Dash Cams Best Choice?

Hi Everyone
     
I am thinking of getting a dash cam but the choice is endless, every time I find one that looks good I find reviews that say it is rubbish anyone any suggestions of one they have found OK
  
Kind regards
   
Alan

Have a broswe on here:
https://dashcamtalk.com/forum/

and check out Techmoan for honest reviews.
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLFB79814F24001328

Much depends on how much you want to pay, I have a mini 0806 and find it excellent although some people have had trouble with them.

If you want a good quality product and backup have a look at the Street Guardian, I don't have one [will be my next dashcam] but they have an excellent reputation. A company rep is a regular on the dashcam forum and addresses any problems people have, be it advice, software updates and replacement of anything found to be faulty.

Frank

Paid £10 for mine .... cost more for the memory card to slot in it. But it was good enough to record a hit and run on my car causing nearly £2k damage. Even though the car owner denied being there it was good enough for his insurance to pay up.

I have a Nextbase 402G. Have used for over 2000 miles on our Broadway. Excellent picture day and night, GPS very accurate, good viewing angle 140 degrees and sits nicely behind rear view mirror. Takes a Micro SD card up to 32GB, I carry a spare in case I need to keep an incident. The PC playback software is very good.

TIP: format the memory card on the 402G not your PC.

Alan

Stay away from these:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1080P-HD-Car-DVR-Dash-Camera-Video-Cam-Recorder-G-Sensor-Night-Vision-UK-/381415190306?ssPageName=ADME:X:RRIRTB:GB:3160

he says with experience 

PB

Hi , we have a "nextbase" the same as Alan ,and have been equally pleased with it, recommended      Regards    Paul

I too am thinking about one of these. I believe some have lithium ion batteries, I like the idea of being able to transfer it from vehicle to vehicle but not the idea of cables dangling everywhere?

In the Broadway I have tucked the power cable behind all trim therefore the cable comes out neatly and unseen behind the mirror. If you want to use the cam in another vehicle just get another power cable and leave cables in situ in both vehicles.

Alan

I've got an 0805 dashcam, had it for a while, with mount in car and van. Does what it says on the box.    Its good in poor light, it alternates between both vehicles,( hardwired in the clubman)
Its like a seatbelt, I feel like something is missing, without it. 

I've got one like this. I bought mine at the caravan show about 3 years ago (cost me nearly £50 there!). It can be tricky to set up, the instructions being loosely translated from the Chinese, but it's fine once done. It fits neatly behind the rear view mirror and the cable is tucked behind trim with little hooks at the edge of the windscreen and over the sun visor so there's nothing hanging.

You don't really need to carry a spare SD card because the relevant piece of recording is automatically saved on impact. In theory, fortunately I haven't had to put it to the test.

Nora

As Pete says the Transcend dash cams get good feedback.. 

I'm still currently using the GW1 which still performs great considering its modest price! (footage wise I can't fault it) I had a blip with it recently though after a Coop lorry driver repeatedly tried to run us off the road, despite taking photos of the driver and reg no when I checked the cam to retrieve the actual footage on the SD card the incident was not present so must have overwritten, oddly footage of us traveling through Italy last May was still on the memory card  I upgraded to a 16GB card & wonder if maybe a smaller capacity card might solve this issue.

Don't think because a dash cam costs more its superior to a cheaper cam, the cheaper cams very often out perform the pricier cams £100+ Snooper & Rac do cams but the reviews are less than favourable considering their £150'ish price tag. I predict most Sat Nav companies will be integrating Dash Cams into Sat Nav devices as an additional selling feature & this will be a good idea as it'll be less clutter on the screen. I asked TomTom if they had anything in the pipeline but they declined to comment so I reckon its only a matter of time.

In light of the missed footage mentioned & because I want to upgrade mine to get built in GPS as many now come with this feature, as it just makes reviewing footage a lot simpler knowing your location without having to try & remember. Will probably go with the Transcend Pro 220

CC

Cruising Comet wrote:As Pete says the Transcend dash cams get good feedback.. 

I'm still currently using the GW1 which still performs great considering its modest price! (footage wise I can't fault it)

The GW1's are great if you get a genuine one, trouble is that there are a lot of poor quality rip-offs now which the vendors sell as genuine.

I had a blip with it recently though after a Coop lorry driver repeatedly tried to run us off the road, despite taking photos of the driver and reg no when I checked the cam to retrieve the actual footage on the SD card the incident was not present so must have overwritten, oddly footage of us traveling through Italy last May was still on the memory card  I upgraded to a 16GB card & wonder if maybe a smaller capacity card might solve this issue.

I had this trouble with a Sandisk card, apparently they fail and go read only. Sandisk warranty does not cover use in dashcams! I now use Kingston 32gb class 10s in mine.

Don't think because a dash cam costs more its superior to a cheaper cam, the cheaper cams very often out perform the pricier cams £100+ Snooper & Rac do cams but the reviews are less than favourable considering their £150'ish price tag.

As I said, a browse through dashcamtalk or Techmoan will show that many of the cheap(ish) Chinese cameras out perform some of the expensive makes.

I predict most Sat Nav companies will be integrating Dash Cams into Sat Nav devices as an additional selling feature & this will be a good idea as it'll be less clutter on the screen. I asked TomTom if they had anything in the pipeline but they declined to comment so I reckon its only a matter of time.

Garmin already do one:
https://buy.garmin.com/en-GB/GB/on-the-road/trucking/dezlcam-lmt-d/prod511035.html
Not cheap though!

In light of the missed footage mentioned & because I want to upgrade mine to get built in GPS as many now come with this feature, as it just makes reviewing footage a lot simpler knowing your location without having to try & remember. Will probably go with the Transcend Pro 220

CC

Have a look at the Street Guardian sg9665gc, it has a much neater form factor. If you look on Dashcamtalk you can see peoples opinions of it, this applies to the Transcend and other dashcams too of course. Strangely, the Nextbase does not get much of a mention, except to compare it with other makes.

Frank

Has anyone tried one of the built-into-rearview-mirror ones? BMW & Mazda are already supplying cars with these. There are plenty that clip over your existing mirror. It's one less thing to attach to the windscreen.

Cruising Comet wrote:despite taking photos of the driver and reg no when I checked the cam to retrieve the actual footage on the SD card the incident was not present so must have overwritten, oddly footage of us traveling through Italy last May was still on the memory card

This is one of the symptoms of a faulty or fake memory card. I always test new cards with H2testw (or rather I actually use F3, as I use Linux, not Windows), and have had fakes from suppliers who I thought were completely reputable (no names, but one had a name that looked something like Am**on).

There's a short explanation in the following link of why data just "goes missing" with fakes, rather than causing errors to be reported:

http://www.rmprepusb.com/tutorials/-fake-usb-flash-memory-drives

Thanks Frank & Mojo for the info, did wonder if it was the card at fault as I never had any issues previously with an old 2GB card, its like its only overwriting the newest written files instead of the entire collection of files. Just checked and the card is a 16GB Kingston which I think came from MyMemory, wasn't aware of the problem until I went to get the footage off the card which could have been rather annoying if i'd been involved in an accident for example.

Frank the GW1 I have is the E-Prance which records excellent video quality & is the same model as Techmoan did rave about a year or two back as being the best cam for the money. 

I had a feeling there was a SatNav out already with a cam built in but wasn't absolutely certain, with Dashcams really taking off now I can see them all following this route, will look forward to TomTom hopefully bringing something out in the near future.

Did think about getting the Snooper or the RAC model but the feedback for them considering the price was pretty off putting, hence I fancied the Transcend but I'll take a look at the model you mention Frank, thanks.

Presumably the GPS models are pretty accurate I take it?

Mojo thanks for the link and info re faulty cards 

CC

Yes, I read about faulty cards when reseaching dashcams, so I made sure I purchased a Trandcend 32mb card to go with the Transcend DrivePro 200. So far no problems, though I am sure the 16mb card that comes with it is plenty big enough. I was after something for long trips abroad with no deleted overlap.

Pete

Cruising Comet wrote:
Presumably the GPS models are pretty accurate I take it?

CC

From personal experience, I would say that the GPS in my cam is not as accurate as a GPS meant for walkers. It reads about the same mph as my Garmin satnav does but for road position, if you load the files into registrator viewer or a similar prog it sometimes looks as if you have been driving along the hard shoulder or in someone's garden. I suppose that when it is moving at 50 mph+ it has less time to update the data stream? It is however very accurate 'distance' wise - if you watch the video and map at the same time, bridges, junctions, roundabouts etc. are all synchronised.

The unit that comes with the Street Guardian is Swiss made and reckoned to be very good from what I've read.

Frank

Hi Everyone
  I read the reviews on  Amazon and felt they were a bit mixed like no battery back up and having to input the date every time
    Kind Regards
   Alan

Hi Again
   The Street Guardian looks to me a very good unit ,quite expensive,is it worth the extra?
   Regards
       Alan

gemdeco wrote:Hi Again
   The Street Guardian looks to me a very good unit ,quite expensive,is it worth the extra?
   Regards
       Alan

It depends on what you are looking for, compared to the Nextbase402 and Transcend Drivepro 200 it isn't that much dearer and it is a good cam. I would have bought one but when I got my mini 0806 the SG was under development and the manufacturers would not put them on the market until they were satisfied with it. They wouldn't commit to a release date and I couldn't wait so I bought the 0806. I've been more than happy with the 0806, it has everything I want in a dashcam but other people have had trouble with them and the manufacturers backup is like a chocolate teapot which is the only reason why I would hesitate to recommend one to you. The SG's backup is second to non though.

My next cam will be an SG, I can assure you of that.

The trouble with Amazon reviews, as I discovered a few weeks ago is that some of them have been 'bought' by the sellers. You can get onto a list where sellers will give you a product to test FOC provided that you leave a good review OR buyers have been promised a 'discount' on their purchase once they post a 5 star review. I used to look at Amazon reviews to see if things were any good [as you do] but now I only look at the lowest rating ones. Obviously, not all reviews are phony but how can you tell which are which?

Having gone all around the houses, to answer you question "is it worth the extra?" For me, personally yes, I think it is. If / when the 0806 fails it will go in the bin 'cos I know that I would not get any joy from the seller, just as CC would not get any from Eprance who sold him his GW1.
The maker / seller of the SG range are confident enough in their product to give a 12 month guarantee and seeing how they react to anyone having problems [usually 'pilot error'] on the forum gives me confidence that it would be a safe buy.

As you said in your original post - there are loads out there, some good, some bad and some indifferent. The choice is yours.

HTH
Frank

My E Prance 0805 has been good ...so far, about 10 months......but had no problem with it.
Not over optimistic as to the outcome, had I done so.
Just going to look at Street Guardian, for future reference.   

Just an update to my earlier discussions... 

Had a look at the cam Frank recommended & checked out reviews which back up what Frank said, however I was on Halfords website the other night looking for something else & just happened to click on offers, and found the Transcend Drivepro 220 was reduced & had £36 off the normal price (Pay Day Offer - Whatever that is?) so it was a no brainer really! 

I'm in the process of putting the footage online having tried it out, video quality is ok but nothing spectacular, worst complaint is the screen reflections it picks up in the footage which I find really annoying and something I never experienced with my previous two dash cams.

I really like the GPS stamp on the video & the Wi-Fi file transfer makes transferring the video photo to my iPhone or iPad a breeze albeit quite slow.

Will post a side by side comparision of my E-Prance GW1 dash cam compared to the Transcend DP 220 later incase it helps anyone, personally I don't think the video quality of the Transcend unit is on par with the GW1 but the other features compensate for this I feel.

Lots of features not really needed & gimmicky like lane guidance & collision warning etc which I've disabled, annoyingly you can't seem to disable your speed.

If you don't need the built in GPS & WiFi etc the much Cheaper E-Prance GW1 is far superior in regards the video quality & no screen reflections.

CC

I'd be interested to see the videos.Don't upload them to YouTube though as it degrades the quality. Windscreen reflections can be a pain, I think it has a lot to do with how far the cam is from the glass, the 0806 is quite close to the glass but still get some, not as much as with the Mobius though.

The lane detection & proximity warning have been switched off on mine too. If you can't tell that you are straying out of your lane or getting too close to the vehicle in front without an electronic device to tell you you're doing it then you should not be driving on our roads. [it's driverless car technology being sneaked in]

Frank

For those who do not have a SatNav I can recommend the Garmin NuviCam which has both SatNat and camera
Fitted it to my new Warwick Duo and have been very pleased with the result.
Have a look at this youtube clip (American)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=064VKiAQ_pE