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[Varche]

I am looking for a dash cam off Ebay UK or Amazon.

This one looks alright   http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/HD-1080P-CAR-DVR-Vehicle-Camera-Video-Recorder-Dash-cam-G-sensor-HDMI-GS8000L-uk-/151140905801?pt=UK_In_Car_Technology&hash=item2330b33349

but I am making that based only on it is about what I want to pay! Anything else recommended please?

Another more pertinent question is over memory card. I am guessing that the longest journey to record would be 2 possibly 3 hours. What card size and make should I get? My PC reads SD/MMC/MiniSD as well as the two bigger cards and MSPro duo. Before today I had never even heard of "The biggest can support 32 gb Class 6 or higher micro TF card" I am familiar with SD cards.

[PhilRich]

I have this one, bought in the UK (but not from this seller). It has served me well with over 18months trouble free use and I have found a 16GB microT card is sufficient for several hours of continuous use until the card is full, then the files are overwritten by new video (oldest files first). I personally have never tried anything larger than 16GB in mine so cannot comment on anything larger, but if you did not want any files from a really long trip being overwritten then you could carry a spare card? The microT cards are those found on most mobile phones and fit into a SD adapter for direct reading on your PC. Always buy your cards from a reputable source as there are loads of cheap/fake cards floating around, especially on e-bay! HTH

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Dual-Car-Camera-GPS-logger-Dash-HD-DVR-Video-Vehicle-Camera-Recorder-Crash-Cam-/321110757069?pt=UK_In_Car_Technology&hash=item4ac3b14ecd



Example of micro card & adapter:


http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2G-4G-8G-16G-4GB-8GB-16GB-Micro-SD-Card-MicroSD-TF-Memory-Card-SD-Card-Adapter-/161123928577?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&var=&hash=item2583bc0a01

[Kevin Wood]

Presumably these things write video to the flash card all the time they are running, or do they have internal RAM that buffers the video until it is written after an accident?

I'm curious because I wouldn't expect a flash card to last more than a couple of weeks if it's constantly being written to.  I've seen other applications (database stored on a flash card) where they've been hopeless.

[ianu]

Hi PhilRich, what's your experience of night time resolution. I have a cheap one that is supposed to have 'night vision' with IR leds on the front of it - but the image just looks dark to me except for the 4 feet in front of the car ?

[Rog]

Presumably these things write video to the flash card all the time they are running, or do they have internal RAM that buffers the video until it is written after an accident?

I'm curious because I wouldn't expect a flash card to last more than a couple of weeks if it's constantly being written to.  I've seen other applications (database stored on a flash card) where they've been hopeless.

I have one of the really cheap ones (£14 or so) and it writes continuously. The user can define how big the "chunks" of video are from 2 minutes each up to 10 minutes. The size and quality can also be changed however I have not seen a vast difference in file size between lowest and highest quality which is really very strange. At the highest quality a five minute clip is around 300Mb. I'm using a class 6 32Gb card that cost more than the camera !

My £14 thing has a flip up screen, so with the screen up it does not obscure vision too much

My main issue is that the one I have screws onto a sucker/screen type attachment, so the whole process of attaching/detaching to/from windscreen is a bit of a fiddle. If I got another one, ease of attachment would be my main requirement rather than any technical stuff.

[Mr Skrunts]

Went looking for GPS dash cams in google and stumbled on these.

http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/categorydisplay_storeId_10001_catalogId_10151_categoryId_265853_langId_-1?cm_mmc=GooglePPC-_-AICC%20-%20Car%20Cameras%20-%20Generic-_-Car%20Dash%20Camera-_-dash%20cam&source=ppc&_$ja=kw:dash+cam|cgn:Car+Dash+Camera|cgid:8128972669|tsid:35582|cn:AICC+-+Car+Cameras+-+Generic|cid:162934549|lid:4231677696|mt:Phrase|nw:search|crid:33475607269|dvc:c|adp:1t1&gclid=CI7XtfaH3boCFSrJtAodwRQA6A

[MR MISTER]

My life is so boring. If I bought a dash cam, every piece of video would just be a repeat of yesterday.

[PhilRich]

Hi PhilRich, what's your experience of night time resolution. I have a cheap one that is supposed to have 'night vision' with IR leds on the front of it - but the image just looks dark to me except for the 4 feet in front of the car ?

[/highlight]





Hi ianu
Nightime picture quality will be entirely down to available light levels & the quality of any particular camera's sensor and lens.
Mine gives very good picture quality in built up areas with good street lighting and even on unlit rural roads captures acceptable images that would satisfy any accident investigator as to the probably cause, apportion blame etc; the rearward facing camera on mine gives rather dark images inside the cars interior as you might expect, but the driver and front seat passenger are very visible with just the instrument illumination and the outside view at the rear is clear enough to prove blame in any incident. As to IR leds, I believe they are a gimmick rather than of any real use. Incidentally, mine saves the video files in 132MB chunks and 'locks' any file from both 30 seconds before and after, any unusually accelerated or decreased G forces as in a collision etc are detected and these cannot be overwritten by the camera. HTH  

[PhilRich]

My life is so boring. If I bought a dash cam, every piece of video would just be a repeat of yesterday.

Until the day some twot hits you and brightens up your day steve!

[Entwood]

I have one of the early "roadhawks" [RH-1] ... extremely impressed.. still excellent quality after 4 years on the same memory card ..

latest ones here...

http://domestic.roadhawk.co.uk/#tab-solution

[Dan282]

I have a smartcam 2 HD. It was about 30 quid of ebay and with a 16 mb card I get 4 hours of video. Quality is excellent once uploaded as is the sound.

[ianu]

Hi PhilRich, what's your experience of night time resolution. I have a cheap one that is supposed to have 'night vision' with IR leds on the front of it - but the image just looks dark to me except for the 4 feet in front of the car ?

[/highlight]





Hi ianu
Nightime picture quality will be entirely down to available light levels & the quality of any particular camera's sensor and lens.
Mine gives very good picture quality in built up areas with good street lighting and even on unlit rural roads captures acceptable images that would satisfy any accident investigator as to the probably cause, apportion blame etc; the rearward facing camera on mine gives rather dark images inside the cars interior as you might expect, but the driver and front seat passenger are very visible with just the instrument illumination and the outside view at the rear is clear enough to prove blame in any incident. As to IR leds, I believe they are a gimmick rather than of any real use. Incidentally, mine saves the video files in 132MB chunks and 'locks' any file from both 30 seconds before and after, any unusually accelerated or decreased G forces as in a collision etc are detected and these cannot be overwritten by the camera. HTH

get what you pay for ultimately - so I'll live with it for now. One way or another it should still show if anything comes across my path - or I  deviate from my intended path  .
I need to tweak its position to stop the glare from the sky burning out the rest of the image though.
Just ordered a second one too for the other car as my daughter passed her test last Thursday and was then involved in an accident as a passenger in her friends car when a car came across their path on a country road...

As a side thought - if you've got kids approaching driving age - you can make some great hazard perception clips to practice on 

Cheers
Ian.

[chrisgixer]

My life is so boring. If I bought a dash cam, every piece of video would just be a repeat of yesterday.

Until the day some twot hits you and brightens up your day steve!

Quite.

Can you can guarantee that Esta?

[biggriffin]

The best is the roadhawk DC1. 32 gb card gives 8hr of quality footage,its got built in gps linked to Google maps,shows speed,and G-shock.

[Nick W]

Interesting that this has just come up, as I collected my 'Mini 0801' from the Royal Fail this morning. I stuck it behind the mirror before leaving work, and it seems to work well even in the dark. Gives GPS and a bunch of other settings I'll play with over the next few days. Plus I need to hard wire it to an ignition switched live, hopefully there'll be one above the courtesy light.

I can't see the need for a huge amount of storage, as you'll only really want the last few mins before the crash!