gopro up for a long journey but gets a pita!

i understand your hate for clutter around the dash lol could always get inventive get a cheap one to take apart and make a new housing for the lense and and put the gubbins in the glove box

[WiNgNuTz]

If the one Jordan has posted pics of is too big, then mine will be too big as well...Only reason mine is more discreet than that is because I have a sunstrip fitted that hides the mount.

[Toms306]

I think taking one apart and changing it is a bit beyond me unfortunately lol.

Steve, you're right, that's pretty big as well, and not sure I want to fit an Irish sunstrip to hide it.

Though I've just been watching a video review on the one Jordan linked, it's smaller in person than it seemed in the pics tbh! Quite tempted by it tbh, unless any come with a remote lense as I've already said.


Also, this is probably a daft question, but how long do they record for before wiping earlier journeys? I guess that depends on the size of the card?

[WiNgNuTz]

Yeah basically. My 16gb card, recording at 720p can store about an hour iirc, in 3 minute chunks.

[Toms306]

Is that all? That's a round trip to Tesco for me! Though I guess if something did happen, chances are you'd stop immediately and save the footage anyway.

[cully]

tom it keeps saving 3 minuite films with an overlap or about 5 seconds till the card is full then it overwrites the oldest file

[1616six]

Mine saves a lot longer than that. In 5, 10 or 15 min clips. A good few hours worth in 1080p HD.

[Toms306]

Yeah I understand that, but I wanted to know how many of those 3 minute films it would hold before it starts deleting the older ones.

For example if there was an 'incident' occurring on my way to town (may've been involved in one or two daft road rage incidents before ). Then say the police questioned me about it later on it'd be no use having one that could only hold half an hour of footage as it'd be gone time I got home. So I'll need to make sure it's a reasonable sized card.

---

Mine saves a lot longer than that. In 5, 10 or 15 min clips. A good few hours worth in 1080p HD.

Do you know what size card that is?

[Niall]

I know some of them continuously record then when the card is full, start to overwrite the beginning then if something happens, you just hit a button and it stops overwriting

[1616six]

I know some of them continuously record then when the card is full, start to overwrite the beginning then if something happens, you just hit a button and it stops overwriting

Mine is similar, it overwrites & has a facility to 'protect' files (ie stop them being overwritten)

No idea Tom, Il check when I next view some footage.

[clarkey2010]

Have a look at the mini 0803 on ebay, it's the one I have purchased after watching a couple of videos and reading reviews

[RetroPug]

Clamp a gopro to the front tow hook?
Depending on how many hours you drive a week you can have quite a long recording life out of them with a large SD card.

[Toms306]

Have a look at the mini 0803 on ebay, it's the one I have purchased after watching a couple of videos and reading reviews

Looks like that's the updated one of the one Jordan linked. Are you using it yet?

Clamp a gopro to the front tow hook?
Depending on how many hours you drive a week you can have quite a long recording life out of them with a large SD card.

Don't think I've got a fixed front tow hook...

Not really sure that'd work anyway though, it'd be covered in mud and water all the time. That said, I would like a GoPro (or the other, cheaper one lol) to mess around with, just don't think it's right for this purpose.

I drive around 10 hours a week, but I wouldn't expect a card to hold that much footage tbf!

[clarkey2010]

still waiting for mine arrive but will post up when it does.

[Dodgy Bob]

Have a gander at this Tom. If you want hidden, out of the way, custom jobbie then this may be a good starting point.

http://www.techmoan.com/blog/2014/2/24/u...ideal.html

[eskimogod]

just been reading about the mobius myself only problem is 8" extension is all it can cope with

[Eeyore]

dont do anything with a go pro. it doesnt have hte continuous record functionality and its about ten times what youd pay for a dash cam lol

[Toms306]

still waiting for mine arrive but will post up when it does.

Already watched that lol. Must admit it does look good tbh... Though I'm not sure about the sticky pad fixing, would rather it was suction...hmm.

Have a gander at this Tom. If you want hidden, out of the way, custom jobbie then this may be a good starting point.

http://www.techmoan.com/blog/2014/2/24/u...ideal.html

The Ford forum highly recommends the Mobius and I've even seen a very tidy install of it but I'm not sure about it's lack of screen. As above, the 8" external lense wouldn't be long enough unfortunately.

dont do anything with a go pro. it doesnt have hte continuous record functionality and its about ten times what youd pay for a dash cam lol

Lol, yeah they are expensive compared to other similar camera's tbh. I didn't realise they didn't have the continuous function though.

[1616six]

Tom you are officially the most fussy person I've ever met.

It's a dashcam FFS, you won't find a ridiculously small one with a suction mount as the mount will be twice the size of the camera it's self. What's wrong with a sticky pad to hold it on?

[Eeyore]

go pros have a continuous function and break footage up every 15 minutes but they dont overwrite. They arent designed as dash cams! They are very good for what they are and there arent many similar cameras with the same functionality.

[Toms306]

Tom you are officially the most fussy person I've ever met.

It's a dashcam FFS, you won't find a ridiculously small one with a suction mount as the mount will be twice the size of the camera it's self. What's wrong with a sticky pad to hold it on?

You've only just noticed I'm a fussy bugger?

I'm just worried I'll end up sticking it slightly in the wrong place or slightly off straight. With a suction mount that's not an issue, but with a sticky pad theres only one chance! And if its not perfect it'll annoy me constantly.

go pros have a continuous function and break footage up every 15 minutes but they dont overwrite. They arent designed as dash cams! They are very good for what they are and there arent many similar cameras with the same functionality.

Except the SJ thing which is considerably cheaper lol... And the Mobius is pretty similar with more functions, though the video quality isn't as great admittedly.

[1616six]

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/3-5-034-HD-Sep...4897.l4275

Looks decent?! Tempted myself tbh as I wanted a rear one too.

[Toms306]

Lol, just been recommended exactly that on the Focus forum as well!

Does look good tbf, though I don't want a rear one (not sure if it'd even work with the tints) but could use just one. Not sure where to put the display though, the guy on the other forum is fitting his in the glovebox so that's a possibilty.

[JamesPT]

The youtube channel Techmoan, is an awesome source for info on this camera. ( run a GoPro, but its external!) so not really the same use.

https://www.youtube.com/user/Techmoan

[1616six]

So I thought I'd check my memory card out tonight for you Tom. It's a 32gb Kingston micro sd.

It's got every day from 26th June to today's date, & I drive over 1k per month.

The bloody annoying thing is the clips are crystal clear on my laptop but youtube seems to just destroy the quality if I ever upload it, is it my laptop? My internet connection? Does it play bad for you?

http://youtu.be/fHm3WPGCHMs

To me I can barely read a road sign on that clip, yet on the laptop I can see everything perfectly.

Also forgive the shaking/rattle noise, I hadn't realised the mount had come loose.. The suction cup wasn't 'clipped' down!

Think Im going to order that double cam when I get paid though!