Dash cams, what to get and where to get it (Q&A only)

wonski

Bought Aldi 60 euro dash cam today. Seems to be a copy of nextbase 212, it is called Voyager 212

Not a bargain in any way, but will report later.

Does anyone have any idea of battery life on this. Last thing I want to do in this weather is pulling the cables through the car.

OldMrBrennan83

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OldMrBrennan83

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wonski

Patww79 wrote: »

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I just did

It is a temporary, and doesn't look too bad, but had to leave a bit of loose cable over the mirror as it is not positioned yet. It is not as hard as I thought, unless you really want to not to see any cables at all.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hfcNH-ZLJwY

Will not do test drive until tomorrow as I had some beers while working on it.
It does start recording as soon as ignition is switched on.

John_Rambo

Panthro wrote: »

That's a good point actually.
The bells and whistles ( forward collision warning, lane departure, tells ya when the car in front has moved off) in the Garmin are what interested me.
But in hindsight, do I need all that stuff really n truely.
A front n rear camera would be the way to go. Just googled the one you mentioned, halfords have it.

I have the newest Garmin Drive assist satnav/dashcam and it died. Got a refurbished on as a replacement and the exact same happened. Turns out my 64gig memory card from my GoPro was corrupting them.

Currently using it without a card whilst I wait for a brand new 16gig card to arrive.

irlrobins

allthedoyles wrote: »

It supports 128GB Micro SD Card which is a huge bonus . My Nextbase holds maximum 32GB which relates to about 3 days of my driving .

Check if there is a firmware upgrade available for your model. I have the 312GW and it originally only supported 32GB, but latest firmware has boosted it to 128GB.

Learned this the other day as I needed to buy a new card after Gardai "seized" the SD card from my wife as it had captured an accident just in front of her. They couldn't promise it would be returned. :mad: Anyway, looked up the Nextbase website to confirm max size supported before I bought a replacement and noticed the firmware update, and customer support confirmed it now supports 128Gb.

Samuel T. Cogley

irlrobins wrote: »

Check if there is a firmware upgrade available for your model. I have the 312GW and it originally only supported 32GB, but latest firmware has boosted it to 128GB.

Learned this the other day as I needed to buy a new card after Gardai "seized" the SD card from my wife as it had captured an accident just in front of her. They couldn't promise it would be returned. :mad: Anyway, looked up the Nextbase website to confirm max size supported before I bought a replacement and noticed the firmware update, and customer support confirmed it now supports 128Gb.

Does this apply to the 512GW too do you know.

You were lucky they only took the card!

Muppet Man

wonski wrote: »

Bought Aldi 60 euro dash cam today. Seems to be a copy of nextbase 212, it is called Voyager 212

Not a bargain in any way, but will report later.

Does anyone have any idea of battery life on this. Last thing I want to do in this weather is pulling the cables through the car.

I bought two actually for front and back... havent wired it in yet as I need to get a class 10 HD SD card which I will pick up in America in a few weeks. Only disappointing thing so far that it continually mentions a 32 GB HD card in the documentation... did you stick a larger capacity card in there by any chance? I'll also check for a firmware upgrade as mentioned in the posts above.

Thanks
Muppet Man

OldMrBrennan83

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wonski

Muppet Man wrote: »

I bought two actually for front and back... havent wired it in yet as I need to get a class 10 HD SD card which I will pick up in America in a few weeks. Only disappointing thing so far that it continually mentions a 32 GB HD card in the documentation... did you stick a larger capacity card in there by any chance? I'll also check for a firmware upgrade as mentioned in the posts above.

Thanks
Muppet Man

I need to pick up a card, too. I only had spare 4gb so using it now until I get 32gb.

32 will be enough for me tbh, as I am not going to keep hours of footage on it. I delete as I go.

Happy with the quality both on sunny day and at night BTW.

Carpentry

I got this today.

https://www.amazon.de/dp/B075Q7GC6C/ref=pe_3044161_185740101_TE_item

Anyone knows them ? Set me back at 67E incl shipping.

phone2000

I'm selling my 2008 Volvo S80 - 97,000 Km's.

Open to offers!

https://www.adverts.ie/car/volvo/s80/2008-volvo-s80/15523862

dcfc91

In the market for a dash cam guys, doesn’t have to be anything special but the simpler the better and good picture quality is the main priority. I do have one issue though, I live in a fairly rough town centre and I know that if I leave a dash cam on display permanently I’ll be treated to a smashed window by junkies as it seems they will try and take literally anything. It also doesn’l that my car interior including rearview mirror is light grey, so cam will stick out like a sore thumb against it.

So I’m looking for a camera that I can attach and detach quickly and easily, the only one that seems to fit the bill from looking at Amazon is the next base cameras as they have a magnetic base. The only problem is that they seem to have very poor picture quality for the price. Does anyone know of another cam that might fit the bill or is nextbase my only option?

Muppet Man

They sold the magnetic base one in Aldi on Thursday for 60 euro called a voayager 212. Go back 1 page on this thread and I have a link to it. I and another member above bought one. . Seems to be a copy of the nextbae 212 model. Seems alright..... they might have some left in stores.

e

dcfc91 wrote: »

In the market for a dash cam guys, doesn’t have to be anything special but the simpler the better and good picture quality is the main priority. I do have one issue though, I live in a fairly rough town centre and I know that if I leave a dash cam on display permanently I’ll be treated to a smashed window by junkies as it seems they will try and take literally anything. It also doesn’l that my car interior including rearview mirror is light grey, so cam will stick out like a sore thumb against it.

So I’m looking for a camera that I can attach and detach quickly and easily, the only one that seems to fit the bill from looking at Amazon is the next base cameras as they have a magnetic base. The only problem is that they seem to have very poor picture quality for the price. Does anyone know of another cam that might fit the bill or is nextbase my only option?

inforfun

If you dont mind adjusting you rearview mirror every day, that Yi i posted a few pages back is fairly easy to take out (once you get the hang of it). It is there in a few versions, including a grey\silver one.

Quality is rather brilliant.

Ha Long Bay

dcfc91 wrote: »

In the market for a dash cam guys, doesn’t have to be anything special but the simpler the better and good picture quality is the main priority. I do have one issue though, I live in a fairly rough town centre and I know that if I leave a dash cam on display permanently I’ll be treated to a smashed window by junkies as it seems they will try and take literally anything. It also doesn’l that my car interior including rearview mirror is light grey, so cam will stick out like a sore thumb against it.

So I’m looking for a camera that I can attach and detach quickly and easily, the only one that seems to fit the bill from looking at Amazon is the next base cameras as they have a magnetic base. The only problem is that they seem to have very poor picture quality for the price. Does anyone know of another cam that might fit the bill or is nextbase my only option?

The DDPai M4 is removable as well with a magnetic base.

http://en.ddpai.com/m4plus.php

PGE1970

My Dad passed away a little while back and my mum has asked me to sell his car as she doesn't drive.


One very careful owner/driver for anyone who may be interested. Any queries welcome.



https://www.donedeal.ie/cars-for-sale/renault-scenic-xmod-bose-1-5-dci-s/18920247

chewed

john4321 wrote: »

The DDPai M4 is removable as well with a magnetic base.

http://en.ddpai.com/m4plus.php

I just got my DDpai M4 from Amazon. Really easy to set up and very neat.

I used it last night, but haven't had a chance to take the files off it. How do M4 users normally take the files from it? Do you use the (confusing) app? Or do you just take out the memory card?

allthedoyles

irlrobins wrote: »

Check if there is a firmware upgrade available for your model. I have the 312GW and it originally only supported 32GB, but latest firmware has boosted it to 128GB.

Learned this the other day as I needed to buy a new card after Gardai "seized" the SD card from my wife as it had captured an accident just in front of her. They couldn't promise it would be returned. :mad: Anyway, looked up the Nextbase website to confirm max size supported before I bought a replacement and noticed the firmware update, and customer support confirmed it now supports 128Gb.

Great info. Mine is actually the 312GW as well , but I havn't connected to a PC since I bought it some 2 years ago.
Must try this cos I was never happy with the short storage on a 32GB.

OldMrBrennan83

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Ha Long Bay

chewed wrote: »

I just got my DDpai M4 from Amazon. Really easy to set up and very neat.

I used it last night, but haven't had a chance to take the files off it. How do M4 users normally take the files from it? Do you use the (confusing) app? Or do you just take out the memory card?

When the camera is connected to the app click on file list this will show any emergency clips you have recorded just tap on the clip and it will download them to the phone otherwise you can just take out the card and read from a laptop.

chewed

john4321 wrote: »

When the camera is connected to the app click on file list this will show any emergency clips you have recorded just tap on the clip and it will download them to the phone otherwise you can just take out the card and read from a laptop.

Thanks! I'll have to spend time over the weekend to figure out the app. Last night I put the SD card into the laptop and was checking the videos. The quality is amazing.

I did notice that the card was nearly full! It's a 64 GB card, and I probably did about 4 hours driving in total since I got it. Is that normal? I am assume I could reduce the quality and get smaller files. Also, all the videos were around 1-2 mins in length.

wonski

HD files are big. I don't really see a point in storing them anyway, that's why they are overwritten as soon as you run out of space on card.

You should be able to set a recording time in the settings, 2-3 minutes should be the norm.

Toots

I'm thinking of investing in a dash cam for my car and the husband's, but I'd like it to be hard wired in. What should I expect to pay for installation and would anyone be able to recommend a place? I see Halfords install for €35 but I assume you'd have to buy the camera there too. It would most likely be a front and rear set up that we'd want.

Samuel T. Cogley

Toots wrote: »

I'm thinking of investing in a dash cam for my car and the husband's, but I'd like it to be hard wired in. What should I expect to pay for installation and would anyone be able to recommend a place? I see Halfords install for €35 but I assume you'd have to buy the camera there too. It would most likely be a front and rear set up that we'd want.

Got mine done by a guy who works for Joe Duffy was €45. PM me for the number, I think he was based in Kildare.

blade1

Got this dual cam on ebay for a friend.
Gives you the option of mounting it with 3m pad or suction cup.
Trim tool included as well.
Looks a nice bit of kit for the money.
We'll see how it goes.

AndyTheDude

Selling my 2007 Volvo SE 1.8 petrol as I got a company car.
New NCT till 05/2019, tax till the end of June.

https://www.adverts.ie/car/volvo/s40/2007-volvo-s40-new-nct-tax/15537121

mgray

Mazda 6 Business Line 2.2
Looking for quick sale...

http://www.adverts.ie/15487654

projectgtr

The YI dashcam has gone back down to £25 on amazon (promo code YICOMPACT) i have the silver version and cant fault it at all, the black version loses out a bit to having a slightly narrower field of view and 30fps instead of 60 on the silver model. At £25 its a no brainer though.



https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B078D6CCDH?tag=22

Foxhole Norman

Anyone for BMW E60 Staggered wheels? Bored to fit E39's but will fit everything else fine and fit snuggly with spigot rings.

https://www.adverts.ie/alloys-wheels/bmw-e60-staggered-concave-style-32-s/14654201

Ohoopee

Hi, guys. I recently upgraded to a newer model so I am selling my baby. She is a 2001 Lexus IS 200. For her age, she has low mileage, only about 135,000. She had a new timing belt put in back in November, new battery earlier this year and also had brake pads changed earlier this year. Was serviced in December just like every year and had the oil filter, cabin filter, and air filter changed. The body has a few dings and scratches but nothing major and the interior is also in good condition. There is a high demand for this car among boy racers so I will start my asking price at 2,800 and go from there. I've been told by several people that I am asking too much....so I am open to offers.
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1OCaLD3LUK6nNr-W7cHvhdjiKC2rIDhPj

biko

Ohoopee, this forum allow specific advert threads, I removed some content from your post and merged it with the general "for sale" thread.

PM me when you have a link to a sales site and I'll add that to your post.

dbas

Selling my car as I need 7 seater.
Its in great nick and I would be surprisd if it doesnt sail through the NCT like it did this year

https://www.donedeal.ie/cars-for-sale/mazda6-2-0-td-ts2-4dr-diesel-manual-147g-km/18962218

Chippy01

tedpan wrote: »

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DGXiXz6QXQ4

This looks interesting!

cormie wrote: »

Did anyone ever get this one? It's out of stock again and has been all but one of the times I checked the Amazon link, not sure is that because it's so good it's in such high demand or what though :pac:

Chippy01 wrote: »

I was tempted, but didn't go for it at the time. Maybe next time around.

Well, herself got me one of the above as a belated birthday prezzy, along with the GPS attachment AND a 128gb card to go with it.

Hopefully, I'll get round to fitting it over the weekend.

hawkelady

Anyone recommend someone to install a dash cam by hard wiring it? I thought I was getting a cigarette lighter plug in but he gave me a hard wire kit. I take it they are a lot tidier .. any recomodations for a competent guy ? Thanks.

cormie

Chippy01 wrote: »

Well, herself got me one of the above as a belated birthday prezzy, along with the GPS attachment AND a 128gb card to go with it.

Hopefully, I'll get round to fitting it over the weekend.

Nice, I see it's back in stock, lettuce know how you get on

Chippy01

cormie wrote: »

Nice, I see it's back in stock, lettuce know how you get on

Well, it's not an easy install by any stretch of the imagination.
Positioning the front cam is trial and error to get the correct left/right alignment. I used some not-too-sticky double sided tape to get it right before sticking it to the screen with the actual tape - (stick it on, temporarily power up for some footage, power down, remove the card and check the results on the laptop) Took a few attempts before I was happy with the result. Up/down is handy enough though.
Getting the link cable to the rear camera, you don't want to be shy in tearing certain parts of your car apart, just take a little care so that nothing gets broken or badly twisted out of place. I have a Gen3 Prius, so I had to dismantle the interior of the tailgate to get the cable to where I wanted the rear cam. Luckily enough the panels just pop off, but a certain amount of care was exercised nonetheless.
The only 'mistake' I made was initially putting the gps module beside the interior mirror mount. The thing can't read the satellites through all those black dots, so I had to move it to a clear area.
Unfortunately I didn't save any of my test footage, but the results look good on the 10 minute run I did. I reformatted the card when everything checked out.
One thing though, from the time of turning on the ignition to the camera starting to record is about 15 seconds. I can only assume that the cam is charging it's capacitor during this time, while a cam with a battery will start almost instantly.
Apart from that, only time will tell if it's good, average or so-so.

I started my install just before 8am. I took my time in positioning, stripping the car, etc, and then did a couple of test runs. I stopped at 10am for the regulation mugga tea and a snack, and got called for my lunch at 1pm just as I was locking her up and everything put away tidy.

inforfun

the camera starting to record is about 15 seconds

Sounds almost like something that you can change.

Different brand but my cam runs immediately when i stick the keycard in the ignition.
Dont mind that but if there had been a setting to start recording after 5 or 10 seconds, i would use that.

rgodard80a

TigerTim wrote: »

Hi All,

Anything I can do with my Mini 0806 or is it just for the bin. It no longer loops when the card is full & just beeps for format card. I have 2 x 64GB cards in but it now only picks up one & doesn't switch over to the 2nd card even though that is selected in the settings. I've replaced the cards but no joy. I saw an incident on the road this evening but on checking the camera, there is about 10 mins missing from the start of my journey. Can't rely on it anymore. Installed latest firmware but that did nothing.
If its for the bin, any recommendations on a dashcam similar in size to the Mini 0806 & fairly discreet.

THANKS.

T.

I hopefully resurrected my Eprance mini 0806 over the weekend.
Once a day it used to give 3 beeps and shutdown.
I'd have to unplug the cigarette lighter to reboot it.

I had switched to a Xiaomi Yi dashcam (the 1080 @60fps version).
But the suction cup mount held the cam too far from the windscreen, I couldn't get a polarising filter to fit and it was slightly out of focus for reading reg plates at typical driving distances.

With nothing to lose, I ordered a replacement battery for the redundant Eprance mini 0806.
I think the original was 200mAh and this was something like 340mAh, but same size.

Eprance mini 0806 battery replacement

Note: the images are gone on that web page, so I supplemented it with a YouTube video on disassembling the mini 0803 which has similar casing.

With a delicate hand, precision screwdrivers and soldering iron you can perform this replacement yourself. It was only about the 2nd or 3rd time I ever performed any soldering.

The battery of my mini 0806 was slightly swollen so that hopefully that accounted for the issues. Only on day 2 now, but so far so good.

Green_Martian

Hi all,

Have a quick question about my Xiaomi Yi dashcam. I have it connected via the USB port in the centre console of the car. I noticed that on Friday evening and again on Saturday it switched itself off, as in screen turned off and it made the sound it usual does when turning unit off manually. The Red light was still on the unit to indicate power still being supplied so its not as if the power supply was cut off. Even though power is being supplied the unit does not record.

Any ideas what the issue could be, its looks to happen sporadically sometimes when unit is on for over 20 minutes plus sometimes when only on for a few minutes. The settings are set to record over old data so not sure if it might be an issue with the SD card.

Any advice would be great.

Thanks,
G

punisher5112

Green_Martian wrote: »

Hi all,

Have a quick question about my Xiaomi Yi dashcam. I have it connected via the USB port in the centre console of the car. I noticed that on Friday evening and again on Saturday it switched itself off, as in screen turned off and it made the sound it usual does when turning unit off manually. The Red light was still on the unit to indicate power still being supplied so its not as if the power supply was cut off. Even though power is being supplied the unit does not record.

Any ideas what the issue could be, its looks to happen sporadically sometimes when unit is on for over 20 minutes plus sometimes when only on for a few minutes. The settings are set to record over old data so not sure if it might be an issue with the SD card.

Any advice would be great.

Thanks,
G

Try formatting the SD card.

If that fails then return it if in warranty.

rgodard80a

Green_Martian wrote: »

Hi all,

Have a quick question about my Xiaomi Yi dashcam. I have it connected via the USB port in the centre console of the car. I noticed that on Friday evening and again on Saturday it switched itself off, as in screen turned off and it made the sound it usual does when turning unit off manually. ...

Any advice would be great.

Thanks,
G

You could download "h2testw" to test the sd card on a PC.
Or try another SD card to rule out card corruption.

If it has a bad sector in the card, then it would make sense that the issue will occur periodically. Eg. with a small 4gb card you might see it every hour or two.

Note: A "quick format" won't do you much good, as it only wipes the start of the disk. If you do format, ensure "Quick format" is unchecked (if formatting it on a PC)

Green_Martian

punisher5112 wrote: »

Try formatting the SD card.

If that fails then return it if in warranty.

rgodard80a wrote: »

You could download "h2testw" to test the sd card on a PC.
Or try another SD card to rule out card corruption.

If it has a bad sector in the card, then it would make sense that the issue will occur periodically. Eg. with a small 4gb card you might see it every hour or two.

Note: A "quick format" won't do you much good, as it only wipes the start of the disk. If you do format, ensure "Quick format" is unchecked (if formatting it on a PC)

Cheers both.

Yeah was thinking I might need to format the card, its a 64GB SanDisk Class 10. Will try that tonight and let you know. If its a problem with the unit I will send it back as I only bought it in March of this year

sdevine89

The best quality camera that doesn't have a screen on the rear? (I find them utterly distracting even as a passenger.)

Alanstrainor

sdevine89 wrote: »

The best quality camera that doesn't have a screen on the rear? (I find them utterly distracting even as a passenger.)

With the Yi cameras you can have them turn off the screen after a time.

As for SD cards, dashcams are hard on card as they are constantly writing which can cause card failure quite quickly. You can buy high endurance cards such as the following:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/SanDisk-SDSDQQ-032G-G46A-Endurance-Monitoring-microSD/dp/B00V5Q1K3O/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1528724517&sr=8-1&keywords=sandisk+high+endurance+32gb+micro+sd+card

Which should last better.

Chippy01

inforfun wrote: »

Sounds almost like something that you can change.

Different brand but my cam runs immediately when i stick the keycard in the ignition.
Dont mind that but if there had been a setting to start recording after 5 or 10 seconds, i would use that.

Nope, it's not changeable within the settings. Not a problem though, I can live with it.

Chippy01

Green_Martian wrote: »

Hi all,

Have a quick question about my Xiaomi Yi dashcam. I have it connected via the USB port in the centre console of the car. I noticed that on Friday evening and again on Saturday it switched itself off, as in screen turned off and it made the sound it usual does when turning unit off manually. The Red light was still on the unit to indicate power still being supplied so its not as if the power supply was cut off. Even though power is being supplied the unit does not record.

Any ideas what the issue could be, its looks to happen sporadically sometimes when unit is on for over 20 minutes plus sometimes when only on for a few minutes. The settings are set to record over old data so not sure if it might be an issue with the SD card.

Any advice would be great.

Thanks,
G

I read somewhere that some dashcams will not work properly using the car's own USB port, you have to use the power plug/socket supplied.
I wish I could remember where I read it so I could add the link for you.

Green_Martian

Chippy01 wrote: »

I read somewhere that some dashcams will not work properly using the car's own USB port, you have to use the power plug/socket supplied.
I wish I could remember where I read it so I could add the link for you.

Cheers, might give that ago if the formatting does not work, i have a usb and 12v socket beside each other in the centre console



Took the card out and there was about 62 GB of the 64 GB used so i deleted all the data, i will format in the camera tomorrow as i can't figure out how to do it on my Mac Don't see how the amount of data on the card would affect it as it should just record over old data

loyatemu

ridiculously cheap Lidl cam:
https://www.lidl.ie/en/special-offers.htm?articleId=9844

worth a punt?

AndyBoBandy

Green_Martian wrote: »

Took the card out and there was about 62 GB of the 64 GB used so i deleted all the data, i will format in the camera tomorrow as i can't figure out how to do it on my Mac Don't see how the amount of data on the card would affect it as it should just record over old data

You only ever want to reformat the card in the camera itself, not on a Mac/pc, as the camera will format the card exactly as it needs to be formatted.

As for the USB port in tour car, my mother’s Yaris also has a USB port, but I couldn’t get the dash cam to work properly with it, the power might only be 1A from the USB port, which is enough to charge a phone, or read a USB flash drive, but probably not run a dashcam, which usually needs about 2A and above.