Stang70Fastback Posted January 22, 2012 Share Posted January 22, 2012 Watching all these videos coming out of Russia for the past month, I'm considering installing a dashcam on my car, and I'm trying to figure out what to get and how much it would cost. I see lots of things on Amazon in the $150-250 price range, but they look like big, bulky, cheap jokes that record in VGA quality. If I mounted my HTC Evo cellphone in a cradle, I could get a few hours of good HD video recorded, so surely there must be something small and discreet, with the ability to do good video that I can find for less than $500. Does anyone here have any suggestions? The only thing I found when searching was that one guy who did a crazy-complicated install with like three cameras and a PVR in the trunk and all kinds of data overlay. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dbl_D718 Posted January 22, 2012 Share Posted January 22, 2012 GoPro? MODS: PW TMIC, Cobb catted DP, HKS cat-back, AVO filter, Bren e-tune; Konis/Epics, Advan RCII Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gambit Posted January 22, 2012 Share Posted January 22, 2012 Yes I am also interested in an in car camera with lap time data overlay rather than just a gopro. Any suggestions? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stang70Fastback Posted January 22, 2012 Author Share Posted January 22, 2012 This looks promising, but I'm wary of one of these things you seem to have to buy of Ebay or something. The video from this one looks really good though. [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r4rwMV7hhaY]1080p GPS Car Recorder v1000GS - YouTube[/ame] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fishbone Posted January 12, 2013 Share Posted January 12, 2013 Thread revival. Currently looking at some options. Do any of you have experience with this no name brand? http://bit.ly/UU9DND Shows up on eBay and Amazon for around 60 bucks. I really like the dual setup. From what I have read the cam caps the video clips and can be no longer than 5 minutes. I'm not sure if this is a pro or con but personally I'd rather not cut the clip until I shut the cam off. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fishbone Posted January 12, 2013 Share Posted January 12, 2013 In the meantime, trying to find some answers on my own, I stumbled on this http://dashcamtalk.com/dash-cam-comparison/ Bottom line? Promising cam with mediocre video quality that is too new and too little feedback for now for a conclusive review. I might buy it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
planelazy Posted January 13, 2013 Share Posted January 13, 2013 I use a GoPro on my truck, but I don't leave it on all the time. I have it set up for 960 and 30 fps, continuous loop, but with the default battery, it will only stay on for about an hour until the battery is dead. I haven't bought a new mount that would allow me to keep the cable plugged in yet but that would solve the problem. In this mode, it records 1 file every 15 minutes, and each file is about 3GB in size. Resolution is insane. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PhilT Posted January 13, 2013 Share Posted January 13, 2013 I bought a cheap $100 dashcam from eBay, front and rear camera, GPS position and speed indication. Not the best quality you will find, but it does the job pretty well. [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Go-32rjDfLA]AW 20121227 140455A - YouTube[/ame] http://www.ebay.com/itm/Dual-Separate-Lens-HD-720P-Car-DVR-Dashboard-vehicle-Camera-GPS-G-sensor-2-5-DV-/320978469626?_trksid=p5197.m1992&_trkparms=aid%3D111000%26algo%3DREC.CURRENT%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D14%26meid%3D4523937919712730760%26pid%3D100015%26prg%3D1006%26rk%3D1%26sd%3D320978469626%26 Double Award Winning Legacy GT Wagon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scoobycoupe Posted January 18, 2013 Share Posted January 18, 2013 1:08 that toyota spanked you how could you let that happen?! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tinyty Posted January 18, 2013 Share Posted January 18, 2013 I bought one of these on ebay for $200 with the power supply for auto on off. http://coretech.com.au/shop/categories/dashcams/itb100-hd/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tinyty Posted January 18, 2013 Share Posted January 18, 2013 stupid iphone again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ssbtech Posted January 20, 2013 Share Posted January 20, 2013 I bought one of these on ebay for $200 with the power supply for auto on off. http://coretech.com.au/shop/categories/dashcams/itb100-hd/ The iTronics is getting quite a bit of praise from users. The BlackVue 400 something or other is proving to be somewhat unreliable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Telifeifu Posted June 20, 2013 Share Posted June 20, 2013 Look at these items http://www.szswill.com/car-camera.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CheckYourLights Posted February 21, 2015 Share Posted February 21, 2015 Okay So it has been a year since anyone posted here, but I thought maybe it would be better to bump this over making my own thread. DashCams have come a long way since the posts here, and hopefully I can bring everyone up to speed. I had a bit of a long post typed out in LO Writer So I am going to copy and paste it here. Hello everyone. Most of you more then likely don't know me so let me introduce myself a little. I have been an avid car guy since I was a kid. I was always into Americian RWD cars. My father had Chevys and Pontiacs all his life so it was just what I had grown up around. I recently purchased a sixth gen Legacy. This is my first Subaru. I have always admired WRXs and STI cars, but as I am getting older my go fast haul ass vroom vroom days are coming to an end. Had I known that the Legacy is as much fun as it is to drive and how stable it really is I would have jumped ship years ago , and I am more then happy to be here. Anyhow a few years ago I was parked up waiting to get gas. Another driver who was not paying attention backed into my parked car pretty hard. Thankfully there were witnesses and I was able to get a few numbers and names, but this got me thinking. What if there were no witnesses? What if this person had tried to jump out and say why did you run into me trying to put me in the wrong even though I could have not been more stationary? The next day I did a little research. I ended up buying a 20 dollar DashCam a few days later of Amazon. During the next month this 20 dollar camera was nothing but hassle. It looked horrible at night, and would not record audio at all. So I decided to not buy another one, and did about a month or two of research and learned a lot thanks to DashCamTalk I learned that some DashCam sellers will lie about the quality of cameras they sell to try to get drivers to buy them claiming they are HD when they are not so on and so forth. In the recent events of two of our Sixth Gen members being involved in hit and runs with in a week or so it has inspired me to try and get out as much information out as I can to help other Legacy owners protect their car and themselves as well. After all the hassle of the accident I went through as well as looking for a cam I have become very passionate about helping others find cameras because it sucks getting burned. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CheckYourLights Posted February 21, 2015 Share Posted February 21, 2015 Camera Basics What is a DashCam? I'm sure as most of you know a DashCam will sit on your windscreen out of you way and record as you drive. You hope to never need it, but it will be your second set of eyes always watching in case someone does bump your car and take off. You will have a chance to capture their plate on video and have visual record of the events. DashCams are a set it and forget it device. You set the settings to your liking. You hide it behind your mirror. You plug it in. It will power on and start recording to a full sized or micro SD card depending on model. You never have to touch it again unless you want to review footage. The camera will record and loop over old footage automatically once the card is full. Most cameras have a button that you can tap to manually lock a video you want to save from being looped over. They also feature a G-Sensor the case of an accident the video is automatically locked from the force of impact. GoPro cameras usually do not make good DashCams because I believe only one of the latest models have added the looping. Also the price and how flashy they look can be a drawback. If you really like the look of a Go Pro but want to get something just about as good and for a better price check out the SJcam models. The Ambarella A7LS75 1080P 60FPS WiFi version is a really good camera and is way cheaper then a GoPro What should I look for? When searching for a camera there are a few things to keep an eye on. First lets get the bad things out of the way. As I have mentioned you have to keep an eye out for low quality knock offs that looks like some of the decent cameras, but have low end components inside and shoot poor video. The most common knock offs are clones of cameras called the G1W, DVR-027. And Mini-0801. A real G1W is a great camera for someone not wanting to spend a lot of money, but have a good camera. It is what most consider to be the cheapest camera any driver should look at at around 45-50 dollars. There are a few things to consider when looking for a DashCam. Video Quality Form Factor Bit Rate Build Quality Support GPS or not Screen or not Some cameras like the G1W are cheap and shoot decent video, but are not built the best, the mounts are not the best, and firmware only gets updated when a big issue is found and needed to be fixed. A step up would be something like the just released Mini 0806. This is my current favorite camera. It is small. It has a screen. It has built in GPS. It fits very nicely behind the Sixth Gen mirror and is not in the way of the driver. The pervious generation Mini the 0803 has a lot of custom firmware support from the DashCam community and I expect the Mini 0806 to fallow this as well once it has been out a little while longer. A high end camera would be something like the Vicovation Marcus 4, or anything from the Street Guardian or Panorama line up. These cameras cost a little more, but are really well built, shoot amazing video, and feature a lot of nice extra features. There are even some specialty cameras like the Innovv C3 that allow you to put the recording part of the camera in side the car and run a remote water proof lens outside if you wish. I have mounted a C3 to the bumper of a car before and driven around to catch some cool bumper footage. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Akasa Posted February 22, 2015 Share Posted February 22, 2015 I have this in my LGT. I don't have any videos on this current PC and i'm almost 800 miles away from my car at the moment, so this will have to do. The camera is listed as an A118 or a B40. https://dashcamtalk.com/b40-a118/ Shoots 1080p, 30FPS (honestly it's not bad at all), records audio if you wish, very compact, turns on when you turn the car on, turns off a minute or so after you shut your car off. I have mine hardwired, i'll go into detail with that if you wish. I would NOT drive my car without a dash cam anymore. I have had a few run-ins with idiot drivers and excessively violent road ragers where this dash cam has easily paid for itself. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CheckYourLights Posted February 22, 2015 Share Posted February 22, 2015 I would NOT drive my car without a dash cam anymore. I'm glad to see more people feel the way I do. I even suction cupped a G1W when I went test driving cars before I bought my Legacy. The A118/B40 is a great step up from the G1W with the same components, but better build quality. Recently there has even been a compactor version released as well as an even higher end version called the Street Guardian SG9665GM A SG9665GC is set to be released soon that has the compactor. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alaskajoel Posted February 22, 2015 Share Posted February 22, 2015 I have the A118 / B40 in my GTI and absolutely love it. I'm with Akasa...I will always have one from now on. Just a few bad experiences, or near misses are enough to convince you. I hard wired it with an "add-a-circuit", and it's super stealth. I can pop the microSD card out of the camera, and be watching the videos on my phone in under a minute if need be Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
error Posted February 23, 2015 Share Posted February 23, 2015 I also have an A118 dashcam hardwired into the mirror harness - here is the link to my DIY guide: http://www.subaruoutback.org/forums/99-do-yourself-illustrated-guides/178505-diy-gen-4-dash-camera-hardwire-install.html Note that A118 emits quite a bit of electromagnetic noise at certain frequencies - discussed in the linked thread. It may or may not be of importance for your particular situation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dispatch20 Posted February 24, 2015 Share Posted February 24, 2015 Thanks for the link! Very good info in that thread. I'll be buying a couple dashcams soon. I'm not sure if it will be the A118 or something else. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fishbone Posted February 24, 2015 Share Posted February 24, 2015 This is the site to watch https://dashcamtalk.com/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CheckYourLights Posted February 25, 2015 Share Posted February 25, 2015 This is the site to watch https://dashcamtalk.com/ I even keep some of these in my wallet. I have handed them out to a few people. http://i.imgur.com/s6XVVKVm.jpg Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fishbone Posted February 25, 2015 Share Posted February 25, 2015 For me, a good dashcam is one that's not flashy so it's stealth and not prone to theft, and is a "turnkey" config. This of course is above and beyond good tech at a good price, that's a given. Hook it up and it "just works", not have to fidge with it. A GoPro does not fit that bill, nor does any other cam that is not designed primarily for this purpose. I hooked up my Canon D10 for giggles, but besides making my windshield look like that of a squad car, and the cool factor, it was impractical (gotta turn on/off every damned time) and risky (break-in). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dispatch20 Posted February 25, 2015 Share Posted February 25, 2015 Just bought 2 A118Cs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
error Posted February 26, 2015 Share Posted February 26, 2015 Just bought 2 A118Cs. Are you planning to mount them both in the front to have stereoscopic video? ...like poor man's EyeSight Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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