Dashcam Needed!

[Thomas Harborne]

Hi all, i do on average 40-50k miles per year with work...plus whatever i decide to do in the Lotus. Travel up and down our dangerous motorways on a daily basis and witness alot of weird and quite worrying things.

 

Anyways, im after a dashcam and was wondering if anyone can some advice on what to go for? Purely for evidence just incase anything ever happens.

[kieranexige]

Hi Tommy,

 

I'm in a similar position to you and bought one myself to cover my own back. I bought a transcend drivepro 220 and  I couldn't recommend it enough .

 

I didn't use the factory charger , instead I bought a mini usb puck off ebay and connected into the switch live in the interior light and fed the cable out the headlining to the screen giving a more factory look.

 

Records 1080p with a decent frame rate and the videos at night are good too.

 

Videos have time / date stamp, speed ( which can be turned off ) and the gps locations so you can run it on googlemaps.

 

Its also has wifi and a drivepro app so I can connect to my phone.

 

Note..... when you watch footage on youtube always ensure your quality settings are on the 720 / 1080 settings

[Pie Warrior]

Rozzer, thought they only worked if the car actually starts up and drives..??

[Simon Mac]

I bought one of these: 

 

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Novatek-AR0330-Blueskysea-Happiness-Bracelets/dp/B00LTMN9LK

 

I would like to say it was the Happiness Bracelets which swung it for me, but that would be a lie

 

It has been faultless even after 9k miles and a trip to the Arctic Circle. It's small and discrete, picture quality is fine, and the GPS puck is just the right size to be tucked down by the windscreen out of sight. My car has a USB port down in the trinket tray from the factory, which is ignition live, so even the wiring was a doddle (of course you will have a slightly more challenging install, but there's a feed down behind the radio so that won't be too hard)

 

It doesn't have the WiFi stuff of the more expensive ones, but then it's cheap and cheerful, but more than adequate for recording incidents.

 

Personally if I want to download the video (say of a nice piece of road)  as a poor man's GoPro, it fulfills the 1st rule of photography "the best camera is the one you have with you" . In this case I just swap out the micro SD card into my laptop anyway, and copy it onto a HDD for later editing (which I never get round to, but that's a different story )

[quantum2000]

I've got a mini0806 http://www.mini0806.comwhich everyone used to rave about, personally I wouldn't recommend it! 

 

When it works the picture quality is fantastic, even up there with a go pro, unfortunately it can be temperamental in recording.

Thought it was faulty so had it replaced, next one did the same and from visiting various forums it appears its quite common, the latest firmware has made it a little more stable but not perfect.

[kieranexige]

Rozzer, thought they only worked if the car actually starts up and drives..??

 

The other one does 35k+ a year so it stops in there....

[cjwjames]

Hi Tommy,

 

I'm in a similar position to you and bought one myself to cover my own back. I bought a transcend drivepro 220 and I couldn't recommend it enough .

 

I didn't use the factory charger , instead I bought a mini usb puck off ebay and connected into the switch live in the interior light and fed the cable out the headlining to the screen giving a more factory look.

 

Records 1080p with a decent frame rate and the videos at night are good too.

 

Videos have time / date stamp, speed ( which can be turned off ) and the gps locations so you can run it on googlemaps.

 

Its also has wifi and a drivepro app so I can connect to my phone.

 

Note..... when you watch footage on youtube always ensure your quality settings are on the 720 / 1080 settings

Imo these devices can also go against you if you are speeding ( heaven forbid) or you are found to blame for the accident ? My opinion of course rock solid if it's a third part Claim or used to record nice / good stretches of road

[kieranexige]

I agree, but I don't consider to ever speed whereby I'm driving like a loon considering I need my licence for my job.. The evidence is only ever subject to be provided to the police / insurance company by yourself anyway.

 

 

All new cars from 2018 Will come with a black box telematics fitted as standard in Europe for insurance purposes. Although it won't be compulsory to have it activated on a insurance network, it's looking likely premiums for those who opt out will be higher.

[cjwjames]

All new cars from 2018 Will come with a black box fitted as standard in Europe for insurance purposes.

 

Well I didn't know that Wow that could effect the performance car market for sure : (

Ps Kieran

You could never drive like a loon as you never drive it Lol : )

 

 

** comment made before you edited your post to include that you have an option to activate the box maybe it will not effect the performance car market after all X

[The Cakes]

Another vote for the Drivepro 220. Brilliant bit of kit, plug in and forget.

[Thomas Harborne]

Cheers guys ill have a look at the drivepro...seems like the one to go for!

[M@r]{]

Just ordered a drivepro myself after the reviews above.

 

From my experience with dashcams it really is a case of buy cheap, buy twice.  Just took me two cheap purchases to learn this!  

[The Cakes]

Just ordered a drivepro myself after the reviews above.

 

From my experience with dashcams it really is a case of buy cheap, buy twice. Just took me two cheap purchases to learn this!

You'll not be disappointed, had mine about 5 months now and no issues.

[DAN@ADRIAN FLUX]

Hi,

Just to let you know that a number of our insurance schemes do offer discount for a wide range of in-car cameras.

https://www.adrianflux.co.uk/dash-cam-insurance/

Regards,

Dan.

[M@r]{]

Received my Drivepro 220 today.  Looks a nice piece of kit, easy to set up and install.  

 

So far I like:

 

The wifi connection with your phone

Parking Mode

Easy to navigate through settings (unlike some of the cheaper chinese crap)

 

Only gripe is it hangs down pretty low on the supplied bracket so with the slope of the windscreen it protrudes quite a lot.  Its not exactly discrete and that's in the Aston, in the Exige I suspect it will stand out even more (not helped by the fact I have no rear view mirror to hide it behind)  

 

Having said that I'm sure I'd get used to it, after all some people are happy sticking their sat nav in the middle of the windscreen! 

 

Will report back when I get some footage from it