Dash board camera suggestions
 

A close friend asked me for suggestions on a dash board camera for her car. She is not a technical savvy and I am not either so I turn here to use the vast knowledge base of PPRuNe on which model to buy. She lives in a rural area and she does not drive in highways but she used to drive all hours of the day and night.

Any help would be most appreciated.


Rwy in Sight

WHICH? recommended dashboard cameras tested in June 2016 and declared as "Best Buys":
1. Nextbase iN-CAR CAM 312GW Deluxe c. £100
2. Nextbase iN-CAR CAM 212 Lite c. £70
3. Nextbase iN-CAR CAM 512G Ultra c. £161

Doing a Google search on the models listed and the model tested by WHICH? at £70 is £58 at Curry's, Halfords etc.

Details here if you're a member:
All dash cam reviews - Which?[discrete][which_recommends][badges][]=BEST_BUY&sortby=testing_date_desc&page=1

I looked at Dashcams a couple of years ago and opted for the Transcend DrivePro 200 on the basis of this video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iEW4mxG9Cn4

I have been very satisfied with it and it scores 4.3 out of 5 on the Halford's website.
Worth looking at.
With any dashcam, try and make it as inconspicuous as possible. I have covered the silver
parts of my dashcam with black tape.

A fairly thorough website here with reviews of many dashcams and a good guide to dashcams:

Techmoan - Techmoan

Mine (usually) turn on automatically when you start the car. But not always, as the power fluctuations when starting the engine sometimes cause them to crash.

I have one of these in the front:

https://streetguardian.info/sg9665gc...d-gps-dvr.html

And a generic A118C from Amazon in the back. The Street Guardian camera is basically the A118C with upgraded components (e.g. improved sensor for better night images).

If it's going to be used a lot at night, I'd look at good night images as the main feature, since the cheaper cameras won't do a particularly good job.

Mine is a bit older but was around the £180 mark. It's a Blackvue DR500GW-HD, with GPS tracking and g-sensors. Starts automatically when the ignition is switched on, records all the time and I can usually get about 2-3 days driving (approx 2 hrs each day) on the sd card. It is possible to buy a little power saver thing so it also records when the ignition is off, in response to motion or collision detected. Had it for a few years, been very pleased. Has confirmed on one occasion that a minor knock was my own fault, so drive carefully!

Mine is a Nextbase 312. It only has a forward facing camera but has wifi facilities. The quality of the 3 minute clips are amazing, oh complete with clear audio so be careful what you say in the car, it can be embarrassing as I found out to my cost! I got Halfords to hard wire it into the fuse box for an extra £30. This means it will come on as soon as you start the car and switch off when the engine cuts. Also your insurance premium should be reduced as well.

Now to search for a reasonable tracker.

Crewmeal, you know you can turn off the audio bit?!

Through the river people I bought a Nextbase hard wire kit for £11.95 a few months ago, now £14.95 so shop around. Very easy to install, it piggybacks onto any fuse whose circuit becomes live when the ignition is switched on.

Nope! On a Nissan Qashqai you have to take the glove box unit out and fiddle around underneath to get to the fuse box. Not like most cars where the fuse box has easy access. Halfords also at the time provided the hard wire kit free.

Chesty I will re read the manual again.

Quick! Hit the FDR Erase button! :)

Thanks for the nice and useful suggestions, so far. So kindly keep sending them. I passed the thread address to my blond friend and will keep you informed.

More than enough information on the "help" site below, to confuse any buyer to the point of not knowing what to buy. :)

https://www.carcamcentral.com/

The important thing is to write down the features you consider important to you, and measure each model according to the desirability of the feature.

Clarity of the image under varying light conditions is crucial, as you want to be able to read number plates clearly at all times.

Length of recording, or additional memory capability is also important, as you don't want to have such low capabilities that the camera runs out of recording ability at a crucial moment.

Ease of operation is also critical, you don't want to be trying to remember complex commands and procedures, and having to refer to the manual constantly.

Another simple but easy to overlook requirement is the physical size of the camera and how it is mounted. In my previous car my dashcam snuggled perfectly behind the rear view mirror. In my new car, there's a black patch on the windscreen in the position I'd have wanted to place it. In my wife's car with a different camera, it's almost impossible to mount the camera at the top of the screen without it getting in the way when the sun visor needs to be folded down. Worth checking! :-)

As onetrack says,each person will have different priorities when selecting a dashcam.

I chose mine based on the tradeoff between image quality and physical size.The image quality has to be good enough for you to clearly read number plates on the video files.No point buying a low resolution unit.I looked at online videos recorded with the unit before buying.Mine is also the smallest HD unit on the market and I can swap it between vehicles using a small strip of velcro stuck on each vehicle's windscreen instead of a large bracket with a sucker pad. (Size: 63 x 43 x 21mm and weight 66.3g).

I wouldn't recommend it though,the price is ridiculous (£199.00),the audio mute function doesn't work and support is rubbish,but it does the job for me.