Longest operating dashcam... life of the camera... talk to me!

[SamNavy]

I bought my Mini 0805 about 2 years ago and just got around to installing it. It's hard-wired with the recommended kit... 2 weeks later "red light of death". I looked at dozens of threads with the same scenario... anywhere from a couple weeks to 18 months... DEAD.

I also read the dozen "fixes" or workarounds (mostly involving the battery) that I'm not interested in rolling the dice on since the purpose of the cam is to save my butt some day... either from insurance scams or going to jail or whatever. It needs to work reliably for years and years... and I'll pay for that peace of mind, but I gotta know what to buy.

I also see tons and tons of threads in most of the subforums of every model about help fixing problems with their cameras... batteries, hardware, firmware, lenses, mic's, charging, mounts, blah blah blah...

WHEN YOU GET DOWN TO IT, ARE ALL DASHCAMS COMPLETE JUNK?

So... who has a Dashcam that's been working perfectly for a long time... 5 years... 6 years? I'm talking about a never opened, 100% orignial (never molested or self-soldered) dashcam that just plain WORKS!

Options are secondary to me... GPS/wifi/Blutooth/G-sensor/motion... all secondary to just being a good day-night camera that turns on when I turn the key and just sits there and does it's job.

Who can feel me on this!

 

[Deleted member 46308]

WHEN YOU GET DOWN TO IT, ARE ALL DASHCAMS COMPLETE JUNK?

No, all are not junk in my experience. I have been using Street Guardian products and Mobius M1 for almost 3 years and found them to be very solid and reliable. Also, welcome to DCT @SamNavy

 

[DT MI]

+1 on Street Guardian. I have a couple of original SG9665GC V1 cams that have been in continuous use since they were first available in early 2015. Other than some firmware updates nothing has been done to/with them.

 

[Wargoose]

Bought my BlackVue DR550GW-2CH camera late in 2013. Just replaced it with a 750, but mostly because I wanted a better rear camera (FHD vs HD). Since the 550 still runs just fine, it's going into a friend's car.

As a side note, I did not know at the time that Sandisk Ultra was a bad choice for a dashcam SD card and bought a 32GB unit along with the camera - and in all that time have not had any issues with the card. Never had a corrupted file, formatting issues, camera complaining about the card, missing files...nothing. I proactively replaced the SD card last year just to be safe, but must have got pretty lucky with that one.

 

[jokiin]

not that there aren't problems with the model you had but leaving a camera with a battery in it for 2 years before starting to use it didn't do you any favors, the battery will die from just sitting around

 

[SamNavy]

not that there aren't problems with the model you had but leaving a camera with a battery in it for 2 years before starting to use it didn't do you any favors, the battery will die from just sitting around

That's kinda the point. All batteries have a lifespan, which is why 99.9% of things that contain batteries have a quick and simple method to swap them out when they get old. This product seems to have a very well-known reputation for and unpredictably short battery life that renders the product useless... and also requires significant disassembly, a certain amount of electrical knowledge, specialized tools, and fine-motor skills to fix it (if that's even the problem... it could be something else). So the product essentially has built-in obsolescence that appears somewhere between a couple weeks and (if you're really lucky) 18 months... and I thought Apple had you by the balls when you bought an i-phone.

Most of this issue could be solved with an actual connector to the battery vice soldered connections, which would ad nothing to the unit cost and eliminate an immense amount of bad press. But unless something unexpected happens, I'm certainly never buying another Mini series dashcam.

 

[jokiin]

in their defence I would say that leaving the camera sitting around for two years unused is not an expected usage scenario, these types of batteries will fail from inactivity faster than they will from being used regularly

that said though I wouldn't recommend a camera with a battery in it anyway, wrong environment to be using a LiPo battery in to begin with, look for a camera that uses Super Capacitors rather than a battery

 

[SawMaster]

No, all are not junk in my experience. I have been using Street Guardian products and Mobius M1 for almost 3 years and found them to be very solid and reliable. Also, welcome to DCT @SamNavy

Agree with these cams and the welcome I also had around 2 years use from a good G1W-C before it was lost in an unrelated fire. My Mobius battery died from high heat but once the caps went in it has been rock-solid reliable. There are other good cams with long life but generally speaking LiPo batteries are rarely good for more than 3 years, and often much less when used at high temperatures such as many dashcams see. As technology moves along significantly better cams come to market. so I think that in 3-5 years most cams will be replaced for that reason.

Lithium batteries do best when either used regularly or when stored with about a 40% charge, which has to be maintained annually or more often as they will self-discharge slowly when sitting idle. When these batteries are manufactured, they will have the correct 'storage charge' on them, but it may be 4-6 months before it hits the end-users hands. If it's not put into use within the next 6 months you may have problems. They also wear in use which reduces safe storage times. Their amazing power capacity comes with conditions attached which are unlike any other battery technology and exceeding their limits just once can ruin them

The older Mini series cams are notorious for early battery failure, and when you add that to the mix it's no wonder that your 0805 died. Start with a better cam which has super-caps along with a good SD card, and then you will have a much better experience. If long cam life is your primary goal I would recommend the original Mobius with super-caps or the SG9665GC both of which have a stellar reputation for longevity.

Phil

 

[Zardoz66]

in their defence I would say that leaving the camera sitting around for two years unused is not an expected usage scenario, these types of batteries will fail from inactivity faster than they will from being used regularly

that said though I wouldn't recommend a camera with a battery in it anyway, wrong environment to be using a LiPo battery in to begin with, look for a camera that uses Super Capacitors rather than a battery

This is so very true. I work in the Enterprise Server and Storage sector and most all raid arrays use batteries for backing up cache data. units that don't get used drain the battery to a point they will not charge and just fail over a long time of no use. Batteries are ware items that will fail and need to be replaced.

 

[sludgeguts]

I have 3 mobius cams, 2 in my car and 1 in my bus at work. The 1 in my bus is around 4yrs old, bought via Techmoan's recommendation.
All had supercaps installed from the day I got them.
The one in my bus has ran 9 - 10 hrs a day, 5 days a week, 47 weeks a year plus a few odd jobs at weekends. despite being subjected to the constant vibrations & bounces (1st world country, 3rd world roads!) and being dropped a couple of times, it's rock solid. Best £50 I ever spent.
IF I do upgrade, it's got to be cheap as chips, read number plates in pitch darkness, probably do 4k - and even then, the Mobius will remain my main cam until such a time as I can trust the newby.

 

[TonyM]

I bought my Mobius1 in July 2013 and it's been in constant use since then. It has started every day and recorded everything without fail. I replaced the battery with a capacitor after they became available. Lately I've noticed that the capacitor is not holding enough charge to keep the RTC running over the weekend, but it still starts & records faithfully.

I'm thinking about replacing it with a wider FOV camera - top of my list is another Mobius 1. I'll still keep on using the original M1 somewhere in the car.

 

[spaceballsrules]

The i1000/F70 I installed in my father's car in September, 2013 is still going strong somehow. I have 3 of the same sitting in my closet. One won't start, one has bad audio, and one is still 100% functional as far as I know, although the battery has probably died by now.

Meanwhile, the FineVu CR2000G that I paid over $400 for in August 2015 is starting to crap out on me. The rear camera disconnects randomly and the power will cut off intermittently. Also, the video quality has never been all it was cracked up to be. I thought that if I bought a cam from a reputable Korean manufacturer with a good track record that I would get real longevity out of it, but alas, that doesn't seem to be the case.

From this thread, it seems that Mobius and Street Guardian are solid, so I will have to look into those. I do like the new dual cam setup that Street Guardian is releasing soon, but it is expensive $$$.

From now on, I will treat dashcams as short term devices that I expect to break eventually. That's why I just ponied up $108 for a Mini 0906 setup that is shipping from China. It has all the features that I want, including super capacitor, but it is cheap and replaceable should the need arise. In the meantime, I will get the most possible usage out of my FineVu as long as it remains somewhat usable. When the Mini 0906 arrives next month, I will put the FineVu in storage as an emergency backup along with my one still functioning i1000.

 

[kamkar]

My first true dasahcam the Lukas LK-7500 are still going strong in my little sisters car, it have seen daily action for 4 years now.
But it is not a camera i would recommend anyone buying now.