Dash Cams General Information

[gmarsh]

In the process of buying my first dash cam. Having read the technical specification of various different makes, none seem to mention whether these cameras ONLY record in a loop, typically 2/3/5 minutes, or whether they record continuously (one mentions the term 'seamless'). I would want the camera I buy to be able to record continuously. With so many to choose from (I've read lots of reviews) can anyone recommend one under £100.

[andym1603]

Have a Roadhawk DC1 here. It records in two minute loops. Bit more than £100 but works without any other problems.

[rich888]

gmarsh said:

In the process of buying my first dash cam. Having read the technical specification of various different makes, none seem to mention whether these cameras ONLY record in a loop, typically 2/3/5 minutes, or whether they record continuously (one mentions the term 'seamless'). I would want the camera I buy to be able to record continuously. With so many to choose from (I've read lots of reviews) can anyone recommend one under £100.

Nearly all dash cams loop the footage, that means that they fill up the memory card then loop round and start over-writing the oldest footage. The files are stored in 1 min, 3 min or 5 min segments which you can join together at a later date if necessary. Depending upon which unit you end up buying may or may not offer other segment lengths. I believe that a 32GB card will record for 320 minutes at 1080p before looping round and over-writing the older stuff. Ought to mention that 32GB is the max size micro SD card you can currently fit into the vast majority of dash cams, though this looks like it is going to change in the next generation of cameras aimed at commercial vehicles rather than catching those occasional incidents of stupidity or an accident.

I recently purchased an E-Prance 0801 dash cam for £45 which has to be one of the cheapest and best quality dash cams I've ever come across. It's matt black in colour, is very compact so can hide out of the way in front of the rearview mirror, is easy to set up (once you have watched the techmoan video!), and the 1080P video quality in the daytime is excellent. There is also a more expensive 0803 model which offers better low-light performance.

Both models have a small LCD screen on the back so that you can see where it they are pointed unlike some of the more expensive units that go for wifi to iPhone (and take forever to connect), and you know what, this screen makes light work of seeing what you are doing.

Take a look at the Youtube video review by Techmoan at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8LWOq62cY6U for the Mini 0803 which is the improved version of the 0801 (he also did a review for the 0801), both units can either be plugged into the cigarette lighter for operation when the engine is running, or hard-wired in so on all the time (I recommend you select motion detect so it only records movement). Any competent auto electrician could wire one of these in.

It's actually well worthwhile watching the Techmoan video because he shows you how to set everything up which is very handy because the instruction manual is Engrish!!!

For the 0801 only you can fit a small 8GB Mini SD card, though I would recommend a class 4 32 GB micro SD card which works fine. A one minute clip is approximately 100MB. I would recommend using a class 10 micro SD card in the 0803 especially if you go for the GPS version.

If anything noteworthy happens, the files are written as .MOV files, so easily copied onto your PC by ejecting the micro SD card and inserting into your PC.

For info I purchased the cheaper Mini 0801 dash cam from Amazon which I am thoroughly pleased with which cost me just under £45 which included a 16GB card and delivery, and it arrived swiftly and worked with the minimum of fuss, I later purchased a class 4 Kingston 32GB micro SD card. Link is: http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00IKEVSOU

If you would prefer to buy from ebay then I have it on good authority that this ebay seller offers excellent service and backup of the 0801 and 0803 dash cams. They are based in Leicestershire so rather easier to deal with than flying over to China. They also sell all the add-on bits like a 2nd base unit for your other car if you have one, and the smart hard wire kit so that it's powered up all the time. Just make sure you set the dash cam to 'motion detect' if you hardwire it so that it only records motion!

Link is: http://stores.ebay.co.uk/COMBI-LTD/Car-Camera-/_i....

Ought to mention I have in the past purchased some far more expensive dash-cams costing substantially more money and the 0801 is far superior and far easier to use.

I can send you over a link to download a few one minute clips I took - I can't email them because at approx 100MB each they are way too big.

Hope this helps you out--- BTW, I'm not connected nor earning any commission from this, I just happen to think it's a damn good dash camera. Would have saved me a lot of money had I known about it sooner!

[gmarsh]

Thanks rich888 for all the information, tips and useful links. Hopefully will make my choice easier.

[rich888]

Oops, I forgot to enclose the download links for the video clips!

https://mega.co.nz/#!wFhjiAjL!6EYZznDS443GlYTHjyC7...

https://mega.co.nz/#!4MZUEbqZ!-Z5Vz5lUhqMu4p-N2QH3...

https://mega.co.nz/#!YRJGkAya!aq5EvUeAfqnP3m-8TwgR...

These are one minute .mov video files @ 100MB each and are just general video footage that I recorded using the 0801 whilst out and about, no juicy excitement I'm afraid, but you can pause the video to read the number plates of parked and approaching cars and other stuff, so does demonstrate just how good the 0801 is in the daytime.

You can play the videos using QuickTime player on a Mac, or VLC Media player (which you will need to download). VLC can pretty much play any type of video format so it's well worth downloading. Either do a search on Google for 'VLC', or click this link which will take you to the same page: http://www.videolan.org/vlc/index.en_GB.html