Dashcams for sale in petrol stations

[Daryn]

I noticed the other day that a local petrol station is selling dashcams for £18 and sd cards for them at £6, I couldnt see a makers name though, just wondering if anyone else has seen these and tried them

 

[2000rpm]

I saw some in a petrol station a few weeks ago. I think they were 720p so a bit old-tech. The cams also seemed to include infrared LEDs which are regarded by many people as a gimmick. I think they're just angling for impulse buyers with budget-price, low-tech cams.

Don't impulse buy. Select a cam which fully meets your needs.
In the UK the Transcend Drive Pro 100 can be bought for £64 from major high street electrical and car accessory retailers and is probably the best price/quality/warranty/performance balance available at the moment.

 

[jokiin]

you don't get much for this sort of money, maybe why nobody has their name on them

 

[Dashmellow]

I've been starting to see dash cams offered for sale at Walmart, Auto Zone stores and a few other places. They are all generic Chinese junk mostly selling at inflated prices.

 

[Daryn]

Guess its the old sayin, if something seems to good to be true it usually is

 

[Daryn]

In the UK the Transcend Drive Pro 100 can be bought for £64 from major high street electrical and car accessory retailers and is probably the best price/quality/warranty/performance balance available at the moment.

Ive just checked this out and currys have them for the said price you mention £64, I looked at them on youtube and they seem really good quality. Ive just sent a message to my friend, he is after some for his and his daughters cars after she was involved in an accident 3 weeks ago but doesnt want to send away to china for them.

TBH if I was in the market for one I would probably go for one of them, easier to take back should things go wrong. Thanks for mentioning this. I also came across a post on another site about the petrol station dashcams, someone posted a video its terrible lol so glad I didnt waste my money lol

 

[DT MI]

I was in a 'truck stop' type facility a couple months ago and noticed a few cheap ones for sale. Nothing I would give a second look at but someone knowing nothing at all about them might be tempted.

 

[Daryn]

I think Ill buy one of them Transcent DrivePro 100 for the wifes car. Might swap it for one of mine if its better lol

 

[russ331]

... probably the best price/quality/warranty/performance balance available at the moment.

You've just described the £60 BlackSys CF-100 ...

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/B00KFYG0K0
Review ...

https://dashcamtalk.com/forum/threa...p-sony-exmor-cmos-720p-gps-24-7-parking.7441/

 

[2000rpm]

You've just described the £60 BlackSys CF-100 ...

Not entirely; the DP100 is available from a real shop with a presence in most major cities, making it very easy to return if there's a fault.

Sold by xxxxxx, fulfilled by xxxxxx and delivered by mail-order doesn't give me as much confidence that it would be easy to return, replace or repair.

 

[TheRookie]

From my experience with Amazon, if it is fulfilled by them then the returns are just as easy as something sold by Amazon directly.
And I had nothing but trouble returning items to Currys.
YMMV of course.

 

[Richard Ayrton]

For £20 difference is it worth getting the Drivepro 200? In terms of picture quality at night in particular.

 

[2000rpm]

From my experience with Amazon, if it is fulfilled by them then the returns are just as easy as something sold by Amazon directly.
And I had nothing but trouble returning items to Currys.
YMMV of course.

My experience of dashcams is that they are most likely to fail after a few months of use rather than straight from the box. My understanding of Amazon policy is that after 30 days the customer has to arrange and pay for any returns. But if buying from the high street or retail parks it's easy enough to return because you'll be passing by regularly for other shopping.

My failed 402G was from Currys and even though it was out of the 'we'll refund it' in into the 'we'll repair/replace it' time frame they still let me have a refund.

 

[2000rpm]

For £20 difference is it worth getting the Drivepro 200? In terms of picture quality at night in particular.

The main real-world difference is that the DP200 has wifi and a capacitor; the DP100 doesn't have wifi and has a relatively large battery.
The difference in video quality isn't enough to be a deal-maker or deal-breaker.
The DP200 manual says the capacitor can only be relied upon to maintain time/date for four days if the cam is not used, although the 'Drive Pro wifi App' should allow a quick re-synch of time/date.

Currys and Halfords sell adhesive-mounted DP200 but suction mounted DP100 whereas the opposite mount combination seems to be on Amazon. So make sure you get the mount you need. It is possible to buy mounts separately for several pounds.

 

[russ331]

Not entirely; the DP100 is available from a real shop with a presence in most major cities, making it very easy to return if there's a fault.

Sold by xxxxxx, fulfilled by xxxxxx and delivered by mail-order doesn't give me as much confidence that it would be easy to return, replace or repair.

It's fulfilled by Amazon. Amazon deal with problems under their A to Z Policy. If a product needs to be returned, you can drop it off at your local newsagent or similar. I've never had any problems or had to pay a penny when returning goods to Amazon. I have, however, had issues with High Street outlets, & will never buy anything again from Currys, after two bad experiences with them.

The DP100 & DP200 are quite different. The DP200 has a superior lens, among other differences. Neither DP100 or DP200 offer anywhere near the value for money of the CF-100.

 

[2000rpm]

......The DP100 & DP200 are quite different. The DP200 has a superior lens, among other differences......

The DP200 may have a claimed superior lens, but from what I've seen of the videos from both cams it doesn't seem to make much difference, and the claimed 30-degree difference in field of view doesn't tally with what I've seen - it looks closer to a 10-degree difference to my eyes.
Maybe the DP200 is 160-degree diagonal measurement while the DP100 is 130-degree horizontal measurement.
Give or take a few degrees, 160 diagonal is about 140 horizontal. 130 horizontal is about 150 diagonal.

I think both cams are using the same AR0330 sensor which finds its way into a lot of mainstream cams.

I think DP100 vs DP200 boils down to choosing between a relatively large battery or relatively small capacitor.
I - and my wife - would have a DP200 (for the capacitor) if only the manual said it can retain settings for a week, rather than four days.

 

[TheRookie]

I have successfully returned market place items (sold by some shop and fulfilled by Amazon) several months after purchase. The 30 days applies to simple returns (say you don't like the item) where warranty returns are 1 year.

 

[russ331]

The DP200 may have a claimed superior lens, but from what I've seen of the videos from both cams it doesn't seem to make much difference

You'd need to see simultaneously shot raw footage from both cameras to judge the difference.

I think DP100 vs DP200 boils down to choosing between a relatively large battery or relatively small capacitor.

You recently said in another post ... "it's capacitor cams only for me, from now on. Which basically cuts my future dashcam-purchase shortlist right down to just a handful, plus maybe a few others which have slipped my mind at present"

Agreed. The battery in every LiPo-dependent dashcam will inevitably fail, whether it be after 3 months or 6 months or 12 months or 18 months. Wise buyers choose capacitor-based dashcams.

 

[2000rpm]

.....You'd need to see simultaneously shot raw footage from both cameras to judge the difference......

I have seen side-by-side comparison of the DP100 and DP200. The small difference in performance relative to price wasn't enough to sway the decision towards the DP200. It's the capacitor which could sway a decision.

...You recently said in another post ... "it's capacitor cams only for me, from now on. Which basically cuts my future dashcam-purchase shortlist right down to just a handful, plus maybe a few others which have slipped my mind at present".....

Yes, I said that and I intend to try to use capacitor cams wherever reasonably possible in the future when cams need replacing (although I'd probably try replacing the battery on any of our battery cams which fail).

I placed an order for a JooVuu recently which I'm hoping to receive in a week or two. I normally prefer a screen but I made an exception. And a Panorama replaced my 402G, making two cap cams.

However, I didn't like the Panorama's wide angle in the front of my car due to the way it changes perception of what's happening and viewer perception of how I'm driving, so it now sits in the rear of the family car with its wide angle well-suited to the almost vertical rear window of 'estate' type cars.

But I'll make a few exceptions regarding 'only' buying capacitor cams......
Such as the recent rear cam which my wife wanted to add.
We thought long and hard about the DP200 but the relatively small capacitor of the DP200 would make it unsuitable for our cars because although we do 25-30k between us each year, unusual work patterns and driving patterns would mean numerous occasions each year when one or more of our cars sit idle for several days and the cam would need re-setting.
The other capacitor cams available are generally rather expensive to justify using as rear cams; costing two or three times as much as the DP100.

 

[jokiin]

We thought long and hard about the DP200 but the relatively small capacitor of the DP200 would make it unsuitable for our cars because although we do 25-30k between us each year, unusual work patterns and driving patterns would mean numerous occasions each year when one or more of our cars sit idle for several days and the cam would need re-setting.

just to clarify it's not the capacitor size that's the problem as such, they have no RTC battery, not sure why they designed like this