Do You Have More Than One Dash Cam?

[Mozzie]

If anything happen on the streets of the mile high city, the local news better pray Sunny is around when it go down

He has got it all but it will take him 2 days to review all the footage

 

[Kip]

I miss having my two channel system. The rear camera does tell more of the story that's for sure. For now, budget contraints limit me to a single front camera but would definately like to add a rear cam again when possible. Of course, two singles offer some level of redundancy that you don't get with a two channel camera, at the expense of not being able to lock footage of both cams from a single button press.

Side cameras at the front of the vehicle would also protect against the 'flash for cash' type insurance scams at t-junctions. A front camera alone might not capture the true story of what happened.

 

[SawMaster]

I don't see much value in locking files. If you know you want to save it, just use a big enough card to complete your trip and DL it (or switch cards) once you're parked.

I'm not sure there's a great value to two-chammel cams other than convenience of use. And having a separate rear cam in the car let's you swap it for the front one should that one fail when away from home. You can also 'gift' a lesser rear cam when you upgrade your system or save it for a spare. Since most cam are USB powered swapping discrete cams is fast and easy, but a two-channel unit might not be if it uses a different plug or power protocol.

Either way I still think it's a good idea to have rear coverage, and full coverage too if you're so inclined. It's a sometimes nasty world out there and you need all the help you can get when things go wrong.

Phil

 

[Kip]

I don't see much value in locking files. If you know you want to save it, just use a big enough card to complete your trip and DL it (or switch cards) once you're parked.

Locking files for me is more of a convenience that helps me to find the footage I'm looking for faster on the memory card. I use a large card in my camera, 128GB, so I'm not ever going to overwrite that in a single day. Even using some sort of parking mode I would probably struggle. Still, always good to have either a backup option (I use an Android smartphone, OTG cable and a USB card reader for this) or a spare card in the car at all times. I'd say a backup option would be better if you run multiple cameras though, otherwise, you could potentially need a spare card for each camera.

 

[Sunny]

Me too.
I never ever trigger lock files unless I'm testing it for review.
First thing is I have more than 2 days worth footage before it overwrites.
2nd, file names usually have date time so I can easily pick the particular file I need.
3rd, some dashcams are hard to press lock button, specially wedge shaped and the ones that are partially behind RV mirror, dangerous move.
4th, some dashcams stop recording when pressed the button just by feeling it as I have pressed wrong button while feeling for the right one (A119) while driving in high speed.

So I leave the footage alone.

 

[arcticfire]

I suppose if you are on a long trip where you won't have access to download the files for a while then locking is a good feature.

 

[cacherjoe]

I have a 2 channel system. I wouldn't mind having cameras in the side windows. I can't see the need for multiple in the front though. JMHO.

 

[2000rpm]

I have a 2 channel system. I wouldn't mind having cameras in the side windows. I can't see the need for multiple in the front though. JMHO.

For me, more than one front cam is just an insurance policy against failure of the cam that's facing the most important direction (what I can see and where most insurance scams occur).
Having more than one front cam proved useful when someone reversed into my car earlier this year - one of my front cams had turned itself off shortly after I started my journey!

If I hadn't been able to prove that I didn't drive into the rear of the other car, it would have lost me my 'no claims', forced me to partially pay for the repairs (my excess) and because we run three cars it would have probably added hundreds of Pounds to the cost of our insurance for each of the following four or five years and amounted to two or three thousand Pounds extra in total.

A couple of cams worth maybe £250 paid for themselves ten times over - not to mention the psychological effect of possibly being assigned some or all of the blame for an accident which was not my fault.

 

[arcticfire]

The major downside to having a dashcam is that now I hate driving any vehicle without one!

 

[russ331]

The major downside to having a dashcam is that now I hate driving any vehicle without one!

With a portable setup you don't have to ...

 

[country_hick]

Does that mount vibrate? I always suspected that the visor mount would have a constant jiggle to it.

With a portable setup you don't have to ...

View attachment 25930

 

[russ331]

Does that mount vibrate? I always suspected that the visor mount would have a constant jiggle to it.

No. Based on the limited experience of using it in two cars.