Dashcams...?

General thoughts?  Recommendations?

I have ones from Anker. They are cheap and work OK, but they are often stuck on a screen that is asking me to reformat the card. It's not intuitive how to save a video clip if you want to. I'd love less features with a better UI and more intuitive operation. I want the Apple Dashcam.

Viofo A119 1440P are the best I've found by a long shot. 

I have had several die from heat. One that just stopped recording forever. It said it was still working but wasn't writing to the card. I missed recording a particularly bad wreck because of that.

The Viofo cameras aren't particularly cheap but they work every time and the heat doesn't destroy them. I have one in the XJ, all 4 company vehicles, my wife's cars, and my kids cars. If they save me the blame on one wreck they have paid for themselves.

Also looking for one or two. Good great resistance and reliable. 

Pretty deep reviews...https://dashcamtalk.com/

I run the Roav cameras that stick to the windshield, not the ones with suction cups.

I've had my Roav S1 in the fit for almost a year now, works well and captures solid video..

it's currently unavilable on Amazon, but the C1 should be a fine stand in..

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07DF8MQX1/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Have a Garmin 45 &  46. Easy to operate and worth there weight in gold. 

We have $40 YI ones from Amazon.

 I definitely recommend one.  Last August we had a hurricane that killed power for a week,  coming home thru a out signal intersection, with 10 total lanes,  some moron decided to jump the line and pull out just in time for me to t-bone her.  No witnesses stayed, was a 10MPH accident. I told the police that she jumped her turn. Lady told the cop I sped thru the intersection ignoring the stop signs.  Cop goes he said she said, I said I have a cam.  Showed her the video, Lady got tickets.  Also made her insurance buckle and I had a check almost immediately after they got the police report

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1yPb6DJAgWKUNsGfocGs8JLPI73GBMIBC/view?usp=drivesdk

This is the video and shows the quality.  Not bad for what it is

When looking at them originally, I lived in Phoenix.  I found one that had capacitors instead since those hold up much much better to heat.  I'm super happy I did the research on that one as it's still going strong now.  I also suggested getting a direct wire kit.  In my current vehicle there is actually a lighter plug buried up in the passenger footwell so I was able to use a USB converter.  But having it wired in all the time so you don't have to think about it is best. The one I have isn't available anymore, but I'm sure there are newer ones.  Mine is an Anker.

Another voice for A119. It's been great.

I consider the cheap ones to be disposable, assume they'll last about a year or so, and replace preventatively.  Otherwise, the ones judged as a good value on dashcamtalk are fine. I do have a Magellan right now with built in GPS that I think has lasted three years so far, and that's my record for longevity.

For an idea on video quality, here's a recent clip from the Magellan, although the YT upload did degrade the quality some.  I had wrongly assumed the truck was going to make an illegal right turn, not an illegal u-turn.  Thankfully, I made sure to have space to react.

I suspect the cheaper cameras will also have sufficient features and video quality.  The main thing you are going to gain with a name brand is durability.

Durability has certainly been the issue for me. I've got to deal with the heat here in Florida as well. I've bought five cameras over the years, currently don't have one in any of my cars.

Do any of these have WiFi and is it necessary??

In reply to rustybugkiller :

Mine do not. I dont see where it would be necessary. I seldom look at the footage unless something interesting happens. Then I pull the SD and stick it in my laptop.

I second John Welsh's recommendation for dashcamtalk. Very helpful.

I ended up with a pair of Garmin Mini cams in my 911 in order to get a good rear view without having to wire between cameras. The use an ad hoc wifi network to coordinate and the mobile app then downloads and stitches together video from each cam into a single picture-in-picture view if desired.

They work well, but are a little tweaky to set up, and the system is very slow to pull down video. It'd be good if there was an accident but generally if I want video I pull the card from one camera and get it the old fashioned way.

Haven't used it much since covid started and I stopped driving to work but will soon surely have the opportunity to add to my magnum opus "WTFWT?"

https://vimeo.com/362906947

How well do these things work at NIGHT...?

In reply to stroker :

The dashcamtalk reviews tend to cover the individual cameras' night vision quality.  In my personal experience, it's a lot harder to read a license plate at night, unless you are at a stoplight, and your headlights are not drowning it out.  Otherwise, they tend to work well enough that a police officer should be able to establish fault in the case of an accident.

stroker said:

How well do these things work at NIGHT...?

 

Pretty good actually. 

I made the mistake of updating the firmware on my 2-year-old Garmin Mini cams this weekend, which are now flashy-litey little bricks. As foretold by the interwebs, once in this wonderful new state they're unrecoverable.

To their credit Garmin sent me a shipping-paid return label immediately with no hassle and supposedly will send replacements out.

So props for handling a stinky software update well, but, yeah, maybe not their best product.

\

I forgot that I have an Apeman in the van. I bought it because it was the best-reviewed model on Amazon that fit my needs and had a hardwire kit. It has completely disappeared from Amazon, but the basic form-factor is similar to the Viofo A119 1440P mentioned above. My guess is that they are made in China and sold under a bunch of names. It works OK but the UI is not great and you have toi reformat the card whenever it gets full. Hard to see from the driver's seat, so you could miss something.

Following this since the family is going on a road trip next month. Since I have to schedule PTO 3 months ahead, I will miss it.
Putting a dash cam in the car will hopefully alleviate some of my apprehension about not going.