Error 601

I recently had a very strange encounter with another motorist in a Safeway parking lot, whether this woman was crazy or it was some sort of attempted shakedown I am not entirely sure but she was screaming that she caught it all on her dash cam and she was going to the police.

At no point was I anywhere near her car and ten days later I have not heard from the police, so whatever I guess.

But it unsettled me enough to think about a dash camera and it looks like something I can spend anywhere from $30 to $300 on and of course when you're dealing with "Alizon" practically everything is an unknown Chinese brand and the same device is for sale under half a dozen different names with as many different prices and presumably fake reviews.

Of all the vendors the only one I have heard of is Aukey because I have one of their USB charges on my bedside table.

Does anyone have any positive or negative first-hand experiences with these Amazon cameras?

There are a couple local stores where I am living these days that sell dash cameras but they're just selling the same Chinese devices as Amazon for a substantial markup.

Jaimito Cartero

I�ve had a few of these over the last 4 years. I�d get the higher resolution cameras. One problem I had is in the blistering AZ sun, the windshield adhesive would stop holding, and it would plop to the floor.

Most cameras require a separate memory card. The last I bought a year ago was $40-50. I�d probably wait until Prime Day next month, or Black Friday to look for real deals.

Loren Pechtel

I currently have a Rexing camera in my car. I chose it for the wide field of view/high pixel count and heat tolerance (I live in a very hot climate.) I have yet to need the video but my tests look very good. A couple of downsides: For some reason they sell GPS as an extra box rather than integrated. (GPS ensures accurate timestamps and leaves no question where the incident happened.) This makes what's on my windshield bulkier than it needs to be. Also, the sticky pads they provided to attach it with at least in our heat don't do it. I bought some heavy duty two-sided mounting tape meant for automotive use, it's stayed put ever since. It also lacks a parking mode, but that's only of use if you have some way of powering it all the time--normal cigarette lighters are only powered when the key is turned. (A parking-mode capable camera runs the camera 24/7, but if the engine is off it doesn't record anything unless it detects an incident, at which point it writes a memory buffer out so you see some seconds before it happened.)

I put a 128gb high endurance memory card in it, the card should outlast the car. Note that if cameras come with a card at all it's going to be small and not high endurance--it's going to burn out in time. I figure mine records 4gb/hour, with the stock card that would burn out in less than 2,000 hours on the road.

While mine is on the bulky side it's still small enough that it is virtually 100% behind the mirror and thus takes no useful windshield space. I was able to press it's power wire behind things so it's completely hidden until it gets down to low on the passenger side and it's covered by the door there--the plug itself is under the mat. (I would do something else if that seat saw any appreciable use, but it doesn't.)

paperwastage

i bought some 3M strips (the types used by ezpass devices), havent had my device fall

(mine is a mobius 2 camera with lens extension)

other reasons for getting it: (you may want to consider this for any dashcam purchase)
optional capacitor instead of battery (battery may puff up if under hot sun)
don't need screen or wifi (my 3rd party headunit can connect via microUSB to display the video and offload to mobile phone)
don't need gps tracking/speed
decent c2 wideangle lens
extremely customizable setting (how to rotate videos, cut&save when power loss etc)
option for cmoposite out (if i want to hook it up directly to my 3rd party headunit)

Need

If you are looking for higher end dashcam, I know Blackvue is a good brand.

draver

I have been using them for a few years and love the type that strap to your rear view mirror. My current one is a Vantop brand and is great. Once installed it defaults to a rear view upon startup, so it is like a mirror in that respect. The advantage is it’s crystal clear in all weather and has an amazing field of view where my rear wiper sweeps, so in the rain it is just as good as when it is dry. A simple swipe switches to split screen front & back, and another swipe to the front view. Both record constantly while driving and a 64 Gb chip saves about 5 days worth of video. Lots of feature besides, and easy to install for about $100 on Amazon.

Schweden

I have a dashcam each on both of my cars.

I have a Thinkware F800Pro professionally installed on my newer car. It was about 400 CAD (300 USD) including installation, memory card, taxes, and the hardwire kit. The hardwire kit allows the dashcam to have parking mode which will use a safe amount of your car's battery to record motion while parked.

I have a Street Guardian on my older car. I ran the wiring with electrical tape protection from the power outlet for the rear seats under the floor mats and up the A Pillar.

I'd highly recommend getting a professional install from a well reviewed specialist shop for a discrete and tidy install if you're not confident with wiring around the headliner.

bslsailor

I'll second the BlackVue dashcams. I've gone thru several cheaper cams that eventually failed in the South Florida/Miami heat. The BlackVue has held up well for the past two years. It's small and unobtrusive.

LordHamster

My next car will have a built in dash-cam. I love that Tesla has them built in from all angles.

Error 601

Thanks everyone,

I bought a cheap AUKEY camera more or less as a proof of concept, there was a time in my life when I thought nothing of tearing my car apart to install a new stereo, but that was twenty years ago. I am just going to see how discreet I can make this.

Loren Pechtel

I hope it becomes standard on every car.

garykung

I express no comment on how you do the wiring. But keep in mind - the camera should be as visible as possible.

Even it may not be recording, having that visible can be a major determinant. If someone is trying to scam you and you show them you have the cam, they will back down because they want no trouble from the police.

Beside - you should not record at all. Most incidents involving the front of the vehicles are usually against you. So you are actually creating discoverable evidence for others against you.

Dread Pirate Jeff

I'll second this. I have a Rexing V1P that is hard wired and runs 24/7 through heat and cold, direct sun exposure, etc and it's never let me down. My current one has been installed for about 2 years now. The last one lasted about 2 years too, and it only died because I screwed up and plugged it into something that put out a lot more than the 5v USB power limit... it got a full 12v and fried.

The newer Rexing V1P Pro has a built in GPS Logger.
I'm looking at upgrading to this for the better rear camera and the fact you can transfer video directly to your phone without having to remove the SD card. The built in GPS would just be a bonus.

Need

It does help when both parties said the other person ran the red light. It also helps when someone cut in front of you. The Blackvue cams are usually 2 channels (front and back). Tesla has front/back and both sides (pretty much 360 views). Tesla also got sentry mode to protect car while parked and soon will be connected to Ring app.

Loren Pechtel

Yup. I've had one incident from the front in the pre-dashcam days. A dashcam would clearly have shown that she decided to jump in my lane.