What should I buy...the everlasting question!

Demetrios

Member
Joined
Aug 16, 2017
Messages
69
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49
Location
Thessaloniki
Country
Greece
Dash Cam
SG9665GC V3
My quest for choosing a dash cam started 20 days ago. Saw some models on Aliexpress at first, tried to find some reviews and videos of the models I noted down to make my final decision.

"Final"? hahahaha, not even close after bumping into this forum!! That knowledge-base you call forum, changed my view on the dash-cam choice. Cheap as chips cams have no reliability, hard to get aftersales service, batteries mounted that will be fried in the Greek sun (up to +40 Celsius/+104 degrees this summer) or die in the Greek winter (-10 Celsius/14 Farenheit degrees 8 months ago).

I will not extend my post with the history of what I saw, gave serious thought and rejected as choices, which were too many until I narrowed them down. That could probably be a latter discussion/topic for anyone who is interested in how a newbie thinks.


So, here is what I want to install on my car, a Peugeot 308 SW, 2010 model:

a) A front dash cam, very discreet/stealthy design and color, with no white letters of the brand or blink plastics, that goes directly to the windscreen-photo below-. Black wedge shaped cams which stick directly are perfect for this job. Do not want a cam shaped such as Tube/Book/Compact photo camera for the windcreen.

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b) A rear cam, smaller than a wedge shaped is a better choice for me, that can stick inside the trunk door. My trunk opens either partial (only glass) or whole together as most cars. I would like to mount the rear camera on this plastic base, as shown below. The rear glass (tinted with window film) closes and covers it completely. I have a power socket at the back of the car as well so if I cannot hardwire both of them, will hardwire only the front one.

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Having cleared all the above info, below are the priorities I have set for the pair of cams I wish to buy;

a) Video quality. This is the primary function of a cam after all. 30%-35% will be night drive , so night performance should be very good,
b) Reliability over time. I am not into changing/upgrading new items often. There is a certain cost after all.
c) Capacitors instead of battery. Weather in my country has hot summers and sometimes heavy winters. So, cam should be able to work as best as possible in all conditions.
d) Other features, especially like Parking mode, are mostly welcomed.

No need for wifi, GPS etc. If they are offered within the package, I wouldn't mind.


Budget is around 250Euros-280Euros that is around 290USD-330USD and 370AUD-415AUD.



Βelow are my 3 choices;

1. Viofo A119 (+CPL+Hardwire+64GB card) for the windscreen and Viofo A119s (Hardwire too?+64GB card) for the trunk. Why? Α119 has wider angle and is ideal for junctions. High quality day video, good night video, a safe midrange choice in terms of video quality and features at least. A119s will sit in the back as its better night vision will be ideally while set up behind a tinted window. CPL I guess (due to tint) will not be needed. Added bonus the 1440P with 30fps or 60fps in 1080p. Have located a few sellers at Aliexpress already.

2. Street Guardian SG9665GC V3 front and SG9665XS+hardwire(s?). Both offer quality day video, good/decent quality night video and they seem to get good aftersales support and software updates. Two problems with this combo: is over my top budget (but not dramatically) and I think that if I set up SG9665XS in the back (bracket down, cam up), will be recording upside-down. I checked various youtube reviews and I did not see a Reverse/Flip option for SG9665XS. Please advise on that as well.

3. Street Guardian SG9663DC. I was looking initially for something like that (dual cam) but almost all choices had rear cams with VGA or 720p camera. No to mention that front cam was not as good as I wanted it to be. This SG DC model has a 1080p and it is very discreet. Just hardware the front, connect back camera to the front and all is set. Only drawback here, and this is from what I read, its steep price which is around 330 Euros. Add some (maybe?) extras, hardwire or anything else that is not included in the package.

Options 2. and 3. have been located at hiniko.com e-shop.



Finally, since I want to have some sort of parking mode, hardwiring both of them (if not possible only one then) is a must. My power sockets are cut down immediately after I turn off the engine.



Thank you for reading my post. All thoughts, suggestions and ideas are welcome! :)
 
Last edited:
You can always rewire your sockets to permanent live if needed, but better to wire in elsewhere, you may have smart electrics some cars do and get upset with battery drain when engine off.
Your choice of course but I have a thinkware F770, did seriously consider the blackvue 650 but consider the F770 more reliable, good luck what ever you get
 
Thank you for your reply! As I have mentioned in my previous post, I do not like big cams who are shaped like tube, book/boxy or like a Compact Photo Camera. Not to mention that an F770+SD+hardwire will climb up to 330-350 Euros, amount that is out of my budget by far.
 
i love image quality of SGDC, but i am not sure about reliable. If you can wait, wait to end of september or octorber. In first 2 weeks, if there is any problems, we shall know soon. ;) it's best choice.
2 GC ? too expensive. 2 XS ? image quality not so good but cheap. It's all your call.
 
Your option #1 seems good, though I'd advise caution when buying from Aliexpress. If @viofo sells there or cab recommend someone you will be OK but other sellers may not be honest. Use their buyer protection plan.

Your option #3 is also good. SG products are a bit costly but well worth their cost unlike many other higher-priced cams. Rock-solid quality and reliability plus the DC will see improvements as time passes with possibly even a parking mode sometime later on. Best after-sales service if you need that.

My personal choice would be SG9665GC (or A119 series) in front and Mobius w/supercaps or WR-1 in rear. The WR-1 is better than Mobius at night but it's a new cam so it's lifespan can't be confirmed yet. Mobius is very versatile and utterly reliable.

Every cam is a compromise in some way but if you stick with quality products and the recommended SDcards you'll be getting your money's worth.

And welcome to DCT :)

Phil
 
(...) batteries mounted that will be fried in the Greek sun (up to +40 Celsius/+104 degrees this summer) or die in the Greek winter (-10 Celsius/14 Farenheit degrees 8 months ago).
Batteries "frying" in the heat will only happen if you let it happen. My AT11DA, a generic, non-branded, low end, run of the mill battery camera has already endured 2 extremely hot Summers (2016: 29 days with temperatures between 35 and 45ºC; 2017: so far, 17 days in the same range, 9 of which were between 40 and 46ºC). Moreover, all these days had UV radiation levels of 10 (extreme) or above (don't even think about leaving the house!) and neither the camera nor the battery had any problems whatsoever. The camera works for several hours every day and the battery still lasts the same 5 minutes fully charged as it did brand new.
The secret: always protect the camera from the sun. I would never leave ANY camera, not even a capacitor one, directly exposed to the sun for long periods of time, even if not in use.
 
Many thanks for your replies. @SawMaster thank you for the welcoming! I would like to avoid wifi control and stick to a classic layout with screen and buttons. That is the reason why mobius and wr1 were rejected in the first place.

Are the XS models in market now, the v2? Mounting it upside down, will it record the video also upside down or can it flip the video via menu option?

Στάλθηκε από το LG-H960 μου χρησιμοποιώντας Tapatalk
 
Have to check then a review of what new v2 brings compared to v1. Thank you.

Στάλθηκε από το LG-H960 μου χρησιμοποιώντας Tapatalk
 
XS V2 offers very similar image quality to the GC

Thats what i was expecting too in leu of what others have been / am up to at the moment.

Im so glad that alphabet are not one of the things the Greeks have passed on to the rest of the world :eek::D
 
@kamkar1 lool!

@jokiin have seen all his cam relevant videos, looking forward to them.

Στάλθηκε από το LG-H960 μου χρησιμοποιώντας Tapatalk
 
SG9665XS v2 videos will be ready over the weekend.

Sent from my LG-H962 using Tapatalk
 
These are great news.

Στάλθηκε από το LG-H960 μου χρησιμοποιώντας Tapatalk
 
They are different hardware so have different firmware versions out of necessity, V2 uses a Sony sensor
That's not what I asked but ok, this isn't a conversation to be had here.
 
Right now the firmware for each is essentially the same other than settings related to the different image sensor they use, if there are any bugs that are found we'll get any fixes applied to the V1 firmware, if we do further feature development that may not necessarily apply to both versions, depends on what we do to some extent though, it is a very basic product so does have its limitations
 
The V1 XS i am running perform fine, it just sit there and record when it have to.
There are off course the limitations in the hardware used for the V1, but i feel its a great little camera if i bypass such things like the form factor that's not my favorite and so on.
It even do well on the suction cup mount i use for it.
I have only used a 32Gb card in the XS, and it have yet to destroy that, but one also have to remember i do not drive much in my car compared to others, i dont even have the daily job commute.
 
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