Dash Cam Placement suggestions needed and what type of Cam.

[ozguy]

Hey guys,
May I ask you fine people a favor on "placement" and what type of cam you would get?
As per my photo, Some bright spark at Mazda thought it would be a Awesome place to put the useless as Breasts on a bull, Rain sensing wiper and light sensor not to the far left of the dot matrix or more to the right toward the rear vision mirror, but smack bang in the middle where a dash cam would go.
There is a 60 to 65 mm gap between the Rear vision mirror shaft and the rain sensor.
I have a wedge style street Guardian in my other vehicle, which surprisingly after 5 years is still going strong.
I can remove the Street Guardian camera by lifting it up vertically..which would be fine if I put it in the Mazda but would rather put a new Cam in.
I was going to get a Viafo, but the quick release mount prevents me from doing that as it slides to the side to take the camera out and I cannot slide left or right.
I could put it to the right side of the rear view mirror, but was trying to avoid this.
I was also thinking about blackview, with good Australian support, but I just cannot get over paying a "premium price" for the crap picture quality, crap app (According to reviewers) and it "seems" overheating issues on the 4k model (970x)
Thoughts?

*** Updated pictures of installation photos after receiving dash cam HERE

 

[Nigel]

I was going to get a Viafo, but the quick release mount prevents me from doing that as it slides to the side to take the camera out and I cannot slide left or right.
I could put it to the right side of the rear view mirror, but was trying to avoid this.

I would put a Viofo A229 or A119 Mini to the right of the mirror stalk, mounted on the dotted area and looking out underneath, since they slide off to the right you can mount it up against the mirror mount so that it is well out of view, looks like there is plenty of room.

I have always mounted mine to the right of the mirror stalk, not sure why you would want it to the left? Most of it will be covering the dots, so you wouldn't be looking through there even if it was visible, which it probably isn't due to the mirror being in front of it.

I don't have a Mazda though, so maybe there is something I'm not seeing...

 

[ozguy]

I would put a Viofo A229 or A119 Mini to the right of the mirror stalk, mounted on the dotted area and looking out underneath, since they slide off to the right you can mount it up against the mirror mount so that it is well out of view, looks like there is plenty of room.

I have always mounted mine to the right of the mirror stalk, not sure why you would want it to the left? Most of it will be covering the dots, so you wouldn't be looking through there even if it was visible, which it probably isn't due to the mirror being in front of it.

I don't have a Mazda though, so maybe there is something I'm not seeing...

Thanks for the input.
I was trying to avoid that area as the wires would be pretty busy, in my field of view. (See Picture with black wire example)
The Street Guardian from my other vehicle shown here, is similar size to Viafo Mini 2...but I was also planning on a rear camera as well.
The Viafo A229 is also larger than the street Gaurdian (Similar in size to Viafo mini 2 ) but no rear cam.
Just seems that all the people I see on you tube, including some of you fine folk here...have there cams and wires on the passenger side, not the drivers side of the mirror as Us Australians and UK drivers are seated on the right side of vehicle and drive on the left of the road... (Unlike those American folk driving on the wrong side of the road....lol )
(Do you have a picture of where yours is in your vehicle by chance?)
Thanks, Dave.

 

[Nigel]

You could run the wires across to the rain sensor and up, they would be hidden behind the mirror initially, and maybe they can go inside the rain sensor cover to hide them completely as they go up? If not then you could put a bigger cover over the rain sensor that will take everything, that rain sensor does not look particularly stylish anyway!

Most of the Viofo power cables go into the top of the GPS mount, so are not visible as they enter the camera.
If you have really hot weather then maybe consider 2x A119 instead of a dual camera, then you only have the power cable to worry about and you get better heat tolerance.

If that last photo is from the driver's point of view, an A139 would hide nicely behind the mirror, mounted under the rain sensor with the lens directly under the mirror stalk, and with the cables all coming up vertically beside the rain sensor.

 

[Panzer Platform]

what type of cam you would get?

Shop specifications first, form factor second.
2023 Minimum Requirements:
1.) STARVIS 2 Image Sensor
2.) HDR
Anything less will have image quality from 5 years ago.

 

[kamkar]

I wouldn't really bother with the wires as they will barely be visible from the outside, i would maybe bundle them up somehow so they just appear as one from the inside.

 

[ozguy]

I have always mounted mine to the right of the mirror stalk, not sure why you would want it to the left?

@Nigel You put your cams on the drivers side? Most people I have seen put them on the passenger side as to hide the cam more. ?

 

[ozguy]

I wouldn't really bother with the wires as they will barely be visible from the outside, i would maybe bundle them up somehow so they just appear as one from the inside.

I was trying to limit the busy wires from the drivers side on the right of car, just so I am not looking at them directly. Good suggestion on bundling though.
1st world problem, i know..

 

[ozguy]

You could run the wires across to the rain sensor and up, they would be hidden behind the mirror initially, and maybe they can go inside the rain sensor cover to hide them completely as they go up? If not then you could put a bigger cover over the rain sensor that will take everything, that rain sensor does not look particularly stylish anyway!

Most of the Viofo power cables go into the top of the GPS mount, so are not visible as they enter the camera.
If you have really hot weather then maybe consider 2x A119 instead of a dual camera, then you only have the power cable to worry about and you get better heat tolerance.

If that last photo is from the driver's point of view, an A139 would hide nicely behind the mirror, mounted under the rain sensor with the lens directly under the mirror stalk, and with the cables all coming up vertically beside the rain sensor.

Some great suggestions. I will look at the A139 PRO? and see if that suits, not sure how stealthy that would be or sheltered from sun, unless I put a piece of black in front?

that rain sensor does not look particularly stylish anyway!"

100% agree with you, I think the work experience kid at Mazda was working that week in the design dept. lol

 

[Nigel]

@Nigel You put your cams on the drivers side? Most people I have seen put them on the passenger side as to hide the cam more. ?

Yes, driver's side behind the mirror and more or less out of sight unless I move my head forward to look under the mirror.
I often have more than one, for testing purposes, so then I have them on both sides, so I have experience with both, and prefer the driver's side.

If I had a Mazda then I might make a different choice, don't know, you do appear to have a lot more glass above your mirror than I have in my MG.

A139 PRO?

Currently the only A139 with a Starvis 2 sensor, so yes, until the other A139 is updated.

I don't really recommend using it in 3 channel mode in Ozzy heat; haven't actually heard of heat issues, but the bitrate drops a bit low in 3 channel mode.
Also not really recommended for parking mode, I suspect you would have heat related shutdowns and it is a bit power hungry when used in multi-channel mode.

No real need to shelter it from the sun, I have tried but the sun shield collected the sun's energy and made the area even hotter, so it needs a bit of care if you do!

Anything less will have image quality from 5 years ago.

Or last year!

We got stuck on Starvis 1 for years, Starvis 2 is a significant step forward, but there are still very few dashcams that have implemented Starvis 2 fully, including fully functioning HDR, most of them are Viofo dashcams.

 

[DT MI]

...(Unlike those American folk driving on the wrong side of the road....lol )

That's not true - by definition we drive on the right side.

 

[kamkar]

NP. i am selective anal too, so something like tools are in crisp order, but my apartment look as if a couple of hand grenades went off in here.
There is for sure no doubt that this address are not frequented even some times by one from the opposite sex.

I damn near got my ass run over in Fremantle due to me being programmed to driving on the wrong side of the road for Australians. So my programming say when crossing road look left as that is where cars would come from in this side of the road.
So i looked left and walked into the street.

Fortunately my hearing and processing unit between the ears still work, so i backtracked just as fast realizing my mistake. one of those many facepalm experiences you rack up over a lifetime.

 

[ozguy]

That's not true - by definition we drive on the right side.

 

[Nigel]

I just checked, my steering wheel is the same as yours, definitely on the right side, ideal for right handed people.

Those places that have the steering wheel on the left are for left handed people, like Napoleon, who tried to change the whole world from riding & driving on the left, as we had done since the Roman Empire, to driving on the wrong side.

 

[ozguy]

I just checked, my steering wheel is the same as yours, definitely on the right side, ideal for right handed people.

Those places that have the steering wheel on the left are for left handed people, like Napoleon, who tried to change the whole world from riding & driving on the left, as we had done since the Roman Empire, to driving on the wrong side.

too Funny.

 

[ozguy]

Hey Guys, thanks to everyone who commented.
I hope this thread helps someone.
Got A229 (in Mazda 3)
I ended up putting it on the right side of the mirror. (drivers side in Australia)
Why?
Because on the left of the useless rain sensor stork, the cam stood out like a sore thumb....as there was not enough black dots AND the rain sensing housing was to the right, so would have had to place the dashcam further left to get it off the mount and get sd card out if needed.

The middle was a no go, as could not move left or right to disengage cam from GPS mount.
Ended up going to the right of the rear vision mirror stork, due to the fact the dash cam comes off by moving to the right.

I cannot see the lights on the cam, however, it is..what it is.

I can look under the mirror if I need to or move the mirror downwards, instead of taking a quick glance as I used to with my other dashcam in another vehicle, when it was on the left of the rear vision mirror as it had more room. I suppose that is the good thing about having it on the passenger side as you can just glance over to see if the recording light is on.

I can tell you guys now, there was pretty much NO room for error. Had to be precise due to the mirror getting adjusted, so I pretty much made sure that the mirror was at the maximum angle that it MIGHT go (even when you tilted the little paddle underneath to dim rear headlights from cars behind) so once I had the maximum angle that the rear view mirror was possibly going to go, I put a piece of electrical tape as a guide and when placing cam on dots placed it one dot down.
I placed the cam there and then moved it down a tiny bit to give it a few millimeters room from the rear view mirror and moved it slightly to the right of the stork, making sure I had room for rear camera cable.
@VIOFO-Support
Power cable needs another 30cm (1 foot) sorry viofo, but the power cable is too short.
My cigarette lighter socket is in the center console. Going to have to figure out solution for this.