Advice regarding getting a dashcam

Inforapenny

Hi folks

Looking into a dashcam for a family member, who wants one more for peace of mind then anything. Think they just want one for front windscreen and not back window.

Any advice on a relatively cheap but solid brand and are they easy enough to fit or is it worth paying for an expert to fit?

All advice is much appreciated as I haven’t a clue.

Thank you.

JVince

Stick with nextbase

322gw probably sufficient for what you want.

€125 or thereabouts.

It's one of these things you forget you have after a while, but handy if ever needed.

I have mine left of the rearview mirror so it doesn't distract me.

DaveyDave

Make sure they get a quality SD card from SanDisk or Samsung, these things are constantly turning on and off or overwriting themselves and saving data, these constant cycles will wear the SD card over time so you want one that is reliable. 32GB capacity should do the job.

I'd strongly advise they invest a little bit of money into a decent NextBase, anything 3xx and up. You definitely don't want to cheap out on a dash cam.

They're easy to fit and worth spending a few minutes tucking the cable around the rubber door seal and you can get it nice and tidy. Make sure around 1/3 of the cameras view is of the dash so the centre of the image is on the road. People often have them pointed up too high and the camera adjusts for the sky mako the road too dark to see, no use if you need footage! Something like below:

Inforapenny

Thanks both, agree on them spending that bit extra to get something solid and reliable.

Went down a bit of a rabbit hole after posting this last night, so a couple more questions:

1. Is it worth them getting a rear cam as well or would generally a front cam be enough? Their reason for wanting one is due to cover themselves in the case of some accident due to dangerous driving by another road user.
2. Should a dashcam have parking mode? Which I presume records when the car is parked in case someone crashes into them? Or does it drain the battery on the car?
3. They are not anyway tech savvy and not am I, so would have to pay for installation in Dublin or the surrounding counties (Kildare/Meath) so might seek out a place that sell and install dashcams.
   

Thank you.

db

Halfords do a fitting service for dash cams which would probably be cheaper than a specialist shop.

AyeGer

Are they admissible in court?

893bet

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122743451#Comment_122743451

Why wouldnt they be?

vinniem

Yes they are, and with insurance claims

65535

If a collision occours or another scenario that you want to capture you will have to push a button on the camera to keep that few minutes of footage.

If you don't then it could get overwritten soon.

Happened to me unfortunately - Insurance companies only take dash cam footage into account now by the looks of it.

Edit: Probably best to just take out the SD card after an incident to keep the footage

phill106

I have the nextbase 522gw which im happy with. has the option to add on a rear cam which you can buy at the same time, or after.

Regarding the sd cards, note that nextbase only recommend their own nextbase sd cards, even if the sandisk ones would meet the same specifications.

any issues, they would immediately point to the card!

Sono

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122743451#Comment_122743451

Yes they are

freddieot

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122743523#Comment_122743523

I have 2 small but good Garmin Minis in the car. Pushing a button saves any incident but it takes days before it starts over writing anyway so you can also just download the clip when you get back to the house if you forget.

granturismo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122743451#Comment_122743451

Have you ever heard Gardai make an appeal for drivers with dashcams to contact them?

extra-ordinary_

There's many other good dashcams available that are not manufactured by nextbase and do not require an "nextbase sdcard".

horse7

Lidl 20€ has been working for over 5years.

boardsdotie44

Yeah Temu one for 15 euro, installed myself is working fine for a year now…

The Continental Op

In addition to the advice above (I have a Nextbase 322GW) I'd get the largest SD card the dashcam will take. I have a 128GB and if necessary I can go back months and also hold a large number of saved/protected segments without worrying about over writing anything.

I have a sandisc card and its proved fine for the last 4 years in the camera and I've only formatted it once in that time.

Personally I wouldn't let Halfords fit an indicator bulb let alone a dashcam.

Again a maybe a personal view point but I find the Nextbase app next to useless and can't connect my current phone to it, previous phone connected but still unimpressed with the app. However I prefer just to take the SD card out and view it on a desktop computer or laptop.

Edit> Just checked Halfords and they are charging €65, that seems far to much for Laurel and Hardy to fit a dash cam. But Halfords are as good as anywhere on price to buy - Amazon is slightly cheaper and cheaper on the fitting kit.

If the OP can say what car he has I'm sure someone here can advise on fitting. I've fitted one in old Polos and an old Focus.

AyeGer

Glad to hear they are admissible in court. Provided video clarity is good. More people should get them as some of the dangerous driving on our roads is crazy.

Even to protect yourself from false claims or accusations if involved in an accident.

65535

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122743523#Comment_122743523

A young driver in front of me indicated right at a junction (there was a parked car at the left) - the driver was on the line to turn right.

I 'undertook' their car which is common practice when the other driver is turning right.

The driver then changed their mind and drove straight on instead scraping the right rear of my car.

So, I stopped and got out and inspected the damage, other driver decided to turn off their indicator and close up their window - and at the time other cars behind this driver were hooting as well to go.

So there was no point in me waiting at the junction so I moved the car up to the next junction where there was a parking place.

The other car stopped behind me but before I could get out they walked away into a shop.

I did not want to follow or create any scene at that time.

I did however press the button on the dashcam.

However it turned out that the footage that I had saved was only the footage from where the other driver went into the shop and not the actual minor collision itself.

So I'd recommend if at all possible firstly finding out the maximum size of an SD card that your camera can hold and stick to that recommendation and then if in a collision to turn off the camera when safe to do so and remove the SD card altogether.

extra-ordinary_

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122744215#Comment_122744215

Is your SD card tiny and/or is your camera recording in 4k?

HazeDoll

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122744215#Comment_122744215

Something wrong there. Maybe have a look at your settings.

I have Xiao Yi, it was about €40 maybe 10 years ago. It records hours and hours of driving, not sure how much but there are drives from weeks ago on it. It also autosaves when it senses impact, and these files go into the permanent memory and have to be manually deleted.

65535

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122746252#Comment_122746252

No, nothing wrong - the 'impact' was slight - so slight that I barely noticed it until I looked at it.

My point is that if you press the 'store' button you could be storing new footage from after a collision and not the collision itself - safest way is to remove the SD card and copy what is on it.

65535

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122746134#Comment_122746134

I'm not sure now - I've moved to a different car and will have to install the camera again - a bit of a pain - I might get Halfords to install - that's where I bought it originally.

HazeDoll

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122746261#Comment_122746261

But surely most dashcams are like mine and have hours, I mean literally hours, of driving saved anyway. No need to push any buttons to save it. Just hours of boring uneventful driving with no impacts or drama. It saves the 'events' in a particular folder where they won't be overwritten, but the overwriting doesn't happen for ages. Some equipment was taken from a yard on my road and a man called into my house to ask me if I had seen anything. I was able to go back on my dashcam to the day he thought the stuff was taken and it was just over a fortnight earlier.

I sometimes worry about dying suddenly and somebody goes through my dashcam and finds all the little snippets of me talking to myself or trying to make up lyrics to songs I have stuck in my head.

Summer2020

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058376890/advice-regarding-getting-a-dashcam

Regarding fitting , I wouldn’t let Halfords do it. Someone who specialises in dashcams would be best. ICE in Ranelagh are one.

Regarding front / rear and parking mode. If you’re interested I’m selling a thinkware F800 Pro system (front / rear and parking mode) on adverts. Excellent brand. Only reason I’m selling is I bought a Tesla and it has built in. Mine was fitted by ICE in ranelagh who could refit it to any other car

kirving

I've installed Nextbases to friends cars - and I wouldn't rate them very highly at all.

The kit is easy for sure, but the parking modes are awful, and the rear window camera mount is shockingly bad.

I'd recommend Viofo as a better value alternative. Slightly harder to install, but that's no trouble if you're going to an installer anyway.

4K is well worth the money in terms or reading reg plates, and once you get it, you then need to be careful about HDR settings (this makes shadows brighte and reduces glare, but can cause blurring).

spurious

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122743691#Comment_122743691

I saw them advertised. What is the picture quality like on them?

vinniem

I've a Xiomi 70Mai front and back camera. It came with car and must say it's very good app better than Nextbase, easier to connect etc. Would recommend

boardsdotie44

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122790121#Comment_122790121

Its actually quite good, I took a look at footage when I first got it and it was good.. I havent had to look at footage since..

You cant go wrong for 15, they are so easy to install as well..

The Continental Op

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122797293#Comment_122797293

The sort of thing people want to know is can you read the number plates on it and how good is it at night?

boardsdotie44

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122797705#Comment_122797705

yes