Budget cam: good for parking

hjbrokers

New Member
Joined
Nov 19, 2020
Messages
3
Reaction score
0
Location
holland
Country
Netherlands
Soon we'll get a new car, a Kia E-soul (EV). Quite expsensive, that's why I'm considering a dash cam.
I travel daily to my work on a highway, but the road is not to crowded, that's why I'm not to afraid for accidents.

The only real change for damage is on parking lots, in my case. Thats why I'm considering a dual cam.
At first I was thinking of two 70mai pro's. But I think the A800 is a better alternative.
But in a Dutch test the 70mai pro scored less points for parkingmode , maybe because there is only a G-sensor. Don't know how this works for the A800

As a alternative I think about a Viofo A129 Pro. It has a motion sensor. But comes on a higher price. And lacks a battery. So I'll need to hardwire it, and I'm not that technical (and afraid of damaging my car)

Any advice inhere?
 
Batteries in dashcams are only for finalizing last recording in case of a event, they are not for powering during parking mode, capacitor cameras are the best solution not a fire hazard ( lipo batteries are not good with high temperatures or low ones for that matter ) Though its probably been many years since the Dutch have ice skated on the canals.

So you will need to hardwire to use the car battery, or use one of the dedicated dashcam batteries.

Cheapest version E-soul in Denmark are 34217 EURO
 
Last edited:
Parking mode, while it have been around for a long time now, it is still a bit hit and miss at least if you use motion detect or G - sensor.
And when you say budget, that probably also have a say to some degree.
Motion detect most often trigger on any little movement, so parked in a place with activity you will have plenty of "events" when you go home after work.
And even if there is a actual event in there, you have to sit thru many hours of footage to find it.
G-sensor will most often trigger, at least if you are getting a larger dent, it is not 100% sure it will trigger when the guy next to you open his door and put a dent in the side of your car.
I am pretty sure you could key the whole side of a car, even one with a really good G - sensor camera, without the camera detect anything as dragging a key or knife along the side of your car dont really mean there are and G force event for the sensor to detect.
Many cameras today will also support time lapse recording in parking mode, this mean they record all the time, but time lapse footage with 1 - 10 frames every second.
Alternative there is what i use, which are always recording but low bitrate, this also give you sound which the time lapse do not, the downside is as it record all the time you will have to detect the damage yourself when you get back to the car ( this might not happen if it is a small dent on the other side of your car )
The good thing is you can also have G-sensor on while recording like that, so that will trigger a event in that case,,,,, with the limitations G - sensor have.

My main camera the SG9663DR do have all the parking mode options, but most SG cameras are not budget cameras.
Parking mode are also something new i have gotten to test with the SG camera sent to me to test, otherwise i have not tried that in other cameras i have tested over the years, so i only have the basic knowledge to share and so are not really able to recommend any specific budget camera.
But i am sure other people will chime in later today.

Parking mode running off your car battery of course also necessitate you drive a bit every day to recharge what have been lost while parked, so if you only drive 10 minutes to work and 10 minutes home, and use parking guard all of the remainder of the day, then your car battery will not be able to keep up.
While a car battery initially charge fast the topping up is slow charge just like charging a phone, so to keep the charge up on the car battery and you use parking mode every day at work and at home, then you should drive a couple of hours every day i think to keep up.
Alternative you can put a charger on the car at home, but that is entirely up to how you live / park, and it is a hassle remembering to connect and disconnect every day.

Personally i just use parking mode for 1 hour ( timer in camera ) in my car, this cover all my shopping needs, i dont have to think about work as i am retired, and at home i use to have a CCTV camera on my 2 floor balcony door filming by car parked in the back year.
IF i should need more i can just enter the camera menu and select a longer timer duration, the max setting are 24 hours or until low voltage protection in the hard wire kit kick in.
 
Last edited:
As a alternative I think about a Viofo A129 Pro.
That one can get a bit warm in parking mode in mid summer sunshine, may shut down over midday, so you are probably better off with an A129 Plus if parking mode is the main interest. Maybe an A139 but that isn't out yet.

You should find out how difficult a hardwire is on that vehicle, some EVs are easy, others are a real problem, I don't know about yours, maybe someone else does, or you may have to use google... if it is not easy then you may need an extra dashcam powerbank battery.
 
Parking modes vary in how they detect a problem, how they record the incident, and each individual cam varies some in how well it functions with this.

G-sensor is generally more reliable than motion detect, but probably won't 'see' small impacts that motion-detect might. Motion detect when done well is pretty good but also varies by individual cam; when not done well it's either too sensitive or does nothing. Some cams now have 'radar' sensing which mostly works very good with detecting incidents.

With all these just as important is how the recording happens. Some activate recording in a couple seconds, some take so long that the culprit will be gone, and some use 'pre-buffering' which captures video from before the event till afterward. You want pre-buffering if your cam uses any of these modes.

There is also time-lapse and 'low-bitrate' recording where the cam is always recording and cannot miss an event, but at a lesser video quality or rate than driving recording. Currently IMHO 'low-bitrate' seems to be the best and most reliable method for overall parking protection. Not every cam offers it but many do. Against it is that it takes more power than the modes I first mentioned. This might not be an issue at all here, based on how your car handles the 12V functioning; if the main powerpack powers or always maintains the 12V stuff you could have months of parking protection, but if there's only a small separate 12V battery that only charges when the car is in use that might need some extra hardware to work (like using a powerbank).

So in tjhe end I recommend thart you first consider how your car deals with the 12V parts, and then seek a cam which does low-bitrate recording. That will get you the best parking protection.

Phil
 
I was amazed i was able to get the B1W to make a parking event just kicking the rim on one of my rear wheels, wearing snickers you cant really kick anything that hard and not hurt your foot.
And as i recall the B1W only have 1 global G-sensor setting and it was not set to high as it would then trigger all the time when driving, which are also just a mess to have.
The setting i think was the default one, and i had to do pretend rally driver and push it to get a trigger while driving, so in the B1W it worked good in that sense.
I dont want any g-sensor when driving, but in my main camera i do have it on high for parking, though the camera also use low bitrate constant recording for parking,,,,,, i have yet to kick my car when parked and see what happen, but i will do that later today.

I must also say, for parking guard, while parked, if something happen and it is not major, the chance is you will only see the person upon arrival or leaving, and so one should really have a 2 channel system, or make it a habit to reverse into parking bays as your one front camera will them be aimed in the direction the people on either side of you will arrive and leave.
With a 2 channel system with parking guard working on both cameras, it dont matter how you park, it will also be better if you are parked curbside on a road, cuz if something happen, you at least have 2 chances to make a identification on the car as it pass by and do something and dont stop. ( hit and run )

It is only for driving i think one camera are fine, cuz it will record all you do in relation to roadside / lane markings / and signs / lights and other traffic, and if you do nothing wrong what happen off camera can not be your fault.
But for parking guard i do feel 2 cameras are a must, not least in public parking spaces where in theory at least you can be hit from all 4 sides.
 
Ok..
12v: i'm going to fix this via odb2. Most confinient for me, no altering the fuse box.
1 channel/2 channel. I still think 2 channel is the best option for me..but I am afraid that I cant easily pull the wire to the back. So single channel it's going to be.

But now the choiche: which cam? My budget is up to $150.
The cheapest is the 70mai pro. But I think 60fps is a must for license plates.
Leaves me at 70mai A800.Is dual channel, but also available in single channel version.
Other option is Viofo A119 V3,or A129 plus or pro.But the A129 is dual..

A119 V3 seems to be the best option then?
 
The 119 V3 seem to be a okay camera, but i have no personal experience with that model, but i have "just" recived my first Viofo camera to test ( the coming A139 model )

You can have a look on youtube there you will find a lot of videos about how to install dashcams in various cars, now the make / model of the cameras and car might not be what you have, but the things are still much the same.

My own car is a small 5 door hatchback, so it is no problem for me running the rear camera wire low under carpets and plastic trim and then back up when it reach the rear to be installed on the top of my rear window.
But with a larger car that might not be possible.
To see how long a wire you would need for a route, you can do a pretend install and follow your intended route with a string or maybe a extension cord, just something that will simulate the actual camera wire a little and you can measure afterwards how long a wire you would need.

Many also have a extra long rear camera wire option if the one in the kit are not long enough. ( though some are Using USB plugs, it is not standard USB so you cant just use a USB extension cable )

in my car i just need to unscrew 1 Phillips head screw to do a proper install of a dashcam, and that is to remove the plastic trim on my A pillar, otherwise it is a tool less job or maybe just use the provided plastic pry bar.

Now of course i have the experience and a car i know well as i have been installing cameras in it for years, but i can take out a dual system and put in a new one in a public parking lot, and it will only take me 1 hour.

If you are not brave enough to attempt a install yourself you can go to a car stereo shop or alarm shop, a place like that should not charge you more than 2 hours to install a camera system.
 
The A119v3 isn't the best cam by resolution and vid quality today, but it is the most highly developed dashcam we have available which gives acceptable vids day and night. It is a very good value for what it offers and is perhaps one of the most reliable dashcams too. The A129 series of cams can be had as single channel or dual channel, but few sellers offer the single-channel option. You can get this from Viofo directly though you may need to request it. The A800 so far looks to be a very good cam to me based on what has been posted about it.

With most 2-channel cams you have higher resolution, bitrates, or both available when used as a single channel cam. It is probably the best way to get the best vids but not a lot of people do this because most want 2 channels, even at a slight loss of vid quality. All these cams mentioned here are good choices so base your selection on form-factor, price, and feature use you may want like parking modes and how well those work.

Phil
 
A little off-topic but I just bought a 2017 Kia Soul EV the other day for a great price (it's the 27kWh 150km range version, so nobody wants that short of a range). I love it!!! It's great for being in a city where my longest trips are only about 45 miles. I bet the new model is very nice, though the styling is polarizing :) Anyways I'm on here checking out what the latest good value dashcams are, too. Mine has a power plug in the cargo area, so I can run a rear camera without having to run a wire across the top (however it would not function for parking mode, because it turns off with the main power, I think).
 
yes if you have a plug back there, and if it is not on all the time ( what happen some times for plugs in the rear ) then you could run 2 single cameras, but if you go for a dual channel you have to route the wire as the data / video are stored in the main front camera.
 
Back
Top