Car Dashboard Cameras

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cruiserpilot

cruiserpilot

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So I just left the 'Chat' section watching the Russians road mayhem. I also nearly got run over by an Aston Martin DB9 in Richmond, BC last week while trying to cross the street. He was going about 120 Kmh's!!

Soes anyone here have any experience or information. I've started looking,
and this one here on Ebay seems like an interesting place to start.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Mini-Dual-R...1062639541?pt=US_Rear_View_Monitors_Cams_Kits

Now that I drive a diesel landcruiser I don't need a radar detector, so any
input here would be appreciated.
 
Thanks, I always get nervous about something for $30, but I guess less to lose if stolen. How is the image on it? Is it clear? It says microphone, have you got it mounted outside?
 
What ?? You mean to say that I've payed too much for my camera?

Just kidding. I payed $ 30 + 10 shipping. I think that is a typo on the eBay site.
 
Well, I played around with this camera and I have to say: it is çrap. :lol: Good thing I didn't spend much $ on it.

It works, but the image quality is pretty awful. You can change the resolution (640x480) in a menu, but it actually doesn't do anything to the picture quality, the software just interpolates it and actually cuts off part of the top and the bottom so it looks more 'wide screenish'. During the day, the image is too light and blurry, when dark outide, the image pretty much goes black.
The charger that came with it, lasted for about 10 minutes.

I read up on it and this camera is definitely a fake, although it has many features of the original one.

I still like the idea of a dash cam and because I bought SD cards for it I decided to go on a spending spree and buy another one, a 'real' one this time (for $70).
I will use this p.o.s. for spare parts or something. A spare suction cup and battery might come in handy... :rolleyes:

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day2.jpg


night.jpg
 
Last edited:
Well thanks for the review and let us know how the second one goes!

-Daniel Kent
 
Did you purchase another dash camera? I've been looking at more of the black box gps types. I don't need or want the flip down LCD screen as I want something very discret.

These are the ones I've found:

Cheaper one w/ LCD but highest average reviews on Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/2-7-inch-degrees-camera-recorder-logger/dp/B007PNZBRM/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_nC?ie=UTF8&colid=32V9XFCJX14B7&coliid=IY6YZL6M5CAWT

Much smaller, more discret unit. More expensive though:

http://www.amazon.com/COWON-AC1-Vehicle-Camera-Recorder/dp/B008LR0TSC/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_nC?ie=UTF8&colid=32V9XFCJX14B7&coliid=I2ZV9A7W89O42P

Another small Black Box unit:
http://www.amazon.com/SMARTY-BX1000-170-Smart-Recorder/dp/B0054KCDZQ/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1363808765&sr=1-1&keywords=Car+Black+Box
 
I ended up trying out the Cowon AC1 black box dvr recorder. It was the smallest unit I found that was somewhat reasonably priced ($160). It also didn't have the drop down LCD screen which I thought was a waste of space.

Install was very easy and I'm very pleased with the size and the video quality for the price. I'd highly recommend it! 5 mins after installing and driving someone blew through a red light right in front of me and almost crashed into cross traffic. Idiots.

Amazon link: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B008LR0TSC/?tag=ihco-20

IMG_20130323_132501_zps78282418.jpg


dashcamera_zpsd62e5f76.jpg
 
do these cameras typically have a rolling "first in - first out" type of recording system, only keeping the last xx minutes of recording and constantly refreshing?
 
Yea I believe so. The one I picked up does for sure. It starts recording and doesn't stop till the vehicle is off and will rewrite the old files (5min blocks/folders). I think it also has a motion sensor for parking lot incidents.
 
Adventure Copan said:
Well thanks for the review and let us know how the second one goes!

-Daniel Kent
Click to expand...

The new camera finally arrived today. It took almost a month to get here.
And it is way better then the cheap knock-off I had before this one. They look identical (apart from packaging) but eBay seller estore009 offers the real deal.
At first it wouldn't accept my SD cards. When I inserted the 32GB SD card, the screen went black. So I formatted the card by attaching the camera to my computer (a MacBook) and using the computer's disk utility. After that, the card was recognized and working the way it should.
I took it for a short test drive and the video looks decent (for a $70 camera that is)

Here's a clip. There is not much going on where I live ;)
 
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