Buying a dashcam - help

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Hi all

I'd like to buy a dashcam. My priorities would be as follows:
1) ability to upload any information wirelessly
2) ability to have good footage at night
3) is it worth going for a 4k camera in terms of quality of image? How big are the 4k files and can you upload / view them easily?
4) discrete dashcam
5) I don't always drive daily so I'd like some ability to protect the battery or disconnect / remove the dashcam
6) in terms of hardwiring the dashcam - I assume this is something you need to get a professional to do?
7) ability to get playback from the camera easily

Can you help advise any cams that fit these criteria and offer general advice to the points above?
Are there other features that are helpful that I ought to consider when buying?
Edit: also what is the difference between single / 3 channel cameras?
 
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No 3-channel cameras are 4K when all 3 cams are connected, but some do well at 2K in front- the others are often only 1080P. Hardwiring is fairly easy DIY stuff for most folks- we have walked many a buyer through the process. Ans hardwire kits have low-voltage cutoff so your battery doesn't drain to harmful levels when you're parked.

People new to dashcams are usually disappointed at a number of things- low wifi speed is a common complaint. Features which don't work well (if they work at all) is another big gripe. In short, nearly everyone wants something they can't get from today's dashcams, or they can find a cam with the feature combination they really want. You can't buy what's not being built :( but you can usually find something which has enough to be worth your buying :)

Best to start with telling us what your maximum budget is, then listing what you want from most important to least. Then maybe we can recommend some for you to check out.

The perfect dashcam will hit the market one day after I die, and I ain't dead yet so you'll have to wait :LOL:

Phil
 
Haha thanks. Yes it will be my first dash cam and wish there was a perfect one though probably not one that exists as you say, here are my preferences in order of priority:
1) Front and rear dash cam views
2) Good footage at night (?is this possible)
3) High quality image
4) ability to remove the camera from the car (for theft purposes and I don't drive regularly so would the dash cam drain the battery whilst parked or better to remove?)
5) easy playback / wifi upload

I don't have a budget as such and willing to spend more. Equally if there's not much difference between a cheaper camera and a marginal gain in terms of quality with a more expensive cam then I'd go with one that's a bit cheaper.
 
The other thing I might add is storage capacity - I do sometimes do longer drives of a few hours so I'd need it to be able to store a bit of info.
 
2: Is possible if nothing move at any pace faster than walking ( it is a simple limitation of the hardware in play, of course the better sensors will appear much better looking at the footage, but pause and go frame by frame and you will see that while brighter you do not get more details )
3: you should always use the highest possible image quality / bitrate, but it is not uncommon for some people to complain about their new camera, forgetting they compare to a action camera they have used which have a 5 - 6 X higher bitrate.
Dashcams are accident recorders, if you intend to compile driving videos you are better off using another kind of camera. as a devise logging your own driving any dashcam will do that 100% day or night.

4: Most cameras are removable, but a dual channel system are less optimal as it will have +1 wire to detach too ( rear camera ) most slide on / off a mount glues to the windscreen, or very not stealthy held in place by a suction cup.
5: most cameras have a playback function but it is no good as the camera have a small screen, you can DL to a phone if it is a wifi camera, but i dont feel it is something i would do, the wifi are slow and browsing the recorded files seem slow to me so i haven't really ever bothered doing that.
I always eject my memory card and put it in my care reader on my PC, this way i get the full read / write speeds od the memory card, and if you have a good card reader on a fast USB port, you can browse and playback directely from the memory card, something you can not do using the camera as a card reader connected to the PC, or with the wifi.
Doing that you will see speeds of 15 MB/s where as using a good card reader you could see speeds of 80 - 100 MB/s depending on the specs of the memory card.

Slow speeds are okay if you just grab a file now and then, but it can make browsing for the file annoying.

For a 2 channel system, even if it is just 1080p - 1080p you should at least use a 128 GB card, but a 256 GB card would be better, here you need to buy where you can get service / warranty, and know not all memory cards have warranty if used in a dashcam.
But with a 1080p system you should at least have a full work day of driving in a 128 GB card, unless you work extraordinary long hours.

remember you do not need to store / save everything, if nothing happen on your drive, everything that have been recorded are sort of just garbage footage.
I use the manual event button to lock little things in traffic i want to share, and i then retrieve that footage once a month or something.
If you had a accident you should of course stop your recording and save the memory card as soon as possible, only you might give that idiot that took you out a chance to lie on camera, or at least dont tell about your cameras so he can commit document fraud with his insurance claiming it was your fault.
 
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There are some good 2-channel cams although none are the best at night. Some do well enough though, and most fiolks are satisfied with that. My first thought is Viofo's A129 series of cams (Duo, Plus, and Pro) which do have very good image quality (Viofo's "hallmark") but each has some issues which you need to be sure won't affect your planned usage. Street Guardian makes top-quality cams which rarely have problems or issues, but they lag a bit in resolution compared to most cams. A no-BS company whose cams will do what they say and the best customer support on the planet ever. Blueskysea has a nice 4K resolution model but the rear cam for it has just been released and no reports are in for that yet. The B4K is sparse on features but as a budget model it's hard to beat. There are some expensive 2-channel cams from Thinkware and Blackvue as well; not bad cams but these companies concentrate on features, not vid quality, so that isn't as good as you should get for the price. There are some cheaper 2-channel cams too but IMHO these are barely decent at best. Most do poorly with the rear cam, especially at night. Being in the UK you'll probably hear of Nextbase- before you consider them read the comments on these forums and I won't have to tell you why to avoid them. Some of their older cams were OK but they don't make those anymore.

All dashcams can be removed but if you're planning to do that regularly do check how the wiring plugs in so that it's easy to get to where you mount the cam. And most cams can now support 256GB cards giving 16+ hours of recording time, 128GB cards work in all the good cams. You do need good cards, but these are cheap right now and we can recommend some once you select your cam.

The real sticker is wifi; none are fast at all and it takes 3X or more time than the recording is long to DL it. So a 1 minute file will take a few minutes to transfer. In dashcams it's meant to be used only for the times when you can't plug the card into a computer such as on the road. Still best to use a computer or at least an OTG card reader you can plug into your tablet or phone. Much faster this way.

So have a look at reviews and comments on the forums regards these cams. Night and Day footage can be found on YouTube for initial comparison purposes and once you narrow down your choices DL the raw vid files people have posted for viewing, as YouTube compression algorithms can seriously lose details of video footage and those details matter. Happy to discuss whichever cams you like best.

Phil
 
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