Anyone recommend an In car camera? (not too dear!)

scotsbob

I use the Autoboy app in my phone, with the phone in a holder attached by suction pad to the windsreen.

terrylamps

I've got a smartcam2 HD. Paid £75 for it but it doesn't come with a sd card but that only cost me £12 for a Sandisk class 10 16gb extreme card. Does the job perfectly. Records on loop so no need to keep deleting the old files from the card. You can also protect a segment of recording so it doesn't got recorded over or you can just transfer the file to your computer. Automatically starts recording when it is plugged into the cig lighter in your car and stops recording once power is cut to the camera. You can set it on motion sensor and it will start recording if it detects motion. I don't bother with this though as i never leave it in the car. Also has night vision.

Bought it after recently being involved in a non fault accident that the other party is disputing. Wish i had bought it earlier, would have saved me so much hassle right now.

forgotmyname

Night vision on a car cam is pointless. Short range anyway but in the car it reflects off the screen.

Having to take it in and out of the car is the PITA issue. Plug it in and mount it each time. You will get fed up of that after a while and wont bother using it.

But you cannot leave it in unless you only ever park in secured parking.

Use a normal carpark and it will be gone rather quickly.

terrylamps

I agree the night vision isn't much cop. I've tried it with and without the night vision switched on at night and it records no different so i don't bother with that either. As long as there are street lights it will pick up enough. I leave my camera attached to the mount and put the whole thing in the glove box when i'm out and about and just bring it in when i get home. Takes me less than 30 seconds to attach it to the window and to get it recording. My OH still thinks it's abit of a pain, especially if he's just nipping somewhere but that's because i kept changing my mind about where to put it and at what angle so i think i confused him lol. I've sorted that now so hopefully he'll get used to it. Either way, the one time you don't use it will be the time when you wish you had so i'm taking no chances.

tight_scotsman

Try the car camera warehouse .com the guy is from stockton and will discuss your requirments over the phone i have one of his cameras in my coach. does the job and his cameras start from around £45.

A lot of ebay stuff comes from china hong kong ect and takes ages to be delivered heard a lot of proffesional drivers have been stung buying from these sellers based overseas.

Bowling_4_Gold

I've had the dashcam (mentioned in my previous post on this thread) for a few weeks now and it's done fine. I've routed and cable-tied the cables around my windscreen so it's not in any way distracting.

From the outside it isn't really visible. It's very discreet behind the internal mirror.



I find the software you need to use to get video off the card easy to navigate. Yes you can't combine the video and GPS data in the same exported video but it is easy enough to save a KML of the GPS data- if you need to. I can't think why an insurer would refuse video evidence on the basis that there wasn't any GPS data.

See the video below for what I caught with it yesterday. The car's boot atop the badly loaded truck almost scrapes the gantry! Apologies for quality, it is better in reality- but TinyPic compresses it.

View My Video

The camera cost £35 off eBay from China. Took a while to come but has performed well and suits my needs. The cigarette lighter in my car doesn't work so I needed a 5v camera in order to use the USB slot on my radio for power- which works nicely for this.

forgotmyname

I buy stuff from china and it takes 8 - 14 days, 99% of the time.

Buyers being stung? If you do the homework and know what your buying then its a risk free process.

If it says HD and its 1280x960 then its upscaled and not real HD.

You must read the specs properly.

neilmcl

forgotmyname wrote: »

I buy stuff from china and it takes 8 - 14 days, 99% of the time.

Buyers being stung? If you do the homework and know what your buying then its a risk free process.

If it says HD and its 1280x960 then its upscaled and not real HD.

You must read the specs properly.

Eh? The minimum resolution to be classed HD is 1280x720, and full HD being 1920x1080. In other words 1280x960 would indeed be classed as "real HD" as you put it.

terrylamps

I bought mine from a uk seller on ebay and received it the next day. There are some fakes of this camera going around (probably coming from china) but it's easy to see if it's a fake (once you get it). The timestamp on the fakes are green and not very clear. The genuine ones are white. Video resolution is 1080p. Not sure it's full hd but it's sharp enough.