Worth getting a rear dash cam as well?

[ChickenWire]

I'm thinking of getting a front dash cam - got my eyes on something small and simple like the NextBase Piqo.

Is it also worth getting a rear fitted dash cam as well? Or is the front more-or-less sufficient for most?

Thanks in advance!

CW

[Magnum 475]

I have both (except in my convertible “weekend” car).

If someone arse-ends you, rear camera is the best form of evidence.

[Mars]

I have a Blackvue which has a camera in the rear too. The front one is the master, and you have to run a cable through your headlining to the rear camera. That bit was easy-enough, although passing the cables the concertina rubber which houses my cabling through to my tailgate was a total bd,

[MakaveliX]

Defo recommend having a rear too.
Incase anybody rear-ends you, or something takes place behind your car. DashCams are very important in my opinion.

[leyorkie]

Latest Nextbase have rear view cameras attached without the need of running cables to the rear of the car

[Richjb]

Definitely worth having both. Not just for rear end shunts.

I witnessed someone turning too fast into a T junction, front camera caught it turn and clipping the car on my offside. The rear camera footage had the registration, make and model as it drove away without stopping.

[Mars]

leyorkie said:

Latest Nextbase have rear view cameras attached without the need of running cables to the rear of the car

How are they powered then?

[vonhosen]

Mars said:

leyorkie said:

Latest Nextbase have rear view cameras attached without the need of running cables to the rear of the car

How are they powered then?

Rear camera plugs into the side of main (front) unit & shoots through cabin out of rear window.

[Ham_and_Jam]

Had my Blackvue in the last 4 cars I’ve had, and only every needed it for evidence once.

A guy in a van shunted us from the rear whilst on his phone. Changed the way he admitted his guilt very quickly.

For the minuscule extra outlay and effort it’s a no brainer.

[hersh]

Hi all

Never had a cam fitted to any of my motors but maybe time to consider

There seems to be a lot of cheaper dashcams available (eg temu)

Does anyone have experience of these types over the "quality" ones?

Serious question, I really don't know

On behalf of my better half, have bought stuff from temu and cannot really fault anything yet

Thanks

[ChickenWire]

Super, thanks for the replies all!

I’ve seen that Halfords do a front and rear NextBase kit, it’s the 522GW I think, and has a separate small camera for the back. £380 fitted and that also includes the hardwiring kit. I think I’ll press ahead with this for peace of mind. Seems like good value to me!

Thanks again!

CW

[RotorRambler]

I got a couple of standalone Garmin dashcams from Amazon, about £75 each.
The app can stitch the footage together, never tried though.
Easy enough to diy hardwire in my car. Wiring kits say £10 each.
Took an hour or so..

[Pica-Pica]

hersh said:

Hi all

Never had a cam fitted to any of my motors but maybe time to consider

There seems to be a lot of cheaper dashcams available (eg temu)

Does anyone have experience of these types over the "quality" ones?

Serious question, I really don't know

On behalf of my better half, have bought stuff from temu and cannot really fault anything yet

Thanks

Temu = money to China = money to russia (deliberately uncapitalised as Ukrainians do)

[donkmeister]

hersh said:

There seems to be a lot of cheaper dashcams available (eg temu)

Who would think that a nefarious online retailer, set up by a hostile foreign government, with the intention of undermining as much domestic business as possible, making use of slave and child labour, would offer cheap products?

It's hard to maintain a vaguely modern life without sending money China's way, but if you use Temu you are funneling money directly into the CCP. Don't take my word for it, five minutes on Google or YT and you will have it from some sources you trust. This isn't some wibble by flat earth antivax "vegetables turn you gay and climate change isn't real" conspiracy nutters.

[donkmeister]

Oh, but original question... Yes, definitely worth it. I'm sceptical about the one someone mentioned that repurposes a cabin camera as a rear camera, the field of view will be useless.
I have had two separate cams in a car before, where there was a cigar socket in the boot and in the days before rear cams were a thing. There is the benefit of redundancy as you have two separate SD cards and recorders, so if one happened to fail then you will still have some footage.

If you want to replace your current setup to add a camera with a separate rear camera, Viofo have always been good and their latest cams use Sony Starvis 2 sensors.

I'd recommend watching comparison videos of any you are interested in, the spec sheet doesn't tell the full story about how good the picture quality is and how useful it is for grabbing a reg plate e.g. in the dark.

[hersh]

Not trying to derail this thread but quite a proportion are made in China regardless

If/when I buy one, I'll try to make sure its made in S. korea

Thanks anyway

[Smint]

Cameras both ends in both our vehicles, wouldn't be without them.

Much more expensive and hole drilling involved but the all round cameras on our trucks are the business, 5 cameras all recording onto 1 hard drive with the nearside views being displayed constantly on the in cab screen (London requirements for HGVs), bit spooky really if they 'see' a pedestrian walking up the nearside the camera highlights and tracks them until they clear, pedestrians in front of vehicle trigger a verbal warning, any incidents can be carefully and minutely checked from views from all cameras simultaneously, footage instantly sent to office if we press the incident switch, camera on the back of our trailers doubles as a reversing camera, no driver facing camera though we refused those.
Believe Teslas have something similar though discretely built in.

[donkmeister]

Smint said:

Much more expensive and hole drilling involved but the all round cameras on our trucks are the business,

SNIP

Believe Teslas have something similar though discretely built in.

I like the Tesla system, but surprisingly there isn't really an equivalent available off the shelf.

I looked at lorry/bus systems but (besides some being 24V only) they don't have a proper parking/time lapse mode as they are purely for security when driving. So just have a timed shutdown.

There was an old Thinkware system that multiplexed under mirror cameras onto a single 1080p frame, which means yes you have side parking cams but they have the resolution of a potato.

Some aftermarket Android head units have the ability to add "360" cams which seemingly can be recorded in parking mode, but if you drive anything remotely modern you probably don't want an Android head unit.

There are dash cameras with side lenses but the view is obstructed and they don't have the dynamic range for useful video in most situations.

Finally some people fit a pair of two channel cameras, primary cameras front and rear and the secondary cams in the side windows. Not an option with my daily as every side window opens, has blinds or both.

[CT05 Nose Cone]

Not sure I'd recommend a Nextbase, mine started randomly freezing so being several years old I bought a new one, which does the same thing. Looking online some people say the rear camera is the issue, but they don't sell the leads separately so I'll have to replace that as well. Except even when that's not connected it still randomly stops recording and can only be fixed by pressing the tiny reset button, which isn't exactly practical when driving down the motorway.