Dash Cams anyone here uses them ??

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EA82

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Just looking to buy a dash cam for my van, looked at amazon but the reviews are mixed, most people have durability issues. Was wondering if anybody has any first hand experience with them.
A friend of mine got into an accident, he claimed he had a green light but so did the other guy, the difference is the other guy had witnesses so my friend was at fault.
I apologize if this topic has been brought up lately, thank guys.
 
Yeah I got the one jalopnik likes.

Weird thing is, even though it has an internal battery, it keeps resetting the date to 1/1/2011.

Going through the SD chip, there are bunches of files all with about the same "date". It keeps track somehow and records over the oldest ones.

I've grabbed it to review "something recent" and it's been on there most but not all of the time.

With it aboard and rolling I'm more likely to perform for it, so its road safety contribution is questionable. Here's me busting through the snow at the end of my dinky little road:
 
I need to get one. I had a near-hit Friday, and afterwards, despite haven been right there, I couldn't remember all the details. Did I go up the snowbank twice or was it three times? Would have been nice to review, especially had I hit the guy. I doubt anything I'd pay for could have gotten the plate (unless if had a mic and I had the sense to read it out loud), but it is getting tempting to get one.

*puts on crazy conspiracy hat*

Might want to make sure a dashcam is easily toss into the backseat. Like after an accident. Just so that one can review the tape after the fact, with one's lawyer, before giving up anything which may show fault.
 
A co-worker has one. It bailed his butt out on an accident already. Getting one is in the plans for me. His advice is don’t get the cheapest one you can find because it defeats the point of having one if the detail is too poor. I would suggest if you cant get what you want for what you want to pay, just put off the purchase, this is an electronics item after all, they will come down in price.
 
Hello, So it's me or the dash cam.....All the time watching Russian dash cam videos I cringe at how fast they drive in horrid conditions.
I always thought, "Those jerks deserve to crash."

Now I see, through the video from Maine eljafino posted, dash cams make things look faster.

But wait, what about videos that show other cars speeding into intersections??? They're still jerks. Kira
 
I've had one for about 3mos now ,though its a VERY cheap model it does the bare minimum so I'll be upgrading soon.I wanted to be sure i'd like having a gadget in my peripheral ,find the right placement,how well the mount stays put, etc.Before investing in a higher dollar unit.

The thing is,I've had more idiots around me in traffic since i got this this thing than ever before.Its not that i didn't notice them before ,because that's why I got it to begin with... way too many close calls(btw, soccer moms would make great stock car drivers).

The camera itself i never touch.I have it set to turn on/off with the ignition but it also has a motion/on mode if someone backs into me while i'm in the store, it'll catch it.

For the I/R mode, I think a stand-alone I/R emitter would really brighten things up at night at a distance,they can be a little pricey but would be beneficial.The built-in emitter wont cut it.

Over-all, if you're on the fence,just get one... the best one you can comfortably or willingly afford.
 
Originally Posted By: Kira

Now I see, through the video from Maine eljafino posted, dash cams make things look faster.


They have a wide-angle lens so stuff flying by the periphery will have its speed exaggerated. Fix-focus is fine with a wide angle. One doesn't want it focusing on grit or rain on the windscreen three inches away. Any IR emitter would just reflect off the glass. If it weren't snowy, the night vision would be pretty terrible-- two round globes of dim head light and other red dots of tail lights or whatever.

I could get a license plate at bumper distance in daylight. 720p resolution.
 
As of late, I have been using my Galaxy S3 with a rotating dash mount and an app called Daily Roads Voyager. It records speed, lat/lon, and date/time and retains video either in set chunks of time or by specified g-force using the phone's onboard gyros. Not ideal for documenting anything in a parked car, but works great while driving and greatly reduces temptation to text while driving. Coupled with a Griffin windshield bluetooth speaker/microphone, I still have full use of the phone. I do plan to invest in a dedicated dashcam at some point though when I can squeeze it in the budget.
 
If I can get the camera to work on my Droid 2 correctly, I want to be able to do this. The windshield mount for the phone leaves the camera free and open so I can use it as a dash cam.

I have been in a few near-accident scenarios where, had I actually hit the person, I would have been at fault. .. even though I wasn't at fault for them.
 
Originally Posted By: eljefino
Yeah I got the one jalopnik likes.


Which one is that?
 
Originally Posted By: Chris142
Ask the russians.they use lots of them lol


*****...Some of the videos are unbelievable.

I would like to have one for when I tow...I do have a backup camera on the trailer, so I don't hit anyone or anything.
Even though I get out and look the camera is nice.
 
Been using a HDVR-150 video camera made by ABEO for almost a year. This one clamps onto the rearview mirror, making it difficult to notice the camera from the outside. Works great during the day but not so during the nighttime. However the exposure can be adjusted from EV-2.0 to EV+2.0, of which I have not played around with. Comes with the usual power-point plug, (aka, cigarette lighter type power plug). But I ran the cord above the headliner, down inside the A-pillar and hard wired it on the fuse block.
For awhile the splash-screen on the small monitor would unexpectedly come on while I was driving. But after checking the file on the SD media card, the video would not be effected. This problem happened for a couple of weeks, then it stopped on its own and been working good, (so far).
 
I have 2 dash cams. One for the truck and one for the Jag.

The truck one is a Lukas LK-7900 and it's really, really good. Perfect picture, GPS display, great night resolution. License plates are no problem, along with traffic lights, and it has a nice, wide field of view. Did I mention the video is very sharp?

The Jag has a lesser model with 720 resolution, a "no name" HD720P dual lens IR night vision camera. It's just above awful, and the one time I needed a video from it, it was so poor, it was near worthless. Other than to confirm that, yup, an accident just happened in front of me.
 
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