Hardwiring installation or just hide the wires at bestbuy?

[dashcam1]

my car is 2007 Camry with 39K miles I don't drive a lot but have been wanting to install dashcam for long time and I am going to bestbuy today for the installation. We are looking to upgrade to a new SUV in couple of years though not certain. So I have two dashcams with me. One is the A118 that I bought from Spytech 2 years ago. Can I install this in the back seat to capture video from behind? Will it work as review view dash cam? I have a similar compact HD dash cam called Anker Roav that I am looking to install on front at the windshield . Should I tell them do hardwiring just hide the wires? Do I really need two dash cams in this car? Once installed , is it difficult to transfer them to a new car? IF in the future we buy another car, I am selling the Camry we have now . Please your advice and opinion! Thanks

 

[SawMaster]

You can go either way with the wiring, but I'd just hide the wires or use a hardwire kit I'd leave in the car when selling it. As long as the A118 can mount well and get a good view it will be fine in back. And while one cam in front is usually enough, unless you have another car needing a cam why not put one in back? Lots of things happen there too and it might catch something you want which isn't as clearly shown with the front cam like a driver's face or their aggressive fast driving behind you which led to the bigger problem in front.

Please let us know your experiences with the Anker Roav as it's a new cam and there's not much user-generated info posted online on it yet

Phil

 

[dashcam1]

You can go either way with the wiring, but I'd just hide the wires or use a hardwire kit I'd leave in the car when selling it. As long as the A118 can mount well and get a good view it will be fine in back. And while one cam in front is usually enough, unless you have another car needing a cam why not put one in back? Lots of things happen there too and it might catch something you want which isn't as clearly shown with the front cam like a driver's face or their aggressive fast driving behind you which led to the bigger problem in front.

Please let us know your experiences with the Anker Roav as it's a new cam and there's not much user-generated info posted online on it yet

Phil

Dropped at the bestbuy I opted for hardwiring for my Anker Roav in the front windshield. I wasn't too sure about the A118 in the back so I told the guy I am just doing the anker Roav on the front only. What you think ? The A118 in the rear looks bit difficult to remove so I said no for the rear

 

[dashcam1]

I got them installed hardwired today and it turns on when I turn the the car on but the recording goes off after few seconds? I looked at the screen of the dashcam while driving and the screen is off.i push the power button on and turns on but then the screen goes off again after 20 seconds. I don't know if this is what it is supposed to be .

 

[jokiin]

That's how it is meant to work

 

[dashcam1]

That's how it is meant to work

Is it really recording? The screen turns on when I start my car and drive but goes off after 5 secs and screen is blank as if it is turned off. Please let me know cos I want to see if something is the wrong with the Anker Roav . Is it like this in all the dashcams? I haven't checked the A118 in the rear as I don't have SD card in it yet .

 

[jokiin]

Screensaver turns off the display, that's normal

 

[dashcam1]

Screensaver turns off the display, that's normal

Okay thanks. I have the box and the manual books but not the car charger and the charging cable. The car charger and the charging cable is missing .Do they use them when hardwiring? Mine is hardwired and I paid extra $17 for the part to do the hardwiring. I thought they don't need the charging cable when hardwiring?

 

[jokiin]

They would have used it for the installation

 

[dashcam1]

They would have used it for the installation

pls help with selecting the right one below.
I see the following " resolution " what is best to choose? Has 720p 60Fps 30fps , 1080p 30fps? Also " frequency" 50 or 60HZ?" Sensitivity " low medium high or off? "Parking monitor " on or off? " LCD Auto off" 30/60 seconds/off? " "watermark" on or off?

 

[efoo]

pls help with selecting the right one below.
I see the following " resolution " what is best to choose? Has 720p 60Fps 30fps , 1080p 30fps? Also " frequency" 50 or 60HZ?" Sensitivity " low medium high or off? "Parking monitor " on or off? " LCD Auto off" 30/60 seconds/off? " "watermark" on or off?

- Definitely choose the native 1080p resolution. The 720p is not the camera's native resolution and will look more blurry and obviously lower resolution.
- For Frequency, since you are living in US, choose 60Hz.
- Sensitivity is for G-shock I think (correct me if I am wrong), that will mean how sensitive the camera to sudden movement and it will automatically record video (when the power is on of course). I either set it to Low or Off, I don't want the camera to keep recording protected video files unnecessarily.
- Parking Monitor is if you have installed a car battery power module and wants to keep recording the video after you have parked and switched off the car. I will definitely turn it Off as the Parking Monitor feature is not very well implemented in this camera and it will drain your car battery flat if you don't have a car battery power module installed.
- LCD Auto Off is for the camera to automatically turn off its back LCD screen after that set time. It is useful so the bright LCD screen won't distract you especially when you are driving at night.
- Watermark is if you want extra info automatically added to your video e.g. your car number plate.

 

[dashcam1]

- Definitely choose the native 1080p resolution. The 720p is not the camera's native resolution and will look more blurry and obviously lower resolution.
- For Frequency, since you are living in US, choose 60Hz.
- Sensitivity is for G-shock I think (correct me if I am wrong), that will mean how sensitive the camera to sudden movement and it will automatically record video (when the power is on of course). I either set it to Low or Off, I don't want the camera to keep recording protected video files unnecessarily.
- Parking Monitor is if you have installed a car battery power module and wants to keep recording the video after you have parked and switched off the car. I will definitely turn it Off as the Parking Monitor feature is not very well implemented in this camera and it will drain your car battery flat if you don't have a car battery power module installed.
- LCD Auto Off is for the camera to automatically turn off its back LCD screen after that set time. It is useful so the bright LCD screen won't distract you especially when you are driving at night.
- Watermark is if you want extra info automatically added to your video e.g. your car number plate.

the LCD Auto off option I have is 30 or 60 secs, choose 30?
Can you tell me more about the "watermark"? Should I turn it on or off? Also someone already replied but I want assurance and the concern I have is, I don't know if it is even recording anything while driving because when I start the engine the dashcams beep and turns on and I can see the screen on and seems to be recording but the screen goes black after 10 secs and it looks as if the dashcam is turned off. How is it recording if it turns off after 10 seconds?

 

[efoo]

the LCD Auto off option I have is 30 or 60 secs, choose 30?
Can you tell me more about the "watermark"? Should I turn it on or off? Also someone already replied but I want assurance and the concern I have is, I don't know if it is even recording anything while driving because when I start the engine the dashcams beep and turns on and I can see the screen on and seems to be recording but the screen goes black after 10 secs and it looks as if the dashcam is turned off. How is it recording if it turns off after 10 seconds?

Up to you either 30 or 60 seconds LCD auto off.

When the LCD screen turns off after 30 or 60 seconds, the camera continues to record until you switch off the car engine again. You can check that the camera is still recording after the LCD screen is off by looking closely at the camera, there is still a small red LED light flashing. Double check later by removing the micro SD memory card from the camera after the drive and review the video on your computer. Unless the LCD Auto off option also has 10 seconds, I don't think the LCD screen should turn off by itself after 10 seconds.

 

[flank]

How much did bestbuy charge for the install?

 

[dashcam1]

How much did bestbuy charge for the install?

For the anker Roav on the front and A118 in the back and the part for hard wiring,total including labor and everything came to $122.56. Nice that they are hardwired looks clean. Now I need to know the rules and legality of this here in IL.

 

[dashcam1]

Can you explain what to do what "watermark" option? Turn on or off? Regarding the LCD Auto, you are saying this is for screen to turn on when I turn on my car? It has off, 39 secs and 60 secs. When I turn my car on the dashcam turns on and I can see the screen on the dash cam on and seems to be recording but after several seconds, the screen goes blank as if it is turned off even though my car is still driving . Thanks

 

[jokiin]

Watermark would be the ROAV logo in the top left of the video I expect, turn it off if you don't want to see that

 

[dashcam1]

Watermark would be the ROAV logo in the top left of the video I expect, turn it off if you don't want to see that

What about LCD auto option? It has 30,60 secs or off. What is that for? Also you mentioned the screen is supposed to turn off after I start driving the car right? It turns on when I turn my car on but th screen goes off after few secs as if it got turned off. The watermark option is in menu section like the other features

 

[jokiin]

yes you want the screen saver function to turn the display of when you're driving

 

[OCD Tronic]

I like to set the LCD option to 30, that way the screen goes off after 30 seconds and isn't glowing the whole time especially at night which is illegal in most states. Recording continues even after the screen turns off yes.