Dashcams!

lamboman

lamboman

lamboman

Soldato
Joined
7 Apr 2008
Posts
2,655
Hi all,

As I'll be doing a fair bit of mileage soon, I figured it'd be a sensible idea to invest in a dashcam or two (front and rear). This thread is more to double check that I'm making the right decision!

My requirements are fairly basic, and I guess obvious for the most part:
  • 1080p/30fps recording both front and rear.
  • Excellent capture quality at in the dark - England in the winter after all.
  • Don't really need GPS, this will only be used for insurance/police purposes if anything were to happen (touch-wood nothing will), doubt anybody will be disputing where an incident took place.
  • Compact!
  • Parking mode not required, just using the 12V socket in the glovebox.

The ideal solution would be a two channel unit, however from what I can see they're buggy, large, pricey, offer poor image quality, or all of those things. The ideal solution at the minute appears to be a couple of E-Prance Mini 0805s - great quality footage at night and day, reasonably priced (£180 all in with microSD cards) and reliable (it'd be the 0806 if it weren't for the plethora of issues). I know some others also have these units, however if anybody else has any recommendations then they'd be much appreciated.

I did long consider units such as the Blackvue DR650GW-2CH however the night footage is useless.

Many thanks in advance!
 
If you want dual cams check out this for an option.

If thats not what you're after, check out his other cam reviews as he does loads and seems to know his stuff.

A brit as well so footage is in the UK.
 
You didn't mention the car you are installing them to...

You'd be surprised how many multimedia head units have this function built in... at least for one camera... then keep the rear camera separate... it will make the wiring much easier & the individual units aren't that pricey + you might able to improve the quality of your stereo at the same tim.
 
split said:
If you want dual cams check out this for an option.

If thats not what you're after, check out his other cam reviews as he does loads and seems to know his stuff.

A brit as well so footage is in the UK.
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Actually had a look at the Marcus 5 and downloaded his samples a few days back, my concern was that the front unit was too large, however having a second look it's smaller than I first thought.

However, that has led me onto the Marcus 4, its video quality at night is excellent. The Marcus 5 is good but nothing special really.

Yet more reading is needed!

Thanks for the replies so far :)
 
Clearcut said:
Do you shout all of your thread titles?
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Do you post useless comments in all your responses?

EDIT: Forgot to reply to crinkleshoes' comment. W204 C-Class, so there's no way that I'd be able to use any built-in functionality of the headunit (nor would I be able to get a replacement headunit without splashing out on a custom install, which frankly isn't worth it).
 
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deadite66 said:
The K1S looked interesting for dual cams.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lt7lhKSwWcI
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K1S has some issues rebooting when cables are moved or the display is touched, also the video quality is worse than that of the Marcus 5. It'll primarily be recording motorway miles so it needs to be as good as possible. That said, the concept is pretty good (no display hidden behind the mirror, negating the display's usefulness!) and it's pretty good value.

At the minute it's looking like I'll be buying two Marcus 4s, or two Mini 0805s if I can find decent night footage to compare (Techmoan hasn't covered it). The Marcus 4 is far more expensive than the Marcus 5 all in however the performance does seem to be worth the extra money. Vicovation's support appears to be excellent in addition to performance (it certainly seems to be a very complete product, unlike the no-brand stuff, and they do provide regular, easily found firmware updates).
 
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Clearcut said:
Not at all, a question isn't a 'useless comment'.
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Comment or question, it's irrelevant and off-topic regardless, and going by the definition of "useless", in this context your question most certainly was. Contrary to popular belief there is such a thing as a stupid question.

Clearcut said:
My teenage daughter puts an exclamation mark on the end of all her texts so I guess it must be just how they are teaching grammar in school these days.
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Thanks for the insult, however I can assure you that you aren't in a position to question my (or anybody else's) intelligence on here.

If your aim was to troll, well done, you got a response. However, this isn't 4chan or GD. This is a public forum that will be seen not only by members, but those who are searching for similar topics through search engines. Not only have you corrupted the thread with pointless, off-topic posts, you've caused others to do so at no fault of their own, all over a measly byte of data. Ultimately, those researching the topic may now skip over this thread entirely as a result of all the crap it contains and miss any useful information that it may hold, wasting their time.

Have some respect for those who use OcUK not only as a community but as an excellent resource (I certainly believe it often is).

Mods, I'd appreciate it if all the off-topic posts could be deleted from this thread (including this one, obviously).
 
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Giggz said:
Have you looked at the Roadhawk range?
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Thanks for the reply. I did have a brief look, however the form factor is large, and performance is OK but certainly not the best. They're Chinese-made cameras that really aren't any different to its rivals, just with a slightly more industrial design and a decent name.

So far, the contenders appear to be:
  • Vicovation Marcus 4 - seemingly excellent video quality however plates might be a little difficult to read at medium distances. Does offer 2560x1080/160° recording which is fantastic.
  • Mini 0805 - cheap, decent quality, however footage seems to be a bit dim, and night footage is good but not great.
  • DOD LS460W - apparently amongst the best for footage at night, colour reproduction doesn't seem very natural from what I've seen however it picks up enough detail to make up for it. Only bog standard 1080p/140° footage.
Will update as I find out more.
 
xs2man said:
After seeing this thread, I decided to give one a bash. So there was a link to a review of a camera earlier, I watched it, then watched some of the other videos by the reviewer. He reviewed a camera that he considered the best budget camera around.

At £32 I just bought it. http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/310891426086?_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT

Delivery was quick, but haven't used it yet.
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Personally would have purchased the G1W-C, with a capacitor instead of the battery. Not 100% necessary in our climate however.

Apparently it's the bang for the buck choice, and the best you can get on a tight budget. Looking at some of the samples, video quality is absolutely fantastic in the day for the price, our British number plates should be fairly easy to read too. Looking at some of the night footage, it's actually not too bad! Can't really pick up any details however you can see enough of what's happening.
 
Would you choose the Vico Marcus 5 dual over the K1S lamboman? I'm after the same specs as yourself basically but want a hassle free setup not all too bothered about a single for rear and a single for front.

Are there any cheaper options as both seem to be high end.
 
Vegeta said:
Would you choose the Vico Marcus 5 dual over the K1S lamboman? I'm after the same specs as yourself basically but want a hassle free setup not all too bothered about a single for rear and a single for front.

Are there any cheaper options as both seem to be high end.
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Out of those two, Marcus 5. K1S is one of the few options you have if you want a separate main unit and two very compact cameras, however video quality is poor at night (and nothing special during the day).

If you want something hassle-free I'd be focusing more on reliability, ease of cabling (i.e. ensuring that as much of the functionality is integrated into each unit, for example internal GPS) and decent firmware support as opposed to integrating everything into a single unit. The only advantages I can see for having a single, two channel solution are along the lines of:
  • Locking files (for emergencies, preventing deletion when looping) can easily be done from the front.
  • Single card to pull footage from (more points for failure however!)
  • More compact rear camera (many of the front units for single channel cameras can still be large)
  • Only a single unit's firmware needs to be updated

In terms of actual daily operation however, unless you're regularly pulling footage (e.g. for track days and not just for insurance evidence) you're not going to find much of a difference. The only major issue that I could see with having two separate units are the clocks being slightly off and/or the footage looping at slightly different times, however you'll be stitching footage together regardless, so that will result in a couple of minutes more work at most.

I can't provide a solid recommendation yet, however I'll be sure to keep this thread up to date with the models I read up on.
 
lamboman said:
Comment or question, it's irrelevant and off-topic regardless, and going by the definition of "useless", in this context your question most certainly was. Contrary to popular belief there is such a thing as a stupid question.


Thanks for the insult, however I can assure you that you aren't in a position to question my (or anybody else's) intelligence on here.

If your aim was to troll, well done, you got a response. However, this isn't 4chan or GD. This is a public forum that will be seen not only by members, but those who are searching for similar topics through search engines. Not only have you corrupted the thread with pointless, off-topic posts, you've caused others to do so at no fault of their own, all over a measly byte of data. Ultimately, those researching the topic may now skip over this thread entirely as a result of all the crap it contains and miss any useful information that it may hold, wasting their time.

Have some respect for those who use OcUK not only as a community but as an excellent resource (I certainly believe it often is).

Mods, I'd appreciate it if all the off-topic posts could be deleted from this thread (including this one, obviously).
Click to expand...

Time of the month?!
 
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