re jon's dang nammit/ dash cam

good morning all , reading through jon's post of his wreck yesterday and more and more incidents happening every day to all of us, I think it's time to go shopping for a dash cam. I know nothing about them or using them. do any members here have one set up in their vehicale? what is a good brand/type to get? thinking also for taking some video's on the tractor this summer of haying.

I have two, one in my Dodge driver, it stays on all the time. My other cam is in my 1964 F 100, it stays plugged in all the time but the power port goes off when the engine is not running. That truck does not get driven in winter.
So far I have not had to defend my driving with it. Most will record in a 3 or 5 minute loop and record over oldest loop. Uses a micro card, can use an adapter and play back on computer. joe

It would be interesting to know if there are any documented incidents where dash cam footabe has proved valuable in sorting through some kind
of a legal issue or challenge from a road accident or some similar event. Note my use of the word "documented" ....

thank you old, what brand do you have? and is the picture/video nice and clear? also where do you have it set up on the dash, drivers side, center? sorry for all the dumb questions but it's becoming clear with all the wacko drivers out there like the one that hit jon that it's going to be a necessary piece of equipment for all of us.

Took a minute and did some Googling ...... a couple of cases below show where dash cams were used in the court decision. Mind you, these were police dash cams so maybe not the same thing as Jones vs Smith, etc. As is often the case, courts often side with the police in a lot of disputed situations so the link below is one of these, two cases described in the article.
Police use dash cams as evidence .....

Mine came with a suction cup mount, have them center of windshield, behind mirror. Video is ok not looking for hi-def. As far as brand, don't know, first bought at NAPA when on sale, second was Christmas present. joe

Picking a dash cam is about personal choices.
What I want may not be one you want.

Things like GPS I do not want so why pay for it.
GPS also records speed and most would not like that in a court case.

Some want battery backup in case power is lost in a accident.
I want a capacitor because heat kills batteries and makes them leak over time.

Some want long recording time.
For me a accident does not take 5 hours to unfold and I am smart enough to get the info off the dash cam before it over writes it.

We all want high resolution and good night vision.
Spend your money here and avoid inferred lighting it causes glare.
You want good low light vision and let your headlights do the lighting.

Some want front and back view but this means dual cameras.
Some can settle for just a front view.

Some want stick mount because it has less vibration.
Some want a suction mount so they can move it from car to car like I do with my work truck.

Some want Bluetooth so they can download pictures to a smart phone.
Some will settle for taking the dash cam out and hard wire to a computer.

Some are worried about it being stolen so they want a small black dash cam.
Some are OK with a bigger unit.

And that should give you some things to think about.

thank you joe, that gives me a place to start, will do some shopping around. crazy horse my thinking is the police will certainly look at the dash cam video if you have it and weather or not it's admissible in court I don't know but it sure can't hurt to have it. and i'm pretty sure your insurance co. would want to see it.

thank you john, you gave me a lot of good points to think about, i'm going to make a couple of calls today, one to local rcmp and one to my insurance co. will get back to you with their answers. thanks again for every one's help.

You hit most of the important parts, but I'll dissagree on recording time. Twice I was saved by long recording times when someone reported me foir things I didn't do and had no idea of. Without the ling loop by the time I got the complaint several hours had passed. Plus in the case of an accident it is easy to forget to hit the save button.

.
Dash Cam 101

back again guys, just talked to my insurance co. and the R.C.M.P. both said good idea get it. video is admissible in court, the officer I spoke with said in the case of an accident like jon's he will want to see the video when he arrives on scene and it will in most cases be used to assign fault. (video's don't lie) and it is admissible in court. the insurance co. told me the same involving vehichale accidents, in my incident with the cyclist it would have hung me! there is no cyclist category in the eyes of the insurance co.s they are considered pedestrians even if on a bike! (didn't know that). and that is north American wide, both Canada and the us. the officer said to get a camera with time and date on the video to be admissible, also 1080 pixel or above for clarity, in the case of eratic or dangerous drivers try and get a plate # and the longer run time the better. thank you john in la, watched the video and will be watching more tonight.

Just got a flyer from NAPA today and they have a dash cam for 49.00. I didn't read anything about it and wouldn't know if it was a good price if I had read it, jus thought I'd let you know. Keith

I just bought a Garmen GPS with a dash cam. Seems like a good one. Picture quality is good. Other options also.
Dave

(quoted from post at 12:35:15 04/05/18) Just got a flyer from NAPA today and they have a dash cam for 49.00. I didn't read anything about it and wouldn't know if it was a good price if I had read it, jus thought I'd let you know. Keith

Click to expand...

thank you keith, have learned a bunch so far;
get one with time and date on the video;
at least 1080 pixel or better;
get as solid a mounting system as you can(vibration);
get as long a run time as you can;
get one that records clearly in low/dark light conditions as well.;

the above points came from both the insurance co. and the R.C.M.P. and from the replys here. police told me with out the time and date on the video, it's just another traffic video and easily thrown out of court. my insurance co. told me they won't even attempt a disput with the other insurance co. with out the time and date. (the question becomes when was that video taken? could have been a month ago! my client wasn't even here a month ago!) the longer run time gives the officer more info (including your bad driving so be careful :lol: )
more pixels better video less argument. with the above info i'm looking at spending $150.00 to $200.00 but whats it worth in a wreck in jon's case yesterday it it would have paid for itself many times over. jon is a professional driver, he makes his living driving and it would be nieve to think it can't happen to me. so i'm going shopping and I recommend it to all on here. another tool to C.Y.A. john.

My favorite dash cam so far was one made by E-Prance. Unfortunately, they didn't do so hot on their software and ended up having to give too many refunds. One of the main problems concerned the record loop. It was "supposed" to record over the oldest file first, but sometimes it would go all erratic. I'd go back to look at this or that only to find chunks of video missing; sometimes in the middle, and sometimes just minutes old. So what good was the thing if you couldn't count on having your info if/when you needed it?

I now have a 2-part camera that is OK. Again, it's no longer made; not sure why. I have a color mini-camera looking out each side, as well as a backup camera on the rear. I also have a stand-alone DVR that records from all 4 cameras at the same time, so I don't have to worry about messing with the time loop thing. I just plug in a 1TB hard drive and I'm good to go! When I get home, I swap it out. Can leave all 4 cameras running from the time I leave until the time I get home. A 1TB HDD has enough capacity to even record all night long, like if I have to stay in a hotel. All 4 cameras will keep recording all night long.

My setup is a bit outdated, but when I re-do it, will make so that it can connect with the wife's smart phone for real-time monitoring, or whatever.

Unfortunately, the dash cam is the only thing that has the GPS and speed -- other cameras do not have that function. However, the DVR has a timestamp, so all 4 cameras can be played back just like any security camera system.

Lastly, I bought the 2-part dashcam which has the camera hard-mounted on the windshield, and the "brains" unit sits down on the console. The brains don't like extreme temps, so I can also easily unplug that unit and take it inside during the peak of Summer/Winter temps. Since that is where the GPS and speed stuff is monitored, I try not to leave it in the truck any more than necessary.

kcm thank you for all the great info, I was cautioned about gps with speed, it can and will be used to issue you a speeding ticket :lol:

...That's why I don't. :wink:

Wife has been in a couple of auto accidents where some idiot plowed into her. Then a couple years back, some fool cut me off and THIS fool then slammed on the brakes, causing our trailer to start fish-tailing. Ended up having to jackknife the trailer into the truck as it was a long downhill run with a 200' drop just 1/4 mile from where we stopped.

Nope, she keeps me under the radar! If I ever get caught for speeding, I'm gonna recommend that officer go right away and buy a lottery ticket. *lol*