Dash cams, what to get and where to get it (Q&A only)

cormie

cormie wrote: »

Do Halfords only fit items purchased there for that price? Seems reasonable enough for fitting anyway.

I think so, yeah. The lads might do it for you on their own time if you approached them, but if they fecked it up Halfords wouldn't stand over it, obviously.

Could be wrong on all that though.

Here's a 5min sample clip from the 402G:

Nothing of note happens in it really, but gives an idea of the quality (which I think is quite good, to be honest).

OldMrBrennan83

This post has been deleted.

martinr5232

micks_address wrote:

I don't think the power to the camera is stable. It sometimes boots and shuts down again.. Often in a loop and then eventually powers up. It also looses power when the auto stop kicks in. The radio doesn't stop though so I can't figure it.

I had the same issue with it switching off and back on i formatted the sd card and it sorted the problem for me.

Kersh

My now unused 2000 Alfa 156 in pearlescent blue.




http://www.adverts.ie/car/alfa-romeo/156/2000-alfa-romeo-156/8482178

- 1.8, Nuvola Blue, 106000 miles.
- Nctd until May 2016, has only done about 200 miles since its nct in Feb 2015.

micks_address

martinr5232 wrote: »

I had the same issue with it switching off and back on i formatted the sd card and it sorted the problem for me.

Formatted from the camera and made little difference

OldMrBrennan83

This post has been deleted.

JackHeuston

Here are some videos from my Transcend DrivePro 220. I'm happy with the result at night, but is there a way to make the day a little bit better? It's pretty good when it's cloudy and grey, but when it's a very bright day and the sky is clear, I get a distinct reflection of my dashboard on the windshield.

Or probably I can't do anything about it at that time of the day and with those conditions, I personally find hard to drive as well with all the glares around!

In the night video, the colours are a bit washed out because I had to quickly edit it with Windows Movie Maker to remove a conversation at the beginning. The raw video from the camera is slightly better.

Day

Night, bonus: Gardai encounter

Dord

Got my polarising filter today. I've installed it but won't get a good daytime run until the weekend. Looked better so far at night though.

CorkMan_

Dord wrote: »

Got my polarising filter today. I've installed it but won't get a good daytime run until the weekend. Looked better so far at night though.

What are these and how do they work? As in do you stick it to the window or lense of the das cam?

MiskyBoyy

CorkMan_ wrote: »

What are these and how do they work? As in do you stick it to the window or lense of the das cam?

It's pretty much sunglasses for your camera. Sticks over the lens of the dashcam.

I'd just advise removing it at night time - they can very seriously affect night time recording ability (they darken the lens and a lot of cameras struggle at night and with darkness as it is, without adding to the challenge).


That said, obviously try it and do a before/after.

micks_address

Patww79 wrote: »

This post has been deleted.

Hi Thanks for the suggestion, operation is not consistent.. this morning camera powered on fine and recorded all the way to work.. yesterday evening it went into a constant on/off... then wait maybe 5 minutes then power on again.. then off then on... no error message...

Trouble is i dont know if its a power to the camera issue.. or camera issue.. Its quite frustrating as the install is actually very neat and footage from the camera is good when it works... (

Dont know what to do next

Cheers,
Mick

Marlow

Genuine E39 M5 Rims for sale.



http://www.adverts.ie/alloys-wheels/genuine-oem-e39-bmw-m5-18-wheels/9888368

/M

tipping

On some sage advice reposting here.
Seeing as I no longer have my MK1 Yaris I'll post the Haynes manual free of charge to anyone here who wants/needs it.

Dord

Deleted User wrote: »

I'd just advise removing it at night time - they can very seriously affect night time recording ability (they darken the lens and a lot of cameras struggle at night and with darkness as it is, without adding to the challenge).


That said, obviously try it and do a before/after.

It's quite a subtle one. I checked reviews and videos beforehand. Clips to come at the weekend.

On another note, I noticed a few others around my area from the videos thread. :pac:

Here's the 402G after being fitted today. Quite a clean and simple job done by Halfords.

It's positioned (I set the position) in such a way that I can't see if from my driving position. i can slightly see the bottom of it, about 1cm of it, peeking from under the mirror, but it's positioned in such a way that I completely forget it's there.









The only downside to this is that the positioning means there's a chunk of the screen taken up by the plastic surround that runs down behind the mirror. It takes up a good portion of the screen, but it's not enough that it actually ruins the view of the road, so I'm happy to leave it where it is.

I also hope that when driving into a very bright sky, the darkness of the pillar might help the camera's metering so it doesn't make the road too dark. I'm possibly being hopelessly optimistic there (though that said, i really do think spot metering should be on dash cams*).


(*spot metering is a thing where you choose what part of the scene the camera adjusts the light for, this way you'd just choose the road, and the camera would ignore the sky conditions and set it's brightness levels solely for the road itself, or whatever 'spot' you chose).

suitseir

Only saw this thread now....good idea.

It has prompted me that we don't need the second car now. It goes only to the local shops.....pity but no use having the other half's car looking at me as well as he is not working any longer!

Must post a pic tomorrow. It is 07 Toyota Corolla and in great nick. NCT June 2017. More details and pic when the sun is up tomorrow!

g0g

S-Max Privacy Shades for windows. Handy if you don't have tinting or don't want to go that route. Selling as changed cars. Looking for € 60. Very easy to fit and you buy them tailored to specific model.

JumpShivers

Does anyone have this dashcam?

http://dashcams.ie/smartcam-blackvue-dr380-hd/

My OH and I are thinking of buying it.. It comes with night vision, and integrated GPS tracking for the videos and G-sensors.

Does anyone know if the night-vision is automatic? Or does it have to be manually activated?

It comes with Power magic Pro, so it's powered from the car battery. Can the wires etc, be concealed?

What about the power unit? Can that be concealed too?

The whole unit looks just like a large pritt stick, so it probably isn't that obvious. Is it ever a problem leaving the dashcam mounted on the screen? Would it not be a magnet for a scumbag to steal it?

Thanks for reading.

AndyBoBandy

JumpShivers wrote: »

Does anyone have this dashcam?

http://dashcams.ie/smartcam-blackvue-dr380-hd/

My OH and I are thinking of buying it.. It comes with night vision, and integrated GPS tracking for the videos and G-sensors.

Does anyone know if the night-vision is automatic? Or does it have to be manually activated?

It comes with Power magic Pro, so it's powered from the car battery. Can the wires etc, be concealed?

What about the power unit? Can that be concealed too?

The whole unit looks just like a large pritt stick, so it probably isn't that obvious. Is it ever a problem leaving the dashcam mounted on the screen? Would it not be a magnet for a scumbag to steal it?

Thanks for reading.

Forget about night vision, it's just a buzzword camera manufacturers use to up the spec of their cameras, when the infrared light comes on, it simply bounces back off the car windscreen and the camera sees nothing, maybe it would work if the camera was mounted outside the car, which obviously is impractical.

Power cables can be neatly run to a cigarette lighter socket, you can also buy a hardware kit which wires directly into your fuse box this hiding all cabling.

I'd say most of he users in here would leave the Canada mounted at all times as it would be a pain in the hoop constantly mounting/dismounting the camera (2 in my case) every time I got in/out of the car.

5500

What's the best to be had out of China at the minute or indeed over here for around the €60 mark?
Edit should mention I'd like some thing without a screen/covert ala mini 0805 style

ION08

Deleted User wrote: »

Here's the 402G after being fitted today. Quite a clean and simple job done by Halfords.

It's positioned (I set the position) in such a way that I can't see if from my driving position. i can slightly see the bottom of it, about 1cm of it, peeking from under the mirror, but it's positioned in such a way that I completely forget it's there.









The only downside to this is that the positioning means there's a chunk of the screen taken up by the plastic surround that runs down behind the mirror. It takes up a good portion of the screen, but it's not enough that it actually ruins the view of the road, so I'm happy to leave it where it is.

I also hope that when driving into a very bright sky, the darkness of the pillar might help the camera's metering so it doesn't make the road too dark. I'm possibly being hopelessly optimistic there (though that said, i really do think spot metering should be on dash cams*).


(*spot metering is a thing where you choose what part of the scene the camera adjusts the light for, this way you'd just choose the road, and the camera would ignore the sky conditions and set it's brightness levels solely for the road itself, or whatever 'spot' you chose).

Did Halford's install it for you?

If so, how much did it cost and does it switch on/off automatically with the ignition??

Thanks

Homer

Link to adverts.ie http://www.adverts.ie/car/volkswagen/touareg/2007-volkswagen-touareg/9931303

the merchant

<All chat in advert, not here>

rolion

@ KKV,
Despite your "happiness" with nice and tidy fitting, you will be shocked to discover that at some point, while driving for miles, to find out that the camera dint turned on / power on automatically because, been hidden under that plastic panel you didn't seen the screen.

Been there myself, knowing the feelings when you try to get the dashcam as a witness on and discover that was powered off !

Enjoy it !

cormie

rolion wrote: »

@ KKV,
Despite your "happiness" with nice and tidy fitting, you will be shocked to discover that at some point, while driving for miles, to find out that the camera dint turned on / power on automatically because, been hidden under that plastic panel you didn't seen the screen.

Been there myself, knowing the feelings when you try to get the dashcam as a witness on and discover that was powered off !

Enjoy it !

How do you reckon that would occur if it was installed properly to automatically turn on with ignition?

rolion

cormie wrote: »

How do you reckon that would occur if it was installed properly to automatically turn on with ignition?

Because... mine is setup to do it "properly to automatically turn on with ignition" and sometime(s) it doesn't do !??
Reasons:
-card not inserted error message - i have to power on /power off
-is power on/off/on quick and it stays off
-just doesn't want to power on...
-many many times card error,not recording properly and i had to format the Class10 card.

Also,few times,tried to read it on the PC and file error.
How do you plan in removing the sd card from the camera itself ?

But,it could be just me ...
Enjoy IT !

cormie

What camera do you have?

I got mine hard wired the other day and I was sure when I first got in, it just went into standby mode instead of turning on, which was a little strange as I don't really recall a standby mode on the camera itself. I tried powering on and off again another few times and it seemed to work fine though.

I'm not sure if there's a slight power loss between turning the key to its first position and turning the ignition on. It's hard for me to keep track though as I've 5 different cameras in 5 different vehicles so I'm getting very confused between them all. The only ones that seem to work perfect are the ITB100HD units I have and if there's ever any issues with these, they omit an audible beep and a quick restart of the camera itself usually sorts it.

AndyBoBandy

the mini series have a start up chime, and a shut down chime, and also error chimes when there is a fault/card error, so I always know if it's working/recording or not. an d mine is hidden completely behind my rear view mirror.