Dash Cam Recommendations

[Brutal_HO]

True, and it is a great idea for the typical user. I am primarily worried about speed and reliability for my cameras. The tests can show speed but not reliability. For work, we purchase fixed BOM industrial grade SLC memory cards that are good for millions of read/write cycles. Your typical consumer cards are MLC cards which are usually only good for 200,000 or so writes. 200,000 sounds like a lot, but when you look at how often the FAT table is updated you can start wearing a card out quickly. Better consumer grade cards do employ wear-leveling to extend the card's life.

For my cameras, I go with the best card I can afford. I have been looking at dashcams lately. I would think a dashcam could wear out a consumer grade card in a year or two in a daily driver. A counterfeit card in probably less time. Seems a good consumer grade card is a good compromise if it isn't a counterfeit.

OK, I think I have had too much coffee this morning.

It was more related to the fake cards. Counterfeit cards tell the OS it's xx GB but they're pony faced liars. The test utilities basically write out the capacity of the card as the test. Further contributing to their wear rate. LOL

As to Flash memory, I work on IBM Enterprise Flash Systems. It would blow your mind the density we get in these things. 1.7PB in 1U rack space with IBM's ultra high performance FlashCore modules in our entry level appliance. We're also moving to SCM that has -10us R/W latency.

 

[IndyRamMega]

Been a Blackvue user for years. Installed Thinkware in wife’s car and while it works, the UI is super clunky and I’ve had to turn lots of notifications off because it talks a lot. I’m putting the latest Blackvue DR900x plus with a backup battery this week.

Those two companies have been my debate....was leaning towards the thinkware but idk if the startup talking would drive me nuts or not....does the pic quality differ much between the two?

 

[love2build]

Those two companies have been my debate....was leaning towards the thinkware but idk if the startup talking would drive me nuts or not....does the pic quality differ much between the two?

Seem the same to me. The Ui is leagues better in the Blackvue. Just my 2c.

 

[406Linetrash]

Those two companies have been my debate....was leaning towards the thinkware but idk if the startup talking would drive me nuts or not....does the pic quality differ much between the two?

For what it's worth. You can turn the voice on/off and the adjust the volume through the app.

Never used a blackvue. But I agree with above. The UI on thinkware is not ideal

 

[Grayson]

I purchased and installed the Thinkware U1000 2ch. I've had it a week however there are a lot of options out there available for BlackVue for our trucks I regret my decision. The U1000 front camera is pretty large and its not too hard to read the mounting bracket that says "Thinkware Dashcam" from outside the vehicle.

I will probably switch to the blackvue to have a cleaner install with less outside visibility.

 

[phatboy64]

Bumping this thread..

I have read what I found on this forum on dash cams. I am heavily leaning to the BlackVue DR970X-2CH non LTE. I know it is relatively new but wondering if anyone has any experience with it. It comes with a direct wire kit with a low voltage shut off that will allow it to stay on for a period of time after parking (~14 hours depending on battery's). Is there any concerns with this direct wire kit or with the product in general?

 

[wrvond]

Bumping this thread..

I have read what I found on this forum on dash cams. I am heavily leaning to the BlackVue DR970X-2CH non LTE. I know it is relatively new but wondering if anyone has any experience with it. It comes with a direct wire kit with a low voltage shut off that will allow it to stay on for a period of time after parking (~14 hours depending on battery's). Is there any concerns with this direct wire kit or with the product in general?

I've got the DR770X-2CH non LTE with the add on LTE module that came free with purchase. In my last truck I had a back up battery wired in to the truck's fuse panel. Since the fuse panel is under the hood in this truck and I didn't want to run wires through the firewall I simply tapped into wiring in the overhead console - no back up battery.
After install with the initial setup I set something wrong and killed the truck batteries. I adjusted the parking mode time back to 8 hours ( a normal workday) and didn't have a problem. After I retired completely I moved the parking mode time back to 2 or 3 hours (a long shopping trip) and it has worked well since then.
I've had four Black Vue cameras over the years and have always been happy with their performance and reliability. The displays are intuitive - unlike the default picture in a picture of the VIOFO in my wife's car. It seems that about the time I finally get a full screen display from the camera I want it changes of it's own accord back to picture in a picture. Very aggravating.
Because I have a sliding back window I mounted my rear camera on the passenger side upside down then flipped it in the menu. This gets the camera about as close to centerline of the truck's view as you can get.

 

[MarkCO1]

I really like the Garmin Dash Cam mini 2. Has monitoring in Park mode, auto-upload, voice control and durable.

 

[ClawSS]

I use Viofo in 3 of my vehicles.

 

[phatboy64]

I've got the DR770X-2CH non LTE with the add on LTE module that came free with purchase. In my last truck I had a back up battery wired in to the truck's fuse panel. Since the fuse panel is under the hood in this truck and I didn't want to run wires through the firewall I simply tapped into wiring in the overhead console - no back up battery.
After install with the initial setup I set something wrong and killed the truck batteries. I adjusted the parking mode time back to 8 hours ( a normal workday) and didn't have a problem. After I retired completely I moved the parking mode time back to 2 or 3 hours (a long shopping trip) and it has worked well since then.
I've had four Black Vue cameras over the years and have always been happy with their performance and reliability. The displays are intuitive - unlike the default picture in a picture of the VIOFO in my wife's car. It seems that about the time I finally get a full screen display from the camera I want it changes of it's own accord back to picture in a picture. Very aggravating.
Because I have a sliding back window I mounted my rear camera on the passenger side upside down then flipped it in the menu. This gets the camera about as close to centerline of the truck's view as you can get.

I am heading out on a trip down south in a few weeks and would like to have it for the trip but I don’t think I have time to install it. There is a local dealer and they want ~ $230 to do the full install. That includes extending the warranty to two years and life time free removal and reinstalling in new vehicles when the time comes…struggling to justify the installation cost…

 

[phatboy64]

I use Viofo in 3 of my vehicles.

I took a quick look at those, what is the screen that mounts to the window? Is it a requirement or a “ nice to have”

 

[wrvond]

I am heading out on a trip down south in a few weeks and would like to have it for the trip but I don’t think I have time to install it. There is a local dealer and they want ~ $230 to do the full install. That includes extending the warranty to two years and life time free removal and reinstalling in new vehicles when the time comes…struggling to justify the installation cost…

When I traded in my 2017 truck I left the dashcam in it because it was “old”. The new models are much more capable so thats what I went with. Install took about two hours.
There’s no need to remove pillar covers, just the gasket around the two passenger doors (along the top). There’s lots of room over the headliner and it’s easy to just push the coax up in there and simply feed it from the front door to the back over the ‘B’ pillar.
Removing the overhead console and tapping into the appropriate wires was the hardest part.

 

[mountainears]

Viofos are great. I have the A139 Pro that has the 4k sensor. Awesome quality. Take a look at Vortex Radar on YouTube, great channel reviewing dashcams and radar detector equipment.

 

[phatboy64]

When I traded in my 2017 truck I left the dashcam in it because it was “old”. The new models are much more capable so thats what I went with. Install took about two hours.
There’s no need to remove pillar covers, just the gasket around the two passenger doors (along the top). There’s lots of room over the headliner and it’s easy to just push the coax up in there and simply feed it from the front door to the back over the ‘B’ pillar.
Removing the overhead console and tapping into the appropriate wires was the hardest part.

I think what is hanging me up on installing it myself and the time it would take is the rear camera and running the coax to the back. How much do in need to worry about the air bags in the pillar and along the side running to the back and the coax getting in the way if they were ever to deploy?

I was also considering just installing the front camera for this up coming trip and dealing with the rear later, assuming that is technically possible.

 

[ClawSS]

I took a quick look at those, what is the screen that mounts to the window? Is it a requirement or a “ nice to have”

It is part of the camera...all one piece. Gives the ability to monitor and check camera alignment or use as playback and menu setup.

 

[wrvond]

I think what is hanging me up on installing it myself and the time it would take is the rear camera and running the coax to the back. How much do in need to worry about the air bags in the pillar and along the side running to the back and the coax getting in the way if they were ever to deploy?

I was also considering just installing the front camera for this up coming trip and dealing with the rear later, assuming that is technically possible.

I was able to push the coax in far enough that I'm sure it wouldn't interfere with the airbags. I didn't use any tools other than my fingers to install the coax and rear camera and I left plenty of slack in the coax and it was still able to reach easily. I was concerned the mega cab might present a problem, but it worked out fine.

The front camera is the most challenging. Removing the cover around the mirror and then putting it back in place took me a little bit to figure out, and it took me a minute to figure out the overhead console had a couple screws that needed removing (because I'm such a genius), but it was all gravy after that.

 

[mountainears]

The Viofo rear camera use a very thin cable compared to the others. Didn’t take long at all to install.

 

[wrvond]

Yesterday my wife witnessed a car wreck on her way home from work. I have spent the past hour or so trying to find/view the video of that from her VIOFO A139 Pro and I've got to say, it's pretty frustrating. I started out trying to use the app on my phone to download the video but wasn't able to get it connected reliably. It kept running me around in circles and wouldn't stay connected or let me view anything more than the live view. Figuring I'd outsmart the thing I removed the microSD card and brought it in to my laptop. I'm able to view the video files one. at. a. time. I've viewed pretty much her entire trip home from work and haven't found the wreck yet. Then I thought maybe I could install a Windows app to view all the clips in a stream. That doesn't exist. Unless I want to spend money for a third party app.

BTW, the 2nd camera coax on Black Vue is much smaller than the one on our VIOFO.

 

[mountainears]

Yesterday my wife witnessed a car wreck on her way home from work. I have spent the past hour or so trying to find/view the video of that from her VIOFO A139 Pro and I've got to say, it's pretty frustrating. I started out trying to use the app on my phone to download the video but wasn't able to get it connected reliably. It kept running me around in circles and wouldn't stay connected or let me view anything more than the live view. Figuring I'd outsmart the thing I removed the microSD card and brought it in to my laptop. I'm able to view the video files one. at. a. time. I've viewed pretty much her entire trip home from work and haven't found the wreck yet. Then I thought maybe I could install a Windows app to view all the clips in a stream. That doesn't exist. Unless I want to spend money for a third party app.

BTW, the 2nd camera coax on Black Vue is much smaller than the one on our VIOFO.

I haven't had much of an issue. It's much easier of course if you mark /protect the video when it happens, then those go into a folder. But all the files are time stamped.

Of course you can just pop the card out and put it in your computer and browse the files like that.

Hands down the Viofo true 4k camera is the best out there. They were the first out with that chipset last year and it makes a huge difference. BlackVue I believe is just releasing a camera with that chipset so the others are finally catching up.

 

[phatboy64]

It is part of the camera...all one piece. Gives the ability to monitor and check camera alignment or use as playback and menu setup.

intresting.. I like the idea…

Not specific to this one product, but in hot weather climates how do these hold up with the sun beating down on them?