1st Dash Cam Advice

CliveR

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Hi all,
New to the forum and to Dash Cams in general so looking for some advixce on what to get.

My requirements are:
  1. Dual cams Front and Rear
  2. Mainly for legal protection, so...
  3. Number plate recognition probably highest priority
Nice to have:
  1. Parking Mode
  2. Capacitor vs battery (although not sure if thats really relevant as it will be powerd from the car?)
  3. Cloud storage (free if possible).
My Shortlist so far:
  1. Viofo A229 Duo
  2. Garmin 67W X2
  3. Street Guardian
  4. Nextbase 522GW
  5. Thinkware U1000 or F800.
They all get good reviews in general but I'm torn as to the pros and cons of 4K, 2K FHD etc.
Also frame rate and bitrates.

I'm leaning towards 2 Garmin 67W's at the moment as they are discrete and seem to perform well.

Any users experience and/or thought on the matter greatly appreciated. as is any alternatives to my list.
Regards to all

UPDATE 18/05/22: Thanks to extensive reading on this forum and watching hours of YouTube video on the matter I have updated my shortlist above.
The main thing is I have added the upcoming Viofo A229 and put it at the top of my list for consideration at the moment.
My reasoning is that, 2K seems to be the sweetspot for Dashcams at the moment and it is one of very few offering 2K front and back.
The only other two in serious contention is the Garmin and Street Guardian. Plus I don't know when the new Viofo will be available or how much it will cost.
I wish this decision making lark was easy
 
Last edited:
My first and current camera is a Nextbase 522GW with the rear window camera, hardwire kit and 32GB Nextbase SD card. I have it mounted behind my center mirror, and the resolution set to 1440p front and 720p rear and it does well for most conditions.

On the front camera, in daytime driving the video is nice and clear. Number plates are well readable and can be read from a good distance. For night time driving, it does okay. Number plates are harder to read, and smaller details can be lost to grainy footage. With the right lighting, number plates can still be read somewhat easily from larger distances. The rear camera records good daytime footage and okay night time footage. The FOV is good too. it is enough to cover plenty lanes, even across a motorway. It isn't super wide but enough to capture any side-swipes or pit manouvres.

I havent had a true event with the parking mode but it triggers with a door being slammed so i would imagine it would work if the car is hit. It does use a battery instead of a capacitor, and my battery has started to lose it's ability to power the camera after only 6 months of owning it. It doesn't have direct cloud storage, but you can use the app to upload clips to the Nextbase cloud which is free as far as i have experienced. The app isn't amazing though. It often wont download clips or connect with the wifi properly on my current phone (Xperia 5 II), however, my last phone (Galaxy S10) would connect if i turned off mobile data. Despite this is connects properly with the bluetooth and still allows me to use the Amazon Alexa commands with it. Even with this flaw the camera can be easily removed from the magnetic mount and taken inside.

It can be found with the rear cam and an SD card in a bundle for £250. occasionally it can be found on offer for closer to £190-£200.

In short it's a decent setup with good quality video and reasonably priced. The app isn't amazing but will work sometimes. It does use a battery which is something to keep in mind. It's not the best camera on the market, but for a first setup, its a nice one.

I can attatch some photo/video files later if you would like them, and hopefully some others with experience on other cameras can give their opinion to help you find the camera that fits your needs
 
My first and current camera is a Nextbase 522GW with the rear window camera, hardwire kit and 32GB Nextbase SD card. I have it mounted behind my center mirror, and the resolution set to 1440p front and 720p rear and it does well for most conditions.

On the front camera, in daytime driving the video is nice and clear. Number plates are well readable and can be read from a good distance. For night time driving, it does okay. Number plates are harder to read, and smaller details can be lost to grainy footage. With the right lighting, number plates can still be read somewhat easily from larger distances. The rear camera records good daytime footage and okay night time footage. The FOV is good too. it is enough to cover plenty lanes, even across a motorway. It isn't super wide but enough to capture any side-swipes or pit manouvres.

I havent had a true event with the parking mode but it triggers with a door being slammed so i would imagine it would work if the car is hit. It does use a battery instead of a capacitor, and my battery has started to lose it's ability to power the camera after only 6 months of owning it. It doesn't have direct cloud storage, but you can use the app to upload clips to the Nextbase cloud which is free as far as i have experienced. The app isn't amazing though. It often wont download clips or connect with the wifi properly on my current phone (Xperia 5 II), however, my last phone (Galaxy S10) would connect if i turned off mobile data. Despite this is connects properly with the bluetooth and still allows me to use the Amazon Alexa commands with it. Even with this flaw the camera can be easily removed from the magnetic mount and taken inside.

It can be found with the rear cam and an SD card in a bundle for £250. occasionally it can be found on offer for closer to £190-£200.

In short it's a decent setup with good quality video and reasonably priced. The app isn't amazing but will work sometimes. It does use a battery which is something to keep in mind. It's not the best camera on the market, but for a first setup, its a nice one.

I can attatch some photo/video files later if you would like them, and hopefully some others with experience on other cameras can give their opinion to help you find the camera that fits your needs
Thanks HellFolf, I forgot to add that on to my shortlist. It's certainly one of the best around by all accounts. The only thing that put me off it a little bit was the VIOFO seems to get better results in most conditions according to some of the test footage I have seen. I also like the look of the Garmin 67W but can't find any reference/reviews of thatem being used in a dual cam situation.
It's all very much a suck it and see scenarion with these things. As always there isn't one perfect answer. So I end up going around in cirlcles and confusing myself (that's easily done in my case :)
 
Thanks to this forum I have added to my confusion/ shortlist. I hadn't heard of Street Guardian befor but they have caught my eye. However, the only UK source I can find is hiniko.com in Europe. Has anyone in the UK any knowledge of the supplier and/or Street Guardian. Also torn over which SG model would bestnsuit my needs.
 
So, I have reduced my shortlist to either.
Street Guardian SG9667DC2K
or
Viofo A229 Duo.
My reasoning is that 2k cams are the sweetspot.
So, given the choice which would all you experts chose and why?
 
The A229 is 2K front and rear, while the DG is only FHD at the rear, so they are not quite comparable.

I think the SG is missing a few features in the way of parking modes, though I don't know the details, and I'm fairly sure it doesn't have voice notifications.

If you were living in Australia then maybe the SG would be the best choice, for the UK, I'd go with the A229, however I do have an A229 and I don't have the SG... I might not be the best judge...
 
The A229 is 2K front and rear, while the DG is only FHD at the rear, so they are not quite comparable.

I think the SG is missing a few features in the way of parking modes, though I don't know the details, and I'm fairly sure it doesn't have voice notifications.

If you were living in Australia then maybe the SG would be the best choice, for the UK, I'd go with the A229, however I do have an A229 and I don't have the SG... I might not be the best judge...
To be honest that's the way I'm leaning Nigel, pretty much for the reasons you outline. It is cheaper as week. The only problem is I'm having trouble ordering as per the pre-order thread on here https://dashcamtalk.com/forum/threads/pre-order-for-a229-on-may-20th-2022.47004/page-3
 
Both are great choices. The only major differences are the rear camera resolution, price, and the level of support that you will receive.
The video quality of the front cam for Street Guardian SG9667DC2K should be better on paper at least (based on the max bitrate settings alone), although I don't know anyone that has done a head to head match up of it with the A229 or A139 even?
A229 has a better rear camera, and is also likely better bang for buck overall (if that is important to you?).

I own the Street Guardian SG9667DC2K and I'm satisfied with both the product and the customer service that I received.
@niko is the UK Street Guardian rep so contact him to see if you can get preferred pricing for forum members and see if they have any sales (not sure if "Memorial Day" is a thing in the UK, like it is here in USA, but the Street Guardian USA website has holiday sales going on now).

The only parking mode option that is missing is Buffered Parking mode.
Buffered parking mode has been shown to be less reliable than low bitrate mode in the past, so I don't think that missing parking mode feature is important.

The biggest issue for you might be pricing I think. Not sure how much the A229 is because it's not listed on Viofo UK for some reason, but it is listed on Viofo.com in USD.
 
Both are great choices. The only major differences are the rear camera resolution, price, and the level of support that you will receive.
The video quality of the front cam for Street Guardian SG9667DC2K should be better on paper at least (based on the max bitrate settings alone), although I don't know anyone that has done a head to head match up of it with the A229 or A139 even?
A229 has a better rear camera, and is also likely better bang for buck overall (if that is important to you?).

I own the Street Guardian SG9667DC2K and I'm satisfied with both the product and the customer service that I received.
@niko is the UK Street Guardian rep so contact him to see if you can get preferred pricing for forum members and see if they have any sales (not sure if "Memorial Day" is a thing in the UK, like it is here in USA, but the Street Guardian USA website has holiday sales going on now).

The only parking mode option that is missing is Buffered Parking mode.
Buffered parking mode has been shown to be less reliable than low bitrate mode in the past, so I don't think that missing parking mode feature is important.

The biggest issue for you might be pricing I think. Not sure how much the A229 is because it's not listed on Viofo UK for some reason, but it is listed on Viofo.com in USD.
Thanks Lothar, I've gone for the Viofo, mainly because it is 2K + 2K. It is also quite a bit cheaper though and that had a bearing obviously.
 
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