Decent Dashcam for College Student

[vaironl]

Hello all!

I asked a very similar question to this on reddit a couple of days ago, but I want to get some advice from this forum as well.

I been wanting to have a dashcam for a while now to record car events I attend, but being a college student makes it seem to be an unneeded expense for me. However, I was recently involved in a very small accident which I was blamed for, even though I wasn’t at fault. Because I have no evidence this is being considered a word for word situation and I might have to pay for my car damage out of my pocket. This has infuriated me and to attempt to avoid a similar situation in the future I’m looking to purchase a dashcam for my car.

What I’m looking for is a decent dashcam and the lower the price the better, since of course my budget limits me. I was expecting to spend no more than ~$80, but it seems that the cameras recommended in that price range like the G1W-C, and the A118C all seem to have a fair amount of bad rep or can’t sustain themselves in high/low temperatures. I live in a place where winters are fairly cold, but barely ever go below 0 and summers go as high as 90F. I read about the G1W-C and it seems that the capacitor allows it to hold itself in the cold weather, but I’ve heard many problems about memory cards, the weather still affecting it bellow 0 and a lot of stories about buyers receiving fake cameras.

So what would you all recommend for me? I know this is somewhat contradictory, since you get what you pay for, but I’m hoping for something with low rates of failure and hopefully good service from the vendor in case I need to return. Again I don’t want to spend too much money on this, but am willing to go a bit above my budget to invest in a decent dashcam.

Thanks for any advice given!

 

[petepete]

Thinking back to being a college student...

I would suggest the g1wh is your best bet and I would certainly consider duel use by purchasing a bed head mount....

"you will find your memory fades as the years pass !"

 

[Dashmellow]

You might consider a Mobius. It is reliable, well made, discreet and small, has excellent support from the very active enthusiast community and sees ongoing firmware development from the developer. It is also an excellent action cam and pocket video/still camera that many prefer to the GoPro for its size, versatility and low price. It also has several lens focal length options and a wealth of available accessories.

The camera goes for $68.99 (and sometimes discounted) from a number of trustworthy vendors. For dash cam use you also would need a USB cable, a 12V/5V adapter and mounting bracket (many do DIY versions). Altogether, it comes in at very close to your budget for an extremely versatile, high quality camera. (These links are merely examples and you can find other options and prices elsewhere.)

see: Mobius camera (some of the negative remarks about the camera's performance on this link are outdated as the Mobius has seen vast improvement via firmware since the review was written - especially night time performance)

Support forum

Mounting solutions

 

[throrope]

I like our shadowtec gt680w. They have a newer 680 unit now and every time I look up ours, it's less than I paid. available with gps for 20 buck difference.

 

[GJHS]

I was going to suggest the Mobius as well, since you mentioned wanting to record car events. If that means recording outside of the car, you could easily clip the Mobius to the brim of a ball cap. The Mobius also gives you a quick solution to swap between battery for recording outside and super capacitors to handle high heat and cold when mounted in your car.

 

[vaironl]

Thank you all for the suggestions given so far!!!!
I will wait a bit longer to get more suggestions and also compare models. Once I've made a decision I will attempt to give my experience on the select device.

 

[MoneyT8]

The mobius is a great choice as mentioned by others. For a little more you can get the Mini 0805, which is a solid dashcam for a screen.

 

[CheckYourLights]

I been wanting to have a dashcam for a while now to record car events I attend

Car Shows? Autocross? Drag Races?

At car shows I would get parked up near the entrance and let other drivers do the work for me so I could take my time and enjoy the show and still get some great video.

 

[jokiin]

did you keep your Camaro or has it moved on?

 

[CheckYourLights]

did you keep your Camaro or has it moved on?

I still have it. It's winter here so it is in the garage right now. Since I was younger I have always wanted an El Camino. So every time I see one I'm always like man I wish I could get rid of my Camaro and get an El Camino SS

Also with how great my new Legacy has been I am tempted to look into an older Turbo Subaru (Legacy GT) That way I could take it to car shows with some noise under the hood, and I could have fun in it all year around and not just have it sit in storage.

Of course the down side to that would be either going to the car shows I am used to and not fitting in well with just about everything else there or finding an import type car show and having to deal with a bit of the visual modification crowd.

 

[MANswers]

+1 for Mobius, its a great starter cam, you can grow with it, by the time you are ready to spend more there will be better cams in the market.

 

[GJHS]

+1 for Mobius, its a great starter cam, you can grow with it, by the time you are ready to spend more there will be better cams in the market.

Or it will be improved to match or beat it. So far that's how it's been the last year+ of ownership with all the firmware and hardware upgrades. I would question what is a "starter cam"? What is the Mobius lacking?

 

[MANswers]

Or it will be improved to match or beat it. So far that's how it's been the last year+ of ownership with all the firmware and hardware upgrades. I would question what is a "starter cam"? What is the Mobius lacking?

to begin with...
GPS?
Wifi/wireless integration to view the cam on the phone?
Better night mode (comparable to Panorama series)?
Or even automatic switch over to Mode 2/Video 2 if low light is detected (there is a motion detect feature in the cam, this could be integrated via software i think.?
Dedicated Parking Mode with smart cutover mechanism for batteries

 

[vaironl]

It is obvious that the mobius has the hearth of most of you. So I guess it seems like the obvious choice for a dash cam. I like most of all that it appears to be well hidden and compact, along with the low price. But I have some concerns.

I read the thread highlighting common issues and there doesn’t seem to be anything of great concern to me except the heating issue. What does worry me is that the dashcam doesn’t have a screen and I won’t get immediate feedback from some sort of error. For example, if I set up the camera incorrectly, the camera turns off suddenly due to some error, or if there's a corrupted file it seems that I won't notice right way. I know these are unlikely to happen, but in the case of them happening does the camera provide some sort of sound feedback?

 

[MANswers]

It is obvious that the mobius has the hearth of most of you. So I guess it seems like the obvious choice for a dash cam. I like most of all that it appears to be well hidden and compact, along with the low price. But I have some concerns.

I read the thread highlighting common issues and there doesn’t seem to be anything of great concern to me except the heating issue. What does worry me is that the dashcam doesn’t have a screen and I won’t get immediate feedback from some sort of error. For example, if I set up the camera incorrectly, the camera turns off suddenly due to some error, or if there's a corrupted file it seems that I won't notice right way. I know these are unlikely to happen, but in the case of them happening does the camera provide some sort of sound feedback?

You can get a regular usb cable and connect it to your phone.
Thats how i calibrated my cam to the correct POV

 

[russ331]

I read the thread highlighting common issues and there doesn’t seem to be anything of great concern to me except the heating issue. What does worry me is that the dashcam doesn’t have a screen and I won’t get immediate feedback from some sort of error. For example, if I set up the camera incorrectly, the camera turns off suddenly due to some error, or if there's a corrupted file it seems that I won't notice right way. I know these are unlikely to happen, but in the case of them happening does the camera provide some sort of sound feedback?

There isn't a heating issue. That's a myth disproved by a proven track record of reliability.

If the camera loses power the LED will stop winking. Something I would notice within seconds. If a dashcam stops recording due to corrupted memory card, etc, it won't necessarily give any indication, whether it has a screen or not.

 

[kuoh]

I don't have a Mobius, but my previous 2 dashcams did have screens and that was what alerted me to a problem. It wasn't very frequent, but on a few occasions, I noticed the display was frozen despite the LED indicator blinking away. There were also a couple of instances when it stopped recording due to a memory card issue and the recording indicator not being on the screen was what alerted me. Even though my dashcams had bright red / green LEDs indicating power and activity, they were tiny and I found that during the daytime they were practically invisible in my peripheral view. With an actual screen, it's much harder to miss when a problem occurs.

I current use a Blacksys CF-100, which ironically doesn't have a screen, but does have an annoyingly large and bright blue LED. Fortunately, it does have an AV out, which I have connected to the car's built-in monitor and is left on most of the time. Personally, I would not get a dashcam without a screen or live video output of some sort.

KuoH

If a dashcam stops recording due to corrupted memory card, etc, it won't necessarily give any indication, whether it has a screen or not.

 

[Bungus]

I don't have a Mobius, but my previous 2 dashcams did have screens and that was what alerted me to a problem. It wasn't very frequent, but on a few occasions, I noticed the display was frozen despite the LED indicator blinking away. There were also a couple of instances when it stopped recording due to a memory card issue and the recording indicator not being on the screen was what alerted me. Even though my dashcams had bright red / green LEDs indicating power and activity, they were tiny and I found that during the daytime they were practically invisible in my peripheral view. With an actual screen, it's much harder to miss when a problem occurs.

I current use a Blacksys CF-100, which ironically doesn't have a screen, but does have an annoyingly large and bright blue LED. Fortunately, it does have an AV out, which I have connected to the car's built-in monitor and is left on most of the time. Personally, I would not get a dashcam without a screen or live video output of some sort.

KuoH

O P only wish to spend USD 80 only.