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

db330

brian ireland wrote: »

Just came across this, Not a bad price €50 delivered

I got that one last week for £30 (shipped from uk so not a long wait) of the big auction site

db330

brian ireland wrote: »

Just came across this, Not a bad price €50 delivered

I got that one last week for £30 (shipped from uk so not a long wait) of the big auction site

its nice as it starts and stops with the ignition, the quality is pretty good during the day but not to great at night

Alanstrainor

I have a Drift HD170 on the way, I didn't get it as a dashcam, well at least that wont be it's primary purpose in life, but I got a cheap mount for it on ebay so i'll see how it looks in the car. Only trouble is that it doesn't loop the clips, so when you run out of space you have to go back and delete the old ones. May not be the handiest of yokes! A 16GB card should give plenty of video time though.

TigerTim

I bought this one about 5 weeks ago - bit of a waste of money. When it works it's great but if I leave it in the car overnight, I need to pop the battery out twice or three times before it kicks into life. Once it's going the quality isn't half bad. Same story when I come out of work in the evening. Sometimes it starts & freezes after 10 or 12 seconds. Pop the battery a few times & it's back working. Thinking of wiring a switch to disconnect the battery without having to remove from windscreen. Disconnecting power from cigar lighter doesn't reset the camera. I guess you get what you pay for.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=320798731997&ssPageName=ADME:B:EOIBSA:GB:1123

T.

Nissan doctor

TigerTim wrote: »

I bought this one about 5 weeks ago - bit of a waste of money. When it works it's great but if I leave it in the car overnight, I need to pop the battery out twice or three times before it kicks into life. Once it's going the quality isn't half bad. Same story when I come out of work in the evening. Sometimes it starts & freezes after 10 or 12 seconds. Pop the battery a few times & it's back working. Thinking of wiring a switch to disconnect the battery without having to remove from windscreen. Disconnecting power from cigar lighter doesn't reset the camera. I guess you get what you pay for.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=320798731997&ssPageName=ADME:B:EOIBSA:GB:1123

T.

That's exactly the one I have, same box and all. I haven't had a bother.

Have you been back onto the seller?

neilthefunkeone

Bit of a funny one with my new cam.. I was at the lights heading into work this morning with a Garda car next to me.. The camera is just to the left of the rear-view mirror and sticks out a bit... Lights on and told to follow them..

Straight off asking to see the camera and what it was.. went through every menu in it(had to show him).. Doing the usual 'Are you known to us' bit..
He must have thought it was a radar detector of sorts.. I left it recording when i handed it to him but wit all the fiddling with it he stopped it pretty quickly! Would have been funny!:D

Anan1

NewApproach wrote: »

Lads is it possible to get an integrated version on these? As in one where there is a small camera attached to the back of the rearview mirror and thats all you see? Sp that it turns on and off with the engine?

+1, i'd buy one now if it was fully integrated, shot in HD on a long loop, and didn't have GPS or speed measurement.

vibe666

if you have an android or iphone, there are apps you can get that will use your phone as a dash cam and combine the feed with audio, GPS and accelerometer info as well and record in whatever the highest video quality your phone will record in.

the best bit being that you already have the hardware, so you just need to buy the software which is a couple of quid, or you can usually get a trial or limited functionality version for free.

with my htc desire hd that means 720p recording with sound, and i can set it to only buffer the video and not save it unless the accelerometer detects i have an accident, or i press the manual save button which will save the previous 20 minutes of video and the next 5 minutes after the record button was pressed.

my only other purchase was a windscreen mount for my phone with a hole for the camera (which I guess you could even drill out yourself in a pinch) for about 3-4 quid off ebay.

so assuming you already have the phone, you can have a dash cam with up to HD recording (depending on the phone) for less than a tenner.

the one i use on android is called AutoGuard Blackbox if anyone is interested.

neilthefunkeone wrote: »

Straight off asking to see the camera and what it was.. went through every menu in it(had to show him).. Doing the usual 'Are you known to us' bit..

and that's the other thing, you can still turn off the screen with mine and even if you don't it looks like a phone or GPS (because it is). you can have the screen off or on and just have it recording in the background and leave the main phone desktop showing with a tiny icon up in the notification area.

listermint

vibe666 wrote: »

if you have an android or iphone, there are apps you can get that will use your phone as a dash cam and combine the feed with audio, GPS and accelerometer info as well and record in whatever the highest video quality your phone will record in.

the best bit being that you already have the hardware, so you just need to buy the software which is a couple of quid, or you can usually get a trial or limited functionality version for free.

with my htc desire hd that means 720p recording with sound, and i can set it to only buffer the video and not save it unless the accelerometer detects i have an accident, or i press the manual save button which will save the previous 20 minutes of video and the next 5 minutes after the record button was pressed.

my only other purchase was a windscreen mount for my phone with a hole for the camera (which I guess you could even drill out yourself in a pinch) for about 3-4 quid off ebay.

so assuming you already have the phone, you can have a dash cam with up to HD recording (depending on the phone) for less than a tenner.

the one i use on android is called AutoGuard Blackbox if anyone is interested.

and that's the other thing, you can still turn off the screen with mine and even if you don't it looks like a phone or GPS (because it is). you can have the screen off or on and just have it recording in the background and leave the main phone desktop showing with a tiny icon up in the notification area.

downside, is having to set all the crap up everytime i get in to the vehicle.

Much prefer to get in, turn the ignition on and away.


This will be my end result as soon as my project his finished. (integrated)

smash

listermint wrote: »

yeah, they are sh**e and can be bought for less than half that price...

dont waste your time.

It's only €17.99... sample vid her looks ok for something so small http://www.channelgoods.com/products/4gb-mini-dv-dvr-sports-video-camera

vibe666

listermint wrote: »

downside, is having to set all the crap up everytime i get in to the vehicle.

Much prefer to get in, turn the ignition on and away.

the windscreen mount stays in the car, all i do is put the phone into it and connect the charger and the app starts automatically and one tap on the screen starts the recording/buffering.

since most of the time i'd be putting my phone into the windscreen mount and charging it anyway, the only extra work is a single tap on the screen.

since i drive a diesel, mounting the phone and plugging in the charger both get done in the few seconds between turning on the ignition initially and actually starting the car.

if i had a permanently mounted dash cam, i'd be expecting to have my car broken into and getting it stolen pretty quickly being as it would be stuck on the windscreen/dash for all to see 24/7.

unless of course you're talking about a properly integrated solution with a car PC or something like that with everything discreetly hidden away. i do eventually plan on doing that, but its one of many things on a very long finger at the moment. i'm rapidly finding that parenthood tends to suck away all your money and free time. although it's still worth it.

rolion

A phone is a phone...and ... a camera is a camera !!
What if...you are in a phone call and at the same time,same place,same moment something happens !??

What's the point of having the phone doing phone and camera driving black-box,just to save 50 quid !??

Forget it...

s_carnage

rolion wrote: »

A phone is a phone...and ... a camera is a camera !!
What if...you are in a phone call and at the same time,same place,same moment something happens !??

What's the point of having the phone doing phone and camera driving black-box,just to save 50 quid !??

Forget it...

But it can do both. I'm using an app that just runs in the background while the phone still plays podcasts through bluetooth and also can make or receive calls

vibe666

rolion wrote: »

A phone is a phone...and ... a camera is a camera !!
What if...you are in a phone call and at the same time,same place,same moment something happens !??

What's the point of having the phone doing phone and camera driving black-box,just to save 50 quid !??

Forget it...

for the same reason people have cameras in their phones.

what's the point in spending 50 quid on something you can already do for practically nothing just as well (and in a lot of cases considerably better) with something you already have?

that's assuming you could even find one for 50 quid with a built in GPS that includes all that extra speed and positioning data with the recording in HD.

i've been using mine for over a year now and it works fine running in the background and i can still use my phone as a phone to make and receive calls and as GPS for navigation at the same time and to wirelessly play music over BT via my car stereo.

deadlast

What app are you using?

rolion

If i decide to spend 50 quid on a dedicated car black-box ,it better do the job when i needed ! If i have to let the phone do the all-in-one,then if something crashes or not working or not been charged,then i have to accept the compromise ,which,according to your say,works fine for you but will not for me ! I've got a box that does all the bells & whistles,still waiting to arrive from the ... customs !

I might have too much expectation from the dash black box ,that 'forces' me to accept no compromises ! I could be wrong ,at the same time !

I had same analogy to GPS tracking on the phone ! Tried a tracking solution on the smart phone,worked fine in the car,then out in building lost signal,then out in car again,no acquired gps signal... Didn't worked in the end so i got a dedicated box that does only GPS tracking on the car !

Rgds

cormie

There's no way I'd depend on a phone app myself either, I'm sure it's great, but it's the effort, even that of simply turning on an app, that would eventually become too much of an every day task. I remember an app that warned of certain incidents on the road, but it required a community input to get it to be any use, the likelihood of coming across one of these such incidents was far greater than that of a black box actually recording something important. I'd say if the other app had a standalone device, such as a black box cam, where it was constantly "on and working" as soon as the key turned, and all you had to do was push a button on the off chance of coming across such an incident, that it'd work far better in terms of community. The novelty of these things eventually wears off. As somebody who does a fair share of driving, it's the same way I'd never rely on my phone GPS and always use a stand alone GPS, even for things like putting an address into the GPS while speaking to somebody over the phone, or not missing a turn etc.

Davy

Good few options to choose from here, some similar to ones being sold elsewhere

http://www.dealextreme.com/c/car-dvr-cameras-1505

rolion

What exactly are we looking OR need it in a proper dash cam to work as a car black-box !??

cormie

Well for me the main things are:

Continuous recording - continuously loops the recording over older footage.
Emergency footage - instantly saves important footage such as a shock to the car (detected by G sensor), or when emergency button manually pressed, where it saves the previous and following footage before the incident to a file that will not be recorded over in the continuous loops process.
G Sensor - Detects motion in the camera and allows the emergency saves
GPS - Shows where you are
Speed - Shows your speed (I'm not sure if this is possible with all models equipped with GPS ability?)
12v connection - Will fit right into your car cigarette adaptor or can of course be hard-wired
Discreet - Won't stick out to would be thieves

These to me are the most important features and I wouldn't buy anything without any of the above.

The DRS1100/Roadhawk meets all the above, but the quality could be a lot better.

The link Davy provided above shows a lot of products, some of the footage looks very good quality wise but I'm not sure if any of them have all of the above features?

vibe666

cormie wrote: »

There's no way I'd depend on a phone app myself either, I'm sure it's great, but it's the effort, even that of simply turning on an app, that would eventually become too much of an every day task.

if you are going to buy any of the standalone dash cams people have suggested here, there's no way you'll be able to leave it on the dash when the car is parked without it getting nicked (i.e. the same as a gps unit) so you'll have to keep it in the glove box or take it with you, which means the hassle of clipping it back into its mount and connecting the power every time you get into the car.

since you'll most likely already have a dash or windscreen mount and charger for your phone for hands free usage whilst driving you'll be putting that in anyway, it's no extra hassle to put your phone into a windscreen mount with a hole for the camera and plug in the charger, at which point the blackbox app can be set to detect this and start recording automatically (i.e. considerably less hassle than mounting a dash cam AND phone).

add to that the list cormie posted of 'essential' features which are ALL more than adequately covered (without exception or compromise) using the right blackbox phone app, inc. (depending on your phone) high quality recording up to 1080p and all the right boxes are ticked without wasting 50 to 100 quid or more on another unnecessary gadget stuck to your windscreen.

cormie

I've had 4 DSR1100 units in 4 vehicles for the past 3 years or so and no problems so far, touch wood. Because of the way the DRS1100 is shaped, it goes at the top of the windscreen, slightly angled pointing down. I have mine right beside the rear view mirror so they don't stand out at all and would be quite difficult to notice.

It doesn't interfere with my view on the windscreen either in the position its in.

For myself personally, I feel a standalone unit is far better, even considering the fact I'm not the only driver and can't be relying on anyone who drives the vehicles to be plugging them in each time, and definitely not using an app on a phone

If you're not hopping in and out of different vehicles the whole time and don't drive too often then the phone apps would be a great and probably much better alternative to what's available out there. If you want to guarantee you'll always have the camera rolling though, I'd go with a standalone unit. Even for short trips of 5 minutes, if the novelty wears off, it's unlikely you'll bother hooking your phone up if you're in a hurry somewhere after seeing how rare it is to actually capture anything of importance, but it'd be just luck to not have it connected at this time. With a standalone, discreet unit, this isn't an issue

A phone app is definitely a great alternative though

vibe666

the app i use didn't initially auto-record when i got it, but the app developer is very active and is adding features regularly based on user feedback and the auto-record is one of the many things that have been added in the year or so i've been using it.

i can see your point about the permanently fixed in unit tho, altho i do drive my motor 98% of the time, my wife sometimes uses it and doesn't have the same phone so can't use the windscreen mount.

there are occasionally times i don't put my phone in the mount, but it's a htc desire hd and the battery life isn't exactly stellar on them so most of the time it gets mounted and plugged in out of necessity if its more than a 5 minute journey. like you say tho, murphy's law will most likely see to it being one of those 5 min journeys that it's not in place when i actually need it.

floatwinner

Is there actually anyone in Ireland that professionally fits dashcams? Thinking of buying a Roadhawk so I am looking for a neat installation hard wired so works on ignition...

cormie

There's a boards user, thxireland, who's done work for me before with reversing cams and general auto electrics, he's good. I PM'd him just the other day as I'm having a problem with a head unit and I'm also looking to get the cams hardwired in, possibly so they are recording ALL the time, if battery allows it. Haven't heard back from him yet though and the numbers I have for him don't work, he's always getting new phones as he's gadget crazy!

vibe666

could be a good man to know if i ever get my car pc project off the ground.

cormie

See you're in D15 vibe, he was in Blanchardstown the last time I talked to him so could be very handy contact for yourself, will hopefully hear from him soon anyway

cormie

just found him on facebook :P watch this space

listermint

smash wrote: »

It's only €17.99... sample vid her looks ok for something so small http://www.channelgoods.com/products/4gb-mini-dv-dvr-sports-video-camera

I thought i stated they were 'sh**e' ?

I have one, if you really want to throw away money then buy one CHEAPER on ebay.

18 bills is too much for this rubbish.

roosterman71

Where can ya buy the Roadhawk?