Vehicle camera / Dashboard camera recorders

[Pikes]

Any suggestions from people that have one?
Its a minefield on the internet trying to make up my mind...
A good cheaper model is the G1W-C but there is to many clones and copies of inferior quality. I will pass that one up.

Found a retailer close to me that have a DOD LS460W at a good price. Should I go for it?

[scw2]

Not sure if anyone else is going to chime in, but it's something I've considered looking into. One site I had bookmarked was Dashcam talkjust haven't gone through the site to see their reviews.

This specific model was also recommended somewhere, but the reviews seem all over the place. I get the impression it's good for the price, but has limitations.

[Pikes]

One of my first stops was at Dashboard Camera Review, very informative site.

The G1W-C is a good low priced model at +/- $50. that is if you find a genuine one.
The marked is flooded with cheap clones with inferior processors and lenses. And the only way to see if you have a "real" one is to open it up and I don`t want to go that route.
Here is some info on the knock off`s, here and here

This is the one that I Am looking at. The DOD LS460W
I can have it for $195. Price is a bit steep, but its in a shop close to me and I don`t have to pay customs.... (or wait for parcel that is "lost" in the postal service)

The following table has a nice layout of most dash cams. Pick your poison they have lists for cheap, affordable and expensive cameras. There is also a list for dual view cameras

Any further comments would be appreciated. I have placed the ls460w on hold at the shop till 20 Feb so I can still change my mind about it.

[voodoo_man]

I have a g1w and it works really well, night time recording is shit though.

I also have one of the boxy looking dvrs in my wifes car, never had a single issue with it.

For the next dvr i get itll be a dual camera system where you can get double front angle or one facing the interior of the cabin.

[Drang]

Wondering how long it will be before dashcams w/GPS are standard equipment...?

[PNWTO]

Wondering how long it will be before dashcams w/GPS are standard equipment...?

Within a decade or two, easily. Insurance companies are already offering some as incentives and the commercial market has embraced such units for a long time now. Soon your insurer will penalize you for not having one.

[RJ]

Thought I would post my negative experience with this $58 Dash Cam from Amazon:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

"Black Box G1W-CB "Black Bezel" Capacitor Model Dash Camera - Heat Resistant - Full HD 1080P H.264 2.7" LCD Car DVR Video Recorder - WDR 140° Wide Angle 4x Zoom Motion Detection Night Vision G-Sensor"

TL;DR: I would not recommend this dash cam.

I ordered it based primarily on the price as well as overall positive rating (3.4 stars.) I ignored the several negative reviews.

The unit arrived in good order. Desk side testing showed that the power button was a little sticky. I hoped that this would resolve itself.

Powering up the unit, after inserting the 32 Gb micro SD card I had bought, I had to resort to the manual several times to work out the options available. The manual was a small terse pamphlet size that corresponded, more or less, to the controls on the camera unit. It was not well laid out, and the English used was, curious.

Anyway, hoping for the best, I took it out to my truck to try several different mounting positions.

Unfortunately, after about 2 days of operation, the unit intermittently started to fail to power up and complete the boot process. At first it was only once, then after a time it completely froze up, each time.

I gave it a few more tries and then packaged it up and returned it to Amazon for a full $58 refund.

Couple other items of note:

I programmed in the date and time, as per the manual. However, this unit does not appear to have a battery (of any type, not a button cell, nothing) in which this data can be stored over power off sequences. I would have had to add the date and time each time it powered on. Considering it's use, this lack of ability to keep date and time "on" the video seems an astounding deficiency, given how cheap an EEPROM would be to store this data.

The unit, overall, was constructed of extremely cheap low quality plastic, and the switch contacts were of similar low quality / sticking and slow to rebound.

The accessories were similar. The 12 V DC power plug primary lead and ground points were of low quality and thin metal, and worked only in certain positions of the 12V plug relative to the truck jack. Also, the micro-USB on the other end end supplying power to the camera unit was not a tight fit to the jack, at all.

If ya'll have had better luck with any other units, I'd be obliged. I really want to mount one of these in my vehicle full time, with all the nonsense going on on the roads these days.

[GardoneVT]

Wondering how long it will be before dashcams w/GPS are standard equipment...?

Not soon enough in my view.

I use one in my daily driver, and that was a fortunate development for the victims of a rural hit and run last December.I stopped for gas and noticed a dude in a SUV gunning it out of the parking lot. The situation dawned on me when the wife of a nearby black truck ran through the snow chasing the SUV. That's when I noticed the damage on the black truck.

Because I had the dash cam running there was fresh video footage of the offenders SUV ,which the responding officer & victims were grateful to receive.

[fishing]

Thought I would post my negative experience with this $58 Dash Cam from Amazon:

Richard -

Either of the below are the ones you want.
https://www.amazon.com/SpyTec-A119-L.../dp/B01HN0HBFG
https://www.amazon.com/Street-Guardi.../dp/B00U0OJMYG

the one you purchased is a junky toy at best. beware of amazon reviews - 3.4/5 is actually fairly terrible given how amazon aggregates their reviews, the quality of their reviewing base and the large # of pseudo-shills on the site.

consider figuring out what you would like to do with your airstream as well - 360 video coverage would be a good thing.

my cars have rear backup cams integrated as part of their infotainment system - on the trucks/suvs (taller so better FOV) I was able to have a local car AV guy splice in a device which allows for recording of the stream from the built-in backup cam in lieu of needing a separate or rear facing dashcam.

I'm also in rental cars with some frequency so a pair of go pro sessions get mounted and turned on when i know i'll be driving in more congested/accident prone areas.

[Hambo]

Rich, I've got the same camera you have and it's been running for more than a year even after baking in the sun. That said, I know it's far from the best unit. I wasn't sure if I would really want to run one all the time, but I'm sold on them now. What I would like is fore and aft cameras.