Jump to content

Opinions on Dash Cameras


Mpgp1999

Recommended Posts

Hello all I was wondering if it would be a good idea to invest in a dash cam. Besides using if for hit and runs you can also use it to video tape a tour. They have all kinds of fancy ones that are reasonably priced. Or plain and simple ones. They even have ones for the rear, that you can use when backing up. Before buying one of theses (around $100) I wanted to think what the car community thought. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I picked up a cheap variable input voltage regulator off eBay (3-12v in, regulated 12v out). I plan on installing it to charge a cell phone (always good have a charged phone driving a 90 year old car). Would easily power a dash cam or any other small accessory.

 

I have a dash cam in my daily. Check out video samples on YouTube to see which films the best in your driving conditions. I use a Viofo A119 as I liked the features and night performance was impressive

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm getting several, especially after last Thursday. I turned right into my driveway and got hit by a guy passing me on my right. No citation issued because he said I hit him... my word against his. The officer didn't even care that passing on the right on a two lane is illegal. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

6 minutes ago, Plyroadking said:

I'm getting several, especially after last Thursday. I turned right into my driveway and got hit by a guy passing me on my right. No citation issued because he said I hit him... my word against his. The officer didn't even care that passing on the right on a two lane is illegal. 

 

Bingo. About 4 years ago I was hit by a person running a red light. Almost devolved into a "I say, they say" situation but in the end they were assigned blame and I got my car fixed by their insurance. I bought a dash cam at that time for my "daily driver".

 

Last fall a truck backed into me and totaled that same car. I've got the video to prove I was stationary and was back a ways from him when he started to back up. Turns out I didn't need the video as the company took full responsibility, but it felt good knowing I had proof I didn't rear end him.

 

I've now moved the dash cam into my new car and am seriously considering either using a spare mount to use the dash cam in my old car or getting a whole new dash cam for the old car. Driving without a dash cam feels a bit naked to me now.

 

14 hours ago, David_Leech said:

I have a dash cam in my daily. Check out video samples on YouTube to see which films the best in your driving conditions. I use a Viofo A119 as I liked the features and night performance was impressive

 

My first dash cam failed on me and about a year ago I got a Viofo A199s v2 with GPS mount. It really is a nice dash cam and I can recommend it too.

 

Seems like lots of people recommend getting ones that have a large capacitor rather than a battery as apparently in the batteries fail rapidly due to heat and a dash cam attached to the windshield in summer gets it really hot. Two schools of thought on having a built in GPS. The school against says that it can show you were speeding prior to an incident and you don't want that. I don't habitually violate traffic laws so I don't think that applies to me and my current dash cam has GPS built in which is handy for keeping the date and time correct (my old dash cam's clock had significant drift).

 

14 hours ago, David_Leech said:

I picked up a cheap variable input voltage regulator off eBay (3-12v in, regulated 12v out). I plan on installing it to charge a cell phone (always good have a charged phone driving a 90 year old car). Would easily power a dash cam or any other small accessory.

 

I picked up a little box from Custom Autosound that takes gives me 12v negative ground from a 6v positive ground system. I've run it to an accessory plug and use it to keep my phone charged while driving in the old car. It has sufficient capacity that running a dash cam in addition to charging the phone would be no problem.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I got mine after I was run off the road by a car driving too fast. It couldn't hold the corner and came into my lane. I ditched the car into a set of tracks. Caused over $7k damage. Guy just kept going.

 

I also went with the GPS unit to record my speed. I am generally "driving with the flow" so speed would not be held against me. It also shows driving patterns that can be used in your defence (32gb of non speeding footage).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...