Are real dash cams less shaky than dash-phones?

moctoddct

New Member
Joined
Aug 24, 2014
Messages
17
Reaction score
2
Country
United States
I'm deciding whether or not to buy a dashcam, or use a spare smartphone like a Galaxy Note. I just want to know do manufactures do anything different with dashcams that makes them innately less shaky? Or, are they just as prone to shaky videos as smartphones? So whether we use a dashcam or dashphone, is it all depended on the mounting hardware?

Some of these apps are pretty neat with loop recording and everything. I see no reason not to use a smartphone, other than the possible reason that dash-cams are innately less shaky. If that's the case, I would purchase a dashcam.

Your advice is appreciated. Thank you!
 
The mount is what makes a difference, that said though phones are not good full time candidates for this task, overheating is an issue
 
1) Can you honestly say you'll setup your smart phone each and every single time you get in your car for a drive? The 1 time time you think it's just a quick drive or you are in a rush is when a moment of truth happens.
2) The big battery in a phone = death in direct sunshine. Good quality DashCam's have high heat resistant capacitors instead of batteries. Panorama can operate in parking mode up to 90C/194F for example.

A dashcam is a true set it and forget it rock solid appliance. (automatically records) Smart Phone via DashCam "App" is neat for the first few times and that's about it. If you want to use your Smartphone get a DashCam with WiFi that you can interface with via your Smartphone.

As far as shake goes, if you have a non-stable car. (like a old jeep or something like that) no camera will prevent shakes. You can easily remove shakes via post processing. (even youtube has this one-button fix ability)
 
Last edited:
Wow, thanks for responses. The last action in this TOPIC forum was in July 26, so I'm pleasantly surprised I'm getting responses just minutes after posting.
I do errands and don't do long commutes, so I'm hoping overheating won't be an issue. The phone is a spare, so there won't be any setting up, taking down issue. Plus, I'm a DIY type of person. You might be right, but you can never convince DIY people to NOT tinker around. LOL! If you have a spare phone, it makes too much sense to me to at least try it first before I decide whether or not I need a dash cam.
 
No problems with a secure mount on an Ambarella 0803 mini-camera here, it takes great video and just unclips when you want it hidden away.
 
Wow, thanks for responses. The last action in this TOPIC forum was in July 26, so I'm pleasantly surprised I'm getting responses just minutes after posting.
I do errands and don't do long commutes, so I'm hoping overheating won't be an issue. The phone is a spare, so there won't be any setting up, taking down issue. Plus, I'm a DIY type of person. You might be right, but you can never convince DIY people to NOT tinker around. LOL! If you have a spare phone, it makes too much sense to me to at least try it first before I decide whether or not I need a dash cam.
Post some pics of your install and maybe some video to compare
 
Wow, thanks for responses. The last action in this TOPIC forum was in July 26, so I'm pleasantly surprised I'm getting responses just minutes after posting.
I do errands and don't do long commutes, so I'm hoping overheating won't be an issue. The phone is a spare, so there won't be any setting up, taking down issue. Plus, I'm a DIY type of person. You might be right, but you can never convince DIY people to NOT tinker around. LOL! If you have a spare phone, it makes too much sense to me to at least try it first before I decide whether or not I need a dash cam.
but wouldnt you still have to turn it on and turn the app on each and every time?

i tried using my sony cybershot years ago as a dash cam and it was just too inconvenient without a looping feature. then when i found an iphone app i tried that but i found it was too much of a hassle to turn on and off every time.

the last accident i was in, i was just going a quarter mile from home to pick up food i called for carry out, was t-boned by someone who ran a stop sign. it wasnt very high speed but $5000 in damage. i was only about 4 blocks away from home, and was about as far as i was going to get. i can guarantee i would not have set up my phone app if i was still using that because i would have thought "its only a couple minutes."

luckily this kid admitted fault and claimed 100%.
 
but wouldnt you still have to turn it on and turn the app on each and every time?

i tried using my sony cybershot years ago as a dash cam and it was just too inconvenient without a looping feature. then when i found an iphone app i tried that but i found it was too much of a hassle to turn on and off every time.

the last accident i was in, i was just going a quarter mile from home to pick up food i called for carry out, was t-boned by someone who ran a stop sign. it wasnt very high speed but $5000 in damage. i was only about 4 blocks away from home, and was about as far as i was going to get. i can guarantee i would not have set up my phone app if i was still using that because i would have thought "its only a couple minutes."

luckily this kid admitted fault and claimed 100%.

Well, iphone apps sucks in my research. But there are good ones for Android. No need to turn on manually. They work like real dash cams. Once car starts, app and camera starts. Loop recording and all. But I'm re-thinking if I really want a gigantic Galaxy Note on my Dash when I'm away from my car. Galaxy Notes 1 and 2 don't have as much value now, but a thief doesn't know that. He probably sees a big screen and thinks WOW, I want to steal that!
 
Well, iphone apps sucks in my research. But there are good ones for Android. No need to turn on manually. They work like real dash cams. Once car starts, app and camera starts. Loop recording and all. But I'm re-thinking if I really want a gigantic Galaxy Note on my Dash when I'm away from my car. Galaxy Notes 1 and 2 don't have as much value now, but a thief doesn't know that. He probably sees a big screen and thinks WOW, I want to steal that!
Now that I think about it I also did try an app for my galaxy note 2 last year but I only used that once and the phone with two big to mount anyways so I never used it after. My note 2 was stolen coincidently a few hours after I ordered my Blackvue 550.
 
I used to use my Samsung Galaxy S3 as a dash phone...It was pretty bad but it was free! My phone overheated a lot due to the video recording + being in sunlight. I had a pretty good mount that wasn't cheap at all ($25) and it still shook. It was pretty inconvenient to open up the app to record my drives, plug in my charger, then mount it, then stop recording and dismount my phone every time I left my car. Give it a shot and see how you like it though.
 
I've been using the iSymDVR app on an old iPhone 4 for a couple of years. It's been easy for me because I turned an out-of-commission phone into a dash cam; didn't have to use my current phone. For a 720p dash cam, it works pretty darn good. I love that you can embed speed, GPS and other data onto the video screen, not just viewed with a 3rd party program. I agree with a comment above... the mount makes all the difference. I went through a few Scosche mounts (Walmart) before I discovered the iOttie on Amazon. That's a really good mount with an absolutely incredible sticky suction cup that removes with no residue. All that said, I still had to wrap a cable tie around the mount & strap it to the rear view mirror in order to eliminate more vibrations. And even with that, it's still not "incredible." You can see a ton of samples on my YouTube channel. I just now got the A118 to replace the iPhone. We'll see how it goes.
 
To add to the anti-phone comments, my dashcam has a wide-angle lens. My smartphones do not; a lot of information that might be relevant in a crash won't be seen, as it's out of the field of view of a cell phone.
 
It has also to do with the weight of the phone, and the height or lenght of the mount.

The less a device weighs, the less momentum will be accepted by it, ergo, the less "sway" you get. I use the very light weight Mobius, and sometimes my Nexus 5 in a Jobi (http://joby.com/smartphones/griptight-mount).

I know what's my favourite....

Believe me, I really wanted to use my phone as a dashcam, but have never really succeeded in finding the right combo of phone and mount.

The Mobius simply sits on a magnet mount (I use a d.i.y. metal baseplate formed for the dash in the trucks I drive), and that works great!

IMG_20150115_134236.jpg IMG_20150115_134300.jpg IMG_20150115_134306.jpg
 
Back
Top