DashCam

[gladaki]

Any one using Dashcam in their Car. Looking to buy one ?
Any recommendation ?

Thanks

[Huntingwhale]

I got this one and also got my parents one.

http://www.canadadashcam.com/product...190319761c0c8f

Works great and easy to install. In a world full of idiot drivers, everyone should have one.

[robaur]

wait..so why do you need one?

[codfather]

Originally Posted by Huntingwhale

I got this one and also got my parents one.

http://www.canadadashcam.com/product...190319761c0c8f

Works great and easy to install. In a world full of idiot drivers, everyone should have one.

I bought this one too just a few weeks ago. Great camera and the site is great with lots of sample videos. The guy that runs it lives in the NW so you can go pick it up and save on shipping. I bought mine in the morning and picked it up that afternoon.

[Huntingwhale]

Originally Posted by robaur

wait..so why do you need one?

Not sure if you're asking me. But I got one because in instances where collisions occur, people lie to the cops, to insurance companies and to judges because everyone looks out for themselves when driving. As soon as an incident happens, the first thing people do is go into self-defence mode and immediately start thinking how can I get away with this without my insurance rates going up. Contrary to popular belief, the safety of the other party is way down the list of immediate concerns when involved in a collision.

I've never been in a collision in my life. But I've had many close calls and one day, one day some bone head is going to swing out in front of me, back into my car, or t-bone me. I'm fully expecting it. And what's recorded on camera will be the truth of what happened. Ever since I've gotten my dashcam, I've recorded people cutting me off. People who swing their car out of their lane into mine without shoulder checking and almost causing me to hit them. I've caught people running red lights. I've even caught a couple road rage incidents where fights have broken out. The day is coming where one day someone is going to cut in front of me or cause a collision where I didn't have time to react. And they are immediately going to get on their phone with their insurance company and try to spin it as my fault. I've heard it happen to many of my friends and they have gotten screwed over.

If one of those things happens to me and there are no witnesses, it becomes a case of he said-she said and whomever has the highest priced lawyer wins. Screw that. With a dashcam, there is no doubt. In full 1080p I have proof of what occurred. I'll be ready to argue my case and prove the other party as being untruthful. You can't trust anybody on the roads. Especially some jerk who immediately has visions of his insurance rates going up as soon as something happens even though it's his/her fault.

Peace of mind for $75 plus shipping.

[Stealth22]

Check out this thread: http://forum.calgarypuck.com/showthread.php?t=121488

There are also a couple threads on Beyond.ca about the Ojocam Pro2, the dashcam that I bought.

It is running great...in fact, after a family member was recently in an accident where the other driver outright lied to the police, I now want to put dashcams in all my family's vehicles.

[Stealth22]

Originally Posted by Huntingwhale

Peace of mind for $75 plus shipping.

This 10000%.

My first dashcam was a cheap $50 hunk of plastic off eBay. It claimed to record in 720p, but it was just a 1280x720 potato. I only bought it to have as a toy, never thinking it would be useful. As much as I didn't like the video quality, it was good enough to capture everything that happened in the first accident it captured, only 6 months after I bought it.

I was changing lanes on my way home from work, and when I looked in my mirrors and shoulder checked, the lane was clear. By the time I had finished changing lanes, I felt an impact, and my car pulled to the side. The jackass in the right lane had apparently sped up in an attempt to not let me in.

I was completely in the new lane, but I was just straightening my wheels at the point of impact. When I showed the photos to a friend who was a police officer, he said that I may be found at fault for an unsafe lane change.

But that little hunk of plastic with a lens in it, although facing forward, not backwards, clearly showed that my lane change was completed, and I was in the process of straightening my wheels when he hit me.

The insurance adjuster told me that after reviewing the video footage, he concluded that I was 100% not at fault. The cost of this damning evidence? $50.

That camera always had the power cord dangling from the windshield down to the power outlet, so I didn't always have it plugged in. Until a lady in an old Mazda pulled out from a parking lot directly into the left lane, where I was, and then proceeded to drive away as if nothing had happened. The camera was not operating (my passenger and I realized afterward that we should have had the presence of mind to plug it in after impact), but I followed them and called 911. The police obviously took down the description and told me to pull over, but she was eventually tracked down, charged, and convicted by way of a guilty plea.

Now, the $50 eBay cam has been replaced with a higher quality Ojocam that is hard wired to the accessory circuit in my fusebox.

These things may seem like a useless waste of money...but when you are a victim of another driver's stupidity, they sure do come in handy.

/wall of text

[codynw]

Will be buying one from that Canada Dash Cam website in the near future. I'll probably go all out and get a hardwire kit as well.

[Stealth22]

Originally Posted by codynw

I'll probably go all out and get a hardwire kit as well.

For those that are considering doing so, its well worth it. Trust me, even if you're not someone who knows a lot about cars, its easy.

When it comes to DIY jobs on cars, I am a newbie. From start to finish, I think it took me about an hour. And that was only because I was going really slow, and most of that time was tucking the wire into the trim, which is the hardest part.

The fusebox for my car is just inside the driver's door, underneath the instrument panel. I tucked the wire into the headliner, down the A-pillar, and into the fusebox.

Just a thing to be aware of on the A-pillar: Be careful when removing that trim, on my car there is a clip in there that breaks if you pull the panel off completely, and you need a new clip to put it back. Plus most newer cars, mine included, have an airbag in there too.

Once the wire is in the fusebox area, you're golden. I picked up one of these Add a Fuse circuits from Auto Value for like, 5 or 10 bucks.

The black wire from the camera's hardwire kit has to go to a ground point, basically anything that is touching bare metal on your car. I just slightly unscrewed one of the bolts that was going into the bare metal, threaded the wire around it, and screwed it back in.

Then, simply thread the red wire from the camera's hardwire kit into the connector on the end of the red wire on the add-a-fuse, crimp it down with a set of pliers, then plug the add-a-fuse into whichever fuse slot you want to use. I used the accessory fuse, but you can use one of the constant power ones too. Then I put the original accessory fuse into one of the slots, and a new fuse into the other. (I just used a new fuse of the same rating)

Turn the key to test, make sure the camera comes alive, put all the trim together, and you're done!

Car guys, go ahead and laugh, but this was my first DIY job on a car. It was easy, and I got that sense of accomplishment at the end. If I can do it, anyone can, trust me!

[undercoverbrother]

I wonder how long it is until this is an option offered by vehicle makers.


I do not have one a dash cam.


Also, 1 hr of crazy Russians:

Spoiler!

[Huntingwhale]

I'm not sure sure if my dashcam in my previous post has this feature (someone correct me if I'm wrong), but a lot of them have a vibration feature in which if a shock wave is sent through the vehicle, the dashcam will automatically turn on and start recording. Good to catch someone who has hit you, then tries to drive off in front of you.

I'm not sure how well it works, but that reason alone is a great reason to have one. My brother's car was parked at my parents' place and someone smashed into the rear and just drove off. My Mom ran outside but missed the other vehicle and none of the neighbours saw anything. If my brother had a dashcam with that feature he could have gotten a video of that prick speeding away and his license plate. Instead his car got written off.

I can't stress this enough, everyone should get one. Make sure your kids, parents, friends, they should all have one. Society now wants police officers to wear recording devices so there is no grey area when it comes to how a situation was handled and the proof will be in the video. We expect security cameras in stores and banks in case a crime occurs and we have proof of who the culprit is. I think dashcams should have just as high a priority.

I honestly hope one day car manufacturers are mandated to have them installed in all new vehicles.

[burnin_vernon]

Is there a model with a feature to activate while parked? Like with a motion sensor or 24/7 usage with minimal power drain or something?

[Russic]

Do they record sound? If I die on the Deerfoot and the video ends up on youtube showing the last thing I did with my life was sing Taylor Swift at the top of my lungs, it's going to be rough on my family.

[Stealth22]

Originally Posted by burnin_vernon

Is there a model with a feature to activate while parked? Like with a motion sensor or 24/7 usage with minimal power drain or something?

There are models which offer this. But you need a constant power source going to the camera. Blackvue had a product for their cameras called Power Magic or something, which would prevent your battery from being drained by the camera. The Blackvue cameras, if memory serves, were expensive though, and last time I saw, not worth the money as much as cheaper competitors.

Originally Posted by Russic

Do they record sound? If I die on the Deerfoot and the video ends up on youtube showing the last thing I did with my life was sing Taylor Swift at the top of my lungs, it's going to be rough on my family.

Yes, but most offer the ability to disable audio recording. I keep it on, and remove the audio later if I need to.

[Nage Waza]

I witnessed three accidents in three days (fluke) and provided game changing witness descriptions for each. All of the debate would have been avoided with a camera.

The first involved a left turn from lane two on a four lane one way. The second accident was another bad lane change, but this one sent a car flying off the side of the road. The third incident was a car backing out of a parking spot at lightning speed and directly into a car driving by.

[vtec260]

Had a hit and run in a parking lot yesterday, taking out my front left bumper. Reviewed the dash cam and it an old lady who did this and took off. Probably didn't realize she hit my car as she didn't flinch as scraping my car. The footage was given to police this morning and the partial license plate I got found the owner. Investment paid the dividend nicely.

[RedMileDJ]

nm

[Dan02]

I've been a victim to 6 hit and runs in the last 2 years and change my trucks have been parked, perhaps it's time to invest in some of these. But how does it catch their license, is it a 360 degree view?

[wooohooo]

Originally Posted by Dan02

I've been a victim to 6 hit and runs in the last 2 years and change my trucks have been parked, perhaps it's time to invest in some of these. But how does it catch their license, is it a 360 degree view?

I guess it depends on how you set your dash cam. You can have some set up where it turns on when it detects motion. Or some to just constantly loop record. My dash cam just faces forward and turns on when my I put my key into the ignition.

[Nage Waza]

Some units come with a camera to point out the rear window.