Let’s talk DashCams

[MeFryRice]

With all of the distracted drivers on the road today, my wife is wanting to add dashcams to our vehicles. We’re traveling from Atlanta to Michigan for the Snoball event in January and think it would be a good idea to have one for the trip.

What do you use and how do you like it?

I’m interested in the Blackvue DR900X with cloud capability. It’s a 4K camera which many people will probably say it’s overkill but to me, I like to buy the best of what’s available, especially when we’re talking about electronics.

I want a camera that has cloud capability but that raises a question of, do I need to be concerned about the size of the SD card?

The size of the camera is also important. Another benefit to the Blackvue camera is being able to mount it in front of the rear view camera so it’s out of site and not an eyesore on the windshield.

 

[funkified]

I’ve been running BlackVue cams since 2011, when I had the DR400II. I use them primarily because I was getting decent pricing and because their design/size is leaves a minimal footprint.

I’m still on the DR750S-2CH these days in all 3 of my vehicles, and would look to upgrade to the 4K model someday.

They’ve been reliable overall, have had one main cam fail of the 3 over the last 4-5 years.

I don’t use the cloud function, so I just roll with multiple cards

 

[MRV99]

Following. With the nut balls out there and crazy distracted drivers. I wish I had a dash cam when I was hit head on by a Suburban so I could show the kid looking down before hitting me at 45mph, 97mph collectively.

 

[Pikser]

I have the Blackvue DR900X in all of my vehicles.
No problems at all !

 

[smurfslayer]

Do it. Have not had any significant knucklehead event since mounting up a go-pro. Not ideal, but mostly works as I need it.

Before, I had some woman jump out in front of me at about 40mph - from a line of traffic. I had no idea the Raptor could slow that fast and thought for sure we were going to collide.

 

[905_Raptor]

I'm using a Thinkware U1000 dual channel with an auxiliary battery.

Keep in mind that cloud functionality will require an active hotspot.

Large SD card will be more than enough to record events. But, this depends on what you want to record.

Good luck!

 

[racebannon]

I hear great things about the BlackVue. I've seen a great setup where they used two 2-Channel setups... the front cams were used to record the front and back, and the rear cams were used to record the left and right sides of the car for essentially 360-degree recording. IIRC it may have been the guy at Vortex Radar (who by the way IS insanely thorough with his reviews. God bless him).

Would love to see dash cam setup pics if y'all have em. I've been in the market since I bought the car (>1 year ago lol!)

 

[Five-Seven]

I have the VAVA dual dash cams in both my truck and wife’s MDX. Bought it after being rear ended in my wife’s old vehicle and getting sandwiched, followed by getting the front end collision pinned on me (queue personal injury lawsuit…ugh). I wanted one that had both front and rear facing that was synced.

Video quality is good and downloads are easy from the phone and app. Also records when it detects a collision and locks the footage. Otherwise it is in continuous loops of recording. It uses a suction cup mount and magnetic base, so if you wanted to remove it, it is easy. The back of the base is black so fairly discreet as well unlike others that are white or Gray. I haven’t had issues with the suction cup mount as it is fairly tacky as well, but my wife’s has fallen a few times. Just put some 3M discs on it and no more problem.

 

[funkified]

I hear great things about the BlackVue. I've seen a great setup where they used two 2-Channel setups... the front cams were used to record the front and back, and the rear cams were used to record the left and right sides of the car for essentially 360-degree recording. IIRC it may have been the guy at Vortex Radar (who by the way IS insanely thorough with his reviews. God bless him).

Would love to see dash cam setup pics if y'all have em. I've been in the market since I bought the car (>1 year ago lol!)

that is a great idea, just have to work out logistics on running the power to both. The rear cams are not always the best quality, and substituting it with another front cam would def remedy that.

I had the first 2ch Blackvue, the DR650S and it only had a 720p rear cam. If you're going to get a 2ch, defiintely get a 1080p in the rear at a minimum. The biggest hit to these rear cams is the 30FPS as opposed to the fronts which typically run at 60FPS for smoother recordings. BUT it can be argued that the thinkware's processing is better at 30FPS over the Blackvue's 60FPS, as this is what I recall reviewers showed in comparisons between the two top 4K models.

 

[racebannon]

that is a great idea, just have to work out logistics on running the power to both. The rear cams are not always the best quality, and substituting it with another front cam would def remedy that.

I had the first 2ch Blackvue, the DR650S and it only had a 720p rear cam. If you're going to get a 2ch, defiintely get a 1080p in the rear at a minimum. The biggest hit to these rear cams is the 30FPS as opposed to the fronts which typically run at 60FPS for smoother recordings. BUT it can be argued that the thinkware's processing is better at 30FPS over the Blackvue's 60FPS, as this is what I recall reviewers showed in comparisons between the two top 4K models.

I think the setup I saw was 4k front. Good stuff. There’s also a single-channel cam that mounts to the windshield and shows front and a wide field rear view. I believe it’s the Vantrue. Probably geared towards rideshare market but would also serv purpose of side-view based on the vids I’ve seen.