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

twowheelsonly · 31-12-2012 4:35pm

Deliverance XXV wrote: »

I just ordered a car camera mount/charging cradle for my Samsung Galaxy S3 and plan to use that as a dashcam/charging station/GPS. Got it from eBay for less than €5.
There are plenty of free/paid dashcam apps where you can select a multitude of options before recording. Plenty of videos on Youtube showing some good quality footage.

Anyone tried this yet?

I use the Galaxy S2 and the 'DailyRoadsVoyager' app.
Really good.

The video quality is fine and it records in 1 minute segments into temp files. I think that mine records about 2 hrs before it starts overwriting itself. Saving files in a separate folder is simple - just a tap on the screen. In the event of an impact/sudden stop or bump it will automatically save the clip.

App and samples here: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.dailyroads.v&hl=en

Tomebagel · 31-12-2012 4:36pm

interested in getting one myself,

how easy is it to upload what you have recorded onto your computer,

how do you edit what you have recorded i.e so you dont have to watch 25mins of recordings to see 20seconds of a driving incident?

what im lookin for is one that can save footage easily so its not gonna get rewritten over and lost,and god forbid ever i have a crash it will be easy to save the footage there and then in the car and i dont have to worry about it loopin over itself after the memory is fully and losing the footage etc...

Lawless2k12 · 31-12-2012 4:45pm

Tomebagel wrote: »

interested in getting one myself,

how easy is it to upload what you have recorded onto your computer,

how do you edit what you have recorded i.e so you dont have to watch 25mins of recordings to see 20seconds of a driving incident?

what im lookin for is one that can save footage easily so its not gonna get rewritten over and lost,and god forbid ever i have a crash it will be easy to save the footage there and then in the car and i dont have to worry about it loopin over itself after the memory is fully and losing the footage etc...

It's easy to upload... just takes ages! Took me 45 mins to import onto computer and 250 mins to upload to youtube

But only 45 mins to import!

It can do 2 mins loops as well but I just set it to 5 for the craic...

I tried to cut it to 30 seconds but for some reason my Realplayer wouldn't allow me

So the only way for me is by trimming it on youtube

Mine can take about 4 hours on its current setting. If I need to save something I would have to import onto my computer... not ideal but I haven't figured out how to save on the cam itself... to lazy to find out tbh

joujoujou · 01-01-2013 1:50am

randy hickey wrote: »

PM sent!

Replied.

Thanks!

Sully · 01-01-2013 3:21am

Looking forward to mine. I assume there are more expensive cams that record your speed and the speed of the car in front?

Sully · 04-01-2013 7:09pm

Camera arrived but the mount is pretty tall and chunky so the camera is a bit in your face for the driver! How have people installed them?

Lawless2k12 · 04-01-2013 7:25pm

Sully wrote: »

Camera arrived but the mount is pretty tall and chunky so the camera is a bit in your face for the driver! How have people installed them?

I stuck mine in the top left corner. Taped the wire down the frame of the windscreen and over the glove compartment :P

yllw.ldbttr · 04-01-2013 8:18pm

Sully wrote: »

Camera arrived but the mount is pretty tall and chunky so the camera is a bit in your face for the driver! How have people installed them?

Mine fitted in behind the mirror, just about.

Sully · 04-01-2013 9:05pm

yllw.ldbttr wrote: »

Mine fitted in behind the mirror, just about.

Iv an etag there so no use. The camera just seems to hang down a fair bit, if the holder was smaller it would be ideal!

joujoujou · 19-01-2013 7:11pm

Once again, very big thanks for randy hickey for hints and recommendations, dashcam purchased and tested.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CdpOKMA-xrk
Fixed temporarily - don't like self adhesive bracket supplied, so it will be suction cup mount fixed instead. Soon.

Sully · 19-01-2013 7:40pm

Not that keen on my dashcam. Seems to turn off randomly and turn on randomly when the car starts. I turned off the motion detect but it wasn't very good - driving on back roads and it would stop recording. Battery lasts around a half an hour. Suction cup is chunky.

joujoujou · 19-01-2013 8:01pm

Can you return it?

Sully · 19-01-2013 8:03pm

joujoujou wrote: »

Can you return it?

They said the battery is supposed to last that long. I'm sure ill figure out the rest in due time - not sure why it auto-starts and the manual is crap but I just turn it on manually when driving and find its okay.

randy hickey · 19-01-2013 10:47pm

joujoujou wrote: »

Once again, very big thanks for randy hickey for hints and recommendations, dashcam purchased and tested.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CdpOKMA-xrk
Fixed temporarily - don't like self adhesive bracket supplied, so it will be suction cup mount fixed instead. Soon.

Nie ma za co, Jan!

Packet · 29-01-2013 8:02pm

I ordered a SmartCam2 from micksgarage.com on Saturday but they seem to have delivered a SmartCam which I believe only does 720p.

The order acknowledgement email described it as "SmartCam2 HD In-Car DVR Camera System. 1080p Full High Definition recording with Night Vision & high quality sound."

Lurching · 08-04-2013 12:42am

Any updates on this?
The link from Randy Hickey above is no longer available. Any idea what model that was?

Thanks.

cormie · 08-04-2013 12:46am

Randy and I both have the iTronics ITB100HD. I think the seller on Ebay had to stop selling them as they were below MSRP or something like that. Unfortunately the price of them seems to have shot up considerably since I bought mine but you may find a good price if you look hard. At the time of purchase, they were the best of the best. I don't know if anything better has come out since but I did see this one which seems to be pretty good quality for the price: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=P-dfvPX0dOs

pa990 · 08-04-2013 1:19am

do any have mac friendly sw?

randy hickey · 08-04-2013 1:42pm

Lurching wrote: »

Any updates on this?
The link from Randy Hickey above is no longer available. Any idea what model that was?

Thanks.

Here you go;

http://www.ebay.ie/sch/i.html?_trksid=p3907.m570.l1313&_nkw=itronics+itb-100+hd&_sacat=0&_from=R40

The reason the prices for these units has crept up is because Itronics have apparently clamped down on unauthorised sellers on ebay.

Amprodude · 09-04-2013 2:14am

What purpose does GPS serve on this gadget?

CJhaughey · 09-04-2013 10:54am

Amprodude wrote: »

What purpose does GPS serve on this gadget?

Speed, direction.
You can see if you were rolling back or if someone crashed into the back of you.

Anan1 · 09-04-2013 11:00am

CJhaughey wrote: »

Speed, direction.
You can see if you were rolling back or if someone crashed into the back of you.

I doubt that GPS is accurate enough for that.

Amprodude · 09-04-2013 11:12am

I was thinking a smartphone would almost do the same function as this without the gps? I have another spare smartphone with 32gb sd card and video recording. Might serve me as my dashcam, il see, need to get a windscreen holder.

ironclaw · 09-04-2013 11:30am

Amprodude wrote: »

I was thinking a smartphone would almost do the same function as this without the gps? I have another spare smartphone with 32gb sd card and video recording. Might serve me as my dashcam, il see, need to get a windscreen holder.

Far better to get a stand alone model to be honest. Quality will be better.

My recommendation is the BlackVue models. Well worth the investment.

Amprodude · 09-04-2013 12:47pm

ironclaw wrote: »

Far better to get a stand alone model to be honest. Quality will be better.

My recommendation is the BlackVue models. Well worth the investment.

The only downside to these dash cameras is they only capture whats in front of you. They dont get any other angles, i know it isnt possible but still. What happens if someone crashes into your back door?

Do people manually record with these every time they drive behind the wheel or do they auto record with motion?

ironclaw · 09-04-2013 12:49pm

Amprodude wrote: »

The only downside to these dash cameras is they only capture whats in front of you. They dont get any other angles, i know it isnt possible but still. What happens if someone crashes into your back door?

Do people manually record with these every time they drive behind the wheel or do they auto record with motion?

You could install two, one front and rear facing. Bit overkill but not impossible. They auto record and loop so you don't have to delete manually.

04-05-2013 6:08pm

Anyone know where I would get a dash cam in Dublin tomorrow?

I've racked my brain for ages trying to come up with a birthday pressie for my Dad, today I bought him a pellet gun, and no sooner had I gotten home from the shops did I think of a dash cam. I think he'd love one, and more importantly - use it!

His birthday is Monday though so short on time! Halfords don't seem to do them