Dash cam saves your ass (no Roundabout stuff please :)

eqwjewoiujqorj

From Poland:

freestyla

Test with Samsung Galaxy S2.
Snake type bendy suction mount, using phone's own camera app (not Autoguard Blackbox nor DailyRoads Voyger).

Shaking too much

vibe666

freestyla wrote: »

Test with Samsung Galaxy S2.
Snake type bendy suction mount, using phone's own camera app (not Autoguard Blackbox nor DailyRoads Voyger).

Shaking too much

i had the same problem and did advise against the snake type ones earlier in the thread. the one i have now is a fixed tilt/swivel one. you get a bit of the suction mount in the corner of the camera view, but the more stable picture more than makes up for that imho.

I just got one of the cheap ones of ebay.

freestyla

vibe666 wrote: »

i had the same problem and did advise against the snake type ones earlier in the thread. the one i have now is a fixed tilt/swivel one. you get a bit of the suction mount in the corner of the camera view, but the more stable picture more than makes up for that imho.

I just got one of the cheap ones of ebay.

I saw your warning not to use snake one but grab this from local chinese shop just for testing purpose then returned it next day.

Video quality with this phone is awesome really but suction mounts are not my thing at all. I never had one, probably because these mounts (together with charging cables hanging down) appeal just bother me too much from aesthetic point of view

Need something under rear view mirror, with long battery life

vibe666

if you were going to do that, it would probably be worth running a power cable out of sight around the window trim.

Joe10000

Hi, I want to order one of these this week. I am not interested in using my phone as the camera and ideally would like the GPS information recorded also. I dont really want to spend much more then €100 and this one seems the best for around this price.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Full-1080P-HD-GPS-Car-Dashboard-Dash-Camera-DVR-Cam-Box-gps-logger-/280825983643?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item416288729b

I would appreciate opinions and recommendations.

cheers.

edit: Can you also please let me know if FPS or resolution are more important ?

Thanks

vibe666

in case anyone is still interested in the phone based dash cam, i got some of those cheap magnetic phone camera lenses off ebay and tried them on my desire HD and took a couple of shots from the same spot on the dashboard to see what sort of visual range i could get.

unfortunately, my holder broke slightly in the cold weather the other week and i couldn't find any of my spares since we recently moved house, so i've had to order some more, but once i have a new one, i'll do a test video and upload it.

Standard Lens


Wide Angle Lens


Fisheye Lens

MarkR

vibe666 wrote: »

in case anyone is still interested in the phone based dash cam, i got some of those cheap magnetic phone camera lenses off ebay and tried them on my desire HD and took a couple of shots from the same spot on the dashboard to see what sort of visual range i could get.

unfortunately, my holder broke slightly in the cold weather the other week and i couldn't find any of my spares since we recently moved house, so i've had to order some more, but once i have a new one, i'll do a test video and upload it.


Cool, link?

vibe666

here's the one i got, it's actually a 2 piece set, but the wide angle unscrews into 2 pieces and what's left is the macro lens.

http://www.ebay.ie/itm/260935392598?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2649#ht_10493wt_841

in case anyone is reading this the sellers name is earlydepot but plenty of others sell the same thing. if you do a search for "mobile fisheye" it should get you on the right track.

i'll be using the macro one to get some closeup pics of some of the smaller stuff in my marine aquarium and i wasn't sure if the wide angle or fisheye would be better suited for the car, so i went for the triple pack, but you can buy them individually too if you know you only want one particular lens.

the basic idea is that the lens is magnetically attached to your phone at its base, either by your metal phone case if you have one, or via one of the supplied stick on metal washers that come with the lenses.

they are working well so far, i just need to see if it works as well mounted to the back side of the car holder when it comes.

eqwjewoiujqorj

eqwjewoiujqorj wrote: »

This made the news in Canada

C.D.

A quick Bump for anyone following this thread. I bought a BlackVue DR400G- HD and made a rather long mini-review in this thread.

eqwjewoiujqorj

Techmoan has another carcam review, this time a 50 euro job.

• Starts / Stops with car.
• Looped recording
• Powered by car 12v
• Wide Angle lens
• 720p

In car review starts around 9.20

http://www.techmoan.com/blog/2012/3/18/40-car-cameras-review-1-of-2.html

robbie_998

I do still think its a poxy law that just because it's yourself thats behind that it's automagically your fault.

I mean that for instances like these were someone would forget to put on their handbrake and roll back. Even if it is by actual accident !

I can't use the road hawk in my car even though it is a great peice of kit cos I usually have my phone charging or the gfs phone on charge.

So I'm using my phone mounted on the windscreen recording through an app

Jimdagym

Robbie, you can get cigarette lighter ports to charge multiple things at once. Also, you could get the camera hard wired in.

Nissan doctor

Jimdagym wrote: »

Robbie, you can get cigarette lighter ports to charge multiple things at once. Also, you could get the camera hard wired in.

That's what I have done, I have a 3 port unit mounted in the glovebox running the camera and sat nav with a spare port for phone charging.

robbie_998

Jimdagym wrote: »

Robbie, you can get cigarette lighter ports to charge multiple things at once. Also, you could get the camera hard wired in.

Nissan doctor wrote: »

That's what I have done, I have a 3 port unit mounted in the glovebox running the camera and sat nav with a spare port for phone charging.

i know i could do that but my phone actually works rather well with the windscreen mount and the camera quality of the iphone 4 isint all that bad when you look at it.

so either way i'll use my phone and its more discreet :P

vibe666

the other side effect of using a phone is that you know the audio is going to be half decent, so in the event you get pulled by a garda or have some road rage nut shouting in your window, you'll catch the audio at a respectable volume, even if there is no direct video shot, which could (at least in theory) be handy in a he/she said xyz type situation that ended in court.

mondeo

I'm going to set this up with a phone app aswell. My phone is always in the cradle so its no problem putting it on record everytime I step in the car. I don't want anything hardwired in my car.

Chris_Heilong

But isn't the problems with phones the limited storage space for all that footage especially on a long journey.

Chris_Heilong

Chris_Heilong wrote: »

But isn't the problems with phones the limited storage space for all that footage especially on a long journey.

Not a problem at all, as with most apps you can set a recording limit. Say record for 5 mins, then start new recording. When the max limit is hit, the old 5 minutes videos will automatically deleted, unless you want them preserved.

vibe666

Chris_Heilong wrote: »

But isn't the problems with phones the limited storage space for all that footage especially on a long journey.

i have a 32gb memory card in mine, i'd have trouble filling it without car cam footage.

the other thing is, if nothing happens on your journey, it doesn't save any footage at all, so you don't use any space. mine is set to only save footage automatically if i have a crash (which it detects via an adjustable threshold value on the accelerometer).

vengeance52

Tried the DailyRoads Voyager app for android and I have to say im very impressed.

I didnt have a proper mount yet so tried it setting it in place with blue tack.... (yes MacGyver is my hero) so its angled low down on the dash but you get an idea of quality.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vyc0wL35Ifk

I manually config'd the settings for video recording

Phone : HTC Desire S
Video Res : 1280x720 (HD 720p)
Video Type : MPEG4
Video length (per file) : 180 secs
Sound : Disabled

Another nice feature is you can tap the screen when recording and it saves the current recording into the permanent save folder so wont be overwritten.

Down side, you have to leave the phone screen on when operating so expect a battery drain unless you turn the screen brightness down to the lowest setting.

Ill try another recording with a decent mount between Cavan and Dublin and also check battery usage from A to B.

Mycroft H

vengeance52 wrote: »

Tried the DailyRoads Voyager app for android and I have to say im very impressed.

I didnt have a proper mount yet so tried it setting it in place with blue tack.... (yes MacGyver is my hero) so its angled low down on the dash but you get an idea of quality.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vyc0wL35Ifk

I manually config'd the settings for video recording

Phone : HTC Desire S
Video Res : 1280x720 (HD 720p)
Video Type : MPEG4
Video length (per file) : 180 secs
Sound : Disabled

Another nice feature is you can tap the screen when recording and it saves the current recording into the permanent save folder so wont be overwritten.

Down side, you have to leave the phone screen on when operating so expect a battery drain unless you turn the screen brightness down to the lowest setting.

Ill try another recording with a decent mount between Cavan and Dublin and also check battery usage from A to B.

It will savage battery life - You have GPS active and are recording a 720p video at the same time. No point using it with out a car charger

vengeance52

BX 19 wrote: »

It will savage battery life - You have GPS active and are recording a 720p video at the same time. No point using it with out a car charger

True, but no harm seeing how much it will use, then on the return journey Ill use lesser resolution with WVGA instead of HD720p.

Joe10000

Hypothetical situation here, I break the law on the road and the camera catches it all, guard stops me and spots the camera.

Can the footage be confiscated or even be viewed against my will ?

vibe666

Joe10000 wrote: »

Hypothetical situation here, I break the law on the road and the camera catches it all, guard stops me and spots the camera.

Can the footage be confiscated or even be viewed against my will ?

not sure, would it be classed as you incriminating yourself?

would also be another good reason to use a phone, as it's less obvious it could be recording.

also, another good reason to go for AutoGaurd Blackbox instead of dailyroads voyager, as it has an option of background recording and/or turning off and/or dimming the screen to save battery life, at least on the pro version which is a bargain at €1.50. and lots of other features as well. (and no, i'm not on commission).

Joe10000

Joe10000 wrote: »

Hypothetical situation here, I break the law on the road and the camera catches it all, guard stops me and spots the camera.

Can the footage be confiscated or even be viewed against my will ?

The Gardaí are required to gather all evidence including cameras when a crime is committed I think, so yes I assume they would take it. But that would be a thread for legal discussion

also be another good reason to use a phone, as it's less obvious it could be also, another good reason to go for AutoGaurd Blackbox instead of dailyroads voyager, as it has an option of background recording and/or turning off and/or dimming the screen to save battery life, at least on the pro version which is a bargain at €1.50. and lots of other features as well. (and no, i'm not on commission).

You can do that in Dailyroads too

Just enable background mode then it'll always record, even when the screen is off

vibe666

Deleted User wrote: »

You can do that in Dailyroads too

Just enable background mode then it'll always record, even when the screen is off

fairynuff. i just don't like it though compared to autoguard, not sure why people always seem to go for it.

vibe666

vibe666 wrote: »

Deleted User wrote: »

You can do that in Dailyroads too

Just enable background mode then it'll always record, even when the screen is off

fairynuff. i just don't like it though compared to autoguard, not sure why people always seem to go for it.

Because it's free