Why dashcams are so important.

neilmcl

vikingaero wrote: »

AFAIK at the moment only BMW have an aftermarket dashcam - the BMW Car Eye dashcam which is around £329 fitted.

Not very subtle, is it.

kirkofski

deaston wrote: »

I agree they're important, but they're just so ugly. Stuck to the windscreen with the cable draped down the centre console to be plugged into the 12v. It's the only reason I don't have one. The cable draped down the dash would drive me insane.

Why don't manufacturers fit them in the rear view mirror, for example. It could record constantly onto a hidden hard drive.

They don't have to look ugly. Just avoid some of the awful ones Halfords sell, there's no need for them to be that big. This took me about 2 hours to install and there's about 1 inch of cable on show;

spira9

Since we're on the topic of dashcams. Can anyone recommend one with good battery life and not too expensive. I use the transcend drivepro 200 and the battery lasts only 10 minutes.

interstellaflyer

deaston wrote: »

I agree they're important, but they're just so ugly. Stuck to the windscreen with the cable draped down the centre console to be plugged into the 12v. It's the only reason I don't have one. The cable draped down the dash would drive me insane.

A little effort and the cable can easily be almost entirely concealed, the only exposed wiring on mine is a short bit to the front of the dash and enough to enable it to be connected/disconnected from the 12v supply, if I really wanted to, I could hard wire it leaving no more than 4 inches of exposed cable.

vikingaero

spira9 wrote: »

Since we're on the topic of dashcams. Can anyone recommend one with good battery life and not too expensive. I use the transcend drivepro 200 and the battery lasts only 10 minutes.

10 minutes is about the going rate for most dashcams. The battery is only designed to provide enough power to save files after 12v power is lost.

There are a couple of ways to go about maintaining 12v/5v power:

(1) An external battery pack:

http://www.halfords.com/technology/mobile-phone-accessories/powerbanks/nextbase-12v-power-bank?

http://www.dashcamsonline.com.au/product/t-power-external-battery-pack/

(2) Leaving the 12v5v input permanently live and using a battery discharge protection device:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Power-BlackVue-Vehicle-Recording-System/dp/B00LN2BZL2

The Power Magic Pro is made by Blackvue but loads of people have used it on other brands of dashcams.

Car_54

EdGasket wrote: »

It is one more bit of faff to set up everytime you want to go somewhere; begins to make taking the bus simpler and start to look actually appealing.

Eh?

Mine was plugged in when I bought the car and needs no attention. Switches on/off with the ignition.

Retrogamer

Just be cautious of cheap dash cams. The last accident i was in was a fairly bad T bone type shunt and it caused the dash cam to reboot.

marcarm

Often thought about this myself, but my lighter socket is permanent live. Is there a way to change this or would I just need to plug the cam in each time?

kirkofski

marcarm wrote: »

Often thought about this myself, but my lighter socket is permanent live. Is there a way to change this or would I just need to plug the cam in each time?

You can buy hardwire kits off ebay which you would wire to a fuse switched from the ignition switch. Only a couple of quid.

Iceweasel

marcarm wrote: »

Often thought about this myself, but my lighter socket is permanent live. Is there a way to change this or would I just need to plug the cam in each time?

I thought my lighter socket was permanently live too - but then i discovered it takes 8 minutes to shut down - that's how long it takes the ECU to 'go to sleep'.