Looking for recommendations

Yiska

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Cork
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Hi all,

I'm new to the forum and new to dash cams. I've done a little reading to understand them and know what I'm looking for but can't decide on a model. My must haves are:

- Discreet (no screen)
- GPS
- 140° field of view
- 1080p Full HD
- Mount type – permanent
- Installation – fuse box preferred

Nice to have:
- Records all the time (parking mode?)
- Rear view also

Not fussed:
- 4K
- Collision warning

Thank you in advance!
 
A little pricey, but you may want to consider the BlackVue DR900S-2CH. I have three dashcams, all BlackVue, and this is one of them. The only catch is, though the front cam will record in 4K, unless you have a PC and editing software of handling 4K, you need to switch the record settings to H.264 rather than H.265.
 
A little pricey, but you may want to consider the BlackVue DR900S-2CH. I have three dashcams, all BlackVue, and this is one of them. The only catch is, though the front cam will record in 4K, unless you have a PC and editing software of handling 4K, you need to switch the record settings to H.264 rather than H.265.
It's a nice looking cam but a bit too pricey, any other recommendations perhaps more around €200/£180/$220?
 
Viofo A119 V3 is worth a look, or maybe the A129 for the parking mode or the soon to be released A129 Pro if you want the 4K

They have a screen, but are actually quite discrete, especially if you have a sun visor or dotted area to hide the main camera behind.
 
Viofo A119 V3 is worth a look, or maybe the A129 for the parking mode or the soon to be released A129 Pro if you want the 4K

They have a screen, but are actually quite discrete, especially if you have a sun visor or dotted area to hide the main camera behind.
The A129 duo looks really promising, it mentions "car charger" does that mean it uses the cigarette lighter or do I need a "hardwire kit"?
 
The A129 duo looks really promising, it mentions "car charger" does that mean it uses the cigarette lighter or do I need a "hardwire kit"?
There is a matching Viofo HK3 hardwire kit that is recommended for parking mode use since it will switch to parking mode immediately you turn the ignition off instead of waiting to check for no GPS movement and also has a low battery voltage protection for your battery.

Dashcams do use a significant amount of power and will empty car batteries given time so low voltage protection is necessary if you use parking mode regularly.
 
There is a matching Viofo HK3 hardwire kit that is recommended for parking mode use since it will switch to parking mode immediately you turn the ignition off instead of waiting to check for no GPS movement and also has a low battery voltage protection for your battery.

Dashcams do use a significant amount of power and will empty car batteries given time so low voltage protection is necessary if you use parking mode regularly.
Thank you, it's definitely top of my list at the moment. Do you have an opinion on the Netbase 412gw? It's another cam I've been recommended.
 
Thank you, it's definitely top of my list at the moment. Do you have an opinion on the Netbase 412gw? It's another cam I've been recommended.
It's not one I've used, but there are a lot of posts on it in the Nextbase forum.

The main issue I have against it is that it uses a lithium battery, so is quite likely to fail at 13 months, shortly after the warranty runs out! In my view all decent dashcams use supercapacitors for backup power, not lithium batteries, that way you don't need to worry about leaving them in the car during summer sunshine, and since you want to use parking mode in a place that might not be that hot but does get quite strong sunshine in summer...
 
that's optimistic
This year's hot weather is almost over, especially in Cork, so it should last until next July before running into problems ... your right, that's not 13 months!

But surely they have got it to last the warranty period by now? Or will they just refuse warranty on the basis that it just needs a new battery, even though the battery is not user replaceable, and they wont sell you just a battery, only a refurbished unit?! (For some reason they seem to have lots of refurbished units!)
 
But surely they have got it to last the warranty period by now?
don't know but look through the Nextbase section and there's way too many people that report battery problems even in very new cameras, I think some of those would love to get 13 months of use, having to take the camera inside and charge overnight every week or so would suggest something isn't right
 
...would suggest something isn't right
Yes, they failed to learn their lesson after the previous model and put a battery in it again!

Although the previous model didn't need regular manual charging to keep it working, so they have actually made things worse.
 
If you want great discretion it can be hard to beat the B1W. It's a more basic single-lens cam but has very low power requirements, a low bitrate parking mode, and does good with day and night videos. Very sweet for the price.

Phil
 
don't know but look through the Nextbase section and there's way too many people that report battery problems even in very new cameras, I think some of those would love to get 13 months of use, having to take the camera inside and charge overnight every week or so would suggest something isn't right
I'll scrap that model then
 
This year's hot weather is almost over, especially in Cork, so it should last until next July before running into problems ... your right, that's not 13 months!

But surely they have got it to last the warranty period by now? Or will they just refuse warranty on the basis that it just needs a new battery, even though the battery is not user replaceable, and they wont sell you just a battery, only a refurbished unit?! (For some reason they seem to have lots of refurbished units!)
Hot weather and Cork... But I don't like the idea of the lithium battery after the reviews so thank you for pointing this out to me.
 
If you want great discretion it can be hard to beat the B1W. It's a more basic single-lens cam but has very low power requirements, a low bitrate parking mode, and does good with day and night videos. Very sweet for the price.

Phil
Thank you, what would I need to do to run 2 of these (front and rear)? I drive a Qashqai so I don't think I have a way to plug it in in the boot.
 
Thank you, what would I need to do to run 2 of these (front and rear)? I drive a Qashqai so I don't think I have a way to plug it in in the boot.
Two hardwire kits, one with a long cable to the back. You can connect both hardwire kits into the same fuse tap.

I like the B1W, as a cheap camera it is excellent, very discrete and very reliable, and uses the lowest power with a decent parking mode. The image quality is not the same standard as the A129 though, especially when it starts to get dark, you get too much motion blur to read plates a lot sooner. An A119 V3 for the front and a B1W for the back would be a good combination, but then the combined cost makes the A129 Duo rather attractive, and the Pro version if you want the higher resolution. It does match your specification, except for no GPS.
 
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