Dash Cams (Recommendations)

[intheTRADE]

There has been a recent spate of car vandalism and thefts on mine and surrounding estates of late so decided its time to buy a Dash Cam/24 Hour Recording Device for both mine and the Mrs' cars.

My knowledge of cars (and its gadgets) is limited to knowing how to drive one and that's it. So a quick Google search, as you can expect, throws up thousands of options and pricing. So that's brought me here to ask the good people of UKBF what everyone is using? are these a case of you get what you pay for or are they all pretty much alike?

Don't mind paying for a decent one but, as well all do, I don't want to break the bank

Looking for something that offers 24 hour recording, 360 if possible and available to stream watch if possible similar to the Ring Doorbell. We have CCTV on the house but our drive can only fit one car so the other is parked at the bottom of the drive just out of shot of the CCTV.

Any help would be appreciated, thanks all

 

[GraemeL]

Not sure you can get any dashcam that streams as it would need an internet connection in the vehicle?

I use blackview, camera and front and rear. Like this one. It switches on when the vehicle is moved, even by a bump. Dont forget that installation is required, which is not straightforward because of the electrical connection to the vehicle.

 

[Root 66 Woodshop]

Hi,

You're actually looking for something that isn't really out there, sorry to be the bearer of bad news... The vehicle needs to be switched on (when the dash cameras are plugged in) in order to record 24/7... There are some extremely high end bits of kit out there, that come with a trickle charge battery, for trucks and cargo trailers etc, but you're looking at an extremely high outlay... they just don't seem to do them for cars really...

The closest you'll get is as @GraemeL has posted... but, it's not running 24/7 which is what you've asked for, and to get 360 is pretty much impossible unless you buy 6 of the cameras hand have them fitted throughout the car... ( not really advisable).

 

[The Byre]

Looking for something that offers 24 hour recording, 360 if possible and available to stream watch if possible similar to the Ring Doorbell.

Teslas do this.

 

[JEREMY HAWKE]

We have roadworrier but to my knowledge they don't record when the vehicle is parked up

 

[Ozzy]

I have a Blackvue like what @GraemeL has recommended with both front and rear recording, and it does record and stream 24/7. When within wifi range of my house connects to my home Internet for streaming and uses the car Internet when out and about (or if you don't have a wifi hotspot in your car it can use your mobile)
Mine is quite an old model, the DR650S-2CH but their modern versions do this too. You just need to have it wired correctly so it doesn't cut the power when you turn off the ignition and have an energy saver fitted (so it doesn't kill your battery).

Was worth it when we had a spate of thefts in our village my car recorded the people, their van and registration plate.

 

[WaveJumper]

Depending on where you park but maybe think about having a cctv camera on your house

 

[AW-UK]

Most dash cams plug into the "accessory" socket, or you can wire them up I created a small 12V to 5V SMPS PCB and heat shrunk it with a USB socket on and put it in behind the stereo and tapped into the accessory socket and routed the cable through the car up to the roof lining.

Some cars have permanent power, some like BMW for example seem "live" when ignition is off, but completely shuts down other circuits after a short period of time, say 20 mins or so after ignition is off, most dash cams have batteries internally, but would not last for 24/7 recording, you could take a feed direct from the battery however.

One thing to be weary of is having a recording device on 24/7 even though it may seem to take little power, it'll take more at night for the IR LEDs, and unless it also has battery monitoring (for the car itself) it is going to be a bad day trying to start the car if it runs the battery down too low.