Inexpensive Dashcams- I think I found one that will work!

[steveincowtown]

Mrs. Steveincowtown was involved in a very bad accident a few months ago, and even though it was a straight line rear end collision where she was hit while completely stopped the insurance company of the at fault driver really screwed around with her, and made a serious effort to get her to admit some sort of fault. This went on to the point where I intervened and asked that they delete our phone numbers from claim paperwork and all further discussions take place in written form.

This put me on the hunt for an inexpensive dash cam that I could "set and forget." I knew I wanted something that had both a forward and rear facing camera, as well as the ability to turn the forward camera back towards the interior of the vehicle if needed. I chose 5 minute loop recording. It records for 5 mins and then save the file to a mini SD card.

After reading through some forums I came up with the following as the best solution to my needs. I liked that it was sold through Amazon, so if their was a problem I could return it easily.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00BXWQTDQ/ref ... 25410_item" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;



Forward view. My windshield it a bit dirty. When I mount it permanently it will just below where my windshield wipers reach.

[youtube]http://youtube.com/watch?v=4DyHH6RGxV4[/youtube]


Rear view. The black you see around the top is just because I don't have it permanently mounted yet. The lens is clipped to my back widow and the trim interferes with it a bit. I'll fix that when I permanently mount it.

[youtube]http://youtube.com/watch?v=U9Cps2z7FjA[/youtube]


The front camera can also be turned so that it is viewing inside the cab, although you can only see the width of the cab and not outside the driver or passenger doors.

So far pretty impressed. It seems to pick up the sounds in the cab very well. You can easily hear things that might become important during an accident investigation, such as the sound of a blinker while making a turn.

I have in wired to come on and and off with the trucks ignition. I also have a switch to override the ignition and keep power to the where it is plugged in. This allow me to leave the camera on when I run into stores. This was quite handy this weekend, as i was running errands and had some loose items in my pick up bed.

Once i get a full month of trouble free use out of it, I will permanently mount it.

I hope I never have to use the footage from the camera, but expect that it would be very useful in the event of a wreck, a road range incident, or as solid evidence should I ever be accused of a crime.


Edited to add pic of camera for those that are adverse to clinking links.

[TheCytochromeC]

That's pretty neat! I can understand the mod as a precaution, I'd be quite hesitant to mount it to my dash. I'm sure it will save you if the time unfortunately comes. Would you mind posting pics the unit on the dash and rear trim?

[mojo84]

I like the idea and have thought about one myself. Not sure about the audio recording though. I think it could be used against you if you were on the phone or having a discussion with someone in the car. Seems like it could backfire on you even if the fact you were on the phone didn't actually contribute to the accident.

I still like the idea of the video though.

[steveincowtown]

I like the idea and have thought about one myself. Not sure about the audio recording though. I think it could be used against you if you were on the phone or having a discussion with someone in the car. Seems like it could backfire on you even if the fact you were on the phone didn't actually contribute to the accident.

I still like the idea of the video though.

It has a remote that can turn the audio on and off, lock recordings, watch back video, change settings. I now leave the audio off unless the situation warrants it.

[mojo84]

Interesting. Glad I'm not the only one that thought about that.

[steveincowtown]

That's pretty neat! I can understand the mod as a precaution, I'd be quite hesitant to mount it to my dash. I'm sure it will save you if the time unfortunately comes. Would you mind posting pics the unit on the dash and rear trim?

It has a temporary suction cup mounting system and a more permanent system that using 3M tape. The whole things fits behind my rear view mirror. I'll post pics sometime, traveling at the moment.

[WildBill]

Thanks for the post Steve

[MadMonkey]

I've got 2 DVR-027s. One is mounted in the car right now.

Auto on and record start, auto off when the car is off, 15 minute loop. My audio is off (I don't want my music choices heard in an investigation ).



http://dashcamtalk.com/dvr-027-720p/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Seems to work great. Only faces forward though.

[baldeagle]

I wonder if that 5 minute loop is too short? 15 minutes seems more reasonable to me.

[RoyGBiv]

Two thumbs up for Madison Rising. They're on my MP3 playlist too.

And thanks for the info on the dash cam... Please update this thread after a few week use and let us know what you think...

My only concern is the 5 minute loop.... Need to read more..
It saves in 5 minute chunks but keeps recording without a gap??
Then overwrites automatically when the SD card is full??

Thanks.

[nightmare69]

So on the 15min loop, if you had a wreck and wanted to see the video you would need to shut down the camera or it would be erased?

[TLE2]

I read that most cars in Russia have dashcams because of police corruption. Are we to that point?

[steveincowtown]

Two thumbs up for Madison Rising. They're on my MP3 playlist too.

And thanks for the info on the dash cam... Please update this thread after a few week use and let us know what you think...

My only concern is the 5 minute loop.... Need to read more..
It saves in 5 minute chunks but keeps recording without a gap??
Then overwrites automatically when the SD card is full??

Thanks.

Clarification on the 5 minute loop (I should have segment and not loop):

It records 5 minute segments and then writes them to a 32GB card. Right now I have about 100 5 minute loops recorded, and it hasn't overwritten the very first recording yet.

Once the card is full it will overwrite my very first recording. If I have any "locked" recordings (where I press the lock button on the camera or through the remote) these are never overwritten.

[ScooterSissy]

I've had a camera mounted on my bike for a while. I'd say it's recorded at least a couple dozen "close encounters" so far, though I've been able to avoid accidents in each case. It brings me peace of mind though. So much so that I too have begun looking at a device for our car (I seldom drive the car, but my wife does).
That said, it doesn't appear that either of those in the thread so far have GPS built in. That's a "must have" for me.

[oohrah]

I heard Russians have dashcams because of people intentionally causing accidents or pedestrians intentionally throwwing themselves in front of the vehicle for insurance claims. Having one for personal protection is probably not a bad idea. I rear-ended a car once, because the driver pulled out of a store driveway and then just completely stopped in the middle of the road - nothing I could do. But I was at fault because I couldn't prove she had made any contributing cause.