Spec me a dashcam

[Dollymarie]

Sooo, Father Christmas is intending to buy me a dashcam. Was wondering if anyone had one that they can recommend. I’d prefer one to be as easy as possible to set up and use, ideally powered by USB as I have three of those points available in the car.

Also good ideas about mounting it in the car. I’ve got my sat nav on one of those wonder holders which works fine, so I could just have two of those, but any other ideas would be helpful. 

Ta  

[Erithacus]

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Hit http://www.autoexpress.co.uk/accessories-tyres/85714/best-dashcams-2017-reviews-and-all-you-need-to-know

[CrazyInWeston]

The best place that the police would legally let you place a dashcam is snug behind the left side of your rear view mirror. The tighter the better, having said that however, I've seen someone mount a proper Sony camcorder to his actual dashboard and got away with it. (I know the bloke, was stopped by police) Still, place it behind the left side of your rear view mirror.

I've owned a Nextbase 512G, Garmin 20, Cobra 840E, a cheapy Argos £15 camera and the one I currently use, the Nextbase 412GW.

What many dont know that its also illegal to have the screen display turned on while driving. This is rectified as you can in settings "Select screen timeout" after x number of seconds.

All 5 of my cameras that I've owned has beset me with problems. My NB 512G had a sound issue, it would "rattle" because its buttons build quality wasnt good enough and the mic picked up the plastic buttons rattling in transit, however I had the earlier models and I've seen from current 512GW models it seems Nextbase has fixed this. My Garmin 20 no longer works, same with the Cobra 840E. The cheapy £15 camera Argos sells claims to be HD but the picture quality is crap, it really really is, you might have well used a potato.

I currently use the Nextbase 412GW and I've just had to spend £20 on buying a new suction holder because the original broke whilst driving.

The best camera out of those I've used was the Nextbase 512G - So I'd get the Nextbase 512GW, but the Nextbase 412GW is a very close second.

I hope though, after all that, it hasnt put you off. They are invaluable when it comes to proving you were not at fault in an accident.

You mentioned USB, While they can be powered by a USB it wont be an auto turn on/turn off automatic recording and you'll have to manually set it to record every time. They all come with a cig lighter socket plug and a USB PC wire. Most if not all will treat the USB wire as a PC connection. I'd invest in getting a cig socket splitter like I've got. I've got a 3 into 1 cig lighter plug that enables me to plug 3 cig lighter plugs at once, and I use all 3. One for my dashcam obv, but one to keep my phone charged and the 3rd one is an FM radio adapter, it enables my cars radio to pick up whatever songs playing on my phone since my car radio doesnt have USB or Bluetooth, not even a headphone jack. (Yeah my car is old)

If you still cannot use a cig lighter socket, a 3rd option is a "hardwire" kit. This means that instead of plugging into your USB or cig lighter socket, it plugs directly to the car battery. This means unplugging your camera every time you dont want to use it, where USB or cig lighter means its only on when ignition is on (caveat most cars cig lighter turns off when ignition is off, some cars cig lighter stays on when engine is off... like mine does, very annoying)

Edit: Many will come with an adhesive mount as an alternative to the suction holder. With the current crop of Nextbase cameras, I'd suggest fixing the adhesive mount to the windscreen, as they have a magnetic clip on/clip off fixing for their cameras now, no need to remove the suction/mount just the camera. I lost my adhesive mount by the time my Nextbase 412GW suction cup broke. If you got a Nextbase, I'd strongly advise you to the adhesive mount and keep the suction mount as back up.

[Guest]

Transcend dash cams very good. I’ve had mine 2-3 years now 

[Taz]

Argos used to do one by Cobra. Don't ever buy one if they still do them.

The lead was too short to hide it anywhere, it had to hang from the screen to the socket. It didn't "loop" the recordings even though you'd ask it (loop means it writes over the older stuff when the card is full), and within a year the screen display went, and it looked like a scrambled 90s adult channel broadcast. Lost the receipt so couldn't do anything with it other than buy a Nextbase, which is good.

The old one currently sits on my rear window so it looks like it's recording. Does work as more than once I've had someone get right up my backside, see the camera and then back off.

[CrazyInWeston]

1 hour ago, Taz said:

The old one currently sits on my rear window so it looks like it's recording. Does work as more than once I've had someone get right up my backside, see the camera and then back off.

Nice bluff there mate. I too used to hang one in the rear window of my previous car and it amazed me actually that some people would still break the law, either never saw the camera or think the law didnt apply to them. Only difference was that my rear camera was actually recording. Cant do this atm with my current car as all my sockets are used up.

You're right with the lead also, it is too short with Cobra cameras and they charge £30 for the longer one that you NEED. The wire needs to loop around the edges of the windscreen. I got around it by using lead supplied by one of my other cameras that failed/broke.

[Midred]

Are these to film the cyclists who are filming everyone else? The mounting in the car

I've absolutely no experience of !