Looking for a dash cam that wont die.

Ziloni Green

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Saint Kitts And Nevis
Looking for a dash cam that wont die.

Out of 5 dash cams, 4 have died. ALL because they operate off of the batteries and when they cant hold a charge they wont even turn on. I've tried to self repair, but most have the special flat batteries and are soldered or just impractical to repair. It seems to be the heat that kills the batteries as I'm in the Caribbean.

It seems no matter how many stars on Amazon, or how many brands I try, same result. I'm not even buying the cheapest models, but still the same.

Just need a dash cam that works and won't die within 6-12 months.

This is the latest one to die... had 4.5 star reviews when I bought it, but now its about 3.5.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/B01G6KHWAS
Features I want:

-Decent video, should be able to read plates. 1080 or higher

-Good mount - no suction cups or anything that hangs on a swivel. Our roads here are horrible and such cameras just end up moving around like a bobble head.

-With screen

The Lumia that just died worked really well except for the dying part.
 
Look for a camera that uses a super-capacitor rather than a battery. You'll not have to worry about batteries ever again. There are many good cameras to choose from.
 
Ive looked at cap based ones but the ones I've all found said they reset if you dont drive the car every day and then they goof up the looping of the files.
 
Ive looked at cap based ones but the ones I've all found said they reset if you dont drive the car every day and then they goof up the looping of the files.
You want a cap based camera that utilizes a separate (usually button) battery used solely for maintaining the real time clock (RTC) settings.
 
The thinkware F800 may be what I need - except no screen :(
 
The Thinkwares have a direct cable option with low voltage sensor. So these look ideal.

Need a screen though, so currently looking the X500 and X550 as the F800/F770 has no screen. I have no need for a rear camera.
 
Everyone I've had so far dies in 6-12 months.

I've settled on the Thinkware X-500 and purchased 2 of them.
 
You should do OK with the Thinkware products as they have a high build quality :)

One of the steps in manufacturing electronics is post-soldering flux clean-up. Left-over flux attracts contaminants which can lead to corrosion. High-quality products do this cleaning well, cheap ones don't, and this is one of the things I look for when judging build quality ;) It is especially important in salty-air island environments. I'd recommend that you also keep a closer than usual watch for corrosion on all your cable connections as that is a common place for problems with dashcams. Here's a thread on the subject: https://dashcamtalk.com/forum/threads/psa-keep-your-connectors-clean.30781/
https://dashcamtalk.com/forum/threads/psa-keep-your-connectors-clean.30781/
I hope the recent rash of storms hasn't caused you problems, it has been a crazy year for those :(
Phil
 
Irma and Maria sucked. We went right through the middle but got hit a bit. Was without power for over a week and am still repairing small things.

Islands to the north and south were obliterated and they are close enough that I can see several of them out my window.

Thanks for the corrosion. I'm aware of that and have become a bit of an expert and I ran the largest computer service center here for 7 years. Corrosion is a huge issue, but with the dashcams it seems be mostly battery and simple quality problems. Hopefully the Thinkwares will hold up much better.

I have the nylon pencils, corrosion cleaning sprays, dielectric greases.. you name it :)
 
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