Dash Cam

[Cowabunga]

Since a friend's son had a hit and run accident when a pensioner ran into him on a dual carriageway and drove away, I've had the idea of installing dash cams. So when I went to a show the other week and saw a nice affordable example, I bought a couple. It gives great piece of mind if nothing else.

The model I've bought is a Konig brand and costs around £40 including VAT, which is just about affordable. A 16gig class ten microSD card with adapter costs an additional £3.50 from Amazon.

Ten minutes to route the cable and secure it and its up and running.

From the driver's seat, only a portion of the cam is visible. It is wired into the socket on this car which is switched with the ignition. This means that it is completely free of any driver input and is fully automatic. The other car has a constant live socket so I needs the plug pulled to stop the camera and it needs to be re-connected when starting the car of course. I will get around to wiring this to an alternative source that switches with the ignition some day.

I chose this camera because of the price. The picture is fine and surprisingly OK at night as well. It doesn't record location or forward speed and I have the screen so it switches off while driving. Also switched off the motion sensor that semi-permanently keeps files when a sudden motion is detected. Can't see the point in that.

 

[Landy Nick]

Been tempting on getting one myself, although I wouldn't like to hear myself swearing at other motorists on playback.
My niece brought a set up a couple of months ago. This had front a rear cameras. Think this was about £80. From what I see, it does record a good clear image. You just need to keep the screen clean, especially on the rear camera.

 

[Cowabunga]

Been tempting on getting one myself, although I wouldn't like to hear myself swearing at other motorists on playback.
My niece brought a set up a couple of months ago. This had front a rear cameras. Think this was about £80. From what I see, it does record a good clear image. You just need to keep the screen clean, especially on the rear camera.

I've switched the sound off as well. I came to the conclusion to switch these bits off after a week's use and reviewing the video files and content of the card. If the motion sensor was switched on and kept files, I found that even on low sensitivity, the card would soon fill up with irrelevant rubbish files and I would have to format the card to delete them.

For those that don't know, the camera records constantly when in use and for about three minutes after power is cut. It fills the card then records over the oldest files, so it should keep on going maintenance free until you have an incident, at which point you would remove the card and secure the relevant file to a safer storage, such as a PC

I imagine a rear camera to be more problematic to install on hatchbacks, because the wiring has to be routed to the top and down the hinge somehow. Also all the way from the back to the front unless its a stand-alone unit. My Honda would suit a rear stand alone camera as it could be wired into the rear ignition-switched power point, but other vehicles might not have this convenience.

 

[Nearly]

One in every vehicle here, including 2 road going tractors. Why not?

 

[Cowabunga]

With a bit of luck they will never be needed, just like airbags.
Since two of my cars have forward facing cameras built in, including the Honda in the picture, surely it is only a matter of time before manufacturers make use of these not only to recognise signs, dip the lights and whatever-else-they-do, but also as dash cams from the factory.

 

[Alf]

I bought one last year . I didnt know wherether to buy a £20-£30 chinese shitty one or pay more for a recognised make . I bought a £150 Kuda dash cam . http://www.kudauk.ltd.uk/product/kudacam-gps-dashboard-camera-dashcam-1080p-hd-32gb

And what I got was a £20 pice of chinees shite in a kuda box . It falls off windscreen every day at least once . Switches itself off when it feels like it . And the computer software that came with it does nothing but make my computer crash .
When I get around to it I will buy another and bin this lump of sh!t

 

[Great In Grass]

I've had one of these for just over a year now: http://www.amazon.co.uk/LS360W-Full..._2?ie=UTF8&qid=1444735598&sr=8-2&keywords=dod

Fantastic images even at night, you are able to turn the mic off so you can swear to your hearts content. Remember it records your exact position and time but more importantly your speed so if you are involved in a RTC it could work against you if speeding, however you can unplug the GPS unit.

Search YouTube for videos quite impressive.

 

[Cowabunga]

I suspect that they are all Chinese.
I bought mine from a reputable camera shop. A friend saw mine and bought one for himself and one for his son. Unfortunately he broke the suction thing of one of his when attaching it but the camera shop took it back and replaced it with another with no quibble. For less than £40 you can't go wrong. In fact mine cost less than £40 including the new 16gig SD card.
I bought them here
http://www.carmarthencameras.co.uk

 

[Cowabunga]

I've had one of these for just over a year now: http://www.amazon.co.uk/LS360W-Full..._2?ie=UTF8&qid=1444735598&sr=8-2&keywords=dod

Fantastic images even at night, you are able to turn the mic off so you can swear to your hearts content. Remember it records your exact position and time but more importantly your speed so if you are involved in a RTC it could work against you if speeding, however you can unplug the GPS unit.

Search YouTube for videos quite impressive.

That's why I like the ones I've got. They don't record stuff you don't need and I'm not paying for that stuff. If ever I'm involved in an accident, the location will be evident. It does record the time and it can record sound very well if you choose to do so, although why you would normally want to is a mystery.

That camera is double the size and price of mine, although if you can get it up behind the mirror, the size might be less of a problem than otherwise.
One problem with well equipped cars today is that there is so much stuff already behind the mirror that there's not much room for more to be tucked up behind there.

 

[wasted years]

Can you get them without the need for a power lead in other words to run off their own battery , even for a shortime? I would like to know what is going on when my milk is picked up, like does it always get agitated.

 

[Cowabunga]

Can you get them without the need for a power lead in other words to run off their own battery , even for a shortime? I would like to know what is going on when my milk is picked up, like does it always get agitated.

They have an internal battery that keeps the time and keeps filming for however long after power is cut you set. Mine keeps filming for three minutes, for filming the aftermath of an accident and so on.

It is not a surveillance camera as such. what you need for this is an 'action cam'. But its not quite nice to get caught spying on tanker drivers. You need to be very careful to switch the info-red lights off for instance.

 

[wasted years]

They have an internal battery that keeps the time and keeps filming for however long after power is cut you set. Mine keeps filming for three minutes, for filming the aftermath of an accident and so on.

It is not a surveillance camera as such. what you need for this is an 'action cam'. But its not quite nice to get caught spying on tanker drivers. You need to be very careful to switch the info-red lights off for instance.

Tis the world we live in is it not? Milk not quite what we want? That'll be a deduction and by the way did we mention there are loads of farmers looking for contracts?

 

[Nearly]

Can you get them without the need for a power lead in other words to run off their own battery , even for a shortime? I would like to know what is going on when my milk is picked up, like does it always get agitated.

http://www.offerscheck.co.uk/colour-surveillance-camera/lidl/2015/kw-44/319681

 

[multi power]

Can anybody please explain what's actually needed in a dash cam, I need some but really don't know what I'm looking for

 

[Selectamatic]

@Cowabunga , silly question time...

How do you know what its looking at at any one time?

For sake of example, you want to see that a car infront blatantly pulled out in front of you, or that the car in front slammed his brakes on. How are you sure its looking at this other than having the camera lens pointing in that direction, and, how are you sure it will be in focus?

 

[Cowabunga]

@Cowabunga , silly question time...

How do you know what its looking at at any one time?

For sake of example, you want to see that a car infront blatantly pulled out in front of you, or that the car in front slammed his brakes on. How are you sure its looking at this other than having the camera lens pointing in that direction, and, how are you sure it will be in focus?

It looks straight ahead as you have aimed it and with a 110 degree field of view if I remember correctly. I don't have it pointing out of a side window, if that is what you mean. There's a small screen on the back of most dash cams and I set it to switch off [the screen not the recording] after three minutes from powering up. It is possible to have the screen on, showing what the camera is recording, full time, but it is distracting and unnecessary.

It just carries on recording continually with no input from me. I have never yet had cause to remove the card and view the movies on a computer after initially checking that they work.

The aperture is quite small, matched to a small sensor, so virtually everything is always in focus, although it does autofocus.

Have a look at a few dash cam videos so you get the idea.
Here's one…..

 

[General-Lee]

It looks straight ahead as you have aimed it and with a 110 degree field of view if I remember correctly. I don't have it pointing out of a side window, if that is what you mean. There's a small screen on the back of most dash cams and I set it to switch off [the screen not the recording] after three minutes from powering up. It is possible to have the screen on, showing what the camera is recording, full time, but it is distracting and unnecessary.

It just carries on recording continually with no input from me. I have never yet had cause to remove the card and view the movies on a computer after initially checking that they work.

The aperture is quite small, matched to a small sensor, so virtually everything is always in focus, although it does autofocus.

Have a look at a few dash cam videos so you get the idea.
Here's one…..

Bit of a theme there!![emoji300]️☃

Any reason for mounting on the rear view @Cowabunga ?
Think I may invest in one of these!

 

[multi power]

Bit of a theme there!![emoji300]️☃

Any reason for mounting on the rear view @Cowabunga ?
Think I may invest in one of these!

I need to get a couple of these. Had somebody run into me a few months ago. Narrow road so insurance say it will be settled on a 50 50 basis. However the person who hit me blamed me and called the police and police blamed me but sadly I can't really prove much so I'm thinking a cam in each vehicle would be good investment

 

[General-Lee]

I need to get a couple of these. Had somebody run into me a few months ago. Narrow road so insurance say it will be settled on a 50 50 basis. However the person who hit me blamed me and called the police and police blamed me but sadly I can't really prove much so I'm thinking a cam in each vehicle would be good investment

I've only had 2 accidents 1st was when I was 18 so age against me I was stopped and postie slid into me and 2nd time I was practically reversing both on country lanes and 50/50 but fought the 2nd and claimed on theirs.

But would be handy certainly with winter coming and potential for snow where numpties don't know how to drive!

 

[multi power]

I've only had 2 accidents 1st was when I was 18 so age against me I was stopped and postie slid into me and 2nd time I was practically reversing both on country lanes and 50/50 but fought the 2nd and claimed on theirs.

But would be handy certainly with winter coming and potential for snow where numpties don't know how to drive!

I have had 3 people hit me in twenty years of driving but never any my fault and never any claims on my insurance but this time police blamed me and doing me for driving without due care and attention so it's going to cost me