Time to get a dash cam - best dash cam suggestions?

[mjbskwim]

...Think we need to talk about this.

It's not brandishing if you are justified in pulling your weapon
The judge or jury may say it was in the end but that's different
Am I right? Do I get a prize?

I'm with the gopro idea also

 

[ATCclears]

The Best Dash Cam

 

[HB of CJ]

ATCclears: thank you. Time for some cameras.

 

[Ramjet12]

ATCclears: thank you. Time for some cameras.

I had to google what ATC meant. LOL!

FYI, read the Amazon reviews of that best dashcam. A lot of people are complaining that it died after a few months.

 

[HB of CJ]

Ramjet12: Thank you. I need to learn up more about front, side and rear cameras. But soosss much to buy and so little $money$.

 

[MasterChief]

Check out some of Amazons "action cameras" and look at the features and reviews.......my $70 one has been great the past year.....cold and heat......like a charm ..... plus you can use for outside adventures like others have said. What are your requirements for consideration?

 

[HB of CJ]

Non expensive. Read that cheap. Color desirable. B&W maybe. Front, side and rear if doable. Temp swing hardy is necessary. Hard wired through car battery? The chip can just overwrite. Must be small and discrete. Durable nice.

I have a small PV automotive maintenance charger panel I can install for current drain. The fancy remote wireless features I do not need. But ... if the vehicle cameras could be dovetailed into the home camera system that would be a bonus.

Maybe I am approaching this from the wrong direction. Lots of places sell and install good vehicle alarm systems, including the one in my Suzuki. Maybe I should just call up my alarm installer and ask him if he could provide ... and install?

 

[MasterChief]

Some/most action cams have wide FOV....yes on loop.....the prob would be more than 4 hrs engine not running.....and no rear or side view .... ..... but does have a remote control and BT capabilities and can record to phone and SD card.....thoughts?

 

[HB of CJ]

I need to learn up on what the milliamp draw down on the car starter battery would be.

 

[Alexx1401]

Ramjet12: Thank you. I need to learn up more about front, side and rear cameras. But soosss much to buy and so little $money$.

This (dash cams) soon becomes like safes. Yes there is always "better". There is a lot of youtube showing rear facing. Yes that would be great too. As with everything it comes down to how much you want to spend. I keep saying have something at least for now. In my main ride I do sport 2 now. Only because of one given to me. So I point one left enough that it's got the front and a lot of left side, other one right. Some of the cheaper ones can do this and run $60 or so. Could do the same with one in the back. Bottom line is get something. May never need it. One time it proves you right your insurance costs will buy you hundreds of these things in savings.

 

[Alexx1401]

I need to learn up on what the milliamp draw down on the car starter battery would be.

Almost nothing. The ones I use for walking dogs can be used with a cell phone battery and run for like 8 hours on that. these are like keeping a cell phone charging in your car.

 

[uscsoldier]

I've bought 3 and they've all paid for themselves

 

[MasterChief]

Batteries x4 if you use outside of vehicle.....tried running china stuff....some great some janky........same company

 

[HB of CJ]

Wondering if my auto insurance might go down if the vehicles are camera equipped. My agent would know. But I have never been in a chargeable car wreck. Never gotten a speeding ticket either. Honest! But ... have had two cars stolen!

 

[MasterChief]

Hit a deer, moose, bigfoot, or elk? Insurance companies like to say it didn't happen unless with proof...... and with road rage bs.....not a bad backup..... some people have selective memories......I also like the fact that dashcams can be removed....

 

[HB of CJ]

I never thought about the ability to remove the cameras. Good to know. Right now I know zip about car cameras. A general question? Can a car cam be up loaded to a remote secure location or "clouded" instantly real time? That way the bad guys, (whom they may be) can not steal any important situation recordings ... after the fact. Bad guys definition varies.

 

[CoastRange57]

You can do pretty much whatever you want to with a camera, all depends on the money you want to spend. Get a good wide angle on the front, the last 2 near misses I have had in the last 2 days of course were from the oblique left. The cheap China ones I have run about 14 hours 720 on a mini SD card, then will loop back over, sometimes I have to dump the files though.

I leave it plugged in all day, it runs for 4 minutes then shuts down until the car is caused to be in motion opening a door or even just bumping it. I had a shop lifter stopped in front of my car in the parking lot, and I just walked over and pushed the fender and it started up to give me a second recording of the interaction.

Like I said before I usually mount up the GoPro for trips, I had it idling and a group of enduro bikes running Hwy 22 over towards Sisters was passing crazy, and I was pretty sure they were going to go around me like that, so I turned it on and got a great picture of the lead bike cutting in on my front fender with less than 5 feet to clear. He started a pretty good wobble but got it back. Showed it to a few people to show what kind of crazy mfers are out there. Like anybody has to be told.

Consider this also, in the last 5 days there has been 11 people killed in traffic accidents in Oregon. It is absolutely insane on the road and anything you do to help protect your rights and freedom is worth every penny you spend on it.

 

[MilitantBEEMER]

Right after I installed my Thinkware, I had a car come head on at me the wrong way on a one way. I was able to avoid, however if there had been an accident or a hit and run I had all the proof I would have needed.

 

[uscsoldier]

Wondering if my auto insurance might go down if the vehicles are camera equipped. My agent would know. But I have never been in a chargeable car wreck. Never gotten a speeding ticket either. Honest! But ... have had two cars stolen!

7 reasons to own a dash cam
7 reasons to use a dashboard camera
Penny Gusner

Car insurance companies are slow to embrace new technology.

Insurers want proof that an item -- whether it's air bags, a collision-avoidance system or a dashboard camera -- will help decrease crashes, or otherwise improve their bottom line, to extend a discount to motorists. Sometimes that takes a while.

Once the data show that a particular safety device will save car insurance companies money if used by its customers, they begin to roll out discounts.

That gives current and future dash cam owners in U.S. hope: A few car insurance providers in the United Kingdom have begun to offer customers a 10 to 15 percent discount if a dash cam is installed in their vehicles.

Dash cams start well under $100. Most record hours of video in a continuous loop, with recent video replacing older footage, when the car is started. Fancier cameras can record even when the car is off – triggered by motion sensors – or come with GPS sensors that overlay the time, speed and location. Some offer two-way video of the road ahead and of the driver and passengers inside the car.

A dash camera car insurance discount is not yet offered in the U.S., so it can't directly affect your premium, but there are advantages to placing one, or more, dashboard cameras in your vehicle. And some of the benefits indirectly affect your premium, which in turn helps keep your car insurance rates down. (See "What you need to know about dash cams.")

While merely owning a dash cam may not lower your car insurance rates, the footage that the camera provides may turn out invaluable in certain situations.

1. Have a record of your accident
Drivers often have completely different memories and descriptions of an accident. With video proof that you weren't the driver responsible for a car crash you can save yourself from being found at fault by a car insurance company -- and receiving the higher auto insurance rates that go with that finding.

Your dash cam footage can also expedite your claim, as it may prevent you from having drawn-out discussions with insurance companies about who was at fault.

2. Get out of a ticket
If you're stopped for a traffic violation you didn't commit, offer up your dash cam footage to the law enforcement officer before the ticket is written. If the officer won't watch it, bring the footage to court to contest the ticket.

Moving traffic violations will normally give you points on your state driving record and raise your car insurance rates. Not receiving a ticket -- or beating a ticket in court due to video proof of no wrongdoing – will keep you from a nasty auto insurance surcharge.

Recently in New York a two-way dash cam saved a driver from receiving a ticketfor using his cellphone while driving. The officer let the driver go without a ticket after viewing dash cam footage showing the motorist wasn't talking on his phone, but merely scratching and tugging on his ear.

3. Help fight insurance fraud
If you have a feeling the accident you were in, or just witnessed, may have been a "crash for cash," turn over your dash cam footage to the insurance companies involved, or to the state insurance fraud unit, to investigate. Catching a fraudster in a staged accident, can indirectly lower your rates. (Watch a video compilation of Russian scammers caught at work.)

The FBI estimates that the cost of insurance fraud is more than $40 billion per year. When auto insurers unknowingly settle fraudulent claims, all motorists pay hundreds of dollars extra each year because companies divide the cost of claims among consumers.

Mercury Insurance's Special Investigations Unit (SIU) often uses video to fight insurance fraud. For example, a car collision captured on a dash camera showing a driver making a sudden and unnecessary stop helped the Mercury SIU team defend their insured in a personal injury claim. The dash cam evidence directly resulted in the claim and pending lawsuit against Mercury's customer being dropped.

Dan Bales, national director of SIU, said in a statement, "People try to cheat the system every day, and dash cams have become a huge asset for our team and drivers to fight these fraudsters."

4. Make you a better driver
Dancers look in the mirror to correct their technique, athletes watch video of their previous games to improve their play, and you can review your daily driving footage to become a better driver. Reviewing how you drove in the last week can help you see ways to correct driving mistakes, such as braking too hard or switching lanes abruptly.

Being a better driver should lead to a good driving record, which should lead to you obtaining (or keeping) a good driver discount. A good driver discount is one of the best car insurance discounts to have since it can be up to 25 percent and typically extends to most of your auto coverages.

5. Review your teenager's driving skills
Drivers under the age of 25 have some of the highest car insurance rates due to their lack of experience behind the wheel and tendency to crash and cause claims. Anything you can do to keep your young driver from getting in an accident or from getting a ticket -- either of which is bound to raise your already high rates into the stratosphere -- is well worth the effort.

Set up a regular time to review the dash cam footage and see what your child can do better and take your teen out to practice those skills. "A teen's first month behind the wheel is many times more dangerous than his sixth," says Insurance.com managing editor Des Toups. "Whatever you can do to make those first few miles safe is critical."

A two-way dash cam or multiple dash cameras for a teen could be a good idea. That way you can see not only how your teen is driving but what is going on inside of the vehicle. Is your teenager paying attention to the road or instead is he texting, on his cellphone or distracted by passengers? You can curtail bad behavior inside the car before it leads to an accident or ticket.

Video is an integral part of <broken link removed> , which allows parents to see events that triggered erratic or abrupt moves on the road.

Keeping a driving record clean will lead to your child to receive a good driver discount quicker (typically you must have a license with a clean record for at least three years to be eligible). There are many ways to lower your teen or young drivers insurance.

6. Have an eye on your unattended vehicle
Most dash cameras have an option that allows you to turn it on standby that permits the camera only to turn on if it feels motion in or around the car. So, if someone breaks into your car or hits your parked car and takes off, you may be able to review the dash cam footage and find the individual responsible.

If you can't find the person on your own, then you can hand the footage over to your insurance company to prove how the damage was done (again might keep your rates low by keeping you from being found at fault for an incident) and also to the police to see if the culprit can be located and held accountable.

7. Capture unexpected events
You may not catch something as astonishing as meteors raining down like Russian dash cam owners captured a few years back; however, you may catch a deer darting out in the road causing your accident, a rockslide that damages your car, or neighbor's tree that falls on your car during a storm. With that footage in hand, you can show your car insurance company what brought about your claim and may save yourself from a surcharge.

 

[EPS]

Perfect example Russia go on YouTube every Russian has a camera in there car because there all crazy lol anyway there are lots of different ones out there I don't know if you live close to a truck stop like a LOVES OR PILOT OR PETRO BUT THEY ALL SELL DASH CAMERA 'S FROM $100 TO $500 YOUR CHOICE