Best Dual Night Setup?

Shep

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Dash Cam
LG: Street Guardian; SM: Mobius
Long time lurker, first time poster here.

Back story:


I've done a lot of research and originally settled on Panorama X2 setup for both of my cars - three dash cams total (one's a parade car). One unit kept rebooting on me in a cycle, however even after disconnecting it, the remaining two units caused a variety of dead batteries due to parking mode not adhering to the low voltage dropout I had set. I'm talking multiple completely dead Optima Red Tops in under 12 hours (LED lights wouldn't even come on).

I've replaced all three X2 cams (still have them actually) with a single Thinkware F750 plus rear camera. I was quite happy with it's features, among them being the Android app compatibility, GPS, dual save, incident recording, 128+ GB card capacity, and relatively low boot time (until it whines with "please format memory card for data integrity" and goes from under 10 seconds to over 30 -- don't know if the latest firmware fixed that yet though).

My viewpoint may have changed however as I was rear-ended at night on 2/23 (i.e. a couple days ago), and the impact footage, from what I reviewed, wasn't good enough to clearly see inside the vehicle due to a huge amount of headlight glare it seems, although general video quality could be a problem also. Vehicle speeds were low enough to be likely my crawling 0-3 MPH to their 5-15 MPH (stop and go traffic), they only had about 10 yards from last full stop to accelerate.

The reason that's a concern is because I was rear-ended a couple years ago too, which was an early morning (nighttime) drive, and I'm 100% convinced the driver who hit me was distracted. I was stopped, they were going 55 MPH plus, and had three-second visibility of me at that rate. It only took one other dumbass driver before I made the decision to buy a dash cam, in the hopes I could prove the next driver who hit me was distracted.

Cutting to the chase!

My ultimate goal is to have a dual dash cam setup that has excellent nighttime video quality. I'm talking enough to tell if someone is texting while driving (extremely prevalent here). Optimally, I could discern this while the speed difference is 40 MPH or greater. I know, that's hard to gauge or test, but I'm hoping "best nighttime quality" will help. Unless there's a better description of what to look for (feel free to chime in on that one, I'm still pretty new at this).

What's the absolute best dual camera setup for nighttime driving, particularly for rear-facing cameras? Two single-channel cameras would work if there's a noticeable quality difference to be had.
 
Thanks for that link! Wow, yeah the F750 didn't fare well at all. Great to know that actually! Certainly matches up with my findings.

jokiin, it sounds like you're saying two independent one-channel cameras would perform better than one single dual-channel camera. Is that a fair statement? And if so, do you have any recommendations for nighttime one-channel cameras?
 
jokiin, it sounds like you're saying two independent one-channel cameras would perform better than one single dual-channel camera. Is that a fair statement? And if so, do you have any recommendations for nighttime one-channel cameras?

At this time none of the dual channel solutions match the performance of even mid level single cameras due to current hardware limitations
 
At this time none of the dual channel solutions match the performance of even mid level single cameras due to current hardware limitations
That's really good to know, thanks!

My only two concerns with the above linked test is that it only showed five models, and also that there was no oncoming traffic present. It's hard to get a real-world grasp of the test from those pictures alone considering each separate test had different results. I mean, it's clear an upgrade is in order, but what's not clear is which one would do well with headlights pointed at it (like a rear camera would have).

I do see that is a recent test (just this past December), so the models and firmwares are up to date.

jokiin, I see you represent Street Guardian -- what's your best-performing nighttime camera model(s)? I saw one of yours did very well on the tests Pier28 linked to, is this still the best unit for the job? Or are there others to consider?

Pier28, I think I actually bought my X2's from you, so as long as you carry what I go with, I'll be a repeat buyer. What are your thoughts on the best nighttime perfomers? Does that list above account for all of your top picks, or are there others to be considered?
 
@DT MI runs our camera that was used in that test front and back on one of his cars and might be able to offer some insight into how they perform for rear camera use, whether or not your rear window is tinted or has privacy glass may have some impact also
 
Hehe jokiin dont just rep Street Guardian, he is Street Guardian, the rest is just minions :D

Dont expect any new cameras in 2016 to be significant better night performers compared to the good single channel ones we have now, but as for dual cameras we might get some that is more descreete than current models with the large front unit.

I allso wish we could get more long term reliable storage medias as it seem many SD makers dont cover warrentys on dead cards if they are used in dashcams, i am rooting for memory sticks or 2.5" harddrives.
 
...
jokiin, I see you represent Street Guardian -- what's your best-performing nighttime camera model(s)? I saw one of yours did very well on the tests Pier28 linked to, is this still the best unit for the job? Or are there others to consider?...

@DT MI runs our camera that was used in that test front and back on one of his cars and might be able to offer some insight into how they perform for rear camera use, whether or not your rear window is tinted or has privacy glass may have some impact also

IMO the SG9665GC has excellent night performance. As @jokiin said I have 2 (front and rear) in my vehicle, which has very dark privacy glass in the rear - this shows how dark (a piece of white paper taped to the inside and outside of the rear glass):

https://dashcamtalk.com/forum/attachments/darkglasssmall-jpg.13895/

Here's a short clip from the front camera:


...and one from the rear camera (same date/time/location):


For comparison here's a clip from an A118-C as a rear camera in the same location 5 weeks later when there was a bit more light (the difference is obvious):


Edit: As to how much you can see from the rear cam take a look at this (probably won't be as good at night though) (if memory serves me correctly I had a CPL on when this was captured):

 
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After I saw jokiin's last response, I did some digging and found nighttime videos of all of the models, as well as comparison videos between some of them. Here's my thoughts:

- Street Guardian SG9665GC and the DOME D201 were the only two dash cams I'd personally consider "very good" at nighttime video. There were others that came close, but the starburst from every visible light source ruled them out. The F750 had a pitiful bitrate, but would likely have been a great choice if that weren't an issue (albeit an expensive one)

- The D201 has 1440P video, while the Street Guardian has 1080P video. Normally this rules in D201's favor, however!

- D201 does not appear to have a high enough bitrate to truly capture the finer details that the 1440P resolution is capable of. This is disappointing as the extra resolution can be helpful if utilized properly.


So in my mind, the D201 and the Street Guardian were both on par with each other. The deciding factor for me was that of physical size. The D201 is quite wide, and (at least in my other car) would block up a significant portion of the rear glass. Street Guardian blocks far less of my view in that respect.

I'll be picking up an SG9665GC soon, still have to deal with insurance at the moment.

EDIT:
Oh, almost forgot, thank you VERY much for the videos! Really helped solidify my opinion on the Street Guardian route :)
 
Finally got the insurance check, so I went to purchase the dash cams from Pier28, and, uh, found this strangeness:

Pier28_Checkout.png

It's been a few years since you checked this page, hasn't it? Those bedroom sets stopped selling back when I started college! ;) (Also, I think the area below is a template of sorts, but I could be mistaken).

EDIT:
Hmm, I also can't seem to be able to adjust the quantity down at all. My cart cleared after taking that screenshot, so I filled it in again, and accidentally put in three hard-wire kits. "Update Shopping Cart" with a quantity of two doesn't seem to fix it. Removing and re-adding the item did however.
 
Thanks for the feedback. We hope to fix the quantity Magento bug soon. We'll also see why that template example photo is incorrectly showing up as well.
 
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