Help! Dash and Rear Cam With Great Quality Video At Night???

[truckdrvr]

I have asked a few car shop installers and they quote me $200+ when I see 1080p cams on ebay for cheap. Many car installers scam, so I want to know from those who know cams and use them.

I am new to the car cam community. But I am looking for a great quality, even at night, dash and rear view cam with wide angle (with time stamp, front and rear), that pugs into the same recorder. Or record individually.
Also do they record when I park in a bad area and the car is off?
I am on a budget, but I want the best bang for my buck. I am in the USA, but not opposed to China buying off ebay. I see many on ebay for under $30.
What ones do you suggest and use?
Also are there small cams for side view mirrors that tie into a dvr or SSD?
I know basic wiring and would like to do it myself.

 

[kamkar]

Hi truckdrvr welcome to the forum.

At the moment dashcams bases on the Sony IMX322 sensor seem to be the best night performers, but that do not mean you will be able to capture somthing small as a licenceplat when it flies past you.

Most cameras can record when parked, for this you just need them to be on a allways on source, and most use a BDP ( Battery Discharge Protector ) if the camera dont have it build in.
The BDP will make sure the camera is turned off before you battery get too low, so you should be able to start your car/truck again.
Optimal for parking guard is that it have prebuffered footage, meaning you wull get some seconds recorded from before the triggering event ( G-sensor or motion detect )
Most cameras dont have prebuffered event recording.
You can get systems with multiple cameras, but these are mostly the low CCTV resolution TVs had in the old days.

Towards the end of this year the brand Street Guardian will release a dual channel system with 2 cameras on a wire, and i do think you will be able to get those 2 cameras in a waterproof version too for installing on your mirror tree or elsewhere on the outside of your rig.
But that will by no means be a cheap system.
Then again you dont really want to go cheam on these things, we seen countless examples on ppl that got a cheap camera, drive some months and then get into a crash and have nothing recorded cuz the camera stopped working.

Good thing is i do think you can make do with just 1 camera pointing out of the windscreen, cuz that one camera will document just about all you do, and if you do nothing wrong then anything that go on must be blamed on someone else.
BUT ! dashcams can be / are addicting so some of us end up having 4-5-6 and more cameras in the car ( okay the ones with that many cameras are often reviewers or betatesters like myself, but even regular ppl have been known to go amok with cameras )

We got quite a fjew truck drivers in here so i am sure they will sound out too.

A cheap and also very reliable camera is the small Mobius camera, but it have been around for a long tims and it is not among the best night performers, but it do allright at night.
Its is howerer subjekt to copying so make sure you buy from a approved seller, otherwise you will end up with a turd.