I recently received some damage to my car and I'm deciding the best way run a dash camera.

A woman in a brand new Toyota Camry cut me off right before one of those large metal plates they put on the road to cover a construction hole. Well, as she was aggressively accelerating over the cover her tire(s) kicked up a shower of asphalt / rocks that was put on at the edge of the large metal plate. This shower of debris came raining down on my front half of the car. It was horrible to say the least.

I did not know at the time but it pitted my windshield in probably 40 places and may have chipped some paint in the very front near the grill. Really sucks because the windshield was fairly new and did not have by maybe one or two tiny pits. Their not terrible and I only see them if I look for them after a thorough cleaning but still, it does bother me a bit. If I had this incident recorded I would have stopped her and gone after her insurance.

So, now I'm going to run a dash cam for my own protection. I ordered a cheap one off Amazon because it had good ratings. This was a mistake. Not only was it missing the battery but the quality is terrible. Apparently there are Chinese fakes popping up a lot now with low quality processing chips. I think I got one. I will be sending it back today.

All the good units are pretty much $175 and up. I was thinking of alternatives like a GoPro and I realized why not use my old Galaxy S4 cell phone as I'm back with the iPhone 6 plus now. It can handle up to a 64gb SD card which, is twice as much as most dash cams and I have an extended battery case. There are multiple apps that give you a lot more features then the standard higher end dash cameras. Best Buy sells a suction cup mount that I'm going to pickup today and test out. Anyway, just thought I would share.

Stay away from this POS if you do order one.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00XP3...jnL&ref=plSrch

 

i've been debating on picking up a Blackvue DR650 since it has a front and rear camera. Friend of mine has one equipped on his car and the video quality during the day and night is pretty good.

are you planning on eventually hardwiring it?

 

If you decide on the "hardwired" approach, check out this post https://www.clublexus.com/forums/ls-...-dash-cam.html for some very useful information.

 

I recently installed a Mini 0806 dashcam. I'm very pleased with it, it's small, has all the features I need, and is very affordable. Cost about $130. I researched before I bought and the Mini 0806 seemed to be the most recommended. Unfortunately in the past week it has been powering down after about 15-30 minutes due to a faulty battery, even though I do have it hard wired to the fuse box. Apparently there was a small batch of Minis that came with faulty internal batteries and I will be sending it back for a replacement camera, since the battery cannot be replaced. Bought mine from Spytec Inc.

 

I was looking at that same Mini and a few others. Honestly, I'm going to go with the S4 solution for now. It has some really cool features via the recoding app and does not cost me anything. I don't like to leaving visible electronics in my car so I may not wire it in. I have an awesome battery on the S4 and I can easily plug it in via the normal 12v charging solution. Going to try this first and see how it goes.

 

I ran my S3 as a dash cam for several months. On Ebay, I ordered a camera case with screw on lenses to give a wider angle, under $10. I used the Autoguard Pro app and was pretty happy with it though there are others available. I had tried others but I found that compatibility was the biggest deciding factor. If you can test run a few apps before buying, you'll quickly see what I mean. It will eat up your battery so plan on using a power cord.
After a few months I took the plunge and ordered from Sam's club the Thinkware X500 system. It has front and back cameras and some other interesting features including a hardwire power cord that allows you to use the front cam as a security recorder when parked (ignition off). It has a motion sensor and a shock sensor that turns the camera on. It's an extra $40 for that cord to enable the feature though.

 

Going after her insurance for having kicked up rocks from the road would have only resulted in you being laughed at. Even taking a case like that would yield nothing.
It'd be different if it had been a semi that was hauling rocks and showering your car with them.

 

I came across this one in looking. (No experience with the unit. Nor do I know anyone with one.)


From B&H:
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/search...633+3888479535

 

Well, who knows. Maybe she would have paid for a new windshield. The fact is her reckless actions caused damage to my vehicle. It would have been nice to have someone responsible for this. Anyway, no point to cry over spilled milk.

I downloaded two different applications. One called AutoBoy Dash Cam Blackbox pro version and another free one called Daily Roads Voyager. Both have similar features and record, speed, gps data, and a few other configurable features. I like that I can pick resolution, data rate, encoding codec, audio quality, control white ballance and such. It's good stuff. I will check our Autoguard pro app too.

My only complaint is that the image is not super stable but this is to be expected I guess. I find I get a better angle but more vibration if the mount is on the windshield vs on the dash.

 

I used a sticky suction cup magnetic mount from Amazon for $10, iClever® ICH04, no vibration on my Es 350 or LS 460.

 

Dash cams are very good to have for safety or in case of accidents. I have one hardwired into my car. I have the cowon aw1. It is wireless and I can stream/view videos directly on my phone. Any dashcam made in Korea is good. Some companies such as blackvue and itronics are some on the better known brands. But made in Korea is good in my book. Dashcams are also called blackbox as well.

 

Did you mount to the windshield or dash? The one I purchased is similar. $20 after price match. The more rigid they are the better.

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/bracketr...&skuId=8365059

I ordered that iclever based on your review. If it works better I will return the Bracketron.

 

I used it on the windshield, though it should work well on the dash too. The way the high quality sticky suction cup is attached to the mount is what stops the vibrations (I'm guessing). I liked the magnetic mount for quick on and off mounting. Hope it works as well for you. BTW sent my sample today via Priority mail.

 

I would rather use it on the windshield. Wider angle and less chance of leaving marks on the dash. I think the spring clamp is where the vibration is coming from on mine. The suction cup is very strong but on the other end if the phone can vibrate it gets transferred into the recording. It's not terrible but not great either.

Looking forward to your results. Should be early next week.

 

Here is a sample of what I am getting from the S4. Swfla, compared to your mount do you notice much of a difference? You can see when I hit rough road the vibration creates blur. It's not really that bad but I just wanted to compare it to what you were getting. Bad drivers tonight. A bmw barreling towards are broken down car cutting into my lane and then a Nissan lumbering along at 45 mph hits the brakes right when I'm trying to exit. I swear, drivers here are getting worse by the day...

I am impressed with the low light quality. This was at 9:15pm when this was taken. Set to 1080 for best quality.