I got a VicoVation TF2+ 4 years ago and have been using it continuously ever since. In that period, there have only been a couple of times that I really would have liked to have been able to review what had happened in minor collisions ("minor" meaning no damage to either vehicle in one case, and paint scrape damage to one vehicle in the other), to see who had actually been at fault.
In both cases, when I went to review the recordings, the file sizes were unsually small and there was nothing viewable in the files. I assume this was because right after the incidents, the instinctive reaction was to stop the car as soon as possible and shut down the engine, which resulted in the electrical power to the dashcam being abruptly shut off before the files had been properly finalized.
In both cases, the dashcam subsequently continued to make multiple normal files on those same days after the engine had been started back up, so there had been no actual damage to the camera. It seems that the dashcam had just been interrupted too soon for it to be able to save the files.
Given this experience, I am left wondering whether this particular design of dashcam, at least the way it is installed with the power coming from the cigarette lighter outlet, which loses power as soon as the engine is shut off, was worth the purchase cost. I don't really use the dashcam for recording scenic drives (although I do have a few of those recordings). I pretty much only use it for peace of mind in the event of a collision. Yet when those fortunately very rare situations occurred, it turned out that it was useless.
It could be argued that this problem was the result of user error (should have left the engine running long enough for the files to be finalized and properly saved), but given the frame of mind that most users will reasonably be expected to be in when similar situations arise, a better design would take into consideration that for the device to be useful it would need large enough capacitors to be able to write files safely/reliably even after the power abruptly goes out.
In both cases, when I went to review the recordings, the file sizes were unsually small and there was nothing viewable in the files. I assume this was because right after the incidents, the instinctive reaction was to stop the car as soon as possible and shut down the engine, which resulted in the electrical power to the dashcam being abruptly shut off before the files had been properly finalized.
In both cases, the dashcam subsequently continued to make multiple normal files on those same days after the engine had been started back up, so there had been no actual damage to the camera. It seems that the dashcam had just been interrupted too soon for it to be able to save the files.
Given this experience, I am left wondering whether this particular design of dashcam, at least the way it is installed with the power coming from the cigarette lighter outlet, which loses power as soon as the engine is shut off, was worth the purchase cost. I don't really use the dashcam for recording scenic drives (although I do have a few of those recordings). I pretty much only use it for peace of mind in the event of a collision. Yet when those fortunately very rare situations occurred, it turned out that it was useless.
It could be argued that this problem was the result of user error (should have left the engine running long enough for the files to be finalized and properly saved), but given the frame of mind that most users will reasonably be expected to be in when similar situations arise, a better design would take into consideration that for the device to be useful it would need large enough capacitors to be able to write files safely/reliably even after the power abruptly goes out.
