Anyone use a dashcam?

justincredible Honorable Admin

37,969 posts 250 reps Joined Nov 2009

Fri, Oct 25, 2024 10:16 AM

Short story. A couple weeks ago I spent the week working from the family farm and had a great, relaxing week. Within 2 hours of being back in Cincinnati we were rear-ended in a high speed chase. Some psychopath with no tags was running from a deputy, almost high a car head on trying to pass us, got back over just in time to not kill themselves but slammed into the back of our car and ended up getting away.

Now I'm in the market for a dash cam that records from the front and the back. Anyone have any recommendations?

gut Senior Member

18,369 posts 117 reps Joined Nov 2009

Fri, Oct 25, 2024 2:33 PM

I looked a while ago at apps for an old cell phone. But thing is, I think you want something that live uploads to the cloud. So maybe there is a camera that can either stream to your phone to upload, or use your phones hotspot (unless you want to spring for a dedicated mobile line - sold through the dashcam provider it might not be that prohibitive)

MontyBrunswick Senior Member

1,065 posts 18 reps Joined Mar 2015

Thu, Nov 7, 2024 9:37 AM

posted by gut
But thing is, I think you want something that live uploads to the cloud.

what? no. you don't want this.

most of the footage is inherently useless and will never be viewed, so you'd be paying a recurring fee for bandwidth/storage for nothing. i don't even think such a thing exists on the consumer side.

99.999999% of dashcams on the market just write to a microsd card until they fill up and then start overwriting the oldest footage. in the event something bad happens, the footage is still sitting on there because it hasn't been overwritten yet. you pop the sdcard and grab whatever you need. some of them have smartphone apps that let you call up/record the footage straight from the app, but obviously, those cost a little more. they leverage wifi to do this, not a cellular plan.

justin - you probably want one of viofo's offerings. their product stack has cheaper offerings or expensive offerings depending on what you need. i suggest looking at vortex radar on youtube as he reviews them and has no problems calling them out when they do something stupid.

he also has a website

j_crazy 7 gram rocks. how i roll.

8,623 posts 30 reps Joined Nov 2009

Thu, Nov 7, 2024 9:44 AM

my new toyota has one. after reading your story, i'm activating mine. sorry i'm not much help. i hadn't thought of the video storage either, that's another problem i've got to understand.

justincredible Honorable Admin

37,969 posts 250 reps Joined Nov 2009

Thu, Nov 7, 2024 12:05 PM

Thanks Monty, I'll take a look when I get a chance.

TedSheckler Emporium Entrepreneur

4,023 posts 48 reps Joined Nov 2009

Thu, Nov 7, 2024 1:58 PM

Monty nailed it. I've had a Garmin dashcam for about 4 or 5 years. I have only taken footage off mine once. (A semi lost a tire and I watched it bounce across 4 lanes of highway and the median.) There is no need to upload to a cloud.

MontyBrunswick Senior Member

1,065 posts 18 reps Joined Mar 2015

Sun, Nov 24, 2024 1:37 PM

justin, if you didn't make your move yet the black friday deals are live for most of the viofo offerings

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gut Senior Member

18,369 posts 117 reps Joined Nov 2009

Sun, Nov 24, 2024 6:21 PM

posted by MontyBrunswick
what? no. you don't want this.
most of the footage is inherently useless and will never be viewed, so you'd be paying a recurring fee for bandwidth/storage for nothing. i don't even think such a thing exists on the consumer side.

And, yet, that footage 2-3 seconds immediately before and after an accident, which could be destroyed in a crash or fire, is what you most likely want this for.

Or if you have an accident and, you know, they see your dashcam and destroy it. Again, what's the point if 80%+ when you need it is going to get destroyed?

Anyone use a dashcam?

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