3 x car and 3 x van cams needed but which ?

[Talay]

I've sat on the fence for nearly a decade. I know, I'll accept the inbound !

The problem is that I've always wanted the best , perhaps the impossible, I've looked at batteries, pre and post capacitors, sensors and 2 or 3 or 4 cameras and sadly I never found my answer.

But now it is time to **** or get off the pot !

2 x SUV and 1 x city car plus 3 x vans without rear sight through the van.

Money is relatively no issue but buyer's remorse, as in buying today only to see better tomorrow is what hurts.

Quality needed, no need to scrimp on price as in a best bang for your buck, just the best please.

Vans, maybe 2 cam ?

Cars, maybe 3 or 2 if no inside.

Thanks in advance (again).

 

[Nigel]

What you need is the next new model to be released, it is going to be a significant improvement on any of the current models.

You haven't given any requirement specifications, other than "the best", but some compromises need to be made.
Do you want the best image quality, the best parking mode, the best cloud implementation... These don't all come in the same camera.

 

[Nigel]

I looked through your past decade of posts:

In less than 10 years, every car coming off the production line will have 8/12/16 cameras all running permanently and there will be no aftermarket dashcam business.

We are nearly at that 10 years, but there is no sign of dashcams being standard in anything other than a Tesla, and even then they are not great image quality!

Your previous requirements are even more difficult to reach today:

What is the absolute best 2 channel (or more) setup these days with parking and transfer to the cloud ?

Best front and rear resolution and image capture. Are 4 camera models or 2 x 2 setups viable ? or is a 3 camera setup viable ? Radar and whatever is best for parking etc. Upload to the cloud. Battery backup. Anything else that you' add. Price is not really an issue but I'd rather not pay...

dashcamtalk.com

The dashcams with best image quality do not have 4G connectivity, and the dashcams with 4G connectivity do not have Sony Starvis 2 sensors and good HDR, with the exception of 70mai, but they are mid-range/budget, not best quality.
Just go for the best image quality, cloud image quality is at best HD720 at low frame rate, for best image quality you want 4K 60fps with multi exposure DOL-HDR for night time plate recording.

 

[Dashmellow]

Money is relatively no issue but buyer's remorse, as in buying today only to see better tomorrow is what hurts.

This is the same phenomenon I've witnessed over the years where certain people can't bring themselves to purchase a computer because they fear that once they do a newer one will suddenly come to market with a faster processor and newer features. It's the same for some with smartphones for the same reasons. Of course, it's the nature of technology development to always move quickly and society is subjected to the constant drumbeat of the "newest, latest, best" marketing hype which is really intended to get people to replace their older devices whether they need a new one or not but which some folks find paralyzing when they are considering their first purchase.

 

[Nigel]

they fear that once they do a newer one will suddenly come to market with a faster processor and newer features. It's the same for some with smartphones for the same reasons.

I think the phones have run out of essential features to add every year. Ten years ago was the iPhone 6, and there have been some very useful additions since, such as NFC and face recognition that we use every day, but in the last 5 years, maybe the only really useful addition was satellite services, but they will not be needed soon, with direct to cell satellites now in orbit.

 

[Dashmellow]

I think the phones have run out of essential features to add every year. Ten years ago was the iPhone 6, and there have been some very useful additions since, such as NFC and face recognition that we use every day, but in the last 5 years, maybe the only really useful addition was satellite services, but they will not be needed soon, with direct to cell satellites now in orbit.

Not sure I really agree with you that iPhone development or smatphone tech stalled out with the iPhone 6, but that wasn't my point. There will always be new technologies, features, improvements and worthwhile refinements and there certainly have been and will continue to be, even when older ones reach a certain stage of maturity and development, the question is whether the marketing hype prevents people at any given point in time from pulling the trigger on their first purchase as we see here.

 

[DT MI]

...Money is relatively no issue but buyer's remorse, as in buying today only to see better tomorrow is what hurts...

If that is what is holding you back from making a technology purchase (any technology) resign yourself to never buying anything. Technology by it's very nature is constantly evolving/improving, even more so when in early stages as we're, for the most part, in today. At some point you have to accept the fact that tomorrow will always bring something 'better' than what's available today.

As to what's the 'best' dash cam today you have to decide what's important to you - be it image quality, reliability, parking mode, support, WiFi capable, screen/no screen, night IQ, HDR/WDR, cloud storage, etc. No two people will agree 100% as to what constitutes 'best' for a given product and dash cams are no exception - only you can make that determination as it relates to you.

 

[Talay]

What you need is the next new model to be released, it is going to be a significant improvement on any of the current models.

You haven't given any requirement specifications, other than "the best", but some compromises need to be made.
Do you want the best image quality, the best parking mode, the best cloud implementation... These don't all come in the same camera.

Clearly video that cannot read number plates is pointless so high image quality is a must.

Parking mode is important as 70% of issues seem to originate when parked.

Long life without is important as vehicles can be parked for a couple of days and not driven.

Dual or triple cameras of course. For vans, there is no direct back window so we'd need some external camera.

I know these don't all come in one package but why is there still so much crap in the market ?

 

[Talay]

This is the same phenomenon I've witnessed over the years where certain people can't bring themselves to purchase a computer because they fear that once they do a newer one will suddenly come to market with a faster processor and newer features. It's the same for some with smartphones for the same reasons. Of course, it's the nature of technology development to always move quickly and society is subjected to the constant drumbeat of the "newest, latest, best" marketing hype which is really intended to get people to replace their older devices whether they need a new one or not but which some folks find paralyzing when they are considering their first purchase.

I don't have 100 hours to go through and educate myself on every development in the last 12 months but if I wanted a laptop or pc or mobile I could do it in an afternoon.

What with sensors and light and capacitor life and parking, the nuances are far greater than a simple laptop !

 

[Dashmellow]

I don't have 100 hours to go through and educate myself on every development in the last 12 months but if I wanted a laptop or pc or mobile I could do it in an afternoon.

What with sensors and light and capacitor life and parking, the nuances are far greater than a simple laptop !

Obviously, you have now been around computers long enough that you can make a statement like that but would not be the case if you were shopping for your first computer.

Even then most people don't spend 10 years shopping for their first computer. Having personally advised people on purchasing their first computer over the years I can say that the concepts involved tend to be far more daunting to some than purchasing a simple consumer gadget like a dash camera.

And as a member of a dash camera forum learning about and shopping for a camera and still not having purchased one after all this time is rather unusual to say the least. Indeed, if you are on some kind of quixotic quest for the "best one" you will never find what you are looking for because it is a constantly moving target and a better one will always be just around the next corner. Good thing you haven't been involved in a car accident in the interim. You know, there is an old saying among my community of professional photographers that "the best camera is the one you have with you" and truer words have never been spoken. Indeed, some of the most famous photographs in the world were captured with whatever was at hand and hardlly the "best". ANY dash cam is better than none.

And to be clear here, and to reiterate, according to your own statements you have been at this for ten years now.

Along with that remark you stated that you will "accept the inbound" for your admission of sitting on the fence for a decade but your reply to me appears to contradict that sentiment.

I've sat on the fence for nearly a decade. I know, I'll accept the inbound !

The problem is that I've always wanted the best , perhaps the impossible, I've looked at batteries, pre and post capacitors, sensors and 2 or 3 or 4 cameras and sadly I never found my answer.

 

[Nigel]

Clearly video that cannot read number plates is pointless so high image quality is a must.

In that case, you want a dashcam with Sony Starvis 2 image sensors, and functioning DOL-HDR that will read number plates day and night, at upto 100mph closing speed.

The only 3 channel dashcam, with Sony Starvis 2 image sensors and functioning DOL-HDR on all channels, is the Viofo A229, either the Plus with 2K front resolution, or Pro with 4K front resolution.

Parking mode is important as 70% of issues seem to originate when parked.

The Viofo A229 Pro has several parking modes, I like the low bitrate mode, because it records everything, until it runs out of power!

Long life without is important as vehicles can be parked for a couple of days and not driven.

Unfortunately the A229 Pro uses a fair amount of power in parking mode, you would need a big battery to last a couple of days.

Dual or triple cameras of course. For vans, there is no direct back window so we'd need some external camera.

A229 Pro is available in single, dual or triple camera configuration.

I don't think an external rear camera is currently available, but Viofo recently published:

I know these don't all come in one package but why is there still so much crap in the market ?

The only item on your list which isn't great on the A229 Pro is the parking mode battery usage. But currently there isn't a dashcam that has great lifetime on parking mode without going to sleep until woken up by either an impact or radar, and by the time they wake up, they haven't recorded the impact. The Thinkware U3000 manages to wake up on impact or radar in about 1 second, which is OK, and might record a slow impact, but it doesn't manage the night time plate reading. There is a Vueroid that wakes up in 2 seconds on impact, currently being tested, after that they are all too slow.


Like I said before, what you want is the next dashcam to be released, where Viofo manages to achieve your full list with a dashcam even better than the A229 Pro. If you don't mind waiting another couple of months...

 

[Talay]

... Like I said before, what you want is the next dashcam to be released, where Viofo manages to achieve your full list with a dashcam even better than the A229 Pro. If you don't mind waiting another couple of months...

We're 1.5 months since the last post so is this "next dashcam" around the corner just yet ?

 

[Nigel]

We're 1.5 months since the last post so is this "next dashcam" around the corner just yet ?

We got the waterproof rear camera for the A229:

VIOFO RWC200 Waterproof Rear Camera for A229 Plus/A229 Pro

RWC200 is compatible with the A229 Plus/A229 Pro 1CH dash camera. 2K 30fps HDR waterproof camera with Sony STARVIS 2 IMX675 Image Sensor. With an lP67 rating, the camera will be protected from heavy rain or snow and instantly capture crisper images. If you have an A229 Plus/A229 Pro 2CH or 3CH...

viofo.com

And we got a telephoto camera for the A229:

VIOFO RTC300 Telephoto Camera for A229 Plus/A229 Pro

RTC300 Telephoto Camera is compatible with the A229 Plus/A229 Pro 1CH dash camera. Support CPL Filter (CPL-500 Optional, Not Included). 2K 30fps telephoto lens with Sony STARVIS 2 IMX675 Image Sensor. HDR feature captures sharp and vivid scenes in extremely bright and dark areas. Records in a...

viofo.com

Quality needed, no need to scrimp on price as in a best bang for your buck, just the best please.

No sign of the next camera arriving yet, but we are only at 1.5 months yet!
I suspect there has been a bit of a delay for further improvements, but it is coming.

Here is a test of the telephoto:
"Spectacular", "Wow", "More effective at night than many cameras recording during the day.", "A revolution, not an evolution".