Top Dawg Dash-Cam

Nice to know you are here to help. I think I will get one and keep this all in mind.

 

Don,

Have you had a chance to look at the Go Pro? I believe it is rather pricy but I am being somewhat pressured to buy one of those for a dash Cam.

Mark

 

I'm not sure the Go Pros have the features you want for a dashcam, meaning they will automatically record over old video files?

I have a 4site dashcam I bought at a Petro, I think It's the typical chinese plastic stuff, but it's been working OK for 5 months or so. The video at night is pretty worthless, but I doubt any camera is going to pick up much in front of a moving truck on a dark road.

I also have Contour RoamHD, camera, I turn on and off at times. It has much better video quality then the cheaper cams, and is more rugged, but unless there is some hack I haven't found, once the card is full, no more recording.

I've also played with various inexpensive video cameras, that are not exactly dash cams. One I like is the 'dice' cam, (hobbypartz.com) which shoots OK video, has the standard 1/4x20 tripod mount on the bottom of the little cube....but the battery life is short, and once the card fills up, you have to download/delete some files on the cam to use it again. I bought this to use on RC planes and hauled it in the truck with me for the heck of it.

I wish more of these dash cam makers, (Hello, China?) would put the normal 1/4x20 thread tripod mount on the cameras. You can easily buy a lot of appropriate mounts on ebay, amazon, etc.

 

Yes. I played with one on my motorcycle. (GoPro Hero 3, Silver edition.) They use the Ambarella chipset inside for video processing. They are also waterproof and shock-resistant. So what does that mean? It means that if a driver wants to mount it outside of the cab, he can. It also means that if he uses the 1080P quality setting that you will get HD videos capable of reading license plates at a fair distance. Beware that you will use up all of a 32 Gb memory card in 4 hours on 1080p setting, and 2 hours if you had a 16 Gb card. Personally I don't think that anything less than 16 gb storage is even practical on a 1080p camera so definitely "bigger is better" if you are recording that much data. If you reduce the setting down from 1080p to increase the recording time to say - 8 hours on a 32 Gb card, then you are paying a lot more money for a camera that you are not using it's main cost feature with.

Here is an interesting look at video from one of those mounted outside on a bumper: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MArSQb3YH4E

If you are doing recording for skiing, motorcycling, biking, etc, then it cannot be beaten, especially if you get an extended battery pack.

If you need it mounted such that you are recording something outside the truck (i.e. in the weather) then it also can't be beaten as a stand-alone unit. Or if the driver is also a motorcyclist or a scuba diver for instance, then it would serve a useful dual purpose compelling the added cost too. Most of them are capable of using a little remote control or an app to control them too if that is a needed feature difference.

If you are intending primarily for dash/windshield "road" recording, it certainly will do the trick admirably as far as quality, but you will be paying a larger price for features that you are not using too.

So I don't have any bad experiences with that brand that I can report. It's a solid unit. If budget isn't an issue in the decision then you would not go wrong, if that is what you are asking. But if the only usage is for inside-cab road recording, and there is a budget consideration, then it could be argued that it's a little overkill to go "shock-proof / waterproof" for GoPro.

 

I am playing with the idea of getting one, and not just for the safety issues but for entertainment value as well. Why not. Everybody else it seems is putting thier road videos on line- mine couldn't be any worse. Besides, if putting a video recorder in the truck, then it only makes sense to do it right and go with something high quality especially since I've a better idea of that is now.

Mark

 

Well it finally happened, my little dash cam broke after 10 months of almost non stop use the pin inside the power supply broke. I forget what I payed $60-80 I think we'll worth the piece of mind...

 

Personally I use a GoPro Hero 3, either my white or black edition, which ever one is close at hand. But like Dieselboss said, as a dash cam only, it would be a waste of money to use since there's a lot more capability in a GoPro than would ever be needed as a dash cam. I have them for other uses, I fly a lot of multi-rotor (drones as some on here like to call them) helicopters and take aerial photo's with them. In addition when I'm not playing truck driver I fly competition giant scale RC aerobatics and like to mount my GoPro's inside the canopy of the planes for a fun and different perspective.

If you do decide to go GoPro for a dash cam and don't have other uses planned for it then the white edition ($199.00 almost everywhere) is the way to go. Then you'll need the suction cup mount $29ish, the skeleton frame mount, again $29ish and a power cable which can be had for around $10. I would also recommend the LCD backpack but certainly not necessary. As for the skeleton frame, again not 100% necessary but without it you'll need to dremel a hole in the waterproof case to plug it in otherwise you'll only get an hour recording at best before the battery is dead.

And here's the biggie, for a dash cam, you'll want to set the video at 720 - 30fps to get the widest field of view with the smallest file size. Then you set the camera to maximum loop which with a 32gb card will give something like 6 hours or more of video before it begins to overwrite the oldest file. It automatically breaks the files into 15 minute segments and quite honestly the video quality is way better than any dash cam footage I have ever seen posted from dedicated dash cams.

There are many options out there than can be used as dash cams other than dedicated dash cams. There are even options coming on the market that are as good as GoPro without the GoPro name brand premium pricing. I just happened to already own a few GoPro's dating back to the original and after my incident where I was run off the road in Atlanta I decided that since I already have a couple thousand dollars worth of small camera's in the truck I might as well use them as a dash cam since I'm not using them for aerial pictures and videos while driving.

As for the WAY over priced crap being sold at the J's, Loves, Pilots, TA's and Petro's, I have yet to see footage from one of them that's worth a darn. Of course even poor quality video is better than no video when it comes to who done it and who was in the wrong. But if you want decent quality video without the sun washing out the pictures or going black and then bright white under every overpass then you'll need to look a little harder and find a camera with better capabilities. And FYI, the dash cams the truckstops are selling can be bought from any number of other sources for under $30. Exact same camera with the exact same non-existent customer service the OP has run into with his problems. I don't have any experience to say how Dieselboss is with customer service but his reputation on here speaks volumes. As for GoPro, well they have replaced cameras for me that have met with some unfortunate problems usually caused by my own doing without ever hesitating.

Of course if I really want movie quality video I could mound my 5d MKIII on the dash and use it but that's overkill.

 

videodashcam,com
many different models , best customer service.
monthly trucker specials. had one for over a year now.

 

Thx for "taking one for the team" Cabwrecker. I looked at the unit at a Pilot, googled it, and found this thread. Much appreciated.

 

I have the same dash cam. Its actually a pretty cheap camera but it does the job. Its a model H198. If you Google H198 dash can there are many places to order it for much less. I got mine from an overseas site for $18. As for then recording time, I have a 16gb card & it holds about 7 hours. I have it set on medium quality because I could see little difference between medium & HD. I keep it on the charger so it stays on and is always recording. Every few hours I will erase and format the card if nothing has happened.