It is time to invest some money in a dash camera. I was skeptical before, thought i didnt really need it but then got my previous RX crashed into while parked twice within 2 months range, replaced it and now i got keyed and last night someone took my wheel caps off ( i had a custom Lexus ones) so I've been looking into dash cams, but i know nothing about them. Do i need a night vision or not really, dual or not, back and front or just the front, which ones would be worth the money. Can anybody suggest anything please?

TIA

 

Sorry to hear about that Yurka. Makes you wonder whether it's worth having a nice vehicle

There's lots of suggestions outside of this forum if you do a search. Also look online for videos to check out the quality in both day and night time mode. I use a GoPro while driving but plan on replacing it with something more permanent. Blackvue is currently on top of my list. They have front camera only, front and rear camera packages and an available battery pack to prevent the camera from draining the 12V battery in parking mode. It doesn't look too difficult to install. I'm just not sure where to put the camera up front without interfering with the various things around the rear view mirror. Might be time to consult with my installer again.

Good luck.

 

I thought I read a thread here about someone putting the electronics inside of the box contains the SOS unit and making the whole wiring invisible. I, too, agree that it's a useful tool.

Does anyone know how much it costs to install it professionally around the So Cal area?

 

So how would this work, then. Motion activated? Vibration activated?
Well, I glanced at the Blackvue website and it appears they have solutions for both impact and motion activation.

Regarding the battery pack backup, does the battery get recharged while driving, or is it disposable batteries (or separately rechargeable outside the vehicle)? Battery pack life?
According to the website... 12 hr battery life, and it does recharge while driving.

To the OP, I also assume that you're working with an apartment/condo/rental/"away from home" parking lot scenario?

 

Most dash cams have various functions to monitor the surroundings based on vibration or simply on a time lapse basis where it keeps recording stuff. You can set how often to erase non-relevant materials and how it notifies you if it detects vibration or break-in (via smartphone). Just think of how useful it would be when people hit your car in a parking lot and just take off.

 

Sounds good, but with only a front and/or rear view, there are still two major blind spots on either side which are missed. Also, I wonder if the police and insurance companies are willing to use evidence from this kind of surveillance. I've never heard, read, nor known of it being used before, but I'm also not in the dash cam game at all, so I could easily just be one of those whose head is still somewhat buried in the sand of my own mundane lifestyle.

 

two lenses front and back cover 360 degrees. (Wide angle) Police, at least in CA, accepts as evidence.

 

@ F250 youre correct, for now i have to look for parking on the street around my area.

I volunteer with a local pct and as a matter of fact both insurance and police/court find dash cam recordings very helpful if you were to open the case. I found some dash cameras that are indeed sensor activated, they basically dont record i assume unless its triggered by the hit or something, then they automatically turn on. Most i found are only front 120 degree angle, some go up to 140-160, but some are front and back and they go with 120 degree angle both ways, so i think they would miss the blind spots (aka if someone were to key the door or take your wheels off). Blackvue has some interesting cameras however they are quite pricey

 

There are other 360 degree systems for roughly $200-$400, but I do not know the quality, and they typically use 4 cameras mounted one front and one rear with the other two under the side view mirrors.

 

I use a dash cam by "Accord " something......

Ordered on Amazon for around $69. It has dual front and rear cams. Front is 1080p. Rear is 760p??? The rear is not very clear while the front is very, very good. At night it is just Ok if there ae lights.

So, let's say the dash cam recorded someone stealing g you center caps while you were gone and parked. Unless you can ID that person, what are you gong to do? Say you recognized the perp as a person who lives nearby or frequents the area. Are you going to apprehend that perp? Or are you going to the police? So you go to the police. What is the police going to do for you? IDK. In most major metro areas, the police is overwhelmed already. I really doubt anything will get done. So in the end more aggrevation for you. It is sad that one can not have and enjoy a nice car in a metro city anymore and some people have no respect for other people's property.

What I got the dash cam for was more for while the vehicle is moving to record in case if an accident involving me. I guess I could get the battery packs for record while parked. But this will risk spontaneous fire snd exp10si0n in these lithium batteries. The dash cam I got uses a "capacitor" which is safer versus a battery pack. But it only has a few seconds of power to properly shut down after I turn the ignition to off.

 

I finally installed my dash camera today. It sat on my shelf for two years and somehow I finally found time to install it.

I have the popular G1W-C model (front view only). It is now outdated, but it'll do what I need it to do and that is to record road incidents. I chose the model with a built-in capacitor instead of an internal battery so it won't turn on if someone were to hit me while it's parked elsewhere. It will only turn on if the ignition is in the accessory or ON mode. If the car is off, then the camera is also off (no need to worry about battery draining). Most cameras like this one will have loop recording. As soon as your memory gets full, it'll overwrite the oldest footage so you don't have to manually delete.

The first picture shows how I mounted mine. Nothing fancy here. I routed the wire that way so that in case I do want to view my files, I can do so without having to unplug it. Obviously this isn't an issue for cameras with internal batteries.

Second picture shows what it looks like from the driver seat. That's right! You can't see the camera so it's not obstructing the view.

 

That looks good. My dad's friend actually has a dash cam that is front only when driven, when the car is parked its doing a 360 automatically, not sure how that works but my dad will find out the name of it and i will check it out and update it here, supposedly its about $100 only, so not that bad.

I went hiking yesterday to the Catskill area, Giant Ledge & Panther mountain for the day, got back to the car approximately around 7-7:30 pm, my back driver side tire was slashed with a knife along the Michelin sign, a person that was parked to the left of me had his windshield broken( looked like someone threw a rock at it), and another person to the right of my car had both mirrors broken off and rear passenger side window broken as well. We were the last ones pretty much to leave the mountain, nothing was missing from their cars, basically some idiot just decided to do this just because, maybe there were other cars that got vandalized as well, i dont know. I had to go almost 170 miles on a donut back to Brooklyn because there was nothing open nearby to get a new tire. You never know what waits you nowadays.

 

That's the reality which plagues me the most!!

 

How, exactly, is a dash cam going to help you in the case of side/rear impact, or vandalism? "What will this do for me?" is a pretty good question. Lots of people add front and/or rear cams, and learn they will do nothing for them unless they are involved in a front or rear crash, and the person in the other vehicle reports a false narrative of the crash.

In cases of vandalism or parking lot accidents, police will virtually never do anything with images from a camera, unless they are crystal clear, and show unmistakeable identity of those involved.

 

errrrr.......... for starters the run away car's license plate number??? that does something.......