# Dashcam buying decision: a trip down the rabbit hole



## hanging in there (Oct 1, 2014)

I have decided that I really need a dashcam, the decision made easier of course by the Caban/Golden video. (I wonder how many dashcams Garmin has sold just as a direct result of that video alone? Caban should be getting commissions!)

There is part of me that wants to just buy the most popular, easy to purchase brand name dashcam from Costco, Best Buy, Amazon or whatever, slap it in my car and be done with it. I would have had it installed by now.

Then there is the other part of me, the part that I hate about myself, that trips me up all the time. That part of me says, "but, but, but.... what about this or that? You have to make the best decision, not the easiest." So I wind up researching things to death.

So, here are some of the "buts" holding me up:

1) The more reviews I read about ANY of the dashcams that I find myself interested in, the more I start to hear about it working fine for a few weeks or months and then at some point the user starts getting error messages like "can not read flash card" or "flash card needs formatting", or they try and view the card video on their computer and find that they can not read the video, it is corrupted or has not actually been recording properly even though the dashcam gave no indication that there was any problem. So they have no video when they were relying on it the most.

Then I started to read some of the posts on this forum that is dedicated to dashcams

https://dashcamtalk.com/forum/

(wow, talk about not having a life), and the manufacturer rep for Blackvue, one of the most respected dashcam brands, (model DR650GW is sold by Costco for $400 ) was saying that even the expensive top-name high speed flash cards are generally not designed for the continuous recording that is required with dashcam use, and that you have to choose your flash card very carefully. For his units he recommended only one of two options, either buy the Blackvue branded card or buy the one particular model of Sandisk card, the Sandisk Endurance, that is designed for continuous recording:

https://dashcamtalk.com/forum/threads/using-64gb-sd-card.13605/page-3#post-199394

He was saying that when they test flash cards for continuous use then a sizable percentage of them start crapping out a month or two into the testing. This leads me to believe that if you take this into account, then probably most if not all of the negative reviews on pretty much any dashcam that talk about the unit not recording properly are probably due to flash card issues as opposed to the dashcams themselves.

2) The next "but" is what exactly am I looking for? Front recording only? Back of vehicle (rear) to document rear-end collisions? Cabin (interior) recording to document the next Golden pummeling, or to document the fact that "I did not in fact have sex with that women" (as opposed to what Clinton may or may not have done)?

There are systems that actually go to the extreme of having 6 channels, including one for each side to record side impacts and another one to record the feet on the pedals.

The Garmin 20 feature of being able to flip the cam relatively easily from front to cabin is nice, but no guarantees that I would have the luxury of time and opportunity to be able to flip it when needed.

The 2 channel ones that I've been interested in, such as the Blackvue, only record at 720 for the rear cam, a lesser quality pic as opposed to the 1080 on the front cam.

And apparently night recording quality for the rear or cabin cam is an issue due to lighting. The cabin video from Caban was good but I believe that he was in a well-lit area at the time of that recording.

Do I want to be able to have the unit record even while the car is not on and running? Then you start needing to thing about backup battery sources to keep the dashcam running and not run down your car battery.

Do I want something more or less permanently installed in that particular car or something that can easily be moved from car to car or hidden from view when parked. There are trade-offs in terms of cost and also in terms of the quality of the video itself. For example, one that is mounted directly to the windshield is less susceptible to headlight or streetlight glare on the front cam, compared to one that is hanging off of a suction cup mount, due to the distance from the cam to the windshield itself.

3) The dashcam market at this time is comprised mostly of non-brand-names with questionable service/return policies. Yes there are the Garmin, Blackvue and Cobra units but it seems that the ones that seem to give you the best quality, the most bang for your buck, etc, have you venturing into the unknown territory of generic oriental brands. Maybe the best option for me is to just buy the best cheaper generic one and be sure and pair it with a known good flash card for that use, and then just consider it to be a disposable item with a relatively finite life before I replace it with another one. I mean, there has to be a "real-world" solution since there are millions of dashcam users in Russia and in the Orient, even though the US is playing catch-up at this time.


----------



## HotRodriguez75 (Oct 16, 2015)

I went through this a few months ago. I ended up purchasing a Vantrue R1 Pro Dash Cam from Amazon with a 64 gb memory card (http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00UA29I2E/?tag=ubne0c-20). $100 for the dash cam (google the $20 off coupon, if still applicable) and $12.99 for the sans disk memory card.

My reason were purchasing this were simple, which I do not regret.

Price
Good Reviews
Video quality
Ease of use
Features that I would truly use (loop recording, g-sensor, locked videos, no need to for extra software.
Warranty
No need for extra software
I personally wanted a dual camera, but decided on this option as I could purchase the first one and try it out then invest in another one thinking front facing camera has a completely different purpose than a rear facing and I wanted the separation. I ended purchasing a second unit that has yet to be installed.

Additional note: This can be easily swiveled around to face the rear.


----------



## mandreyka (Sep 25, 2015)

I'm in the same boat, let us know what you decide. The one from Costco looks ok. I was just going to point it into the cabin


----------



## RockinEZ (Apr 29, 2015)

I purchased a Transcend Drivepro 520 and just installed and tested it today.
It is a dual channel camera with infrared leds to light the cabin at night.

The video is very good. I get great video of the outside and inside of the car in daylight. I will test the night video this evening.

The camera is small, but designed like a traditional digital camera. It is easily picked out by a pax, which I think is a good thing.

The suction mount is cheap and not very good. Buy the adhesive mount model and you will be happier.

It comes with a 2 year guarantee.

It has an on board GPS and can time stamp photos with location, time, and speed.

It is WiFi enabled with an app for your phone. This is a nice feature, but totally unnecessary. It does make it easy to copy files, change settings etc. Fun but fluff.

It does come with a very long power cable making it easy to install. Installation took about 15 minutes. I will take it down to Best Buy and have it professionally installed once I know it works well.

So far, so good.


----------



## Jdogsparky26 (Oct 29, 2015)

I tested a few out but never found one that recorded well at night. I drive exclusively at night. I ended up sending them both back.


----------



## Lepke (Oct 24, 2014)

hanging in there said:


> I have decided that I really need a dashcam, the decision made easier of course by the Caban/Golden video. (I wonder how many dashcams Garmin has sold just as a direct result of that video alone? Caban should be getting commissions!)
> 
> There is part of me that wants to just buy the most popular, easy to purchase brand name dashcam from Costco, Best Buy, Amazon or whatever, slap it in my car and be done with it. I would have had it installed by now.
> 
> ...


Wow, talk about OCD. I'm like you, have a hard time making up my mind and research to death and then still can't make up my mind. Whatever decision I make will be the wrong one.

I've been wanting to get a dash cam for more than a year and a half but have been putting it off due to OCD. I finally dove in on Black Friday an order the Falcon Zero from Groupon. I'm sure it's crap but I had to start somewhere. Odds are it will end up going back and I will end up with the drive pro that RockinEZ just got.


----------



## JohnLange123 (Feb 2, 2016)

You should check out Furious S8, is a 8 camera dash cam capable recording all around view of exterior and interior with sound, the GPS module can monitor from Point A to Point B on google map, i can see how my drivers are doing, places that they have been to via the playback software. You can search for Furious S8 - FURIOUS SURVEILLANCE FROM 8 ANGLES AT A TIME via youtube to see it in action. The 128 GB SD card can hold up to 37 hours of footage.


----------

