First Dashcam Purchase for Front and Rear

MattyKHZ

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Due to an accident last November which has only been settled due to dispute of liability, I wish to purchase a dash cam to save the same thing happening again.

I was hit in the rear when doing 70mph on a dual carriageway, overtaking a slower moving vehicle in my lane that was doing 60. The gap was fine but from checking mirrors etc I was not to know that the approaching vehicle in that lane was doing an excessive speed, until several seconds later there was a bang and they had hit us.

The driver was asking what I was doing, to which I replied I was overtaking a slower car in front and I stated they must have been doing at least 90. They reckoned 80 but if so why could 10mph not be scrubbed off to maintain a safe distance?

So I pulled out according to their statement and it was all my fault. Seems in the UK with no evidence yo can drive at illegal speed into people who adhere to the speed limit and blame them.

So 1st Dashcam purchase and most searches I have made mentioned BlackVue and Thinware, plus the usual awards for Nextbase.

I think I came across this website a while ago and heard mention of the VIOFO A129 Duo ticking all the boxes at lesser cost.

Am I right in thinking I need GPS as without there is no record of speed. Would that have helped in my accident situation as it would have shown the speed I was doing or would simply the footage of gap, manoeuvre and the accident have been sufficient?

All the options like hit and run, vandalism if there is such a thing captured, had a previous car dented in car park before, would be good. As would hard wiring to ensure capture of footage.

A discreet install would also be nice in our BMW 2 series coupe.

Would the VIOFO A129 Pro cover most things i want? What extra do you get with say a BlackVue DR900s or the equivalent Thinkware at nearly twice the price?

Sorry if this seems a simple question but all I want is to protect myself if the unfortunate happens, have something that is fit for purpose without paying over the odds. A nice discreet install would be a bonus.

Lastly being in the UK where sells VIOFO? Do most buy direct or from Amazon and then fit themselves, as not sure how easy hard wire is for a newbie.....
 
Am I right in thinking I need GPS as without there is no record of speed. Would that have helped in my accident situation as it would have shown the speed I was doing or would simply the footage of gap, manoeuvre and the accident have been sufficient?
GPS is useful for setting the clock, can also help you improve your driving when you see how fast you were going when you shouldn't have been, but when it comes to assigning blame for an accident it is not accurate enough to be considered as proof.

Would the VIOFO A129 Pro cover most things i want? What extra do you get with say a BlackVue DR900s or the equivalent Thinkware at nearly twice the price?
It will give you better image quality than those others! It is also new so unprooven, but looking very good.

Lastly being in the UK where sells VIOFO?
Get it from Viofo on Amazon, makes returns easy. You can also buy from the Viofo.com website, but returns may not be so easy, especially if they are returns to China.

So I pulled out according to their statement and it was all my fault. Seems in the UK with no evidence yo can drive at illegal speed into people who adhere to the speed limit and blame them.
Even with evidence, you were still to blame since they had right of way. To avoid blame you would have to show that you had left them enough room so that they could have avoided the accident and they failed to do so. It could have been a police vehicle legally allowed to do twice the speed limit, they would have had right of way in either case. In a court case you could move some of the responsibility over to them, but not all of it.
 
I would not go for the DR900, price is not always a realistic indicator of quality. I do not own one but the A129 series is getting very good feedback. It may be that the biggest problem you will have is the car as you will find many reports on this site about how fickle the BMW power management computer is, so look at power options external to the car battery and the camera options you can use with then.
 
Welcome to DCT @MattyKHZ :)
IMHO the A129Pro offers the best vid quality right now in 2-channel cams. Thinkware and Blackvue concentrate more on extra features like wifi connectivity and parking modes- historically and now they don't seem interested in obtaining the best vid quality although they always claim to have it. You're buying a name with those brands moreso than their product.

BMW has become notorious for issues with cams being used while parked due to their power-monitoring scheme so best plan to use an external source like a powerbank while parked. More and more cars are becoming like this where fitting non-factory equipment causes issues of some kind. There's really no need for this but we're stuck with it when they offer nothing else.

Phil
 
Thanks for the replies.

I will not argue the point made earlier on right of way because there is no such thing. Highway Code states stick to the left unless overtaking (like I was) tell that to the many people who hog the right lane as they think it’s called the fast lane and woe betide anyone who is in front of them going slower than they are as is what happened in my case).

A lovely amazon driver decided to reverse their van into our 2 series yesterday. Wasn’t bothered about any damage caused only their deliveries and only exchanged details when I asked on going out after hearing the noise caused and seeing the damage.

Going to need a cam more than ever now especially with parking mode. Shame the BMW alarm did not sound on being hit. An older car which had a toad alarm sounded when they dented my door with theirs. My word against theirs though and don’t think Dashcam were around then.
 
Even with evidence, you were still to blame since they had right of way. To avoid blame you would have to show that you had left them enough room so that they could have avoided the accident and they failed to do so. It could have been a police vehicle legally allowed to do twice the speed limit, they would have had right of way in either case. In a court case you could move some of the responsibility over to them, but not all of it.

Like I say rear camera would have been the evidence in this case and it seems more and more in this day and age unless you are caught on camera doing something you shouldn’t like speeding, being on phone, running red light etc there is no deterrent.

I would now add hitting a parked vehicle to that list.
 
I’d recommend the A129 Pro duo. The ThinkWare and Blackvue are great, but from what I’ve read and heard all the tech is more of a headache than anything. The tech that the ThinkWare and Blackvue use just doesn’t seem to be perfected yet, according to many threads I’ve read on here.
 
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