Small dash cam recorder experience?

[Morich]

I have to learn a new game on the small dash cams and value/quality to go?
I'm asked to look at installing one in a custom build that will be a cross breed of work and sleeping/camping. The idea is something we can work out but neither of us are up on what we should go with for the camera!

A water proof camera for the back view is one we know about due to the build of the van and no way to see to the back from inside, so an exterior mount is a first step but manageable.
What amount of time does it go before overwriting? What size SD card for just the recording of drive time and after accident use? Is a 16 Gig card even in the usable range?

No need of the inside option, nor audio but do any of you folks have experience with these and could give some things you require/need/ want if you were buying now?

In this case, good tools are worth the money but what is a good level?

[Oldchinahand]

Because I tend to do things in spurts, within the last week I've installed a 70mai True 2.7K dashcam in Miss Winnie, and Pelsee P12 ProK mirror dashcams in our primary dinghy (1998 Ford Ranger XLT) our alternate dinghy (Camry XLE). Always hated the in-dash rear cam display on the Camry and of course the technology wasn't there in '98.

Amazon carries all of them. I sourced mine locally. They all have more bells n whistles than I likely will ever explore.

All allow choice of 1, 2, or three minute loops and overwrite write the oldest when the card is filled. Also, you can choose 4K, 2K or 1080 resolution. I chose 2K front/1080 rear on the Pelsee's. They record audio inside the cabin and can be voice commanded through their various features. The included 32G card gives about 8 hours recording before over write begins. But, since I had them, I put 128G cards in for about 24 hours record time. Way overkill. The Pelsees also have front and rear proximity alarms and, when parked a "sleep/wake" feature than only records if someone enters the proximity zones.


The 70mai is a tiny treasure. A cube about 2 1/2in square. Does everything the Pelsee's do and accepts up to three rear view cameras. Did not come with a card, but I installed a 128G. Since we VERY rarely push the Winnie over eight hours/day that easily gives us 3 days record time . Our model also allows video or pics of inside the rig. For selfies? Not being as purty as I once was, don't see a lot of value in that.

Installation on all a breeze - ground, constant hot, ACC hot. For rear cams, one lead to backup light hot.

None have the external mics that our OEM Voyager rear cam has.

Hope that info helps

Fair Winds and Following Seas

[Morich]

Okay, good info on several points! I got into a group yesterday that has been around the cameras a fair amount and one who travels often had talked with an Uber driver that he uses weekly. He had little user info but he knows why the guy has the camera if he hauls strangers often.
The things that go on in the backseat of an Uber when folks are out for a party!

No parties in the backseat to record so little need for the inside camera, but this guy is getting really scared of folks who cut in short in front of him when he has a big generator on the back. They just don't understand that we like to come down to a stop slow and easy and keep it under control when the generator comes up and boots you in the rear!
I will get those a look and try to get more info on hand for the details.
One idea that he had may /may not work! He has a ladder rack made of 3/4 or 1 inch pipe and he thought it would be good if I could stick the camera in one of those! I know it would work good for him but that's asking a lot for a camera.
But maybe not as I've not looked at any of the cameras for size and I do know they can focus with just the lens sticking in a hole made with a pencil, so maybe the body can be fit somewhere.
The idea of it sticking in a pipe to protect it and still wanting a wide view seems a bit much?

His thing is going out when the weather is too bad for most folks, so he was asking if I could add wipers to the rear camera! He got a short answer on that one! Not just a simple NO!
At least we know the same language!

Thanks for the input and ideas of how much time and space for the recording! I've found the ads tend to tell you the good stuff and skip over what they want to hide!

[BirchyBoy]

I have a Garmin Mini 2 and I like it. It comes with a second power cord and windshield mount so it can easily be moved between vehicles.

[Morich]

Thanks for the info and suggestion.
Finding what works for others can be a good start for what might work best for this, so there is never any bad info when we start shopping!
One point is the Garmin name and it is one I've used for a long time BUT I'm beginning to wonder?
Their product seems great but then I'm finding the map updates and service is beginning to give me heartburn! My current version is the Drive Smart 65 and it has some good and some bad features, which is pretty much expected but now the updates are coming so slow that I'm wondering about their long term business plan and future support!
But it's an option I had not considered and worth more looking. The physical size looks great on that Mini but lack of rear camera may put that specific one out. I will give the others a look, however.

The ads for various cameras do bring out a point that tends to drive me mad, though. They have lot of features that can sound great like the monitoring when parked? But then I wonder how many of us park where we have wi-fi if it is not at home?
I will give Garmin credit on that point as the info that it requires full time wi-fi to work is shown in an obvious way! Pat on the back for them to not try to hide that in the small print!

So we need to begin to shop quick as the guy wanting this has just about come unglued when we see the news about a recent bus wreck in the local area.
Seems a concrete pump truck crossed the center line and hit a school bus full of kids and the driver seems to be trying to tell a story about him being forced out of his lane into the bus!
The bus did have several cameras that show a different story and the reports also mention a bit of drug use by the pump truck driver!

The sort of thing that makes my guy just want to stay off the road but he is willing to settle for having good proof of what happened!

Thanks for the info!
That's the sort of nightmare that makes them want to have some proof, just in case!

[creativepart]

I put the Garmin 65W dashcam in my RV. I'm not thrilled with it. It records all the time and when something happens you have to say "Ok Garmin, save file."

The one time that a semi pulled out in front of us on I-20 and we had to throw out an anchor to not hit him. I pulled over and said the magic words but it didn't save the "event."

Sometimes one of us will say something that makes the Garmin beeps and I guess it is saving but no one said to save a file.

I did a test on the highway and it worked - but who knows when you really need it.

[Morich]

HUMM?
So how does that specific Garmin save the file? Is it tied in any way to the internet to save to cloud or just on the onboard card?
My thought is that we will want to avoid any need for internet as this is not going to work for many places this person will be. Many of their jobs will be going to places NOBODY wants to go! They may have heard of internet but not sure what that means!
Part of the reason for wanting to set up with a place to sleep and eat is the amount of time and effort it takes to get back to a place to stay.

From the response I get on voice command on Garmin does make me tend to write that off as an asset. We get a good laugh at times.

We are beginning to sort it down to some ideas and leaning toward those with fewer features as most of those are not wanted. Simple can be a key here as it may be prone to other drivers use at times.
Something so simple that it turns on when the engine starts, does not require full time power for memory, etc. but it needs to record and not overwrite for possibly 30 minutes or an hour. I'm getting that as a factor of the size of the SD card and likely the time each card records will depend on the quality of the picture.

We may be leaning to simple and cheaper as extra functions are not needed as much as we are looking at the practical side of getting wiring run from a front camera to a back if they use the same recording part.
There will be power in both front and back, making it look more practiacl to go with one forward looking and one at the rear. Both very simple and auto start if we get the wiring right and that also means the price is much less.
I'm seeing things so cheap, like in the $25 range and that almost drives me away as being too cheap. But then if it is cheap it tends to be simple and that may be where we land if we can figure how much recording we can get done on what size card before it is overwritten!
Things like the Dallas wreck from two guys racing on Central Expressway and one slammed into the wall? Six cars involved in that but the two racing left the scene! If there had not been dash cams the other folks might have been left to sort out the bills!
As it is, the Chiefs may have lost a budding star WR!

In what we are shopping, the price is not the primary as much as workable and SIMPLE!
If putting in two means I don't have to figure a path from the front dash unit to a back camera, I'm for that!

[Oldchinahand]

To your point, Morich. The rear cams that came with my units are little weather proof 1in cubes that can be tucked anywhere, UNLESS you intend to use the backup feature (the yellow/red guide lines). That 1in cube size seems to be very common and the 4 socket plug near universal.

I did not want to mount them on the license plate frame, but could not get the guidelines to read true from my chosen location. Finally called the service desk. Was advised they have to be mounted center about 40cm to 60cm above ground for backup. So, sez I, about 16in to 24in American? Wheels turn, brain cells burn, finally a response - yes! Don't like it, but they're so tiny they're not too intrusive.

Of course, if you're only looking for a rear view, as us on Miss Winnie, don't connect to the reverse lamp and put the camera in a location of your choice. Ours shares space in the cowling with the OEM Voyager rear cam.

Fair Winds and Following Seas

[creativepart]

Originally Posted by Morich

HUMM?
So how does that specific Garmin save the file? Is it tied in any way to the internet to save to cloud or just on the onboard card?

Saves to an onboard card.

You can connect it to your smart phone, but not over the RV's wifi. You have to launch a built in Wifi that you can use to connect to your phone's wifi. But it won't connect to the RV's wifi for some reason.

It has GPS built in and if you save a video it automatically puts the location on the video.

https://www.garmin.com/en-US/p/587334

[Morich]

Okay, getting some good info and getting a better idea of what we may settle on as a simple thing!
We do want to hold it to simple for a number of reasons. One big one is that neither of us are really interested in going much further than getting something that works, so we want to avoid much in the way of programs to match or work with cell phones or internet if we can avoid it. We will not be posted vids to Tik-Tok, etc. for the fun of it!

We may need to evolve a bit on some things we don't know about yet, but we are thinking of moving on and learning from our mistakes if needed! We are both really surprised at how cheap it seems to be, so that is kind of making us consider what we are missing.
But on the other hand, we have both spent far more on test sets, tools, and things when we knew less.

With all that in mind, we are thinking this might be a good one to start. With a second camera, we are looking at just adding one for the front and use the second camera to look to the rear, down one side. Then a second camera high at the rear with the attached second remote camera mounted high and looking forward.
This should give easy install on short wiring runs but much more recorded info for collisions.

One of the things we both know from pulling trailers is that some people can't see a yellow trailer the size of a small house if they are in a hurry! In traffic, they tend to run up on the right but if they get blocked from passing they want to drop back just enough to clear your rear bumper and run by on the right!
Apparently yellow trailers are invisible to some drivers?

Thinking a couple of these may be about right:
https://www.walmart.com/ip/NEXPOW-Da...0&from=/search

[Jakm]

Richard, I looked at the specs of the model you posted and it has some nice features but not much info on installation options. I’ve been using the Garmin mini cams in my pickup, motorhome and my towed has 2, one up front and another in the rear. I utilize the parking mode feature on them and I’ve had good luck powering them with this kit that has a low battery voltage disconnect feature.

Dash Cam Hardwire Kit, Micro USB Hard Wire Kit for Dashcam, Plozoe 12V-24V to 5V Car Dash Camera Charger Power Cord, Gift 4 Fuse Tap Cable and Installation Tool（11.5ft） https://a.co/d/2f8JOSR

[Morich]

Thanks for that info. The more we know before is always good!
This install is something way out of my line and making me learn several things. Things like the last vehicle installs I did were way before the lithium battery age and auto cutoff for them!
So you just hooked to power any place you found it.
For this special purpose user, the power is not a big question as parking monitor is not something he would use much.
It will be a combo work truck/sleeping quarters as he has one of those jobs where he gets called to go to the boonies, often with a generator to keep vital power up during storms. So he gets an hour drive from motels and needs to stay close in case the generator needs attention! He's looking at upgrading his sleeping over the concrete floor of the site! He gets paid to keep the power on and there is no problem if he does that while sleeping or awake!

Parking monitoring is not a problem because he will mostly be in or near the vehicle or it will be secured inside when not in use.

Info is always good but we are still working on what features are good and what are not. We both are digital guys and neither want any more bells and whistles than we really use. The less interaction with anybody who can change the program is good in our view! Once we find how it works, we would rather the computer folks just leave it alone. We tend to hate our cell phones!

Part of our shopping is the desire to NOT have it connected to a cell phone in any way!
And that also fits for something on the lower price end with fewer features.

Still shopping and debating what features are good. Field of view seems like an important one?
Do you folks who have used one of these feel the 170 degree field gets you enough more than a 120 degree field might?

[dickb46]

Richard,
I just order one of those sets from Walmart after reading about here from you.
Thanks.
It looks like a fun toy for the car.
We use a Garmin 67W in the coach. We use it for fond memories of our trips and use a 512Gb card in it so we change it out once a week and transfer it to the hard drive.
dickb

[dickb46]

It's got a 170 or 180 degree view so we can see the interesting thing on the side of the road..

[Morich]

I'm not too much for wanting to save stuff we see on the road. We likely will have a massive amount of digital that will never mean much to anybody after we are gone, so we try to hold it down!
My wife's mother was one of eight and we have done lots of time cleaning and sorting things that we could find nobody wanted.
At this point, I think we are leaning toward getting as wide a view as practical for front view and maybe less for the rear as that seems to be kind of standard.
Still trying to figure how to fit what we find into the spaces he feels fit what he does with the vehicle, though!
We may not get into the actual install until spring storms let up as he keeps trekking out to somewhere!

[dickb46]

Richard I have the Nexpow dashcam now.
It is hard wired to the rear camera approximately 16' cable. The rear camera is weather proof and has a 4' red ground cable.
It's quite usable, easy to install and uses 1g.25GB every 10 minutes and records both cameras in separate directories.
The directions shouldn't be a problem for you but the feedback from buyers is scary. Basically it tells you what all the buttons do but doesn't tell you what is in the directories, you just have to go there and figure it out.
Two things I learned the hard way.... it says format the card, you have to format the card in the camera. Second it recommends a 16GB or 32GB card, I didn't have one so I substituted a 256GB card and that works fine and should give me about 40 hours of driving time per card.
dickb

[Morich]

Thanks for in put. We are still holding but I'm thinking one way to get more idea of what is needed is to jump in at a cheap price and learn some of the details!
I'm thinking of going the Wal-mart route for ease of pickup and easy returns if it is not working out.
The note of how much memory you used for ten minutes is an interesting "guide" for what we might need. Little interest in recording the scene as we go along but at least it will serve as bit of info!

Thanks for the post! Still looking/shopping/planning!

What do users find on needing to reach the camera from the driver?
Is it something you need to reach semi-often to make close location a big factor or is it more something you set up and just let it start/stop each trip---unless a crisis comes up?

[dickb46]

You don't need access to the rear camera at all once you put it up, it's a slave of the front camera.
The rear camera is a 7/8" cube with a small mounting bracket, a grounding wire and wired connection that plugs into the front camera for data and power.
dickb

[Morich]

Got the ideas on the rear working off the front but wondering how much interaction we need and how often with the front. I'm now looking at trying one one my car as a cheap way to learn something. I might also like to have the crash data if things went downhill!

But the hangup in looking at one for my car is that the center of my windshield is where a bunch of sensors appear to be! Not at all sure of what and where but this is a Honda Pilot with way too many "features". Things like collisions avoidance, lane watching, etc and as far as I know I have to leave that space near the rear view mirror open.
When I put a Textag for toll in that spot, it began to mess with the car's "brain" in several ways, so I had to move it.
Next best location seems to be low and in the center of the dash. That makes hiding wire a bit of trick that I have not found how to do yet!
I don't want more in from of me as the driver, so I had thought of putting it far right. That would let me tuck the wiring in at the corner to get under the dash and still not block much view from the driver.

I'm glad this is not a priority project as the planning seems to be getting out of control!