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Does anyone have a recommendation for a dash cam with front and rear recording that's compatible with a 2016 LS 460 ?
The minimum resolution should be 2k to make out license plates with good night time vision.
Are there advantages of having the rear cam built into the front cam versus a separate rear cam ?
Would a separate rear cam interfere with the rear retractable window shade ?
blackvue is the best in the market at the moment but pricey, Gazer should be available in the US too you gotta check is better if you want to integrate with different systems, like side and front parking cameras etc
I was a little disappointed by the Blackvue DR900. For considerably less, I found license plates were just as readable by the VIOFO.
I had two separate VIOFO A119S for front and rear. You can place it in the middle of the back window and still operate the rear sunshade without hitting the dashcam. There is a gap between the rear sunshade and back window. Just test the location before you use the adhesive.
An integrated 2-channel unit will probably be more power efficient. Make sure you get a dashcam that uses capacitors and that can endure high cabin temperatures in direct sunlight. Nothing worse than your fancy dashcam overheating and not recording anything. The DR900 had reports of overheating. Hopefully Blackvue fixed that.
I initially went the cheap route and bought a 111 Watt-hour battery bank to power the two VIOFO dashcams in parking mode. This works as long as you remember to plug the dashcams into the battery bank each time you leave the car. It also required 12 hours to fully charge the battery bank every other day. Ultimately, I proved unreliable and kept forgetting to plug the cameras into the battery bank, so I bit the bullet and bought the Blackvue B-124 Iron Phosphate batteries. It charges to full during a 45-80 minute drive from your cigarette lighter and powers two dashcams for 24 hours. It is a pricey option but still cheaper than most collision deductibles. Good luck and let us know what you decide on.
Hey FatherTo1,
You are still prowling the LS460 forum and offering help . That's great!
Did you say your Tesla uses the built-in cameras for recording video while driving and parking?
Glad to help when I can!
Below are clips from Tesla's Sentry Mode. Sentry Mode is working basically all the time, whether moving or parked, as long as you have a USB drive inserted to capture the recordings. Sentry Mode is available on Model 3 (of any year), but only on Model S with a build date of September 2017 or later because you need at least Autopilot 2.5 for Sentry Mode to work. If you have Autopilot 2.0 then Sentry Mode “works” but it doesn’t record to a USB drive, instead it records to “Tesla cloud servers” but nobody has access to those videos! Camera footage is from the front, left rearward, and right rearward. No direct rear camera recordings.
Not a real DIY kind of guy but it was relatively straight forward to install with the YouTube instruction. This makes it easy so you can get dual cam feature with front and rear view with a single cam setup. Video quality is pretty good and it can withstand really high temperature with no loss of quality, unit is pretty reliable and price for the unit is pretty modest.
I have a Thinkware F800 Pro installed in mine which fits into the upper windshield area of the LS really well. Its not 2K, but no problem reading license plate numbers. The Q800 Pro is the same form factor but in 2K if you want that, it wasn't out when I got mine or I would have gotten it. I see no reason to upgrade my setup. Here's my thread with pictures and video clips:
Was just looking at potential updates to the Viofo 119S. He has a comparison with the Blackvue DR900S vs. Thinkware Q800 Pro vs. GoPro Hero 7 Black:
The one part about the Viofo on ours is the headlight pattern produces glare so plates are not legible in many instances. Daytime this has not been an issue.
I personally run the Vantrue Pro N2. This is for outside as well as facing rear for interior of the cabin.
If you want front and rear exterior, I highly recommend the Rexing V1P, I've run that as well in the past and still continue to do so with zero issues.
I’ll have to double-check the brand of mine, but make sure you either have a phone that accepts and plays micro SD, or that the dash camera can play the videos. Police cannot do much at the scene, for the report, if you can’t show them footage.
Many Dashcams now will allow you to connect over BT or WiFi and play the footage on your phone. The Thinkware unit does that.
That was one pitfall of the Viofo 119S when we had an incident. The wife's phone at the time did not play that particular MP4 container format off the memory card. Luckily the witness to the collision let the CHP use his phone to view the video and get the license plate. BT and WiFi are worthwhile features.
Looking for Dash Cam (Front + Rear) Recommendations
. That's great!
