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

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 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

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

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."

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

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 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.

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 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?