Looking for recommendations for a dash cam. I’ve been looking around, Newegg only sells three for some reason (no idea why), Amazon is flooded with them. Not sure what to get. Not sure what’s reliable either. For preferences, I don’t think 1080p is out of the question, but I don’t see it as a search filter option. Budget I’m thinking less than 300 USD. I don’t think I need something like 4k. I think I can stick with 1080p pretty well (if that helps).
I see the other threads, but they’re older, so… no grave dig, etc…
I still haven’t found one that’s made me pull the trigger yet so please keep us posted. I’ve been tinkering with a raspberry pi to solve this issue but it’s been ahhh… a slow process.
My 2 cents when it comes to quality is to watch the frame rates. Couple times I’ve been like fuck ya 1080… O… 5fps… like dafuq?
All dashcams with a li-ion battery will be dead and useless in about 18 months, so look for a “supercapacitor.”
Few dashcams can get a readable photo of a license plate from more than a couple car-lengths away, while also giving you a wide field of view… It’s a very difficult task for a camera. Can be done, but really costs $$$.
For an inexpensive model, I’m very happy with the Aukey camera I got, reliable, good viewing angle, good color/contrast and $39 right now:
Drawbacks: Fuzzy license plates, mini-usb connector, and only very brief recording after power-off.
Here are the onese that I used in the different cars we have. They are not cheap, but you get what you pay for.
If you are trying to spend the least, then I would recommend the Vantrue N2. Otherwise, I would recommend any of the Blackvue models over the other Brands.
DO NOT buy anything with a lion/li-poly battery. The good brands use super capacitors. If you need to power the camera after the car turns off, invest in something like this.
For my cars that supply power when the car is off I use these
No, not kidding. The good quality ones are expensive. Think of it as good insurance. I mean, there are a lot of features packed into them that you probably don’t need, thus they could be cheaper, but if you look at the reviews and see what you are getting, you may find them useful.
For me, the remote system upload, 4K front camera, and IR interior cabin features are the selling points. Also, if you have expensive or commonly stolen cars (I have both), then you will pay what you need to pay to protect your investment.
Again, if you want to go cheap, the best Recommendation is the Vantrue N2 which comes in just under 300USD and has most of the features you will actually use and nothing really more.
I guess, I should have asked you what you use case is. As maybe a Chinese copycat will provide you what you are looking for. Otherwise, the recommendations are Korean brands. Korea currently owns the quality DashCam market right now and has for the last 10 years. Vantrue is the only Quality Chinese brand that I can recommend.
You wouldn’t happened to still have them ?
I bought an EV, (won’t have it until January) and i’m looking for a very high end, dual camera with a low, to very low power consumption, since every W taken by the camera will be mileage i won’t do on my charge.
Yes I do. Between the wife an I, we have two cars each. 2 CRXs, 1 TL, and 1 TLX.
I would definitely recommend getting a standalone battery for them if you do not want to take away from mileage, but honestly, they do not consume enough wattage for you to worry about. You can look up the specs for reassurance.
**Edit
The BlackVue and Thinkware also have feature where they can do interval recording so. You can set it to record every 1 -5 minute. So basically, it will wake up and snap a picture.
They also have a sentinal mode where they will only record if there is is a lot of motion or if the car is hit. There is a lot of customization that you can do in between. I have mine set to sentinal mode so that they are already up and awake if there is a lot of motion. Then if the gyro detects a bump, it records the incident plus 5-10 seconds before the incident happened. Nifty feature. Used it to do repairs on one of the CRXs and TL due to careless drivers doing a hit and run on my parked car. Caught the license plates. Between the police report and insurance, the other persons paid for the repairs.
Again, very good investment into your expensive metal box.
Yeah that is not often mentioned but you can apply to.lots of insurance places and tell them.you have the dash can and they will reduce your quote. It makes it far easier for them to make a call and say who did what rather than the whole write down your version of events, investigators and so on.
Though it is worth looking into before you get the dashcam, some have approved lists and wont recognise other cams.
I’m not sure about my locality offering discounts for dash cams but I’ve seen enough people roll back at stops into another vehicle and then claim they were hit. A bumper on modern vehicles can cost upwards of $2k to replace and most people only have a minimum deductible of $500. So if you’re found at fault (even when you actually aren’t) you’re going to pay $500 out of pocket possibly. Then there’s the increase to your rate if you have an at fault accident. This may only be a little extra a month but over time the dash cam would have been cheaper.