How many of us here have a dashcam installed? if so what model have you got and what do you think of it?

 

I bought a DDpai M5 off ebay just before christmas, as a gift from 'tother half, I did orignally want a Nextbase 312GW which seems to a favourite generally, but I couldn't quite stretch to that at the time, my parents have one, and they say its really easy to setup.

 

The M5 I have at its core is actually not too bad, the video quality seems quite good and clear, especially I think the night performance is good, and once you spend 10-15 minutes working out the chinese instructions it has a nice fleet of features.

 

It does have two major flaws though, the "remote control" that came with it needs repairing everytime you power the cam on, and it actually went faulty within the first week of using it, if it worked as intended it would be brilliant, recording a picture and 10 seconds of video at the click of a button which can be attached to you keyring or affixed in the car permanently.

 

the second issue is the chincy microphone, which just gives awful sound quality, not essential in a dashcam maybe, but if its gonna be implemented, at least do it right?

 

at the moment mine isn't hardwired, mainly because I found out quite quickly if left on it does drain the battery! but I do have intentions of hardwiring it in with a power switch in future. it is also quite compact and light because it lacks a physical screen on the unit, if you would like to view live video of you driving (as opposed to actually watching the road?) you can hook up your smartphone wirelessly and view on that, the app also provides the funcionality of scrolling through all the past video and editing clips, posting to social media and downloading footage, alongside tweaking all the options like G sensor settings and quality.

 

here's a little compilation of clips I have on youtube, inspired by the vids that Vio does

 

 

 

My girlfriend bought me a dash cam for Christmas. Can't remember the make and model but it is on the cheaper end of the scale. Still does 1080P though and the video and sound quality are pretty decent. I have wanted one for a long time mainly for my own peace of mind should anything happen. I use old £500 beaters as daily drivers, if I get into an RTC with a brand new BMW who do you think will get the blame?...probably me. 

Anyway after having mine for a month now I have come to one conclusion. The standard of driving up here must be far better than you guys see down south. I've captured maybe 2 instances of bad driving in the last month that would be worth public viewing. So people like @Vio who can put together a 5-6minute compilation once a month must live in places where they hand out licences in cornflake boxes. Also on a lot of the dash cam footage on YouTube the camera car is usually the one causing the issue in the first place with poor lane positioning, not reading the road, not anticipating drivers actions etc. so in my eyes if you feel you are a safe driver then there is little point spending a fortune on the best dash cams and fitting them at all angles. 

I agree with your point about some footage does seem that the camera car is forcing the issue rather than identifying what is about to happen and taking steps the ease the situation rather than steaming in and beeping the horn!

 

I try my best to drive with a view to idiots everywhere but I cock up occaisonally which I'm not afraid to say!

 

however

 

Down South? how dare you!

To me...you are down south, pretty much everyone on here is!  

We have a 412GW which was bought after a hit and run parking incident on my wife's lease car when the perpetrator drove off taking the front bumper with them. We went on Which recommendation which was and still is the 312GW. The 412 is wireless and activates when there is a shock so is perfect for parking incidents. Getting in and shutting the door is enough to get it started. Nextbase suggested the card is deleted every few months though. It gives us peace of mind when incidents may happen and also potential evidence that can be used if needed. Our newer vehicles at work have forward facing cameras as well as side cameras. Recently a driver was completely exonerated by footage at a junction when it could be clearly seen that the other driver actually swerved into our vehicle causing the accident.