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Automotive

Whats Your Dashcam?

I got my Garmin dash cam back in 2014 and it’s been working perfectly fine ever since, or at least I thought it was. The camera comes on and starts recording when I turn the car on and then stops recording when the car turns off, and since I can see it working, I thought everything was fine.

A few days ago I’m on the 4th Ring Road driving on the left lane and a guy in the middle lane cuts me off and starts speeding ahead of me. What was weird is that I could see traffic was at a standstill ahead of me but the car that cut me off wasn’t slowing down. So I backed off a bit because I had a feeling something would happen and I was right, around 2 seconds later the car that cut me off slams into an SUV that was in traffic. It was bizarre because before the guy slammed into the back of the SUV I could see he was looking straight ahead and not down at his phone. So I decided I’d rewatch the accident except when I checked the memory card later that day it turned out my dash cam had stopped recording videos sometime back in 2019!

I basically now need a new dash cam. I was going to order one off Amazon but decided I’d check and see what was available locally first. What dash cam do you have and where did you get it from?

Update: Turns out my dashcam isn’t broken and it was in fact the memory card that was damaged! I got a new memory card and the dashcam is working normally again. But, I did order one of the cheapest and most popular dashcams from Amazon to review, and I’ll post that up soon.

64 replies on “Whats Your Dashcam?”

Why would it stop recording? Was the memory card full? Was it corrupt? Can you please elaborate? I’m sure you’ve Investigated the problem.

memory card wasn’t full but even if it was it’s meant to record over old videos. i’d also assume it’s mean to give you some sort of warning or error if it can’t record for one reason or another. not sure why it stopped recording, I noticed recently that sometimes the camera also shows a black screen instead of displaying what its actually seeing. my guess is the camera has been dropped a bunch of times over the past 7 years, it’s held up by a suction cap and every now and then the suction gives and the cam drops. that combined with the summer heat might have messed something up.

I cant access ur blog using stc bro, i know ur aware of that and u tried fixing it before but please try again lmao

just replied to Islam, I think being dropped a few times and 7 years of summer heat might have messed something up inside the camera.

I hope you were formatting the SD card every couple of weeks? Also, what speed/class of memory card are you using?

All manufacturers recommend formatting the memory card (preferably within the dashcam itself) for ensuring optimal performance and avoiding unknown errors such as the one that happened with you. The recommended period is every 2-3 weeks.

I too tend to forget but usually do it once a month. YMMV.

Yeah there was a person selling Blackvue Dashcams. I have one (front and back) and its great. I got a new car and need someone good at hiding wires now

Usually need to replace my dash cams every other year as heat kills the unit. Its the battery that dies first (implodes) causing a terminal end to the unit.

For this reason I buy cheaper, but with a decent resolution. Normally one can buy a “go-pro” type unit from Xcite that also has a dash cam facility for around 10-15 KD. Strangely, I’ve had trouble tracking one down in recent weeks…

Best units for Kuwait would be one that uses a super capacitor, as this does away with the regular battery, and can handle heat a lot, lot better.

Hmmmm, dashcams. I keep thinking that I should get one of these.

They can go against you though. A couple of years ago my 79 year old dad and his girlfriend (my Mum died, before anyone says anything) pulled out of a junction in front of an oncoming car with a family in it doing 80mph. Wrote off both cars and the families baby was trapped in the back – no injuries to anyone, thank goodness.

When the dashcam was viewed back he was proven to be at fault.

Cost him a fortune!

The ROAV ones form Anker are pretty good. I ordered one from Amazon back in the day only to find out they have it at Astore for pretty much the same price if not less with shipping. Highly recommend.

The regular one and the pro one is available in Best Al-Yousifi. Al-rai behind avenues (old sportsdirect)

I had the same dashcam that I purchased when you posted the review. I used it for sometime but no longer use it.
I recently tried GoPro 9 as a dashcam. The footage is amazing. Feels like you are watching real-time. They have some settings that allows loop recording, and automatic on/off.
Something to consider.

I actually wanted to get the GoPro 9 to use at the track, didn’t know it could be used as a dashcam as well. Might get one then and keep it in the Lotus permanently to use as a dashcam for road and track use.

I`m using Apeman Dash Cam C860 dual cam (front and back simultaneous recording) and I`m pretty happy with the quality. Here`s a still from the back cam feed with one “smarta$$” tailgating me: https://imgur.com/a/ZSQ2G4e …..and yes I have sent the video feed from both front and back cam to Traffic Dept, reporting his behavior ….No reply of course..

You can check the cam here:
https://www.apemans.com/html/product/C860.html

If interested to try it out let me know and I`ll borrow you the front unit for few days.

You’re lucky they didn’t respond to your report because you are driving on the far left and not yielding to faster traffic. You are at fault. Get off the left if there is a faster vehicle trying to pass, doesn’t matter if you are already driving at 140kmh.

Buddy, don’t take it personal, but seems you haven’t studied for the driving license … And if you do hold one I pitty you…
I’ll change the lanes when is safe to do so for me and the others, regardless of the speed, not when an A-hole what’s me to do so.
If you’re really curious I can provide you with the video feeds and you can see that at the speed we were moving (120km/h) I had no proper clearance to move on the lower lane without endangering myself or the cars on my right, even if it looks so in the still frame.
But like I said, probably you’re a right seat driver.

So this might sound naïve, but is it legal to use dashcams? You know, with the illegality of public photography and recording.

It is illegal to take pictures of people in public. Public videography/photography where no faces are being shown is not illegal. Plus, it is only illegal if you publish the pics/vids, sending them to police enforcement is not an issue. (even if it shows faces/uncensored)

I was in a traffic accident where I hit someone from the back (due to her bad driving), and what saved my ass at the police inspector was my dashcam footage. (even though she tried to make it an issue that I took that video without her knowledge/consent, where it wasn’t warranted)

If you work in or drive through restricted areas such as oil fields, military bases or areas, etc these can get you in hot water. If your in this situation better you not have a dashcam.

Dashcams can operate without a battery if connected to an external power supply. The only issue with operating without the battery is that the dashcam’s final recording (if on a recording loop) will not save as a file when switching off the cars ignition and power.

One way to mitigate this potential loss of the recording is to make the loop as short as possible, say 1 min, so that the dashcam records for a minute before saving the recording, and then starts another recording, assumed to be a seamless process. This still means that you face a risk with the recording when switching off the car, as you would likely lose the last minute. You could wait a minute after arrival at your destination before switching off, but who will remember to do that?

Another concern with this is that, in the event of an accident, you were to experience a power failure to your car or you manually switched off the engine, in which case you will have lost the moment before the impact as this might not have saved onto the memory card. Hence my earlier recommendation to buy a dash cam with a supercapacitor as this does away with the battery, instead having a supercapacitor that holds enough electrical charge after switching off the engine to close the loop and save the final recording as a file.

Thank you for your feedback. But if I do get one with a battery, will it cause any problems due to the summer heat?

Also, any ones in particular you recommend

My dash cam has battery, no issues other than fact it doesn’t hold a charge for long now. once it gets disconnected from power it auto shuts off after 15 seconds so don’t really notice the battery issue.

They all have batteries and will work for a while. Quality varies dash cam to dash cam, some better able than others to manage the extreme summer car interior heat as experienced here in Kuwait.

Perhaps a heat reflective film to your windscreen might prolong the life of the unit a little, or remove it when not in use and if also the car is exposed to direct sunlight when parked, or take an extended product replacement cover as offered by some of the retailers here.

I have a couple of Thieye units that appear to work very well, with high quality video image capture. Some dash cams also connect to smartphones by wifi so easy to view recordings without having to remove the memory card and put into a computer.

Hi Mark, I replaced my Garmin in October, it was still working, but I wanted 4K image with a rear cam as well. I got the Rexing V1P Max 4K Dual Channel. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B084T9Y6JG/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Its working perfectly and it has a capacitor, not a battery, which means its much better in a hotter climate.
I have installed the Rexing V1LG for my wife’s car 3 years ago (not the 4K), still working without any issues.
I can send you a recording from my car if you want to check out the quality. I also mounted it on the car sensing system and not on the windshield so it looks as if its a part of the car.

It is larger than the Garmin for sure, but it installs flat on the windshield under the mirror so you don’t feel it. Ill send you a pic of the one in my wife’s car and my car.

I’m always procrastinating buying one! I echo the Blackvue choice too, I like the low profile of them and (I think) the very straight forward use.

I have three BlackVue front and rear hd dashcams in separate cars, ordered from Amazon. Both are recording fine and in the sun for +5 years. They are all wired into the fuse box for power with the optional accessory called power magic pro. The only issue I had with one of them is the g-sensor and Gps failed early on, but it still records to the sd card without those features active. I recommend the BlackVue cams and their small size, connectivity is only through the app as there is no screen on the cameras.

hello my dash cam is a Rexing V1, i installed it in my toyota RV4 about 4 years ago and it’s been working flawlessly since. about monthly i reformat the Kingston 64GB micro-SD memory chip and check see whats been recorded. it has unfortuately recorded 1 ‘T’ bone crash at intersection, 1 truck rollover knocking down a tree and falling into a ditch on fire and a pedestrian getting knocked downand ran over..

Im using a local company called birdie, it has live tracking and live feed video… Font and rear

Not great customer support though

I am using Nextbase 522GW. Expensive when compared to Anker/Aukey, but worth every penny and built rock solid.

You can Try and formal the SD card before giving up on the dashcam.

My Dash cam since 2014 as well and still running is DOD LS460W bought from Australia.
DOD products are great and should have much better and newer dash cams than mine.

I got the BlackVue DR750X-2CH IR a couple of years ago and it’s pretty awesome. You can hook it up to your car’s fuse box and it will start recording (I think for 1 minute) whenever the motion sensor detects movement while parked. Also allows you to stream/save recordings on your phone, or, in case, just check every now and then that it’s still working lol. Quite pricey though.

I am very late to this post BUT…. If you get a new one, get one with a capacitor rather than a Lithium Ion battery as they are not prone to the high temperatures here in Kuwait.

sorry thought i had responded to someone. I got two:
Garmin Dash Cam 66W
APEMAN Mini Dash Cam

Both complete opposites of the spectrum, I think I’ll post about the Garmin one tomorrow.

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