I'm looking to by a Dash Camera or a Camera for my 2000 Toyota Csi that looks at the back

[ThePoarter]

I recently bought a Toyota Camry (XV20) and am quite happy with my purchase. For the money I spent on the car it's been pretty good more or less and I want to keep driving it for at least another few years.

However I've been having problems lately with one of my lower neighbors and he's been damaging my car.

I live on the second floor of an apartment flat and he lives on the floor directly below me. He's been out to get me for the past five months since I moved into this flat.
It's obvious he's doing this because I'm South Asian. I live in Shepparton, Australia so keep that in mind. This means that my neighbour, who's white, can easily do a lot of stuff against me without a single consequence unless I have physical proof.
He's been causing me problems lately with the following ways:

• Throwing beer bottles at the surrounding driveways
• Throwing Potato chips and their backs onto my balcony
• Throwing Chocolate milk onto my balcony and putting them under my car
• Egging my Car twice
• Calling me a ****
• Now threatening to bash me and has threatened to slash my tires

However I can't go to the police because Australia Hate Crime laws are so weak willed that of the thousands of complaints made every year only 21 actually result in a conviction (i.e. see here https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-05-05/why-are-so-few-hate-crimes/11078972 and here https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-05-03/hate-crimes-rarely-prosecuted-in-australia/11055938).
Furthermore I'm stuck in this place for at least a year because of my bond in my apartment which is to last for a year. My landlord is also pretty useless as there's no doubt he'd kick me out if I don't have evidence and that this bastard would walk free no matter what. Furthermore it's pretty hard to find a flat in Shepparton so I don't have a lot of options.
I'm trying to get some decent, specific advice on two matters so far:

• How to deal with the situation (Though I'm not asking here)
• What kind of Dash Camera I can get for my car (Which I am asking here).
• Or should I get a camera that looks and records at the back of my car and if so which kind?

I'm trying to get something reasonably priced for the most part (i.e. less than $100 AUD) and was hoping to get some advice.

 

[Harsh]

If your car is visible from the 2nd floor, you could install a CCTV camera looking at the desired area. You'll need something that can zoom in or a narrow enough lens that covers just the car and the immediate surroundings.

You won't find anything decent that records both front and rear for $100.

Just a front camera, for $100 there are lots of options.

 

[SawMaster]

You need to think about what a cam will 'see' where it is mounted. A cam inside the car may not see who is dropping something on it from above nor will it 'see' someone at the side of the car below the windows. A dashcam can offer some coverage, but a cam outside of the car will 'see' a lot more. Mounting an IP or wifi cam (like the Nest or WYZE cams) on your balcony will give you the best overall view but it won't see who is on a balcony above you. For that you could mount a dashcam like the B1W pointing upward inside the car. Between the two cams now you see both the damage being done at the car and who is doing it from above. I think this can be done within your budget

You will need sd cards for both cams, and the one in the car will need to be big enough to give you the recording time you want. The WYZE cams only record to the card when motion is detected, so a smaller card will do here, and you are limited to smaller cards with that cam anyway. These cards can't be the cheap kind; you need quality cards which are known to work well in each cam. This might put you over your budget in total

You also need to understand that these cams don't 'see' very well at night and are not going to do too well at a distance as far as being able to positively identify someone's face. But close to the car a dashcam will work for that, and with whatever detail you do get and with the balcony shot proving where they were this should be enough to bring about police action.

What you really need here is a much better security cam system which covers everything in good detail but that will go well beyond your budget. Anything less will be a compromise. Myself, I would choose a different approach to the problem, but as it would not be legal I cannot openly recommend it here

Phil

 

[DT MI]

The WYZE cams only record to the card when motion is detected, so a smaller card will do here, and you are limited to smaller cards with that cam anyway.

Actually Wyze cams do have an option to record to the local SD card full time - no motion required. There's also an option to do time lapse recording. The stated limit on card size is 32GB but I've read reports of people using 64GB cards. Recording is fairly low bit rate (743kbps, 15FPS day and 10FPS in night mode) so it might be adequate from a capacity perspective. Biggest problem will be the wide angle lens - anyone more than 25 feet away will probably not be recognizable, and that would certainly be the case at night. Definitely not a solution for the problem at hand.

https://youtu.be/K6cxaA6_-W8

And a night mode sample -

https://youtu.be/NXtTvrC0arc

 

[SawMaster]

Was just one suggestion of what can be done. The big problem the OP faces is doing what he wants on a budget which keeps him from getting what he needs. There are only a few cams which fit that budget. It may not show enough for a positive facial ID but it might show an incident happening well enough to make clear where it came from, and that might be enough to get the Cops to do a knock on the door of the creep causing problems which is at least better than he's got going for him now

Phil

 

[DT MI]

The big problem the OP faces is doing what he wants on a budget which keeps him from getting what he needs.

Yeah, my understanding of what's happening pretty much mandates a minimum 2 cameras to get the coverage necessary and that's not going to happen with his budget.

 

[SawMaster]

Ideally he'd have one cam mounted across the way showing both car and balcony, then another cam tightly zoomed onto the balcony to capture the face. Definitely possible but not for that price using new store-bought equipment.

Phil

 

[ThePoarter]

Just to be clear I live on the floor above the ground floor which I call the second floor. My neighbor lives on the ground floor