Dash cam design and distribution is horrible ....why?

[cdxp]

I understand I'm a newbie but I'm very curious why the dash cam market is so fragmented and frankly dodgy. The market opportunity is huge but nobody seems to want to do it properly. It seems a bit like the MP3 player market before Apple came along and set some standards. 100s of different devices but horrible design and no usability considerations. The expensive devices are often the same electronics and terrible firmware as the cheap devices but in a bigger box. I'm no fan of Apple but they did change the ways things are done.
Why aren't any of the big players grabbing this opportunity. Is it like action cameras where they see it as a passing fad ? Or is it assumed that the car manufacturers are just going to build this technology into new models so its not worth the effort.

The truly obvious thing to me is to separate the sensor and the the rest of the technology so a small unobtrusive sensor/lens assembly can be stuck to directly the screen giving the best image and avoiding all these rubbish mountings horrible reflections etc and putting the cards batteries and recorder and intelligence in the glove box or under the dash.

Then use some decent sensors that work in low light.. You can buy much better video recording technology from Sony Panasonic Nikon etc albeit in larger form factors for about the same price so the tech exists.

I walk around my local shopping centre where there are 4 camera shops selling a large variety of branded cameras (how large can the personal camera market be when everyone has a smart phone?) and yet dash cams are sold from the stores selling mobile phone chargers or poorly designed websites.

 

[kamkar]

I would never use a phone to take picture if i can use a real camera, actually i would prefer if i could get a cheaper phone without any cameras in it.
I have at times used my phone to take a picture of somthing mundane, but for somthing that is important to me i would never use a phone, no matter how good a camera it have.

I think its cool Dslr cameras can now allso do video, this i find really usefull, i can take good pictures and i can make good video with my camera.

 

[dash riposki]

It's still a niche market.

 

[jokiin]

It's still a niche market.

very much so

 

[lacibaci]

Current manufactures still have a few years before the car makers make it a standard equipment.

 

[jokiin]

Current manufactures still have a few years before the car makers make it a standard equipment.

will take longer than that

 

[GTA Driver]

I walk around my local shopping centre where there are 4 camera shops selling a large variety of branded cameras (how large can the personal camera market be when everyone has a smart phone?) and yet dash cams are sold from the stores selling mobile phone chargers or poorly designed websites.

Things have changed in the last few years. In late 2012 I walked around computer shops, camera shops and a niche "security or spy cam" store and none of them had dash cams. In early 2013 one of the computer shops started selling, but it was low quality device which I bought. One of the photographic equipment chains closed its doors last year as there isn't the demand for cameras or processing photographs due to the digital age. You would think photographic shops would see a little bit of opportunity in dash cams as using a smart phone for a dash cam (as stated by others here) "isn't a very smart idea". One of the electronic big box stores sells dash cams apparently, though I haven't been to that store in years

 

[DT MI]

Locally in my area Walmart, Target, Best Buy and MicroCenter all carry dash cams - some even carry some better quality unit other than the $39.95 "As Seen on TV" cameras. I don't see any of them promoting the cameras in their advertising however.

 

[GTA Driver]

Locally in my area Walmart, Target, Best Buy and MicroCenter all carry dash cams - some even carry some better quality unit other than the $39.95 "As Seen on TV" cameras. I don't see any of them promoting the cameras in their advertising however.

I don't look at the best buy flyers. I don't look at the flyers at my door anymore. But best buy in Canada has them.
http://www.bestbuy.ca/en-CA/category/dash-cameras/31915.aspx?type=product&page=2. My Step daughter got a descent remote starter from Future shop and they did a good install job. The dash cams that I want, are thru on line vendors such as a Mobius or Street Guardian. Its the install job, I am not a much of a do it your selfer for electronics or cars.

 

[Genki]

Locally in my area Walmart, Target, Best Buy and MicroCenter all carry dash cams - some even carry some better quality unit other than the $39.95 "As Seen on TV" cameras. I don't see any of them promoting the cameras in their advertising however.

May be better than As-Seen-on-TV stuff but Walmart camera is still crap.

 

[jokiin]

Locally in my area Walmart, Target, Best Buy and MicroCenter all carry dash cams - some even carry some better quality unit other than the $39.95 "As Seen on TV" cameras. I don't see any of them promoting the cameras in their advertising however.

too small a category to justify catalogue space for these kinds of retailers, we see them catalogued here by some retailers, most of what they advertise and sell is low end junk though

 

[arcticfire]

I don't think enough people are aware of the importance of a dashcam. I got chinned by several people at work for having one and now they want me to fit them to their cars after seeing how they've kept us right in many an incident now.

But I feel the biggest weak spot of dashcams is the card storage. It's not reliable and consistent enough. HDD and more preferably SSD is the way forward in my eyes.

 

[kamkar]

HDD and more preferably SSD is the way forward in my eyes.

I concur a large storage source ( HDD or SSD ) in a hidden main unit, and some way to easy offload its footage, in that regard i would prefer a USB thumb drive to transfer footage from dashcam to computer.
It could allso be done with wifi, but i would prefer not to use that if possible.

Offcourse you cant offload the past 4 weeks of driving to a USB stick at a reasonable price, i was thinking just the the drive from today in case anything intresting was captured, the rest is just "garbage" and can be recycled in time.

 

[Razer]

I think a lot of the issue with wide adoption is the install, most do not want wires hanging and mast do not have the skill or time to install their own. I live in a smaller city, but still decent size and there is not a single audio or car installer other than Best Buy in the area. I know many that would have them were it easy, no wiring etc.

That said I have noticed more and more cameras around me and I am in the midwest of the USA so not exactly a tech mecca so the market is there. I keep hoping for better cameras from the big players like Garmin and such that people in the USA associate with car electronics and GPS. Surely if a well designed product is put out for a reasonable price there will be takers. I think so, so many of what is out there now have big compromises people are passing them up as cheap junk or toys.

I agree someone needs to crack the market to get it started in a bigger way at least.

 

[kamkar]

Then i would set up a dashcam install help organisation, if any Danes got a problem just call me for help in the mid/eastern Jutland area.
If Russians can handle dashcam install better then they handle driving itself, well then we just got to have some more ppl hooked up in the western world.

PPL have no problem putting NAVunits and phone/tablet cradles all over ther windscreen, so i am not quite buying into the ppl not beeing able to.
A simple install fron ciggy lighter socket to windscreen is no big deal, anyone should be able to handle that.

Perhaps i should whip up a tutorial on video on how to do a simple singlechannel install with minimal tools and skills.

 

[dash riposki]

Do you want to know why dashcams will never be very popular?

Most people wont be able to figure out how to use one to take a 'selfie' without running themselves over.


Good for population control, not so good for building a repeat customer base.

 

[DT MI]

...
Most people wont be able to figure out how to use one to take a 'selfie' without running themselves over....

Yep, I think you've just identified the crux of the problem.

 

[arcticfire]

I concur a large storage source ( HDD or SSD ) in a hidden main unit, and some way to easy offload its footage, in that regard i would prefer a USB thumb drive to transfer footage from dashcam to computer.
It could allso be done with wifi, but i would prefer not to use that if possible.

Offcourse you cant offload the past 4 weeks of driving to a USB stick at a reasonable price, i was thinking just the the drive from today in case anything intresting was captured, the rest is just "garbage" and can be recycled in time.

The one we use has a caddy which pulls out and I slot it into an external hard drive reader connected to my computer via USB. Very easy and straightforward but the software is terrible, which you have to use in order to export to avi files.

I'm sure a better solution could be developed though, perhaps by using an external drive instead so you simply use a USB lead direct from hard drive to the computer.

 

[Deleted member 46308]

Do you want to know why dashcams will never be very popular?

Most people wont be able to figure out how to use one to take a 'selfie' without running themselves over.


Good for population control, not so good for building a repeat customer base.

Absolutely

 

[sludgeguts]

Do you want to know why dashcams will never be very popular?

Most people wont be able to figure out how to use one to take a 'selfie' without running themselves over.


Good for population control, not so good for building a repeat customer base.

I've seen quite a few instances lately (on facebook sites dedicated to cam usage) where people actively put down cammers - bunch of wannabe cops, vigilantes, grass etc etc you've only got a cam because you're a crybaby who runs to his momma over every little scratch!

I remind them of my experience - 6 prangs in 5 years, all non-fault. In every case, the idiots all lied (plausibly as well) & insurance wanted 50/50 but footage saved the insurance.
Numerous phone calls to my boss about my speeding, cutting people up, forcing people off the road etc - again, footage (and tacho) all saved my job.
I find it hard to understand the mentality of anyone who feels this is just another step towards big brother watching our every move but hey, they do say 'there ain't enough duct tape in the world to fix that level of stupid'.