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

Vote 4 Pedro

Are we aloud to sell on this thread ?
I have a brand new dash cam i want to sell.

rovoagho

kceire wrote: »

i may have worded it wrong, but what i meant was the hub burned out from daily use after 2 months.
My map lights in the E36 were IGN live and thats what they were connected to using the hub/12V-5V convertor.

Im no sparks btw so you may have more knowledge than me in that area, just be carefull would be my advice, dont want to brick it

Perhaps it was a standard hub that happened to run on 12v? They don't have any conditioning so they can't deal with surges coming from the engine switching on. Purpose built hubs for cars and trucks are silly money.

I went for a simple dual-port job that likely has a very simple filter in it, like a cigar-lighter charger. It's expensive, but just what I need. There's another similar one on eBay, I just preferred the look of this one, and from a quick look at it when it arrived yesterday, the build quality seems ok. Gonna stick it right at the back of the glovebox, in case someone else wants to charge something.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0082CXEI8

I'm no sparks either, but my wiring is definitely better'n my plumbing.

Voodoomelon

Yup, was about €130 including the optional GPS unit. Will post details when it arrives.

rat catcher

Hi, just a word of warning to anyone buying dash cams with gps tracker. I ordered a unit from Aliexpress
http://www.aliexpress.com/snapshot/263229466.html

I ordered the item at the start of the month and today I got a letter from com reg to say that the item does not have CE mark and it does not conform to the rules and reg here.Detention of non-compliant Apparatus by ComReg One page in the letter is for me to sign giving com reg the right to dispose of the item any way they seem fit. :eek: I have to say I got a shock reading the letter. So it looks like thats €90 down the drain!! YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED

Gumbo

Atomic Pineapple wrote: »

Do you know how much the final cost in euros to your door is?

I had to buy one for my boss. Without the GPS unit, €97.10

aristotle25

rat catcher wrote: »

Hi, just a word of warning to anyone buying dash cams with gps tracker. I ordered a unit from Aliexpress
http://www.aliexpress.com/snapshot/263229466.html

I ordered the item at the start of the month and today I got a letter from com reg to say that the item does not have CE mark and it does not conform to the rules and reg here.Detention of non-compliant Apparatus by ComReg One page in the letter is for me to sign giving com reg the right to dispose of the item any way they seem fit. :eek: I have to say I got a shock reading the letter. So it looks like thats €90 down the drain!! YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED

You can just detach the gps part off that gps tracker I believe?

But even then I can believe comreg are getting involved. How did they know to contact you? Customs?

cormie

How is the GPS unit making the difference with comreg out of curiosity?

vibe666

rat catcher wrote: »

Hi, just a word of warning to anyone buying dash cams with gps tracker. I ordered a unit from Aliexpress
http://www.aliexpress.com/snapshot/263229466.html

I ordered the item at the start of the month and today I got a letter from com reg to say that the item does not have CE mark and it does not conform to the rules and reg here.Detention of non-compliant Apparatus by ComReg One page in the letter is for me to sign giving com reg the right to dispose of the item any way they seem fit. :eek: I have to say I got a shock reading the letter. So it looks like thats €90 down the drain!! YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED

tell them to return it to the sender and then get a refund from them once it's returned.

failing that, it technically wasn't delivered to you and you have not signed for it, so i would be requesting a refund from the seller anyway.

personally, i wouldn't be rolling over and letting myself end up out of pocket because a seller sold something to me that was not legally allowed to be sold to someone in the EU. not without a fight anyway.

rat catcher

aristotle25 wrote: »

You can just detach the gps part off that gps tracker I believe?

But even then I can believe comreg are getting involved. How did they know to contact you? Customs?

Yea the item was passed on from customs :mad:

rat catcher

vibe666 wrote: »

tell them to return it to the sender and then get a refund from them once it's returned.

failing that, it technically wasn't delivered to you and you have not signed for it, so i would be requesting a refund from the seller anyway.

personally, i wouldn't be rolling over and letting myself end up out of pocket because a seller sold something to me that was not legally allowed to be sold to someone in the EU. not without a fight anyway.

Thanks, yea I sent a email of to the person dealing with my case, so just have to wait and see

rat catcher

cormie wrote: »

How is the GPS unit making the difference with comreg out of curiosity?

quote from letter:
Customs and Excise officers suspected that the apparatus in question was not compliant with the R&TTE Regulations and for this reason it was transferred to the custody of ComReg.
Officers from ComReg have examined the item, have determined that it does not comply with the requirements of the R&TTE regs and does not bear the `CE` mark

Red Nissan

rat catcher wrote: »

Hi, just a word of warning to anyone buying dash cams with gps tracker. I ordered a unit from Aliexpress
http://www.aliexpress.com/snapshot/263229466.htmlYOU HAVE BEEN WARNED

There is nothing wrong with this unit. Someone just never stamped it with the CE mark. It's not a Comreg concern, ie it's not a radio or transiting device that one might have needed a license for.

It is a customs issue and they can refuse entry on the grounds that it is not stamped CE, the concern is that the appropriate taxes would not have been paid for an export item, which an EC marked device outside Europe is.

Have a look at ChinaVasion.

rat catcher

Red Nissan wrote: »

There is nothing wrong with this unit. Someone just never stamped it with the CE mark. It's not a Comreg concern, ie it's not a radio or transiting device that one might have needed a license for.

It is a customs issue and they can refuse entry on the grounds that it is not stamped CE, the concern is that the appropriate taxes would not have been paid for an export item, which an EC marked device outside Europe is.

Have a look at ChinaVasion.

Well sadly it is ComReg who now have the item and it is their findings that stop me from getting it. Normally any outstanding duty I owe on an item from outside the eu is collected at time of delivery.

vibe666

this is another reason to use parcel motel to get stuff delivered to the north and have them smuggle it into the country for you! :pac:

Gumbo

Voodoomelon wrote: »

I'm ditching my Roadhawk, just ordered one of these moments ago:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZdPHXv8Hzj8

Quality looks fantastic and is nice and compact too. Ordered from the link in the video description.

So you mind me asking how long it took to be delivered?
I ordered on the 19th September, dispatched on the 26th but still no delivery!

Kenny Logins

kceire wrote: »

So you mind me asking how long it took to be delivered?
I ordered on the 19th September, dispatched on the 26th but still no delivery!

If it's any help - I ordered stuff from China last month, dispatched on the 24th and arrived today.

Who was the seller?

Gumbo

Kenny Logins wrote: »

If it's any help - I ordered stuff from China last month, dispatched on the 24th and arrived today.

Who was the seller?

Yeah I ordered some cables for my möbius from the eBay seller and it took 6 weeks too so maybe there's a slow down internationally or something.

I ordered from easy gardener in New Zealand.
http://www.easygardener.co.nz/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=119

dnme

It strikes me, that a requirements list might be a useful thing. If nothing else, it might act as a reference for what's available, whats not, whats desirable etc. Here's what I'd like in a dash cam system. Note I include a rear view cam as a must. The amount of crap that I see in my rear view mirror all the time, aggressive tailgating, drivers behind me on the phone, women doing their makeup etc. I spend a lot of time letting them pass me, I always wish I had a cam looking out there.

• Good image quality, able to read number plates
• Reasonable file sizes, perhaps hardware compression built in
• Front and Rear cameras
• Unattended mode, once Installed I just leave it
• Ability to keep recording after ignition off (for a user definable period of time, whether it uses it's own battery that gets charged once car is running, or uses car battery). Particularly useful to record video and audio while my car is in a car park, or being worked on at the garage.
• GPS Tracking
• Good quality Audio recording
• G-Sensor, ability to protect footage if a g-sensor impact detected. Say for a user defined period prior to and after the trigger.
• Small and discreet, easily fits behind an average rear view mirror. I do not want to be taking it with me when I leave the car.

Red Nissan

kceire wrote: »

I ordered on the 19th September, dispatched on the 26th but still no delivery!

You still have another week to go before worrying. And add in the customs clamp down, it could be yet another week [ie seven weeks instead of six].

I would pop off an email to alert dispatch that the item has not arrived yet, just in case.

Gumbo

Red Nissan wrote: »

You still have another week to go before worrying. And add in the customs clamp down, it could be yet another week [ie seven weeks instead of six].

I would pop off an email to alert dispatch that the item has not arrived yet, just in case.

I have been in touch with them for the last 2 weeks as they said it should only 10 days and 14 days max!
They just said that they have no way of tracking the order, so i told them to sort it within 48 hours or i will initiate a charge back from my credit card company.

aristotle25

kceire wrote: »

So you mind me asking how long it took to be delivered?
I ordered on the 19th September, dispatched on the 26th but still no delivery!

I ordered one of those webcams from a crowd in china on ebay. Ordered on 9th September and due to be delivered today.

It was also stopped in customs for a while and I have to pay 23% vat when the postman delivers it as well as a €6 'An Post' delivery charge.

rovoagho

Anyone know if it's possible to hold/lock a vid on the Mobius? I've seen the functionality in other reviews, but I can't find a reference to it in the Mobius instructions.

Red Nissan

aristotle25 wrote: »

It was also stopped in customs for a while and I have to pay 23% vat when the postman delivers it as well as a €6 'An Post' delivery charge.

Story: Son's package stopped recently and he had to pay, been importing for years. Collecting a package for me he was chatting to the postie who told him this story.

"I'm delivering this for customs, not An Post, hence the An Post charge, all the money you gave me went into an envelope and back to customs, no An Post. I'm out of pocket for the change I gave you, I cannot get it back, anything you give me goes to customs."

So, that clears up some confusion I think.

vibe666

rovoagho wrote: »

Anyone know if it's possible to hold/lock a vid on the Mobius? I've seen the functionality in other reviews, but I can't find a reference to it in the Mobius instructions.

if you press the mode button whilst it's recording it will lock the current file, but you take the risk that it may have already started recording to a new file between the time when whatever happened occurred and when you press the mode button. obviously you can reduce the chances of this happening by using the maximum recording length.

i chose to just use a massive (64gb card) so i don't need to worry about it too much, with several hours of video recorded before it runs out of space and starts overwriting.

Capri

Bearing in mind the improvements/price reductions since DVR's became popular, what are the best value/most recommended ones and from what suppliers.
Alibaba (single/bulk items) / DealeXtreme seem to be the main source for value

http://www.alibaba.com/products/car_dvr/

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Y.html?tracelog=imageview_9708

http://dx.com/c/car-accessories-799/car-alarm-security-709/car-dvrs-735

dantastic

Voodoomelon wrote: »

I'm ditching my Roadhawk, just ordered one of these moments ago:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZdPHXv8Hzj8

Quality looks fantastic and is nice and compact too. Ordered from the link in the video description.

Did you get this one yet? How are you finding it?

BigEejit

It on Amazon.co.uk. Some company has it being fulfilled by amazon which as far as I know means it must come from some amazon fulfillment centre in the UK. 68 sterling (no pound key on my keyboard :P)

Capri

BigEejit wrote: »

It on Amazon.co.uk. Some company has it being fulfilled by amazon which as far as I know means it must come from some amazon fulfillment centre in the UK. 68 sterling (no pound key on my keyboard :P)

Suppose Amazon UK a bit safer than Guangdong Doll company selling DVR 'carcamra' (sic :rolleyes: )

http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_3_3?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=dvr%20car%20camera&sprefix=dvr%2Caps%2C709

Any user recommendations ??

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Display-Camera-forward-recorder-S3000A/dp/B00ACHMVP8/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1384733883&sr=8-3&keywords=dvr+car+camera

aristotle25

dantastic wrote: »

Did you get this one yet? How are you finding it?

I got one of these any have been using it for around 4 weeks now.

Positives:
- small and discreet
- video quality is very good
- easy to use (turns itself on and off automatically so don't have to do anything)
- fairly cheap to buy
- Depending on the model you buy it will have 8GB internal memory (good for about 1 hours worth of recording and also GPS). You can but an additional storage card to plug into it I believe.
- easy enough to just detach from the windscreen holder if you want to take it out of the car

Negatives:
- power cable is around 3m in length so depending on where you are routing it around the car to the power socket that may be too short. May need to buy a loner one.
- It occasionally turns itself off for no apparent reason (maybe once a week) so you have to turn it back on manually.
- There is a blinking LED light on the display that catches your eye while driving so I plan to cover that over with tape or something.
- On at least one occasion it took a few minutes into the drive to start recording video, even though it was on and looked to be working fine.

Overall a good purchase so far but I get the feeling that it is a cheapish piece of kit which isn't going to last for years and years. This is fairly typical of the cheaper stuff that I sometimes buy from China so you get what you pay for.

Gumbo

dantastic wrote: »

Did you get this one yet? How are you finding it?

Do no buy from the company in NZ. They post with standard postal and have no proof it was even sent. I have been fighting with them for a refund for a camera I bought on the 19th September!

The company is called off the net and are endorsed by techmoan on YouTube but I assume he got his ok. Buy from an eBay seller or amazon, easy to claim back if trouble starts.