eBay dash cams??

JustAnotherSaver

I worked with a couple of people who bought one of these dash cams off eBay for the £20-£40 price bracket. Unfortunately they've since moved elsewhere & i've no contact with them to ask about them. I do remember one of them had an accident & had it not been for his dash cam, the claim would've gone 50-50.

So just a few wonderings...

1) Do you need to press some sort of 'start record' button every time? Or do they just record automatically, as soon as you plug them in, or turn the car on?

2) How do you stop a journey from getting wiped? For example - you drive from A-B, turn the engine off. Then you drive from B-A. How do you stop B-A journey from overwriting A-B journey?

3) If you need to use video evidence in the event of a claim, does it HAVE to have sound?

4) Any recommendations from any of you who may have bought one of these?


Was thinking of picking one up for both my wife & myself.

scotsbob

Recording starts when you switch on the ignition. Usually they record in segments, I set mine to 5 min segments. When capacity of disc is reach the oldest is wiped and recorded over.
You have the option to use sound if you want it, I suppose useful if some road rager came to your car and started threatening you.


The model I use is the Mobius, if you look at the Techmoan channel on Youtube he has reviewed just about every make and model available

neilmcl

scotsbob wrote: »

Recording starts when you switch on the ignition.

To be more accurate, the recording starts when the camera is powered on, and that'll depend when your power source, in most cases the 12v cigarette lighter socket you use gets power, which is usually when the ignition is switched on.

facade

Halfords had an offer over Easter on the Nextbase dashcams. I bought a 212, they gave me 10% off with my Britishcycling card so it was £53.

Has a "magnetic" attachment to the mount, so you can remove it and take it inside.

Picture quality is not as good as I expected (was hoping it was as good as a GoPro that costs hundreds), but it works fine.

I keep the sound muted, otherwise you end up with those Sweary Mary videos you see on the "I'm a Snitch" channels.

You also need to buy a memory card whatever you get, so that is another £8 or so.

The Halfords offer has finished and the 212 is £69 now, but they will have another offer before long...

jk0

I bought two memory cards. I keep one in the machine, and one in my ashtray. Any time there is footage I wish to keep, I swap the cards after switching off and download to my computer at home. Then that card goes back in the ashtray.

pompeyrich

Most dashcams have a "g force" sensors that if activated by sudden jolts prevent that portion of the recording from being overwritten.

tykesi

facade wrote: »

I bought a 212, they gave me 10% off with my Britishcycling card so it was £53.

Picture quality is not as good as I expected (was hoping it was as good as a GoPro that costs hundreds), but it works fine.

Wow..... Just wow :T

Iceweasel

tykesi wrote: »

Wow..... Just wow :T

If you want decent picture quality - i.e. reading numberplates clearly - then you need to spend a whole lot more than £53.

facade

Iceweasel wrote: »

If you want decent picture quality - i.e. reading numberplates clearly - then you need to spend a whole lot more than £53.

Intellectually, I know this, but I was taken in by hype, like "cameras have come on a lot recently" "The Chinese Gulag prisoners are doing a good job"

You are correct, if you want to read the numberplate, you really do need to ram the car

What it is good for though, is being so obtrusive, the cash for crash scammers should easily see it in their mirror and not bother

bob_a_builder

What it is good for though, is being so obtrusive, the cash for crash scammers should easily see it in their mirror and not bother

Ah ! - maybe a market for 'dummy' dash cams ?

Double_V

I am using BlackVue HD with power magic, so that if I want to leave it recorded when the car is parked I can do that. Or when it detects movements and starts recording.
Otherwise it is just in standby mode.
And it comes on automatically when you turn on the car.

Different cameras allows you connect differently.
I have seen some even lets you plug into cigarette lighter bit.