Dash Cam Recommendations

[Yo'sDad]

Not exactly to your specs but I like viofo A129 duo. Good quality image

HyFlyer, thanks, after a lot of mental anguish, haha, I decided on the A229.

 

[HyFlyer]

... I can post my routing description with some pics if anyone wants. ..

Yes please I'd be interested in seeing your setup.

HyFlyer, thanks, after a lot of mental anguish, haha, I decided on the A229.

Oh, don't I know. You can drive yourself crazy sifting through all the choices and go waaaay down the rabbit hole researching. One of the first "dashcams" I ever used was a very inexpensive action camera popular with R/C modelers to mount in their equipment. I don't even remember the name of it. It was something like $25 including a mounting kit but had a 1080p image. I used it for years and it operated flawlessly until eventually the small battery or capacitor died in it. Point being, a small, no frills budget device can be up and running in minutes and serve you well.

 

[MotoToph]

Bronzeglide, thanks for your reply. Does the headliner separate from the edge easily or did you just tuck the wire into the molding? Pics would be very nice. I fear damaging the headliner if I get too aggressive. haha

I'm sorry I forgot to send photos! Looking at the car I ran the cable under the door sill towards the back of the vehicle, back up behind the passenger door (driver side), then up to the rear hatch with the stock wiring. I removed the plastic cover on the hatch to feed the wire. I also used a fish tape to pull from the back door area towards the hatch. When running along the A-pillar be sure to run the cables behind the airbag along the stick wiring.

 

[N7turbo]

Is there an advantage to having the camera at the bottom of the window instead of at the top?

 

[Candurin]

Is there an advantage to having the camera at the bottom of the window instead of at the top?

Isn’t it at the top? I assume the hatch/trunk is just open and the picture is facing up…

 

[N7turbo]

Isn’t it at the top? I assume the hatch/trunk is just open and the picture is facing up…

Hmm, it could be. I thought I saw a wiper blade though.

 

[hooked]

Hmm, it could be. I thought I saw a wiper blade though.

If you’re referring to the dark red rectangular object, it looks like it might be a roof or some other part of a building past the white canopy. I think most rear cameras are meant to be installed at the top of the glass and is angled to point downward. If it was installed at the bottom, the camera would be pointing up to the sky.

 

[Yo'sDad]

Crazy Question. The black dots bonded to the inside of my windshield are preventing me from moving my dash camera more toward the middle of the windshield. I tried scraping a couple of the dots off with a razor blade but they are bonded very tightly. Anyone tried successfully to get these off?

 

[RedBaron]

but they are bonded very tightly. Anyone tried successfully to get these off?

I believe they are baked on and fused to the glass, so scraping them off will likely damage the windshield.

 

[Yo'sDad]

Initially, I mounted the camera over the black dots, with no issues. Later, I moved it under the plastic housing for the rearview mirror. Ensure the adhesive used is reliable, such as 3M.

vrsick, are you saying you put the sticky pad on the black dots, or that the camera was looking through the dots? I'm not concerned about the sticky part, I would like to position the camera in a location where the camera view unfortunately has to look through the dots... hence wanting to remove the dots. I talked to a windshield replacement company today and they say the dots cannot be removed. I have learned that I don't have a need to see the screen of the camera, so moving it to the bottom of the plastic cover just may be a great option.... thanks. I'm guessing I'll be trying several locations before I stop, haha. Thanks, Tom

 

[Yo'sDad]

vrsick, I am now thinking you have the best mounting location on the black plastic cover.
It will be centered
It will not block any line of sight
It will not get hit by the sun on the lens and badly causing image flare
It will give better access to clean the windshield (a dirty windshield inside or out will cause a lot of flare especially when hit by direct sunlight).
I don't need to see the screen anyway
I can program the Blue Tooth button to do the features on the camera back so I don't even need to look at or touch it.
Sounds like a win/win
I will give that location a try
Thanks Vrsick
Tom

 

[ceric]

I used to have a dash cam I bought online. (forgot the brand name)

After a while, my GPS started to go wild .... e.g. putting the loc in Pacific Ocean.
I traced the problem down to the dash cam, which was interfering with the GPS reception.
Be ware of untested electronics devices for EMI.

Now I have Mio MiVue.
No issue at all.

 

[vrsick]

I forgot to mention, at one time I was using a spare phone as a dash cam. I was not using the phones video recorder. Instead I used an app called "Droid Dashcam" It only works on Android phones. The best part, the phone does not need to be in service. It will see all Satellites. There's plenty of settings on the app. The only fault, if it's hot, your phone will get very hot. Excellent choice for winter recordings and short trips. If you pay for the app, you'll have access to all customization and no adds.

 

[hooked]

I forgot to mention, at one time I was using a spare phone as a dash cam. I was not using the phones video recorder. Instead I used an app called "Droid Dashcam" It only works on Android phones. The best part, the phone does not need to be in service. It will see all Satellites. There's plenty of settings on the app. The only fault, if it's hot, your phone will get very hot. Excellent choice for winter recordings and short trips. If you pay for the app, you'll have access to all customization and no adds.

I played around with using an old smartphone as a dash cam with an app to mimic the features of the dash cam. It worked ok. I did attach a wide angle lens to the phone camera to increase the field of view. Since it was a test, I just propped the phone up between the windshield and the dashboard. Not very secure, lol. For longer term use, you’d have to hide your phone when parking. Don’t think you want to come back to your car to find someone broke into the car to steal the phone left out in plain view. Plus, if you’re using an old phone, the battery life is probably not the best so you’d have to route a charge cable to it.