Dashcam

[TrevorB]

Hi All, hope you are well?
Anyway, I've been pondering over the purchase of a dashcam for my daily. As there are so many on the market and varying price range it has confused my little brain.
So if you are using a dashcam could you please give me some recommendations.

Many thanks, take care.

Trevor

p.s. for some reason it won't let me add emojis etc when I put a post on via my phone? It rejects my post with an error.

[Rambo]

Hi All, hope you are well?
Anyway, I've been pondering over the purchase of a dashcam for my daily. As there are so many on the market and varying price range it has confused my little brain.
So if you are using a dashcam could you please give me some recommendations.

Many thanks, take care.

Trevor

p.s. for some reason it won't let me add emojis etc when I put a post on via my phone? It rejects my post with an error.

Can't help with the dashcam choice Trevor but you can only add those smiley things from the 4 page selection on the right when you post a reply

[Saltire]

Trevor, I have dash cams in all our cars. There are as many opinions on “what’s best” as there are drivers. I’ve tried several over the years, but have eventually settled on VIOFO as the best compromise between cost and performance. If I had an unlimited budget, I’d probably go for Blackvue, although they need great care in fitting.

I have a VIOFO A119 single channel in the Elan, and dual channel A129s in the BMW and Volvo. Both come with a GPS mount, which stores where you are, speed etc as well as the video.

On the Elan, I used a simple feed from one of the ignition controlled fuses, and mounted the camera up high on the passenger side of the screen behind the mirror. The power cables run through the screen surround and down the driver’s A pillar (because I had the trim off that one anyway).

I use a free PC program to read the dash cam files. Can’t remember what it’s called offhand, but I’ll look it up tomorrow.

Happy to chat by email, and I can also send you some images that way too. You’d also be welcome to come and look if you want, especially if it will keep until CC2022

And if all else fails, my stepson lives in Staplehurst, so we could even meet up for a chat next time I’m down

Hope that helps!

[dapinky]

I have dashcams in all of my cars.

Being a poor pensioner, I was driven by price above (most) other features - but they had to do the basics to a suitable level.

Now, it is over 4 years since I bought the last one, so I'm sure that things have moved on a hell of a lot, but the features I wanted/needed were:-

Camera resolution of 1080p (I expect they are all pretty much 4K now) - to give a good compromise between clarity and file size.
The ability to record on a micro-SD card
The ability to review footage onscreen on the device
The ability to constantly over-write files, but retain footage if required
Have the ability to record (clearly!) number plates in all lighting/weather conditions
The ability to store satnav info on the files (giving location, speed, direction) which can be viewed on a laptop program (as Jonathan alludes to in his reply).

Now, I'm pretty sure that they will all do those things (and more) these days. I didn't need the ability to view the footage on my mobile by way of bluetooth (although 2 of mine have that function), or to operate it through an "App".

The one in the Elan was an ebay purchase which cost me about £30. The one in the VW came from Amazon for about the same price, The ones in the corsa were a bit more, but has 2 channels (front and rear).

All are wired to record as soon as the ignition goes live, or the car is struck (movement sensor).... and I've never needed any recordings for 'proper' purposes, other than it was nice to watch the parade lap at Brands Hatch on the laptop, with it all being mapped out and speeds shown on screen

[MPx]

Back when I got mine in 2015, Nextbase was the Which? best buy of dashcams. I had two different models of theirs which seemed to do the job - clear pictures with date/time/speed etc shown on screen and recorded on SD card. I think they were high 10s of pounds, but less than £100. Obviously all of the models will have changed several times since then, but I think Nextbase have maintained a reasonable reputation and I've just checked with Which? and they still make up 9 of the 17 best buys. More recently I got a Landrover branded one in the Rangie which is even better, works through an app, but was silly expensive.

[Blaster]

I have the NeXT base one. I used it on the parade lap at Castle Combe. With the NeXT base one it comes with a stick on magnetic base that you can purchase separately that way I have 3 mounts and move the camera between cars. I can only drive one so I only need one.

[TrevorB]

Thank you all for your replies. I continue with the research with your responses in mind.
Cheers
Trevor

[clemo]

i bought one from Lidl . £30 . lasted 2 years then packed up . Had issues with overwriting towards the end of its days. Whatever it is it needs to be reliable .

[Roger D]

Hi, a couple of years ago (2020) I bought off a well know selling website a combined front, rear and rear view mirror screen set up (AZDOME 10" Dash Cam Front and Rear Car Rear View Mirror Dash Camera) for about £34. It works fine but has since been upgraded (on the selling site) to include night vision along with a healthy price hike to a penny shy of £90.

It uses a twin USB feed (only needing one for the unit leaves one spare, from the cigarette socket and I made a slight hole above the number plate surround to hide the rear view camera.

The package works well with the forward facing Dashcam and screen fitting neatly over the existing rear view mirror with the feed wires tucked behind the A posts.

Worth considering