Dash cam recommendations - specs provided

[abarth]

to properly use parking mode, you can either hook the camera up to a BDP (battery discharge prevention) device or some cameras have that built in and are required to be hooked up to a battery (always on) source as well as a switched (on with ignition) source. the device will continue to power the camera until the battery voltage hits a programmed threshold (I.e. 12.1v) or a timed delay.

I find parking mode to be very useful since I leave my car in a parking garage while I'm at work or parked on a city street where some folks park by touch.

 

[jokiin]

Thanks. So if it uses capacitor - it can only film whilest the car is on, so unless it's wired directly to the battery - it won't film anything it detects while the car is off (no parking mode in other words).

parking mode needs a permanent power source anyway

 

[DashCamMan]

Thanks. So if it uses capacitor - it can only film whilest the car is on, so unless it's wired directly to the battery - it won't film anything it detects while the car is off (no parking mode in other words).

I think you are confused with what parking mode is. The Falcon F170HD has motion detection like virtually all other Chinese cameras on the market. The manual even states that you need to manually turn motion detection on when parking, then manually turn it off when driving (seems ridiculous). This will not record a hit and run, only the aftermath which will likely provide zero evidence of the accident. Typically this will start recording up to 5 seconds after the motion / impact is detected, making it virtually useless.

True parking mode, which is provided by virtually all Korean cameras (BlackVue, FineVu, Itronics, Thinkware, Lukas, etc) actually buffer video the entire time the car is parked and if motion / impact occur it will save 5 to 10 seconds BEFORE the incident. These cameras also automatically switch between driving mode and parking mode, something the F170HD is not capable of doing. To use this parking mode feature you need to have the camera hardwired into your car and the camera should use super capacitors since a parked car on a hot day gets extremely hot (running a battery based camera in a hot car for a prolonged period of time will likely result in overheating / battery swelling up).

 

[kamkar]

Capasitors is just a better way to power the dashcam than a lipo battery, at least in the long run and in high temperatures.

For the most the battery or capasitors is just there to finalize the last most important recording ( in case of a crash )
If a video file is suddenly stopped that whole file will be corrupted and useless, so its very important it get finished off the right way, even if your dashcam go flying with the windscreen or the power source is destroyed in the moment of the crash.

And as the other guys say, for parking guard / motion detect to work the camera need to be on a allways on circuit, this is for the most done with a hardwire kit and a BDP ( Battery Discharge Protector ) to make sure your car battery dont go so low you cant start your car.
Some dashcams have the BDP build in, in that case you just need to make sure it have power all the time ( some cars have allways on sockets, but most of us have to tap in to a fuse in the fuse box with a hardwire kit )

Some dashcams allso have a timer for short parkings like at the shopping mall or such, the dashcam will then disengage from motion detect / parking guard and shut down after the time you have selected in the menu.

My old Luksa dashcam engaged parking guard after a set time of no movement on the car ( if selected in settings ) and then it would wake up and record on motion detection or if the G-sensor detect a event ( again you could choose one or the other or both in settings )

I think if you manually have to engage & disengage parking guard its worthless, that need to be done automatic as a good dashcam really should be a set and forget devise.

Install it in your car - do the settings of it - and then forget all about untill the day where you need it.

 

[Shurike]

Thanks for the explanation

 

[Witness Auto Dash Cam]

You can purchase the Lukas dash cam. You can check our website for one channel dash cam.

 

[Shurike]

Looks good, will look into this one too. There are quite a few models - which one would you recommend? Also I didnt see this, but is there a mount that comes with it that you can twist/turn around and point the other direction?

You can purchase the Lukas dash cam. You can check our website for one channel dash cam.

 

[Witness Auto Dash Cam]

Looks good, will look into this one too. There are quite a few models - which one would you recommend? Also I didnt see this, but is there a mount that comes with it that you can twist/turn around and point the other direction?

There are two models I would recommend you to purchase. The first one is the LK-7950. It comes sony lens with g sensor and motion detector, which will record and save the data automatically after there is any impact during the time of driving and parking. You won't need to worry about losing any important data because it will saved separately in a micro sd card, which means the daily driving videos and the impact data is separated into two SD card(8+8GB). It provide low voltage cut out, which you don't have to worry about the electricity in your vehicle. Also you can add one more CPL filter in order to make the video more clear by reducing the sunlight reflection. It's operating temperature is from -20℃ to 70 which the Lukas cams can solve the important problem of overheat comparing with the other brand in the market cannot It will be smaller than the other Lukas two channels cam and it is working in wifi too. Simply you can download the app in your smart phone and view your videos recording, or you can take out the sd card then insert into any computer and watch it.
On the other hand, if you don't need the wifi function, you can choose the LK-9350. It also comes with the above spec but there is a touch screen monitor for you.
However, the dash cams were not supposed to be twist/ turn around and point the other direction because they were all hard wire installed. There is a plastic mount for the dash cam.

You can search us in google and check the installation photos if you are curious. My user name is the company and we are located in Vancouver. Which we have 10 dealerships holding our brand like porsche and BMW

 

[Shurike]

Excellent! Thanks for the detailed response )