Dash Camera

[myrdale]

This is one of those items I've considered for a long time, but never got around to. Despite living in Georgia and observing other peoples bad driving habits on nearly a daily basis, by thought has always been "do I really need one of those".

I finally broke down and purchased one. In this case it was a $300 Cobra brand. There are many cheaper models out there, but this looked like the best quality / value to me.

Installation was easy enough. Stick the mount on the windshield, connect the camera, and plug the cord into the cigarette lighter. That's it!

Having the cord hanging down does look a bit hokey. I've ordered a wiring adapter, $30, which will mount in the lighting console and drop power down from above.

While it may not be needed for everyone, if that fool ever pulls out in front of me, it certainly can't hurt.

[LivingAlmostLarge]

This is one of those items I've considered for a long time, but never got around to. Despite living in Georgia and observing other peoples bad driving habits on nearly a daily basis, by thought has always been "do I really need one of those".

I finally broke down and purchased one. In this case it was a $300 Cobra brand. There are many cheaper models out there, but this looked like the best quality / value to me.

Installation was easy enough. Stick the mount on the windshield, connect the camera, and plug the cord into the cigarette lighter. That's it!

Having the cord hanging down does look a bit hokey. I've ordered a wiring adapter, $30, which will mount in the lighting console and drop power down from above.

While it may not be needed for everyone, if that fool ever pulls out in front of me, it certainly can't hurt.

Decided I didn't want to see what will happen with kiddo #1 driving. Got a rear camera but no dash cam. Let's see how it goes.

[ua_guy]

I've had a Garmin 67W for a few years now which I use in our motorhome. Knock on wood, have never had an incident, but have definitely caught a few yahoos doing stupid stuff.

[Drake3287]

I'm a huge dash cam proponent, haven't had the need to use it for an accident yet but I've had them for years in my vehicles. It's literally the cheapest insurance you can buy. The Rexing model I have in my wife's car has the typical wires but I've managed to hide well enough that you can't see them. My Ford trucks camera is super slick, it plugs directly into the power on the rearview mirror so there's literally no wires. 2 minute install. Hard to believe all newer car's don't come with them yet. Just a matter of time. Don't wait until you need one, get ahead of the game.

[srblanco7]

Do these dashcams have onboard memory where footage is temporarily stored? How does it work if you want to save or download footage?

[QuarterMillionMan]

Loop recording on a micro SD card. I’ve had dash cams for decades, cheap $10 ones works good enough for me. BTW the suction cup will fall off in time. I tear off the suction and epoxy it to the glass which stays on a lot longer.

[QuarterMillionMan]

Also, I never leave home without a body cam. Living in Los Angeles I could get mugged by some thug and at least I'll have video of it to disseminate to the cops as evidence.

[Drake3287]

Also, I never leave home without a body cam. Living in Los Angeles I could get mugged by some thug and at least I'll have video of it to disseminate to the cops as evidence.

Just out of curiosity what brand or model do you have? I don't have the need for one where I live (yet) but I know they're becoming more common place.

[QuarterMillionMan]

This $95 Boblov that I bought from eBay. It lasts all day on a full charge which I wear on my belt. I've tried the spy pen but it only last 1 hour tops. Boblov has pretty good HD video quality.

BOBLOV 128G Police Body Camera with Audio Recording 1296P Night Vision Camcorder | eBay

[QuarterMillionMan]

In my dashboard I keep a spare cheap $19 dash cam (previously $10) should the current one in use die which I can swap on the fly. Not so easy if shelling out $150 or $250 for a more expensive model, unless you got money to born. Temu haters come to mind, lol. Hence why I love Temu. Should the expensive $200 model die you’d be without a dash cam until your next one gets delivered.

[myrdale]

Also, I never leave home without a body cam. Living in Los Angeles I could get mugged by some thug and at least I'll have video of it to disseminate to the cops as evidence.

I think you've posted a photo from it before in another chat. I like it.

For some of my hobbies I am considering a GoPro, but in general a body cam would be ideal if it was rugged enough.

[myrdale]

but have definitely caught a few yahoos doing stupid stuff.

In the past week I've seen one guy blow through a red light and two pull out in front of me.

[myrdale]

it plugs directly into the power on the rearview mirror so there's literally no wires. 2 minute install. Hard to believe all newer car's don't come with them yet. Just a matter of time. Don't wait until you need one, get ahead of the game.

I picked up the mirror wire splice kit this weekend, but haven't installed it yet. Seeing the dozen camera's on a coworker's truck (puts together a 360* overhead view of everything around you while driving), I should think it would be standard in the near future.

[QuarterMillionMan]

Boblov body cams have pretty good video quality. This is a still shot from a couple of days ago, nothing significant occurred but just an example of the quality. I set the video length to 1.5 minutes loop recording. You can see the time stamp on the bottom left.

[QuarterMillionMan]

Loop recording is best explained by this pic. And I stand corrected where earlier I said that i set my video length to 1.5 mins, it is actually 3 min lengths. After the memory card has reached its maximum capacity loop recording erases the oldest videos and rewrites over it with a newer video.