Front and rear 24/7 dashcam recommendation

cs95aam

Hello,

A few days ago my car was damaged in our office car park. I work at a university. Ive contacted the university estates department and I’ve not received any kind of response. There were contractors in the car park working on a building close by. Either it’s them or somebody came along and did some gardening. It looks like my car has been pebble dashed with what I can only describe as sticky tree bits and also smeared with a white substance which has taken some of the paint off. There is damage on the driver and passenger side. 

I’ve decided that I need a dash cam that covers the front and rear and records 24 hours 7 days a week. Not just when I’m driving. Can somebody recommend a good quality one? Thanks. 

oldagetraveller1

How is it going to be powered if you use parking mode when the car is not being driven? In my opinion, using the 12v starting battery for that is not ideal and the battery capacity of a dashcam with one built in will be insufficient.

It's a much more expensive option, but I have a dedicated battery under the passenger seat for just that. It charges from the car when the engine is running and powers parking mode.

Grumpy_chap

My wife has this dashcam:
https://www.halfords.com/technology/dash-cams/nextbase-522gw-front-and-rear-dash-cam-bundle-450454.html

It works very well (though the rear ball camera has to be straightened from time to time)  and Halfords offer an install service but the challenge with setting it for 24-7 is that the device will run the car battery down in no time.  It has a setting to record if impact is detected but that may not activate for an incident like the OP describes.  Nor will such a device capture every incident - my wife had someone swipe the side of the car and that did not capture anything even though the impact start did activate.

Maybe the OP needs a Tesla with Sentry Mode.

cs95aam

Grumpy_chap said:

My wife has this dashcam:
https://www.halfords.com/technology/dash-cams/nextbase-522gw-front-and-rear-dash-cam-bundle-450454.html

It works very well (though the rear ball camera has to be straightened from time to time)  and Halfords offer an install service but the challenge with setting it for 24-7 is that the device will run the car battery down in no time.  It has a setting to record if impact is detected but that may not activate for an incident like the OP describes.  Nor will such a device capture every incident - my wife had someone swipe the side of the car and that did not capture anything even though the impact start did activate.

Maybe the OP needs a Tesla with Sentry Mode.

Sorry to hear about your wife’s car. I suppose that’s when you really need 24/7 recording but like you say if there’s minimal impact then the camera won’t record. 

I’m considering getting a hybrid. Currently have a diesel I need to get rid of.

cs95aam

oldagetraveller1 said:

How is it going to be powered if you use parking mode when the car is not being driven? In my opinion, using the 12v starting battery for that is not ideal and the battery capacity of a dashcam with one built in will be insufficient.

It's a much more expensive option, but I have a dedicated battery under the passenger seat for just that. It charges from the car when the engine is running and powers parking mode.

How does the battery under the seat work? Is that something I can get from somewhere? Or can i4 be fitted from some place? I really don’t this to happen again with my next car.

Dave_5150

You need to look at something along the lines of this Blackvue set plus the optional battery. But you aren't going to get more than 24 hours continuous recording ...................

https://blackvue.co.uk/products/dr970x-2ch-lte/

https://blackvue.co.uk/products/b-124x/

born_again

cs95aam said:

Hello,

A few days ago my car was damaged in our office car park. I work at a university. Ive contacted the university estates department and I’ve not received any kind of response. There were contractors in the car park working on a building close by. Either it’s them or somebody came along and did some gardening. It looks like my car has been pebble dashed with what I can only describe as sticky tree bits and also smeared with a white substance which has taken some of the paint off. There is damage on the driver and passenger side. 

I’ve decided that I need a dash cam that covers the front and rear and records 24 hours 7 days a week. Not just when I’m driving. Can somebody recommend a good quality one? Thanks. 

TBH, given what happened to your car. Even 24/7 cam is unlikely to pick up exactly what happened, especially if the stuff blew off in the wind.
What about side of car? That is where most damage is done.