What are the latest favorite dashcams?

I've been thinking about another (had one 4-ish years ago that crapped out), the co-drive rallycross a few weeks ago had one that made me think of them again.  And this morning when the white work van driver looked me in the eyes and still pulled out right in front of my leaving Home Depot, where it was safer to go around him in the chicken/turn lane than try to stop, made me think it's time...

What's the latest?  I'd like to keep it under $100 if possible (I think I have a card or two so that doesn't factor into the cost).  Maybe two of them, for the Abarth and Crosstrek.

I picked up the ROAV C1 as my first dashcam—I think it was recommended on this board—and I am very happy with it. The price was under $75 without a card, but they have an S1 that is only $90 and comes with a card as well as other models.  It has a long cord so I could hide it behind the trim and wire it permanently. The camera has a wide field of view, is always on when you want it to be, and even has a parking sensor for when you are away.  It connects to an App on your phone to view and download clips easily. 

This site is very detailed:  https://dashcamtalk.com/

I have a BlueSky that has been good.  It doesn't always work good with the phone interface but it takes good video and audio that I can review on my laptop.  

I recently bought a ROAV C1 that was mentioned here on GRM as a refurb discount sale of under $50 each

pinchvalve said:

I picked up the ROAV C1 as my first dashcam—I think it was recommended on this board—and I am very happy with it. The price was under $75 without a card, but they have an S1 that is only $90 and comes with a card as well as other models.  It has a long cord so I could hide it behind the trim and wire it permanently. The camera has a wide field of view, is always on when you want it to be, and even has a parking sensor for when you are away.  It connects to an App on your phone to view and download clips easily. 

^^ What he said except I went through a bunch of crappy ones first. Bought this on a recommendation from the Board. It works very well. 

Here is the GRM thread where the ROAV was discounted.

In general the ROAV is very good.  One notable comment is that the mounting is a peel and stick to windshield.  Two mounts were provided.  However, something with a suction cup mount would be needed if your plans were like to move the camera to a different rental car each week.    

I bought the C1 pro last year from roav on amazon 

I have been very pleased with it. and I like the mounting system with the adhesive pad rather than a suction cup. 

roav did just release a Dual Camera unit. 

Roav Duo

 

In reply to spacecadet :

I would think the adhesive pad would melt in the heat.  No?  Then again I've never had much luck with suction cups either.

In reply to Jerry :

The 3m tape they come with is outstanding. 

I also like that they sell the base by itself. So I have one in each car and the motorhome. All of them are wired in so all I have to do is snap the camera out of the base in one car and snap it in the next. 

Having seen oh so many dash cam videos of accidents, I'll say that unless you buy the absolute cheapest $25 sold-by-shady-CL-people camera, pretty much any of the newer HD cameras are pretty damn good as far as video quality.  Do you want something that is strictly just a recorder, or one that has GPS/telematics capability?  Just front facing or front and rear?  You'll get tons of options and price will be in line with what you choose.  I couldn't tell you which ones are easiest to set up, use, etc., .as I'm not on that side of things...yet....but from a video perspective it's hard to go wrong.

There is a company about to hit the market hard in the US called Nextbase.  They're big in Europe and will be making a big push here starting this month.

A great dash cam would also make a decent in car race car cam as well right? 

Also some of the phone apps for some of these dash cams are scary in what they want you to allow to operate. Like the ROAV for example wants a VPN to be allowed? Why? 

I misread the title as "least favorite", and was thinking it was an odd thing to make a thread about.

DirtyBird222 said:

Also some of the phone apps for some of these dash cams are scary in what they want you to allow to operate. Like the ROAV for example wants a VPN to be allowed? Why? 

Telematics.  It also allows the video/data to be sent and stored in the cloud and/or monitored real time.  Think commercial fleet vehicles...