Dash cam for older Octavias

snowmen

Does anyone have any suggestions/advice on which dashcam to pick for an older style Skoda Octavia that doesn't have the usb c port behind the rear view mirror?
Any advice (even what to avoid) would be welcomed!

MikeJXE

fwiw I have Nextbase from Halfords fitted by Halfords 

Never had a problem in 8 years 

facade

I don't have an Octavia, but for my car I just bought the cheapest 1080 camera that Argos had in stock- a Binatone at £40.

It plugs into the cigarette lighter 12V accessory socket,  detaches from the mount easily to take it indoors to download any footage, and produces the same sort of image that you see on youtube- i.e. no chance of reading registration numbers unless you actually come close enough to collide with the car.

Very easy to fit, the cable just tucks into the front of the headlining and goes under the A pillar trim.

It is plenty good enough for insurance purposes, just not so good for posting footage of bad driving to Operation Snap as the registrations are not clear at any distance.

You can spend hundreds if you like, some cameras upload the footage to "the cloud" and charge a subscription, or you can transfer to your 'phone via Wifi, but why bother? Your 'phone will just try and back it up to Google, who will email that you need to pay for more storage. It is easy enough to whip the camera out and plug it into the PC at home.

The only feature I think worth having is a rear camera, but they are too much trouble for me to bother installing one. You can get front cameras with a backwards facing lens to look through the car past you and the passengers and out the window, but most are the wrong hand and would be behind the mirror and I doubt if they are any use at all given the view I get in my interior mirror!

No doubt there are plenty of equivalents on ebay/aliexpress etc. for half what I paid, but I could just walk into Argos...

EssexExile

facade said:

It plugs into the cigarette lighter 12V accessory socket,  detaches from the mount easily to take it indoors to download any footage, and produces the same sort of image that you see on youtube- i.e. no chance of reading registration numbers unless you actually come close enough to collide with the car.

Surely most dashcams are better than this? My Mobius gives a picture easily good enough to read number plates at a distance.

snowmen

facade said:

It plugs into the cigarette lighter 12V accessory socket ...

Very easy to fit, the cable just tucks into the front of the headlining and goes under the A pillar trim.

Thanks for the reply!
This bit is what I would probably have an issue doing myself!

greyteam1959

snowmen said:

facade said:

It plugs into the cigarette lighter 12V accessory socket ...

Very easy to fit, the cable just tucks into the front of the headlining and goes under the A pillar trim.

Thanks for the reply!
This bit is what I would probably have an issue doing myself!

Dead easy to do.
Plenty of YouTube videos to watch to show you how to do it. 

facade

EssexExile said:

facade said:

It plugs into the cigarette lighter 12V accessory socket,  detaches from the mount easily to take it indoors to download any footage, and produces the same sort of image that you see on youtube- i.e. no chance of reading registration numbers unless you actually come close enough to collide with the car.

Surely most dashcams are better than this? My Mobius gives a picture easily good enough to read number plates at a distance.

Most cheaper dashcams are pretty much the same. When you are moving and jolting up and down on the rutted pot-holed cart tracks that are passed off as "roads" and the other car is moving too you won't read the numberplate at any distance.

I believe the Mobius 4k has image stabilisation, maybe it does a better job than the Mobius 1 I have kicking around.

Certainly The Binatone is as good as the £150 Nextbase.

The cameras that get the most recommendations from people who aren't "Influencers" are Viofo followed by Blackvue, both pretty expensive if you just want to prove it was a "crash for cash". 

snowmen

Are there any features you would definitely look for in a dash cam?
Or any that are not worth the extra?

Bigwheels1111

I have a 10 year old DOD dash cam I think it is in the front and a Nextbase in the rear.

Nextbase need the sd card formatting every month.

The DOD is still using the original SD card and never been formatted.

Plus havs a great picture and picks up number plates, day and night.

As for options, takes video just in case is the only option I needed.

facade

snowmen said:

Are there any features you would definitely look for in a dash cam?
Or any that are not worth the extra?

Look for-

Cheap, really cheap.

Super ultra easy to fit.

Easy to remove and take in the house to download footage to the PC.

At least 1080 resolution. 4K is better, but the files are very large and quickly fill the memory card, so they get overwritten (most cameras have a bump sensor, so they will write protect footage when you actually crash, but it is nice to have a couple of weeks worth of videos on the card)

Don't want-

Anything that you can only get the footage off with Wifi.

Couldn't care less, and certainly wouldn't pay extra for-

GPS location & speed (I know where the accident happened, photogrammetry can work out my speed if it is evidence in a criminal investigation, no Court will believe I was doing 29MPH when I get flashed by a speed camera anyway)

Parking mode when someone hits the car they record a random car driving away that you can't prove had anything to do with it, and won't even be registered to anybody traceable in any case.

Worth having for a few quid extra-

High dynamic range, this slightly improves the chances of reading a numberplate at night, but I wouldn't get your hopes up.

Polarising filter, this reduces reflection from the windscreen and sunglare.

Bigphil1474

OP, I use my phone on a dash mount. It's only forward facing but there is a free app that does all the GPS, speed etc. and the picture quality is okay (depends on your phone). This is a screen shot from my android phone - Samsung A56. I usually plug it in to the usb socket as my car has android play as well but it doesn't have to be plugged in. You can also turn your phone screen off and it still records which saves the battery. Its a lot cheaper all round, which suits me. The picture is typical - can read the number plate of the car in front but the one oncoming is a bit un-clearer. Been doing it like this for about 5 years.