Car Dash Cams

[brad jones]

Anyone have an inexpensive Dash Cam they've bought that they liked? I want to get something that does good video, loops, and otherwise simply works. I'd prefer to get it from Amazon or somewhere easily accessible locally or online. In looking at reviews, I get lots of mixed messages on what is good and what isn't without spending hundreds of dollars. Most of the video samples I've seen that siad they were HiDef looked like junk and dithered really bad when looked at in full screen.

Thanks!

Brad!

[dilettante]

See Techmoan for some reviews of numerous dashcams. These go back a few years so perhaps only the recent ones are worth viewing because this sort of product seems to have a rather short market-life before being replaced by a new version or a different product line.

I believe he even hosts downloads of the raw files in many cases, and his reviews go into a lot of practical matters and tests unlike your typical useless "product review" that often merely parrots a spec sheet couched in glowing terms.

[brad jones]

Thanks. Interesting stuff. I watched part of a couple of his videos. His reviews are good, but this still leaves me hunting through a lot of files instead of honing in on a few good options.....

[dilettante]

There seem to be tons of variations in feature-sets though (built-in GPS, dual-lens, 1080p, etc.) making head to head comparisons a personal thing. They also vary a lot in terms of night/low-light performance, glare reduction, maintaining shadow-depth when sunward, and so on.

I suspect there just isn't any small set of near-ideal products, and even if there were... frequent product changes can turn gold into garbage with a "minor" product update.

He also has this page that might help you sort out what videos to bother with.

[Sitten Spynne]

I'm on the market myself, I've been using this site's buying guide and it seems pretty thorough. Can't comment on any of the cameras just yet, I've got other places to commit the money right now.

[brad jones]

So is "good" better or worse than "average" on that site.
I'll have to look closer at that site. They include video samples, which seems to be very important in seeing what a camera can do!

Side note...
I actually just spent $16 US (yeah, $16) for one from China. I should arrive in about the next year or so... or a few weeks. I don't expect it to actually do much of anything, but it will be something to play with until a find the "right" one to spend real money on!

[brad jones]

There are too many people weaving over lanes as they chat obliviously on their cell phones.

I want to record for liability and to document what others are doing on the road. I also want to use some of the video in video projects (aka vacation video) type things as well. Primary purpose, however, is to document the 'stupid' things other drivers are doing around me.

[dilettante]

There are too many people weaving over lanes as they chat obliviously on their cell phones.

I want to record for liability and to document what others are doing on the road. I also want to use some of the video in video projects (aka vacation video) type things as well. Primary purpose, however, is to document the 'stupid' things other drivers are doing around me.

There was once some car insurance industry exploration of a "bounty" program.

The basic idea was dashcam footage with embedded metadata about your GPS position, time and date, and current speed (based on GPS data I assume). They'd operate a web site where dashcam users could register for the bounty program. When you got "footage" of some nutjob passing you on the right, speeding past you over the limit, bobbing and swerving due to distractions, etc. you could upload it for review.

If they determined it was sufficiently incriminating info they'd raise the insurance rates of the vehicle based on the plate number (remember, at least in the U.S. they nominally "insure vehicles, not drivers" through legal contortions). You'd get paid a bounty, some fraction of the rate increase, for turning the hazardous behavior in.

I think it ran into some legal complications though. The dashcams would probably have to be more expensive in order to somehow fingerprint (crypto-sign?) video segments so that tampering could be detected. Not to mention the expense of paying people in low-wage countries to review so many hours of recorded video and analyze it.

[dilettante]

You could not be any more wrong. The most blatant example would be a policy with mother, father, and 18 year old son; the son gets involved in an accident causing the rates to go up more than what they already are for having a young driver; the son decides to split off parents policy because he purchases his own vehicle; the parents premium drops dramatically because the accident surcharge is removed(because surcharges follow the driver and not the vehicle) and the young driver is no longer insured on their policy.

Sorry. You have the events correct but not the reasons.

Some states accepted law change loopholes 30 years ago that permit the scenario you described, even though it has some nasty consequences. To do that the parents have to declare a driver exclusion for their son, and not all insurance companies have to honor such a request unless the resident relative has insured his/her own vehicle.

See myth: car insurance follows the driver

I worked for the Michigan Secretary of State for over 20 years, and while there worked at the federal level with the AAMVA. I wasn't involved in policy and certainly won't claim to know everything on the subject, but I'm not just talking through my hat either.

[RobDog888]

How about this $93 cam?
https://nationalparksdepot.us/pages/4kactioncamlanding

[dilettante]

Well legal issues or otherwise, the "bounty" program was a non-starter.