Best quality and durability, but no frills?

butterrag

New Member
Joined
May 22, 2018
Messages
3
Reaction score
0
Country
United States
Looking for the best possible video quality. I looked at the Blackvue DR900 and was not impressed with the video quality, which worries me because it seems to be one of the most expensive options.

Let's say no limit on price. As the title says, my asks are:

- The BEST video quality. I want to be able to read license plates in motion easily.
- Durable. Something that isn't going to die in a year from the harsh Midwest heat and cold.
- I do not care about any other features. Not multiple channels, GPS, Wi-Fi, LCD screens, voice commands, collision alert, stealth form factor... None of that junk!

I have searched and am struggling to find anything like this. Am I a weirdo for wanting these things? I just want a dash cam that does one thing and does it well. I'm starting to think that the only option is a police dash cam.
 
They range from around $4k up to around $8k
What's the main difference between consumer dashcams?
Saw one that could zoom in up to a mile, haha - I can imagine that software and fleet tracking features have probably been taken care of a little bit more meticulously.
but do they really have 1000's of dollars in improvements over your regular consumer dashcam?
 
This answer is aimed at something you can try without a great deal of investment. If night is really needed a Viofo A119S (Both around $100.00, give or take). If you want the best Day time with a little less performance at night, the Viofo A119 is the ticket (somewhat controversial). Both have been around for a while so Viofo has worked out most of the bugs. That would save you $3900.00 to 7900.00 on a police model :cool:. I don't own one of either at the moment, and I will never contemplate getting a Blackvue, to many problems and very poor customer service, or lack there of from what I gather here on DCT.
I should also tell you that there is a Viofo 119 Pro that basically just came out, it has the teething problems that all dash cams have at this point and will hopefully be worked out but there is no guarantee that they will be, it has some good hardware but has to go through some more firmware changes before it's future can be detected, so best to wait on this one till a later date, but definitely worth keeping an eye on it's progress.
These are my opinions gathered from conversations here at DCT.

I forgot to mention, welcome to DCT ( dashcamtalk.com ). It is the largest dash camera forum on the Internet with members from all over the world.
 
Viofo A119
Thanks, I will look into that one.
How about DDPai mini3?
Currently I have two DDPai M6 Plus cameras, both of which boot loop and speak a phrase in a foreign language when it is either too hot or too cold. I haven't looked into the Mini3 yet, but I think the lack of quality in the M6 Plus has turned me off to this brand.
 
What's the main difference between consumer dashcams?
Saw one that could zoom in up to a mile, haha - I can imagine that software and fleet tracking features have probably been taken care of a little bit more meticulously.
but do they really have 1000's of dollars in improvements over your regular consumer dashcam?
I've never really looked into them, but my guess would be the angle of view, followed by secure tamper proof archiving. For an accident camera you want a really wide angle so that you don't miss what is happening around you, but if you want to read a number plate at a distance where the driver wont notice the police car 1/4 mile behind then you need a really narrow angle.

If you want cover both of those situations for your dashcam then you really need two dashcams, one which has a good view all around, maybe a Viofo A129, and one with a narrow view to pick up plates at some distance, maybe a narrow angle 4K Gitup F1.

(Neither of which has been released yet!)
 
Looking for the best possible video quality. I looked at the Blackvue DR900 and was not impressed with the video quality, which worries me because it seems to be one of the most expensive options.

Let's say no limit on price. As the title says, my asks are:

- The BEST video quality. I want to be able to read license plates in motion easily.
- Durable. Something that isn't going to die in a year from the harsh Midwest heat and cold.
- I do not care about any other features. Not multiple channels, GPS, Wi-Fi, LCD screens, voice commands, collision alert, stealth form factor... None of that junk!

I have searched and am struggling to find anything like this. Am I a weirdo for wanting these things? I just want a dash cam that does one thing and does it well. I'm starting to think that the only option is a police dash cam.

If you don't have wifi or and LCD screen, it would be pretty annoying to configure the dashcam.

Anyway maybe the A119 Pro with a Transcend High Endurance microSD? I believe you can get it without GPS, or just not use the GPS mount. I had my A118C for multiple years in midwest US.

There is nothing perfect and you will have to compromise somewhere.
 
Last edited:
This answer is aimed at something you can try without a great deal of investment. If night is really needed a Viofo A119S (Both around $100.00, give or take). If you want the best Day time with a little less performance at night, the Viofo A119 is the ticket (somewhat controversial). Both have been around for a while so Viofo has worked out most of the bugs. That would save you $3900.00 to 7900.00 on a police model :cool:. I don't own one of either at the moment, and I will never contemplate getting a Blackvue, to many problems and very poor customer service, or lack there of from what I gather here on DCT.
I should also tell you that there is a Viofo 119 Pro that basically just came out, it has the teething problems that all dash cams have at this point and will hopefully be worked out but there is no guarantee that they will be, it has some good hardware but has to go through some more firmware changes before it's future can be detected, so best to wait on this one till a later date, but definitely worth keeping an eye on it's progress.
These are my opinions gathered from conversations here at DCT.

I disagree what is mentioned in bold above. If you look at each and every dash cam that is listed on this board, they all have had some issues reported. Go read them. I bought my dash cam from Blackboxmycar and their customer service that I have personally used, is outstanding. Have not used Blackvue customer service.
 
I disagree what is mentioned in bold above. If you look at each and every dash cam that is listed on this board, they all have had some issues reported. Go read them. I bought my dash cam from Blackboxmycar and their customer service that I have personally used, is outstanding. Have not used Blackvue customer service.

Disagree all you like, I said it was my opinion and I stand by it!
 
I've looked at police dash cams and see nothing that they do that an affordable (sanely priced) $100 dashcam won't do, save for a few cop features. Police cams are priced like that not because they are super reliable and uber capable, but because police departments will pay the price. It's marketing thing. You don't need one of those. It's like a commercial Mobotix security camera for 2K vs Hikvision for $150. I've had both and I will pick Hikvision, and I have, any day. Mobotix's software was a pain to use too.

Don't bother with finding a camera that is able to read license plates, most cameras are capable of viewing license plates during the day as long as the plate is large enough to read the numbers. In good conditions. But, there will be dirt, snow, rain, sun reflections, too many things that will affect readability. Those will impact every camera. It's a moot point.

If you are really set on that, you need a dedicated camera for reading license plates. It needs to be a narrow view camera with a telephoto lens, not a wide lens like 99% of dashcams are. This is particularly important for night. It also needs to have very good low light sensitivity. The problem is, where do you point it, straight, left, right? I say, forget about it.

What I would recommend is a few dashcams: front, back and both sides. I use 3 Mobius version 1 cams and never had an issue with them. One front, one rear and one near the reading light, which I can quickly rotate right or left if needed. The quality is great. I am thinking of adding one more.
 
I've looked at police dash cams and see nothing that they do that an affordable (sanely priced) $100 dashcam won't do, save for a few cop features. Police cams are priced like that not because they are super reliable and uber capable, but because police departments will pay the price. It's marketing thing. You don't need one of those. It's like a commercial Mobotix security camera for 2K vs Hikvision for $150. I've had both and I will pick Hikvision, and I have, any day. Mobotix's software was a pain to use too.

Don't bother with finding a camera that is able to read license plates, most cameras are capable of viewing license plates during the day as long as the plate is large enough to read the numbers. In good conditions. But, there will be dirt, snow, rain, sun reflections, too many things that will affect readability. Those will impact every camera. It's a moot point.

If you are really set on that, you need a dedicated camera for reading license plates. It needs to be a narrow view camera with a telephoto lens, not a wide lens like 99% of dashcams are. This is particularly important for night. It also needs to have very good low light sensitivity. The problem is, where do you point it, straight, left, right? I say, forget about it.

What I would recommend is a few dashcams: front, back and both sides. I use 3 Mobius version 1 cams and never had an issue with them. One front, one rear and one near the reading light, which I can quickly rotate right or left if needed. The quality is great. I am thinking of adding one more.
Would this be considered close to the mobius v1 that you're using?
https://m.newegg.com/products/9SIAEU96PY2651

And is this a battery or capacitor camera? Is there a dual channel version?
 
Saw one that could zoom in up to a mile, haha

Thats fine for surveillance from a stationary car, try to drive at that zoom level, that will be about as walking with 1 eye closed while you with the other eye look thru a straw to navigate.
If you look at this video of mine you will see 30 X optical zoon in action while driving on a fairly good Danish highway

 
Would this be considered close to the mobius v1 that you're using?
https://m.newegg.com/products/9SIAEU96PY2651

And is this a battery or capacitor camera? Is there a dual channel version?

This is the v1: https://www.ebay.com/itm/151071891306
It's a battery cam, but I replaced batteries with super capacitors. No dual channel version that I am aware of. Personally, I avoid them simply because the more technology is packed into something the more prone to failure it becomes. I'd rather have one cam of two fail on me in a critical situation than both. Dual channel cams also do more processing which leads to more heat, poorer video quality, potential performance issues etc.
 
Last edited:
Thats fine for surveillance from a stationary car, try to drive at that zoom level, that will be about as walking with 1 eye closed while you with the other eye look thru a straw to navigate.
If you look at this video of mine you will see 30 X optical zoon in action while driving on a fairly good Danish highway


Very true.

Now, the question is, why would one need to capture a license plate? In most cases that's not necessary.
 
Very true.

Now, the question is, why would one need to capture a license plate? In most cases that's not necessary.
For the same reasons that we are required to have license plates on our vehicles!
 
This is the v1: https://www.ebay.com/itm/151071891306...Personally, I avoid them simply because the more technology is packed into something the more prone to failure it becomes. I'd rather have one cam of two fail on me in a critical situation than both. Dual channel cams also do more processing which leads to more heat, poorer video quality, potential performance issues etc.
I don't think this is actually true. I have two dual dashcams, a mini 0906 and a Viofo A129 and they both appear to be better quality and more reliable than their single channel predecessors.

In the case of the 0906 it does not suffer the well known battery problems of the 0806, because it is using the new technology of super capacitors.
It also doesn't suffer from melted plastic mounts, the lesson was learned and the mount now uses high temperature plastics.
Both cameras are using the next generation of processor which is improved, less power hungry, lower heat production.
Both have a new generation of lenses compared to their predecessor for improved image quality.
A lot of lessons from the previous generation have been learned and the cameras improved.

The only argument I can see for two being more reliable is that if one was to fail, or it's memory card or it's power supply, then the other single camera would keep going, but when I had single cameras I rarely checked the memory card in the rear camera, I think I'm a lot more likely to notice a problem with just the one camera to check and then get it sorted quickly, and of course with only half the cameras there is only half as much to go wrong, with the exception of an extra sensor.
 
I don't think this is actually true. I have two dual dashcams, a mini 0906 and a Viofo A129 and they both appear to be better quality and more reliable than their single channel predecessors.

In the case of the 0906 it does not suffer the well known battery problems of the 0806, because it is using the new technology of super capacitors.
It also doesn't suffer from melted plastic mounts, the lesson was learned and the mount now uses high temperature plastics.
Both cameras are using the next generation of processor which is improved, less power hungry, lower heat production.
Both have a new generation of lenses compared to their predecessor for improved image quality.
A lot of lessons from the previous generation have been learned and the cameras improved.

The only argument I can see for two being more reliable is that if one was to fail, or it's memory card or it's power supply, then the other single camera would keep going, but when I had single cameras I rarely checked the memory card in the rear camera, I think I'm a lot more likely to notice a problem with just the one camera to check and then get it sorted quickly, and of course with only half the cameras there is only half as much to go wrong, with the exception of an extra sensor.
How did you manage to get an a129? As a tester? I would love to get one since I already have an a119 and it has been a solid camera.
 
Back
Top