Do you own a DashCam?

[Molehill_Mike]

Having recently invested the 'large' sum of £40 into a 1080P dashcam, I thought I would ask the large PH family if they have one, or not...

If you do have one, has it saved you insurance hassle in an incident? Also, could you state which model and perhaps where it came from??

I bought one as a member on the MOCGB had an incident in his daily driver where a chap ran down the side of his car and took off. The insurance companies wanted to call it 50:50, but upon seeing the camera footage the other parties insurance company paid up.

So, if you have one what is your story? Do you have the clips?

This is not a thread for "funny" or "idiotic" driving clips... would like it to stay useful, and be of research interest if poss.


Thanks,

Edited by Molehill_Mike on Friday 2nd May 09:12

[kambites]

Couldn't you use a mobile phone as a dash-cam? Or wouldn't the resolution be high enough?

I've never felt the need for one personally, but that might just be because I've been lucky.

[Molehill_Mike]

kambites said:

Couldn't you use a mobile phone as a dash-cam? Or wouldn't the resolution be high enough?

I've never felt the need for one personally, but that might just be because I've been lucky.

I believe you can, but then it eats your phone memory and battery. Plus my phone (Nexus 5) while I love it, is a large phone... would rather not have it stuck to the screen.

I haven't felt the need for one, but at the sametime, much like a preventative measure an adult male might carry around.. it's better to have one and not need it, than need it and not have one

Here's mine. With a seperately bought 32 GB memory card it cost just over £40, records audio, full 1080P video, and is motion activated.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/E-PRANCE-Novatek-Dashcamer...

There are better out there but for this money it's hard to not buy it, for the possible use it will have IF an incident occurs.

Edited by Molehill_Mike on Friday 2nd May 09:12

[p4cks]

I do, as some people can struggle to see my car (VX220) at times. For £40, it's piece of mind if someone was to dispute what happened (which happened to me in another VX I'd JUST bought which resulted in 6 months of me driving my car with a hole in the side because he said it was my fault)

Catches things like this...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bq07LXP6rTE

[anonymous-user]

You can use a smartphone, but they're not really very well suited to it because of the lens. A dashcam needs a wide angle lens to cover the whole view out of the windscreen.

I have one. I don't post videos on YouTube. I don't record "bad driving" clips for posterity. Most of the time I completely forget it's there. In all honesty my reasons for getting one are a 50/50 split between protecting myself in the event of an insurance dispute or similar and a love of techie toys.

[Molehill_Mike]

charltjr said:

You can use a smartphone, but they're not really very well suited to it because of the lens. A dashcam needs a wide angle lens to cover the whole view out of the windscreen.

I have one. I don't post videos on YouTube. I don't record "bad driving" clips for posterity. Most of the time I completely forget it's there. In all honesty my reasons for getting one are a 50/50 split between protecting myself in the event of an insurance dispute or similar and a love of techie toys.

I guess mine was slightly due to the love of new tech, plus the Russian meteor clips got my interest...add in the "security" feel of some camera footage in the event of an incident, and for £40 I was sold.

p4cks said:

I do, as some people can struggle to see my car (VX220) at times. For £40, it's piece of mind if someone was to dispute what happened (which happened to me in another VX I'd JUST bought which resulted in 6 months of me driving my car with a hole in the side because he said it was my fault)

Catches things like this...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bq07LXP6rTE

Excellent post, thanks p4cks. Just the kind of post I am hoping will help others. Seems a few are considering them

Edited by Molehill_Mike on Friday 2nd May 09:21

[kambites]

Out of interest, how is the one in the VX220 mounted?

[Zoobeef]

I'd only had mine in a few months when I was rear ended. I didn't need to show it but it feels a lot better having evidence in your back pocket.

http://youtu.be/vF8OqtbvJNg

[mike13]

Molehill_Mike said:

I believe you can, but then it eats your phone memory and battery. Plus my phone (Nexus 5) while I love it, is a large phone... would rather not have it stuck to the screen.

I haven't felt the need for one, but at the sametime, much like a preventative measure an adult male might carry around.. it's better to have one and not need it, than need it and not have one

Here's mine. With a seperately bought 32 GB memory card it cost just over £40, records audio, full 1080P video, and is motion activated.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/E-PRANCE-Novatek-Dashcamer...

There are better out there but for this money it's hard to not buy it, for the possible use it will have IF an incident occurs.

Edited by Molehill_Mike on Friday 2nd May 09:12

I bought this model off ebay,came from China,same price,i've got a horrendous mini roundabout going into my street,people just treat to as their right of way,this is going to help if ever i do have a bump.

[p4cks]

kambites said:

Out of interest, how is the one in the VX220 mounted?

As high up as possible, without getting in the driver's view.

[kambites]

Ah so it is on the screen. I was thinking it might be better to mount it on the roll-bar.

[Molehill_Mike]

That's a tidy camera p4cks, was it this one? Looks a smaller mount, that a DIY job?

http://www.amazon.co.uk/E-PRANCE-Recorder-G-sensor...

I couldn't decided which one to go for (the one above or the one I actually bought). I want one for the Mrs car now, as she is back adn forth to London alot, and driving there is... well, scary for those of us who don't do it regularly!

[Censorious]

kambites said:

Couldn't you use a mobile phone as a dash-cam? Or wouldn't the resolution be high enough?

I've never felt the need for one personally, but that might just be because I've been lucky.

I use Daily Roads Voyager.

Fifth Gear tested it along with a range of dash cams at different budgets and they found it was very good but they did mark it down for being a bit wobbly. That had nothing to do with the app itself, it was the crappy screen mount they used!

It has GPS, speed, G force detection and uses overlapping clips.

It's really very good.

The only downside I've found is the amount of power it consumes; a standard car charger will not keep up with the demand so you need to buy a high capacity 12v USB charger.

[kambites]

Can you realistically run that and a sat-nav program at the same time on a moderately powered phone?

[p4cks]

Molehill_Mike said:

That's a tidy camera p4cks, was it this one? Looks a smaller mount, that a DIY job?

http://www.amazon.co.uk/E-PRANCE-Recorder-G-sensor...

I couldn't decided which one to go for (the one above or the one I actually bought). I want one for the Mrs car now, as she is back adn forth to London alot, and driving there is... well, scary for those of us who don't do it regularly!

Nah wasn't that one, mine doesn't have the screen. Mine is similar/identical to this one http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/720P-HD-mini-In-Car-Dash...

I was led to believe on the other thread however that there are better cameras out there for more money. This one is good enough for me and it does its job

[RizzoTheRat]

I got a Prestigio Roadrunner HD1 second hand of a PHer when he upgraded. I was doing a fairly high mileage when I got it but not commuting as far at the moment and not got it fitted. My fag lighter socket is always live so I've got a separate 5v supply to fit with the idea being that it'll turn on with the ignition. Records to SD card and when the cards full it just starts overwriting the older files so you've always got the last few hours, and more importantly you can just forget about it until you need the footage for something.

Youtube seems to fked up the aspect ratio on all my videos recently, but this gives you an idea of the video quality from a budget camera, you'd struggle to capture a number plate from it but it's good enough to see what's happening
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-wRZ0GeZ2kE

[sjg]

Because we really needed yet another dashcam thread!

BlackVue DR400G-HD II. No accidents, but a couple of near-misses that it's caught.

This accident was what prompted me to get one - plank fell off a tipper transit right into the guy's A-pillar. Transit didn't stop (may not have even been aware of it). Footage clear enough to read the numberplate, liability accepted by his insurer straight away.

http://www.briskoda.net/forums/topic/232185-firby-...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SJZTCSAdofM&fe...

(go to 27s)

[andy-xr]

Yes and voted. I have an ePrance from Amazon for £25 and a 32gig class 6 memory card. Comes on and switches off with the ignition (setting on camera) just plugged into cigarette lighter socket

I also used Autoguard Android app on my phone til the camera started doing some weird Cannot Connect To Camera things, resolution was very good and I allocated 16Gb from the 32Gb card in the phone to it so it could loop

[Howard-]

sjg said:

Because we really needed yet another dashcam thread!

BlackVue DR400G-HD II. No accidents, but a couple of near-misses that it's caught.

This accident was what prompted me to get one - plank fell off a tipper transit right into the guy's A-pillar. Transit didn't stop (may not have even been aware of it). Footage clear enough to read the numberplate, liability accepted by his insurer straight away.

http://www.briskoda.net/forums/topic/232185-firby-...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SJZTCSAdofM&fe...

(go to 27s)

.. And that's why I have one!


I've got a Blackvue mounted up behind the rear-view mirror, nice and discrete with no visible wires. I've not had cause to pull any footage yet but it's nice to know that should something happen, it should go some way toward providing evidence!

[Mr SFJ]

I have and I'm glad I have.

I bought a mini 0801 of amazon with a 32gb Class 6 SD card. Spent half an hour deciding where to stick it discreetly and hiding the cable.

The camera quality is brilliant, and I've caught a few close shaves in the 4 days I've had it.

Best £70 I've ever spent. Picture to follow.

Edited to add link:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/E-PRANCE-Original-Ambarell...