Dash Cams
Submitted: Wednesday, Feb 22, 2017 at 13:36
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Gundarooster
Guys,
I'm thinking about a dash cam to record our travels, I'd like to be able to download the vision for a days travels if I think it is worth keeping, so not sure how many hours? (Minutes?) they store on board??
Plan to use it on road when towing and off road when in the bush.
Any recommendations?
Gazza
Reply By: Notso - Wednesday, Feb 22, 2017 at 14:41
Wednesday, Feb 22, 2017 at 14:41
I've got a Garmin NuviCam a combined GPS and DashCam. It has an 8 gig card in it but I think it'll take up to 32.
1 minute of video takes up about 60mb data space so calculate that out, I think its a lot of minutes!!!!
AnswerID:
608797
Reply By: TomH - Wednesday, Feb 22, 2017 at 14:59
Wednesday, Feb 22, 2017 at 14:59
I have 3 Blackvue dash cams and while not the cheapest they are HD and the newer ones are wifi enabled allow you to watch on a smartphone.
The easiest way to download is pull the micro sd card and stick it in a PC Depending on the capacity of the card it could record up to 9 hours at full HD.
Mine have GPS and show date and speed and in the supplied viewer can show in Google maps.
We downloaded every night when in the USA but there is only so much bitumen you can watch without being bored out of your mind. Off road may be more interesting.
A DR 450 HD (Non Wifi) with the optional GPS is a good model
I bought
mine here
https://dashcamsaustralia.com.au/shop/dashcams/blackvue/blackvue-dr450-1ch/
I use 3M duallock tape to fix them to the windscreen as it is easily pulled apart so you can use the camera in different cars.
Look on this site for RELIABLE reviews of dashcams www.dashcamtalk.com
If you do a search on the form there are a few threads with photos in recent times
![On Holiday DR 500GW HD](https://cdn.exploroz.com/images/forum/uploads/155527_40__TN600F.jpg?gid=147697)
On Holiday DR 500GW HD
![Boring even at that speed LOL](https://cdn.exploroz.com/images/forum/uploads/155527_42__TN600F.jpg?gid=147699)
Boring even at that speed LOL
AnswerID:
608798
Follow Up By: vk1dx - Wednesday, Feb 22, 2017 at 23:40
Wednesday, Feb 22, 2017 at 23:40
We have a Blackvue in the Maxima. Now to save for one for the 100 series.
Phil
FollowupID:
878565
Follow Up By: vk1dx - Friday, Feb 24, 2017 at 02:13
Friday, Feb 24, 2017 at 02:13
Hi Tom Drop me an email. I would like to send you a message with a few questions in it. OT for any curious reader. Just for Tom and I.
Email: vk1dx@bigpond.net.au
Phil
FollowupID:
878602
Reply By: Dean K3 - Wednesday, Feb 22, 2017 at 20:24
Wednesday, Feb 22, 2017 at 20:24
Begs q plan to do any 3rd party POV (point of view) water crossing over sand dunes or my favorite watching 4wd run over the camera along track ?
If the answer is yes then maybe consider a sports cam as they can be used for both applications -read some of the better ones
dashcam I have a navman Mivue something gives GPS and speed reading which at times may cause you bit of trouble if it says you were speeding by a km or two -depends on the smart arse lawyer.
Usually lasts for up to a week using 32mb card but then if you were to drive for full12 hrs probably loop around and wipe previous footage -the downside is when i take still photos it doesn't give speed or gps co-ordinates.
sports cam have a unit similar to a gopro (HD 1080P) uses same attachments and has wifi feature so I can remotely operate it from safe distance and turn off on to save card memory and battery - essential for motorsport footage
AnswerID:
608816
Reply By: Malcom M - Thursday, Feb 23, 2017 at 11:00
Thursday, Feb 23, 2017 at 11:00
You really don't want one that creates a huge 8 hour video. Thats terribly inefficient and slows the system to a crawl.
The better cams save the footage in chunks typically 3-7 minutes in length. Any longer and the time to constantly write the file means you need a much bigger unit.
Plenty of software out there to stitch the segments together should you really wish do so.
If you want an action cam then buy on of those. Quite a different animal.
AnswerID:
608831
Follow Up By: Member - Ian T6 - Thursday, Feb 23, 2017 at 23:31
Thursday, Feb 23, 2017 at 23:31
As as trip recording camera an action camera ( gopro or similar) has a heap of features unsuited to dash cam but excellent as trip camera. Although you can still stick it to dash as one
Timelapse .5 to 30 sec
Battery protable
Wifi and blue tooth connection to phone/laptop
Selectable field of view
Waterproof
Selectable resolution
FollowupID:
878601
Reply By: 9900Eagle - Thursday, Feb 23, 2017 at 13:06
Thursday, Feb 23, 2017 at 13:06
Gaz,
this site offers a very good review of dash cams. It doesn't pull any punches and prints any faults with the products. It also tells you where to purchase different cameras so you don't get caught out by fake copies.
I use one that is very basic and it has been faultless. It is at the bottom end of the spectrum price wise. It doesn't have a battery but uses capacitors instead. I get around 8 hours of video with the sd card I fitted, before it starts to over right the oldest 3 minute segments, can't remember but there I think there were 3 time periods you could choose from.
If something interesting happens I just note the time so I can find that part of the video easily. Just remember you have to format the sd card before use.
Anyway the site will give you all the specs for each camera.
Here is the site.
Dash cam talk
AnswerID:
608836
Reply By: TomH - Thursday, Feb 23, 2017 at 13:23
Thursday, Feb 23, 2017 at 13:23
Most including the Blackvue cameras include a viewer which enables you to look at your videos later on a PC or laptop or if Wifi enabled on a smartphone or tablet
In the Blackvue viewer it plays the 3 minute sequences in order seamlessly.
If you want to edit and make a video out of them there is software to do it I use Wondershare Video Converter
The 3 min sequences overlap so you dont miss anything as the camera buffers the feed and starts next one off a few secs before the prev one finishes.
Remember the camera only sees what you are actually looking at yourself.
If you want "out of the car looking in" video you need an action cam or a good smart phone.
I had literally hundreds of hours taken overseas and they were boring as bats**t mainly. I only kept some that the camera caught in interesting
places. Rest of the time used a video camera and wife had a still camera.
Why do you mention "when towing" as the camera only looks out the front unless like me you have one in the rear as
well and if towing you would be better with a rear vision camera perhaps
AnswerID:
608837
Reply By: Hoyks - Thursday, Mar 02, 2017 at 11:07
Thursday, Mar 02, 2017 at 11:07
I got a Street Guardian from these guys.
http://www.dashcamownersaus.com.au/street-guardian-sg9665gc-v3-128gb It has good clear video and I don't have to mess with it at all, so I suppose that makes it a good thing. The unit is reasonably small and fits up behind the mirror. It also has a small screen so you can play back on the side of the road. Bluetooth to a phone would be a better, but isn't an option on these though.
I set it so that it records everything in 1.5min blocks and runs 24/7. It only records when driving and when it senses movement when parked, it also has a remote GPS antenna which makes the unit smaller, but then you need to put a GPS antenna somewhere else on the screen. I put it in the top left corner and I don't even notice it now.
It makes a good fly on the wall too. I forgot to unplug it and it did a really good job of spying on the mechanics when I had a service last week. You can tell if your pride and joy copped a hiding on its road
test.
Apparently it will record 16 hrs on the 128gb card, a 256 is also an option.
I leave it mounted and can 'pop' the card out the side and load it into the reader and plug it into the laptop. Downloading takes a while, but I have a program called
Registrator Viewer that allows you to play back the 300 x 1.5min files and easily group them into trips and save that in 1 file, or cut small clips out and save that. It also hooks to google maps and shows where you were when the clip was taken.
If I lost this one, I'd get another. It works
well.
AnswerID:
609085
Follow Up By: Baz - The Landy - Thursday, Mar 02, 2017 at 11:38
Thursday, Mar 02, 2017 at 11:38
I have one also and gets my vote...
Cheers, Baz - The Landy
FollowupID:
878847