Suzuki14258

Check out what I got on my dash cam, all though my friend edited it for me and made it thug life lol.

http://youtu.be/xGbaY4QjEbM

HDET87

Hey, I have a 64GB Extreme pro MicroSD card in it and, have it set for looped recording at 5 minute intervals.

I have gone through a couple of dashcams and their video quality can't be compared to the GoPro. GoPro blows them all out of the water. My biggest issue with these dashcams was the quality of the video. Most of them were decent but they all had issues, like blocky video when driving where there's a lot of action like trees on the side of the road. Lack of wide FOV, and if they did have wide FOV then the quality wasn't clear.

Here are some of the things I noticed with the gopro as a dashcam.

- GoPro has way better, clear and crisp video that can be recorded at 1440P @ 60 Frames per second.
- Wide Field of View, captures everything from Left to Right side of the windshield, while still retain high quality so you can read License plates and what not.
- Easily detachable, can become an action camera and do things what it was intended for.


I leave my camera plugged in all day/night and it runs off of truck's battery because I leave it plugged in the cigarette lighter. It just keeps looping and I think it can record for at least 3 hours at 1440p @ 60FPS on 64BG card, before it loops. You can increase this time by inserting a larger capacity SD card and turning down the settings, mine are overkill.

But if you leave your truck parked for a few days, its better to turn off the camera and unplug it so it doesn't drain the battery.

And since this was intended for a dashcam purpose there are some downsides like it doesn't turn on or off with the ignition. If you power off your camera each time you exit, you gotta remember to power it on each time before you drive. OR you can leave it plugged in overnight all the time, like me.

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IF you don't care that much about quality, then I suggest you go with a dedicated dashcam, they're easy and most are plug and forget.
I would recommend this dasahcm: http://dod-tech.ca/product/dod-ls430w/
I used it for two years and I still use it in my other vehicle, this is really good and even has a Heads up Display. it tells you your speed really accurately via GPS. The quality is the really good (not as good as GoPro).


For those of you interested, here is a link to the dashcam video on youtube. Remember to watch it in 1080p in 60FPS. It's really smooth, all the road signs are readable even when going fast. The video quality's be compressed by youtube, it's even better/clearer without any compression.

I just joined two clips from my drive today, just to give an idea of the footage in cloudy(ish) day and sunny day. My buddy uploaded it to his account.

HDET87

for some reason the link stopped working

Waterfowler41

iTrader: (1)

WOW, there is way more to dash cameras than I thought. Great posts guys. My concern with using the GoPro is constantly having it plugged in does a number on the battery. I use my GoPro while hunting and I don't want to have to have multiple batteries. Also, smash and grab would be a big concern with a GoPro more so than a specialized dash cam.

As far as the whole kit with front and rear facing cameras, I really like that it turns on when the accelerator senses motion. My biggest fear is parking in Chicago and coming back to my car all beat up from a parallel parker (I usually put my hitch ball in when I'm parked to give me some safety assurance on my rear). With this you'd at least get the aftermath of a bump and the license plate.

I wonder if insurance gives you a break if you have one of these installed...

Thanks again guys this is all GREAT info!

RLXXI

Some insurance companies might consider it a form of anti theft. You would have to ask them. Main reason I chose the blackview was all of it's combined features and it's easily hidden up behind the rear view mirror and also has a blinking security led, you can barely notice the front cam and not at all on the rear cam due to the privacy glass.


I spent the better part of a year researching these systems and the blackview wins on all points, I like that it also has built in wifi so you can see what's going on around the truck using the cell phone app. Helped installing it as well.

HDET87

I had the Blackvue DR500. Yes you are right, this thing is really good at being hidden. I used to have it mounted behind the rear view mirror, and it blended in so well, 90% of the time people didn't notice anything at first glance, they had to look carefully to see there was a camera.

I had flashed the custom firmware that I got from some russian site. I made a thread regarding that on the dashcamforum. Anyways, it helped a lot with the video quality but mine eventually gave out in less than a year.

As for my GoPro, I made my own black skin and now it's all black and doesn't look like a GoPro, looks like some chinese knock off of the GoPro.

RLXXI

The early models had a problem with heat, this is no longer the case with the 550 series, mines been in my truck going on it's 2nd spring/summer and still works like the day I put it in.

kidastra

iTrader: (1)

Check out the "mobius" cameras, we use them to fly fpv in the rc community, images are very comparable to go pro, and they are 100$

CuznVinny

iTrader: (1)

why go all the way around
just get something like this:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/DC-DC-Step-Down-Converter-12V-to-5V-3Amps-15-Watts-Fully-Sealed-Mini-USB-E6C-/251643872177?pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&hash=item3a9724c3b1&vxp=mtrtap off the power harness above the dome light. its got switched and constant.
I've hooked up many dash cams and radar detectors like that.
they come in all usb sizes