Anyone else have a dashcam?

[986_inquiry]

I've been wanting a "dashcam" type camera in my car for years in case of accidents for insurance purposes or the occasional street racing but there really wasn't anything affordable available until recently.

I bought this off ebay for ~$50, should be arriving in a few days:
2.0"TFT S6000 HD 720P Car DVR Night Vision 30 fps Motion Detection

Features I liked:
--Saves the video every 2 minutes and loops it, automatically removing the oldest videos from the memory card
--supports up to 32gb SDHC cards
--2.0" screen for playback, so if there is an accident I can show police, etc what happened while onsite
--12v and li-ion battery, so I can remove from vehicle and show video to police, etc
--motion detection which allows it to stop recording when it does not detect motion and automatically start recording again when it detects motion
--140 degree wide angle lens records everything
--microphone

I know it says 720p but it's really not, the video quality is about average, here's a sample (I think)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ls1CHH5Y1Tw

I considered the DOD GS600 with true 1080p and a on-video GPS and speed, so not only does it record where you were but how fast you were going
DOD GS600 car camera + GPS Demo day driving - YouTube

but the DOD GS600 has no LCD so it can not playback video, costs $200 and the reviews are not great:
Amazon.com: DOD GS600 Car Black Box DVR & GPS Logger 1920x1080 HD: Car Electronics

The S6000 DVR is very small, about 2" cubed. Thinking of putting it in front of the rear view mirror and wiring it directly to the dome light.

So does anyone else have a dashcam or tried installing a dashcam before?

[ekam]

Umm... I can't leave evidence for the cops.

[tnoice]

The first thing the cops will ask is, " why are the first 1minute and 50 seconds missing?". Looks like a good distraction that will actually cause an accident.

[986_inquiry]

Originally Posted by ekam

Umm... I can't leave evidence for the cops.

well duh, if i'm guilty then magically the camera will disappear or have a malfunction

"Oh did I forget to load the SD memory card? How silly of me!"

[986_inquiry]

Originally Posted by tnoice

The first thing the cops will ask is, " why are the first 1minute and 50 seconds missing?". Looks like a good distraction that will actually cause an accident.

it records with the screen closed, and actually I won't even have access to the camera while driving.

It's designed to be left in place and never touched again, it will sit and record and erase old files and continue recording forever as long as it has power. It uses 1 watt which is almost no power, about as much as a bright LED

I'm considering getting 4 or 5 of these and placing them everywhere, 360 coverage while driving, but I'll see how the first one goes.

[MileHighBoxster]

I hope it is all you desire. Those "night" leds likely won't project beyond your hood so I doubt you'll have any "night vision". There are two really good HD cameras available on the market and I've tested them for underwater use: GoPro and Contour. I can vouch that they are great. Others I've seen (not yours) haven't measured up to their hype.

[986_inquiry]

Originally Posted by MileHighBoxster

I hope it is all you desire. Those "night" leds likely won't project beyond your hood so I doubt you'll have any "night vision". There are two really good HD cameras available on the market and I've tested them for underwater use: GoPro and Contour. I can vouch that they are great. Others I've seen (not yours) haven't measured up to their hype.

The night LEDs will be disabled, the headlights provide enough light

Far as I'm aware gopro does not offer motion detection and LCD is optional. Never heard of contour

[986_inquiry]

Originally Posted by MileHighBoxster

I hope it is all you desire. Those "night" leds likely won't project beyond your hood so I doubt you'll have any "night vision". There are two really good HD cameras available on the market and I've tested them for underwater use: GoPro and Contour. I can vouch that they are great. Others I've seen (not yours) haven't measured up to their hype.

Googled gopro: Gopro does not offer looping which is absolutely essential in a dashcam. When the gopro's memory card is full it stops recording until card is removed and files deleted
Will a gopro make a good dashcam? - BARF - Bay Area Riders Forum

It's not everything I want, i really wish it had gopro's image quality, but unfortunately it sounds like the best dashcam available right now. Two years ago the dashcam i bought didn't even exist, I'm sure by 2013 they'll have something much better for less than $100 and I'll get that.

[986_inquiry]

dashcam arrived today

It's actually pretty decent, about what I expected, not sure about the "motion detection" though, that's just a weight inside it that moves around like a cheap pedometer, but since the car's a manual I'm sure my poor shifting is enough to get the weight moving and start the recording. Don't think it'd work well in my Avalon though, that thing's like driving a comfy sofa but it accelerates and handles about as well as a sofa does too

the night vision is reasonable, doesn't reflect off the windshield like I was afraid it would, but you don't really need the night vision as long as the head lights are on. I don't see a way to turn off the night vision feature but it seems to record in color even with the night vision on so it doesn't matter.

I'll try and put some videos on youtube later this week

[Flavor 987S]

Was your camera running last night when you ran over that poor young lady in St. Louis area with your Porsche Boxster?

[Eric G]

Ouch................