Do you install the dash cam and forget about it? Or do you check it whenever you start driving?

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SandraWIhan

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Do you install the dash cam and forget about it? Or do you check it whenever you start driving?

Most, if not ALL, of today's dash cams are made by no-name or questionable Chinese manufacturers. Yes, some are very good, but most are not completely reliable 100% of the time.

What can be worse when you're T-boned by a careless driver and need the video to prove the other driver ran a stop sign or red light, only to find out your dash cam was not working at the time?

Having said that, I have not looked at my dash cam in a LONG time. I played with it quite often during the first couple of weeks after installation. After the "novelty" wore off, I kind of just ignored it. I originally had the unit set to beep whenever I start the car. I have since turned the beep off because it got annoying after a month or two.

I started thinking about this when I was reading a NTSB report on an air crash a few years ago. In one section that discussed the ****pit voice recorder, the manufacturer's specs listed reliability as one failure in 30 million operations.(i.e., it will most likely outlast the aircraft) Of course, those things cost $80,000 a piece.
 
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After having many many experiences where I have found both my front and rear camera of varying makes and models over the years fail to start or fail half way through a journey, I spend my time driving looking at the road in front, my rear view mirror and every time I remember..... at both lights to see if they are on.

But I guess that may sum us lot up really. The thinkers and preparers and cautious ones. You sound like a rarity that hasnt checked their cam in a while, but maybe you have a very reliable one, if so, what is it and how much? lol

A blinking red light on the dash cam does not guarantee that it's actually recording something.... as I've learn on a dash cam that I returned a couple of months ago. :D
 
set and forget. i want no involvement
 
I have a very reliable Vico TF2 in my car. It runs almost 24/7, and i have a piece of tape over the LEDs so they don't light up my car at night. I still check it every time i get in to drive.
I click a button to bring the screen on and check that it is recording still and has no errors. I check how it is positioned because i aim it differently when parked. I then start my car and let it warm up to normal temperature and by then the display has went back to sleep so i go where i need to for the day.

I do this every time i drive. It is always better to be safe then sorry.
 
I'm always very detail oriented about everything I do. The OCD genes in me always push me to check things on a regular basis. I'm constantly looking for the latest firmware and software updates in all my gadgets and computer related products. So the short answer is yes, I always generally check the LED's are glowing or blinking etc. (except the one time I was working on my pilot training, missed the fact the LED stopped glowing) See this thread: http://dashcamtalk.com/forum/threads/airplane-testing-vico-wf1-hello-from-4500ft-cessna-150.2920/
 
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I started in March 2012 with an 808#16 (manual start and stop). Just as a test into the dashcaming thing.
I don't think in the <$300 market that anything can really be set and forget long term - something might go wrong eventually (battery, card or camera)
Let's face it most of us are not buying industrial grade equipment here, so I check on a daily basis :)
 
I don't check it when I start to drive, I've never had it not turn on.
I do check it at least once a week though, to grab amusing clips / manually erase everything on the card. I have had issues where instead of overwriting, the cam would stop recording mid-drive. Since then I never let the card get full.
 
I always check because it always seems to hiccup before a very important event.
 
The only thing I pay attention to is when I turn on the engine and the voice prompts that recording is started (Lukas 7900)...So far, I've never experienced missed footage, etc.
 
I love my fine beep from Itronics ITB-250HD which is telling me the camera started. Is not disturbing at all. In the first weeks I checked too if the camera is really recording. And always recorded. Not a single minute missed. This made me trust the camera and I can say I never checked it again if is really recording and I think now I don't realize I hear the starting beep. For this particular model I have another beep when my smartphone is wirelessly connected to the camera.

Also I have in the car the Hyundai R700 and and Livue and the voices are telling me the recording is started or the Recording is terminated or wihsing me a great day.

Here are some Hyundai MnSoft R700 voices:

For me is too much and I prefer only just a fine beep. If I need the voice for something this could be if the camera have a problem, somethin like: Your camera is too hot. Or your card needs to be formatted or some thing which is really helping me, but saying to me to have a great day is more disturbing.

For me a dashcam exists only as set and forget. And I am sure a lot of people are mounting and unmounting the camera from windshield day by day. Time lost from an unique life.

enjoy,
Mtz
 
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Not a single minute missed.

How do you make sure that every minute of driving was recorded? I've been wondering about that for a while. Unless I keep a log of my complete driving history, I can't figure out how to tell if my dash cam has recorded everything. :) I guess I can verify it after every drive... but I'm a little too lazy to do that right now. :D
 
Every time I was interested about a video recorded by the dashcam it was there. And that was not about luck or chance but about a thing well made.

enjoy,
Mtz
 
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How do you make sure that every minute of driving was recorded? I've been wondering about that for a while. Unless I keep a log of my complete driving history, I can't figure out how to tell if my dash cam has recorded everything. :) I guess I can verify it after every drive... but I'm a little too lazy to do that right now. :D

I have customers that archive all their footage every day, (I've changed the file system structure in our new models to a time and date based naming convention specifically for this reason) so I'm sure that getting footage reliably is not an issue
 
Do you install the dash cam and forget about it?
Yes, that is how I want my dashcam to be. Small and no screen. Hide it behind the review mirror. Attached to the windscreen with adhesive pad.

No see, occasionally hear. At booting/power on= one shortbeep. Up and running = one long beep. GPS lock = one long + short beeps. G sensor trigger = two short beeps. Malfunctioning or memorycard full = intermittent beeps.

Setupfile on memorycard so I remove the memorycard from the camera and use PC software to configure the camera and put the memorycard back into the camera.

One thing I miss is better utilization of the GPS. It could be used for turning of the camera (ie no movements in 30 min) or switch to motion detect mode. Could also be used to dim or turn of indicator lights at night.

Or do you check it whenever you start driving?
I just listen to the beeps.

Most, if not ALL, of today's dash cams are made by no-name or questionable Chinese manufacturers.
Most, but not all. The better cameras usually come from Taiwan and South-Korea.

Three rules of thumb: 1) if it has IR-LEDs it's often no good. 2) if it writes MJPEG codec it's often no good 3) if it has a large image sensor (>3MP) it's often no good.

Yes, some are very good, but most are not completely reliable 100% of the time.
I know of a few good chinese cameras but they fall short of being very good.
 
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Setupfile on memorycard so I remove the memorycard from the camera and use PC software to configure the camera and put the memorycard back into the camera.

this idea I don't like at all, restricts you from changing any settings while away from a computer, not that things need to be changed too often but this is a limitation I personally don't like

Most, but not all. The better cameras usually come from Taiwan and South-Korea.

Three rules of thumb: 1) if it has IR-LEDs it's often no good. 2) if it writes MJPEG codec it's often no good 3) if it has a large image sensor (>3MP) it's often no good.
.

Quite a few 'made in' Korea and Taiwan cameras are products of China, they're generally built to a higher spec which is what makes them better, nothing to do with where they say they're made versus where they are actually made

IR LED's have no place on a camera for video functionality, a sure sign of a garbage product, have never seen a decent camera use MJPEG either, another tell tale sign
 
Quite a few 'made in' Korea and Taiwan cameras are products of China, they're generally built to a higher spec which is what makes them better, nothing to do with where they say they're made versus where they are actually made
That's true, location per se is not that important, it's more what kind of specs they are built to and how QA and QC are implemented. Unfortunatly chinese owned companies with chinese managment aren't very good at that. They are more inclined to do short-term profit maximisation and care less for meeting customers expectations and building a good brandname.
 
That's true, location per se is not that important, it's more what kind of specs they are built to and how QA and QC are implemented. Unfortunatly chinese owned companies with chinese managment aren't very good at that. They are more inclined to do short-term profit maximisation and care less for meeting customers expectations and building a good brandname.

99% of the product they make is built to a price not a standard, the end result is not good for anyone involved
 
Thank goodness someone from the manufacturers is listening. I just got a new replacement dashcam was struggling to understand what the programmer was thinking using a convention like 10031101 to represent Nov 1, 2013? My old dashcam had a year folder with month and day subfolders that contained each day's footage. Very easy to archive and locate specific recordings.

As for set and forget, only if the camera firmware is very reliable would I trust it. One of the reasons I keep the LCD on all the time is that I've found that the unit had either shutdown or locked up at times. Without the LCD on, I would've never known until it was too late. A useful feature that I haven't seen is a manual or auto-dimming LCD. It does not need to be at full brightness at night and a simple time or light sensor based system should work.

I look forward to seeing what products your company will come up with Jokiin. Any hints on whether the wifi auto-upload feature I mentioned in the other thread might come to the market and how close we are to seeing the new generation of products with better performance? Are we talking months away or 2+ years?

KuoH

I have customers that archive all their footage every day, (I've changed the file system structure in our new models to a time and date based naming convention specifically for this reason) so I'm sure that getting footage reliably is not an issue
 
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