How long should I upgrade/keep a dash cam?

[Dashcamuser567]

Context: I got my A129 Duo in Jan 2019 with a 128gb Samsung high endurance card.

Everything works fine for the most part aside from the camera rarely freezing up (maybe 1 every 100 car turn ons it's rare) and one time where a video didn't seem to save but I never noticed that issue after (that issue happened a year ago).

Now that 4K cams are coming out and dashcams are the most endured device in the car due to the heat and cold it has to work in when is the typical dash cam upgrade cycle?

Should I be considering getting a new cam sometime? The only slight issue I currently have with the A129 is the front cam suffers from slight blur on the lens which is only barely noticeable on the edges. I also don't drive my car that much due to covid so the wear on the SD card should be minimal.

 

[DT MI]

If the camera you have still does what you want/need, and newer ones don't add any desired functionality I see no reason to 'upgrade'.

 

[kamkar]

Not really any must have camera out there, at least not with my eyes.
Even if your memory card is brand new, things can still go horribly wrong really fast, i had two 64GB cards ( back in the day expensive U3 cards ) both pretty much died after being filled up with video 1 time ( entered read only mode )
So if you encounter irregularities, the first order of the day should be to test the memory card performance and integrity.
One guy on here also had a brand new card, that in some way backed itself into s corner where its read write speeds was only a fraction of what the should be, he restored that by formatting if fully ( the slow way ) with the SD formatter tool and 2 times before it was back to advertised specs.
So the little buggers are exotic some times.

Personally i expect 2 years of operation in a dashcam, and i dont drive much, but often you get 3 - 4 years.

 

[DT MI]

but often you get 3 - 4 years.

Along that line in March 2015 I bought 2 SG9665GC cameras - both are still in use today, 6 years later.

 

[Dashcamuser567]

Not really any must have camera out there, at least not with my eyes.
Even if your memory card is brand new, things can still go horribly wrong really fast, i had two 64GB cards ( back in the day expensive U3 cards ) both pretty much died after being filled up with video 1 time ( entered read only mode )
So if you encounter irregularities, the first order of the day should be to test the memory card performance and integrity.
One guy on here also had a brand new card, that in some way backed itself into s corner where its read write speeds was only a fraction of what the should be, he restored that by formatting if fully ( the slow way ) with the SD formatter tool and 2 times before it was back to advertised specs.
So the little buggers are exotic some times.

Personally i expect 2 years of operation in a dashcam, and i dont drive much, but often you get 3 - 4 years.

I've used that SD card formatter and did a full format and it succeeded no issues. Most recent one was about a month ago and was good. Think the card is still pretty good to use with good reads and writes.

 

[Dashcamuser567]

Along that line in March 2015 I bought 2 SG9665GC cameras - both are still in use today, 6 years later.

Heard great things about street guardian cams. Great to hear they're still in use today.

 

[kamkar]

O they are still around, and still growing i think.
I have a SG9665GC from 2013 or when ever they was launched, it have not seen use in a few years or 3, but it are still operational unless it have managed to kill itself in its sleep.
That first test sample i was sent ( have been affiliate with SG since then ) i did have to refocus, but they would have sent yet another free camera to me if i had asked, but tweaking focus are no problem for a person like me.
The regular Joe should of course exercise his warranty rights, and take advantage of the brands good service and support.

SG dont do the "smart" cameras yet, but they probably will sooner or later as that is what people want it seem.

 

[DT MI]

...SG dont do the "smart" cameras yet, but they probably will sooner or later as that is what people want it seem.

The only 'smarts' a dash cam needs is the ability to turn on, turn off, and reliably record when it's supposed to.

 

[SawMaster]

Today's best cams capture more detail in daytime than those from a couple years ago, but this is always the case. To get that advantage they may not do as well at night.

I've not had a good quality cam die unexpectedly yet, and that includes cams which have been in use 3-4 years. I have had problems with LiPo batteries. It gets pretty darn hot here in the summer so other than the LiPo's I don't think heat kills cams unless it's extreme, but I'm pretty sure it will shorten their life some. For reasons of age alone I wouldn't think of replacing a cam less than 5 years old unless it gave indications that it might need replacing sooner.

A good 1080P cam is still viable today and in fact 1080P cams in use probably outnumber all the others combined. Cards are an entirely different story.

So if you're happy the cam yiou've got probably has at least a couple more years life in it, likely more. By then it will be worth upgrading for the sake of imaging. Or if you think you need better then it's out there today.

Phil

 

[Ukraine Visitor]

Yes, get a new one.
In the old days (~5+ years ago) it made sense for most consumers to wait longer (say, 3-4 years) before upgrading because even manufacturers didn't themselves know what features (most) consumers wanted. So, you needed to be prudent and not switch too often lest you risked becoming one of their guinea pigs. However, today most manufacturers appear to know what (most) consumers want from a dashcam. The days when manufacturers are throwing dashcam features out at consumers to see which ones would "stick" with consumers, appear to be coming to an end. So, nowadays, getting a new dashcam about every 2 years makes sense until the offerings among manufacturers fully stabilize, so you can get more of the dashcam features you want for less money without waiting 3-4 years. Industry stabilization inevitably leads to true competition between manufacturers which, in turn, gives consumers more dashcam for less money. The dashcam industry isn't globally matured yet; it will be when competition via race wars starts to occur. When that happens, we will see the number of manufacturers shrink from the scores (hundreds?) of manufacturers out there today to just a handful (think camcorder industry, PC industry, etc., in similar years back). When that occurs, it will then make sense to stay with the same dashcam for 3-4 years, even longer, but for a totally different reason than that from ~5+ years ago: whereas before you wanted to keep a dashcam 4 years because of industry instability, we should soon stay with the same dashcam due to the opposite, industry stability. Of course, there will always be users who will stick with their same old trusty dashcam 6 years and longer (just as there are consumers still on Windows 7, for example, or still driving their Model 2000 Mercedes), but industry stabilization will dictate in large part the bulk of consumer market behavior. As an example, most consumers today stick to their smartphones years longer than they used to just 4-5 years ago; this, due largely to industry stabilization. In addition, as it's almost always the case, you have to weigh your priorities: is your desire to upgrade driven by a desire to get access to additional features today (e.g., 4K), by a desire to be "proactive", knowing, for example, that your cam will one day just die and you would rather switch before then (e.g., "a slight blur"), by both, or by something else yet?