Dash cams

[Eagle]

I'm looking for a dash cam. Two years ago I was in an accident with my 2000 Cherokee, and it would have been very helpful to me if I had a dash cam, because it would have shown that the woman whose SUV I rear-ended had just cut in front of me and then slammed on her brakes. So, in the best tradition of locking the barn door after the horse has been stolen, I want a dash cam ... but I don't have a lot of discretionary money to throw at it.

 

I tried one from Amazon, and it was so bad I gave it away. But in researching again after that experience, I realized that I really want one that includes my velocity in the readout ... and not many models have that feature. I stopped at a Best Buy on my way home from an appointment at the VA hospital today. They only had one dash came with a speed display -- a Garmin unit that sells for $149.95. That's more than I was hoping to spend. Does anyone know of any other options?

[Jeep Driver]

Like anything and everything, you'll get what you pay for. 

 

I was going to point you to the KimKomando show, worth a listen, she sold one until recently...store closed and she is reformatting. 

https://www.komando.com/cars-trucks-tech/388885/the-right-dash-cam-for-every-driver

 

 

But here-

 

https://www.digitaltrends.com/cars/best-dash-cams/

[Pete M]

just bought my second one of these:  https://www.ebay.com/itm/Anytek-X28-1080P-HD-Car-DVR-Camera-WiFi-G-sensor-ADAS-Video-Recorder-Dash-Cam/292807559841

 

$20 bucks shipped from china.  no speed readout though.  I'll see how much effort it's going to be to produce a snippet of the quality but it's light years ahead of the $10 one I was experimenting with.   you can always get a second device that tracks your speeds.  I've seen ones that plug into the obd2 port and use gps to track you around. 

[Pete M]

heck, a modern phone might be able to keep track of your speeds and such via an app.  you can totally big-brother yourself  

 

 

[Dzimm]

I use a cheap/generic one as well, think I paid $40 on Amazon.  Nothing special about it but the video quality is decent and it's worked for over two years and still going so it's doing it's job. 

 

For speed tracking though, I think you immediately jump to the "premium" market and are going to have to get a name brand of some kind.  Like Pete said, maybe look into another option for speed tracking if you don't find a dashcam you like.

[Eagle]

6 hours ago, Pete M said:

just bought my second one of these:  https://www.ebay.com/itm/Anytek-X28-1080P-HD-Car-DVR-Camera-WiFi-G-sensor-ADAS-Video-Recorder-Dash-Cam/292807559841

 

$20 bucks shipped from china.  no speed readout though.  I'll see how much effort it's going to be to produce a snippet of the quality but it's light years ahead of the $10 one I was experimenting with.   you can always get a second device that tracks your speeds.  I've seen ones that plug into the obd2 port and use gps to track you around. 

 

An OBD-2 recorder could be helpful, but the advantage of a dash cam with speed recording is that if a cop pulls you over, you can play it back for him/her on the spot and possibly avoid a ticket rather than having to go to court and attempt to have the ticket thrown out.

 

I'll have to look into phone apps. I have a "burner" cell phone I bought just to experiment with apps. If there is something that will do the job, I can finally put my "burner" phone to good use.

[Eagle]

Okay, with respect to phone apps: There are a metric boatload of free speedometer apps for Android. Enough to thoroughly confuse an old dinosaur like me. From the descriptions, many of them will record the highest speed for a trip, but that's not much help. Suppose in one trip I have a leg on a highway with a 65 MPH speed limit and I drive that leg at 65. After leaving the highway, I travel on a 2-lane state road with a 40 MPH speed limit and a cop pulls me over and claims I was going 52 MPH. I know I wasn't going more than 42 MPH.

 

I need an app that will keep a log of speed vs. time -- not elapsed time, but clock time. Does anyone know of any Android apps that will do this?

 

Has anyone played with this app: https://appcrawlr.com/android/speedview-gps-speedometer

 

Or this one: https://appcrawlr.com/android/aa-gps-hud-speedometer-plus#authors-description

 

 

[NHMJXJ]

On 3/22/2019 at 6:01 PM, Eagle said:

Two years ago I was in an accident with my 2000 Cherokee

 

I remember you posting something about that ... Didn't that wind up in your favor eventually?

 

At any rate, dash cams are a double edged sword.  They'll help or condemn you.  As to recorded speed, I'd just assume not. 

 

Verizon offered HUM for OBDII ... totally big brother.  All of that technology is used to hang you, not help you.  

 

[Eagle]

15 minutes ago, NHMJXJ said:

 

I remember you posting something about that ... Didn't that wind up in your favor eventually?

 

 

The only way it was resolved "in my favor" was that they didn't total my baby. I was nonetheless automatically considered to have been at fault because I rear ended the other vehicle, and I had no way of proving that she cut me off. So my insurance paid to repair my Cherokee and the other driver's car. That meant that my premiums went up, and will remain elevated for two more years.

[Jeep Driver]

Couple of things here-

 

One, never ever argue with a cop, for any reason. Never show 'evidence' to a cop, it will be confiscated. 

You will accept your ticket THEN have your day in court. 

I have represented myself pro se twice and I prevailed twice. 

 

 

Secondly, your cam device MUST-

Record high resolution vids. 

Record GPS location. 

Record speed. 

Record the time during the infraction and voice during the stop. 

Must be seamless and unedited. 

 

 

Multiple devices recording different data will not be considered as evidence. 

 

 

You show up in court with your grainy, no data, no voice, POS $49 Amazon garbage and any judge with throw you out on your @$$. 

 

 

And even then your device will not stand up against a state certified radar gun.......ain't gonna happen. 

 

You better be smarted than they are. 

 

[Dzimm]

32 minutes ago, Jeep Driver said:

You show up in court with your grainy, no data, no voice, POS $49 Amazon garbage and any judge with throw you out on your @$$. 

And even then your device will not stand up against a state certified radar gun.......ain't gonna happen.

I would definitely see them throwing the "ours is certified, yours isn't" card all day long but having something to show couldn't hurt. 

 

Any device to record speed I think would mostly help in a situation where you were in an accident and speed could cause it to sway to your fault in some way.  

 

As for the cheap dashcams, anything is better than nothing (as long as it doesn't prove you guilty for something), even a grainy image can tell weather you crossed a lane marking, ran a red light, rolled a stop sign, or someone cut you off.  I just wouldn't rely on it entirely to get you out of a ticket.  And I certainly agree, I wouldn't argue with a cop over it on the spot.

 

Another thing to consider, if you go to court and fight a ticket, at least in Iowa, you still have to pay the court fees if you win the judgment.  In the tickets I've had or seen, that would only take about $20 off the fine.  Not worth wasting an entire day for in my opinion.  

[SenorT]

Dash cams seem like such a double edged sword to me.  In Atlanta, average highway speed is around 70 when traffic isn't causing a slowdown. That's regardless of the posted limit.  I've seen enough vids of folks capturing the zaniness around here, but I'm sure I'd somehow manage to record myself doing something stupid, or even just driving well over the posted limit but in the flow of traffic.  Also, I'm sure they're set up where you don't have to fool with them, but generally anything with your hands on your phone is technically illegal in GA.

[whowey]

On 3/24/2019 at 3:59 PM, SenorT said:

, but generally anything with your hands on your phone is technically illegal in GA.

 

So is stopping your car in the middle of the interstate and getting out... and paper license plates with the words  License Plate, but that sure doesn't deter Atlanta drivers.

 

I have that 'fancy' Garmin one for $149. I used it when I tried my hand at Uber driving.  It worked really well for what it was.  My complaint was that only one lens could be active at a time.  For my use, I wanted both lenses to be able to be recorded at the same time,

[Eagle]

I've tried phone dash cam apps. Two that came highly recommended were AutoBoy Blackbox, and AutoGuard Blackbox.

 

AutoBoy looked good -- except that when you play back the video clip, the speed and location data are AWOL. Which makes it useless.

 

AutoGuard defaults to assuming you want to upload your videos to Youtube. When I tried to run it, it hit me with a screen demanding the log-in for my Youtube account. I don't (and probably won't) have a Youtube account, so I had nothing to enter -- and I couldn't get beyond that screen without providing the requested log-in. So ... AutoGuard was also useless.

 

Considering this one: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00OTZWJE2/ref=ask_ql_qh_dp_hza