Dashboard Cameras

Hello Everyone.     I am thinking of buying a good quality "Dashboard Camera" for my motorhome, particularly one which will give pleasing results with all the necessary spec, such as HD etc. Therefore, would you knowledgeable people out there with experience of these boys toys, please advise.
The Bad Penny.[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

You will find prices of cameras range from x-xxxx so you have a big choice...the one i use in the M/H is this [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] which is 1280p quality of vidio/still is good for the purpose of what it is meant to do ie to give evidence incase of an accident/dispute.

I used the above in the car & the van, & they are good, but in reality, it is only 640 x 480 res, the HD is interpolated, (electrickery is used to bump up the res)
For the last year or so, I,ve been using these:
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I like them so much that I bought 3!! One of which I use as a headcam.

Do a search on Youtube, there's a guy comparing one to the GoPro, & they are almost as good, put it another way, had I bought the Mobius first, I would NOT have bought the GoPro at over 6 times the cost!!

Massive thread on this subject last year..

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The best advice I can give you is to browse through Matt's (Techmoan) reviews:
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of dashcams. He gives a fair, unbiased opinion of everything he tests.
I bought the Mobius on his recommendation, the video quality is really really good. He later tested another type which was better but more expensive. Had I not have already ordered the Mobius, I would have bought one of these. I am still very happy with the Mobius though.

Frank

Thanks for your replies to my request for info on cab cameras. I must say Boxerman the Techmoan reviews you suggested I look at, I found most interesting and helpful.                   To know what kind of cameras some of you use is a great help too, particularly how pleased you are with your individual choices.
I now also realise I don't have to spend a large sum of money to get a reasonable camera.
Many thanks.
The Bad Penny.

Hi there,

After reading about it on the Forum and seeing the results on Techmoan I bought a Mobius camera.

It is an amazing bit of kit and since buying it I have taken ALL of my video and still photographs with it as well as using it as a dash-cam.

I cannot stress how pleased I am with the camera.  The definition is superb and because it is so small and light it is much more convenient to carry around when we are touring.

Here's a video from an encounter with a tanker last September and a photograph of the Bridge of Sighs from our visit to Venice last October.  If you can find better quality than this for less than £100 please let me know!

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The "pixelation" of the video is due to copying it to Photobucket.  It's not there in the original.

Hope this helps.   

Best regards,
 

Dutto wrote:

The "pixelation" of the video is due to copying it to Photobucket.  It's not there in the original.

Best regards,
 

The original video is extremely degraded when uploading it to Youtube or Photobucket etc.. which is why I only uploaded still clips on the thread that Paul pointed you to.
Techmoan has some unadulterated sample files on dumptruck which you can download and play on your own computer to check out the image quality of the various cameras.

Frank

Hi Dutto or is that Duetto? The Mobius camera certainly seems a popular choice and gives good results. Does it come with a selection of mounting options or just one, but then with further choice?  I don't know whether I was supposed to see all those still shots of family hols etc, but if thats you in the baseball hat, I like the hat!!!
Thanks and regards, The Bad Penny.

Bad Penny wrote:Hi Dutto or is that Duetto? The Mobius camera certainly seems a popular choice and gives good results. Does it come with a selection of mounting options or just one, but then with further choice?  I don't know whether I was supposed to see all those still shots of family hols etc, but if thats you in the baseball hat, I like the hat!!!
Thanks and regards, The Bad Penny.

Hi there,

I think that once you post on Photobucket anyone who enters the site has full access to the photographs!

They have all been posted on the Forum anyway so feel free to trawl through them!

The Mobius came with a "tripod" mounting and a "velcro" mounting and all I did was to get a bit of copper strip as per photograph below and stick the "hooks" part of the Velcro to it.

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That way, the bit left on the camera doesn't catch in my clothing.  It makes it easy to dismount and take with me for security purposes and also to use as a camera on our travels.

All the photographs on Photobucket since last October (with the exception of a few that I have scanned in) were taken using the Mobius.

I have arbitrarily decided that if it lasts for more than two years it will be a superb bit of kit.  Under that it will have been an expensive toy!  

Hope this helps.   

Best regards,
  
Ian

PS  The baseball cap is presented to those idiots who manage to ride the 83 miles around Loch Neagh in Northern Ireland in a single day!!!  I said "Never again!" when I got off the bike but will be trying again this year.  See you there?

There are several mounting options, but they don't come with the camera, they have to be bought separately in order to keep the price down. The camera comes with a mounting bracket which has a removable tripod socket and some stickyback velcro. The other mounts attach to this bracket by one means or another. Or you can make up your own as others have done.
Manufacturer's ebay site here: [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

BTW the latest firmware update includes motion detection and more sophisticated exposure control.

Frank

Frank

Hi there Frank and Ian.  Once again many thanks for passing on your camera information, my wife and I have been motorhomers for the last 20 years and I thought I knew it all, that was until I joined this forum last December. How much knowledge we can learn from each is amazing. Long may it continue.
Regards The Bad Penny (Leighton)

After your input on the Mobius camera and watching Matt on Techmoan, I have now ordered one from ebay, together with three types of mounting, including one for our bikes all for under £60. I now have to search for a class 6 micro sd card as recommended by Matt for this particular camera.

The Bad Penny. [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

If you're using a PC, download the configuration program and manual from here:
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Frank

Hi there,

Got my card from Amazon.

Not sure that this was the one but very similar.

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One tip - make sure that you are buying an MICRO SD card.

I mistakenly bought a 32Gb SD card.  It's useful for my digital camera; except that I don't use it now!     

The Mobius has an "In-Camera Formatting" function.  If you use a Mac it's very easy to use and the instructions are available from here:

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Best regards,
 

Downloaded the configuration program and manual as you suggested Frank, so thanks for the guidance. Thanks also to you Ian, for pointing me in the right direction for the Micro SD card.

Cheers both, If we ever meet,  I owe you both a pint.  

Regards Leighton. 
Hope you have a great season ahead you.

Hi Still not bought a dash camera yet.!!
However i can get the mobius or mini 0801 for 42 pounds.
I think the mini is maybe better?
regards

mike

Just to throw a spanner in the works, I don't know anything about the Mobius, but I can recommend the Roadhawk HD. Quite a bit more expensive than the Mobius but with many features, not least gps positioning and the ability to review footage together with a Google map screen showing the vehicles position synch'd with the video. It can automatically and manually record an "event" or incident and not write over it, should you forget to remove the SD card, and of course, the video quality at 1080p is excellent, even at night.
Allan

Hi, As Frank said techmoan is good. 7 hours of tests. However the footage i  see is poor for recording numberplates,except when stopped. Even worse at night.Good enough used as a video camera,that we all used in the 80ties.
So if you want one to be used as evidence in a near miss,and someone did not stop it might not be good enough.My smart phone will cover many instances.  IMHO
I am talking sensible price ranges here.
However you may prove me wrong with your suggestion!!

regards

mike

ajrm wrote:Just to throw a spanner in the works, I don't know anything about the Mobius, but I can recommend the Roadhawk HD. Quite a bit more expensive than the Mobius but with many features, not least gps positioning and the ability to review footage together with a Google map screen showing the vehicles position synch'd with the video. It can automatically and manually record an "event" or incident and not write over it, should you forget to remove the SD card, and of course, the video quality at 1080p is excellent, even at night.
Allan

Yes! £240 is a lot more expensive than the Mobius!
The mini0801 does all the things the Roadhawk does for a little over £100.

Frank

Certainly is a lot cheaper, but I have seen a few of the videos it produces. I'll stick with my Roadhawk
Allan

ajrm wrote:Certainly is a lot cheaper, but I have seen a few of the videos it produces. I'll stick with my Roadhawk
Allan

Hi there,

I'm not sure which pictures you are referring to but here are two "stills" taken by the Mobius.

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Here's another one.  It's a bit dark because it was pointing into the light; but check out the blades on that Lancaster's props and zoom in to see the plane's name!  It's a clear as a bell.

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I have attempted to download video films and the quality is completely ruined even with the very shortest of films; but I can assure you that the original quality is just superb.

One thing I have discovered is that to get anything like a decent video on the move you MUST point the camera through a clean bit of windscreen.

Mikethebike has mentioned "reading number-plates".       Well, I'd bet good money that after fifteen miles driving on the mud splattered roads around Skegness he would need a Shitehawk rather than a Roadhawk to film anything through the unswept area of a windscreen!      

Best regards,
 

Nice photos, looks like you had a good trip to Venice. I've looked at a few videos produced by the Mobius and Mini on youtube and the quality isn't as good as I would have thought, after reading everyones comments. Then I uploaded a short vid from mine, and Youtube destroys any quality that the original has, so maybe I was being a little unfair with my comment.
However, I now have the Roadhawk after looking at lots of others ( I also have a GoPro Hero 3+ black that I use for aerial filming) and I am more than happy with its performance and features.
Heres the first footage from my Roadhawk taken in Dec last year. A very dull day and quite long ( 13 minutes) video shot through a windscreen that has just travelled over 1000 miles in rotten weather, we eventually parked in the sunshine ( at 10 minutes in) Even though Youtube has done its worst, the last few minutes in the sun show a bit better what sort of quality images this cam produces.
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Try it in 1080p, it takes a minute or two to get started so you should have the best quality available from Youtube before we start driving. Sit tight......

Allan

Hi Ian, Those stills are great pictures.  You have improved a lot this last few months with your choice of subject.
That Lancaster with no1 engine at 1800 rpm is very good.
I fact all the still pictures are good that i see.
regards
Mike