bornking

I am looking to protect "Lucille the Lexus" from hit and runs and other damage.
I think many are thinking the same thing: dash cam.
I agree.

I want your opinion on getting one.
Here are the requirements and likes/dislikes to help things along:

2000 LS400 @ 202,000km
Brand new paint job (protected under plasti-dip/rubberdip spray).

LIKES
- Dash cam that is discreet
- Dash cam that can plug into fusebox
- Hidden wires
- Quality and Reliability at any temp (it ranges from -44C to +44C throughout the year here)
- Double cam is better (looking in front and behind)
- Bump sensor

DISLIKES
- Visible wires
- Plugging into the cigarette lighter
- Low Quality/Reliability

What are your thoughts?
Which models are your favourites?
Which model do you recommend and why?

dicer

So doesn't a dash cam just point to the front? Its not like you will get total coverage. The best way to protect a good car is to put it in a garage and never drive it.

winter4w

I got two dash cams in mine however they only run when the car is running. I am going to get something that may make it motion/sound detected along with powering the camera while the car is off however I am waiting for a response on more info about that product on another forum. I got the G1WH up front and the Mobius in the back. Mine are all plugged in lighters and are not wired in. If you are interested in checking out the quality I do have a YouTube channel where I post Bad Driver vids . I personally will get one in case someone tries to rip you off and it can help save a headache with the insurance. I also have heard of some insurance companies giving discounts to people who have them.

PureDrifter

iTrader: (10)

pretty much no dash cams afaik work well when the car is stationary/parked, as they rely on g-sensor tech to trigger the recording. So unless it's hit HARD it's not going to trigger the record. Additionally this configuration often has issues with battery drainage.

Now if you want one for when you're driving, that's a whole different ballgame and depends mostly on budget and size restrictions.

Legender

I've got my LS430 in the garage and never drive it. I drive the LS400 instead.
Still the LS430 gets dust all over it and the battery keeps dying... don't think that's the best solution either. ...

Better unload the LS430 so someone can get some use out of it....

dicer

I never keep a battery connected on a car in the garage, there have been too many spontaneous electrical fires in cars.

peterls

Many cameras can start recording as soon as something moves in the picture. Since they don't (normally) take much power, they could be left connected to the car battery without significant draw for a few hours at a time.
One thing that you should also watch out for is that the camera's internal battery (the one that helps the camera keep track of time and date) should last a long time. Mine doesn't and it is frustrating that when I need to see some video, I cannot find it among many videos there because they all have the same date and time.

Also, if that battery goes dead, like mine did as soon as I installed the camera, then sometimes the camera may not come on as you start the car (happens if I don't drive it for a couple of days or longer). I did not notice that until I got a BS ticket for which I was NOT guilty, and wanted to show the footage in court... only to find out that on that day my camera decided not to turn itself on.

winter4w

Just wondering what dash cam do you have? I have the G1WH (front) and Mobius (rear) and so far I just had to replace the G1WH batter in the summer. It gets to be up to 120F here lol. Also for people who don't want to wire their dash cam to the fuse box they can get a power bank called the Cellink B and use that to power the cam. When you park the batter will detect no more power coming for the cigarette lighter and put the camera in parking mode (if the camera has that feature).

Also if any of you are interested in dash cam videos or want to see mine I started up a new channel called Crazy Cam Driver (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC33...jjUWTThPSxWvQQ).

peterls

It seems to be "Black Box G1W" 1080p camera. I bought it a few years ago, so by now it is old, but it does have a nice picture. The recording can be triggered by motion, but it does have a battery problem and I am too busy to try and replace that internal battery to get the time and date stamp right in every video.

OneJay

iTrader: (14)

I have this one
https://www.amazon.com/Falcon-Zero-F.../dp/B00SGXUUTO

Image quality and field of view are great. I have it wired in to the inside fuse box and hid the wires behind the a pillar. It does not have bump detection to turn on automatically, but if it senses an impact while on, it will lock that file and not overwrite it.

winter4w

Ok yea I got the same one up front but it is the newer model: The G1WH.

Does it have parking mode?

OneJay

iTrader: (14)

I don't believe so. It just powers up when the car is started.

peterls

[QUOTE=winter4w;9692360]Ok yea I got the same one up front but it is the newer model: The G1WH.

Is your date/time stamp working properly? If it is then your camera does not have a battery problem like mine.

winter4w

[QUOTE=peterls;9693588]Sorry for the late reply. Yea mine is now working due to me replacing the battery. However, I am considering in getting the F770 due to its parking mode. I would hate to walk up to my LS400 to find a huge dent in it and no car to be found around it. The issue with my camera was when the battery died it would not save the last footage since there was not enough power after it got cut from the car to save it. Which means if I had a crash and power was lost to the car, it would not save the footage of the event. Right now all is ok except I am starting to see the camera not record my full drives. I am not sure if power is being cut from it somewhere or she is kicking the bucket. I have had the camera shortly after I bought the car so for two years now.