Looking for a good cold weather cam suggestion

[Lilyfarseer]

My poor dashcam was a Viofo A129 that regrettably didn't last the winter because I was something of an idiot and forgot to take it inside when temps hit down to -33F at night because I erroneously thought that going out and warming up my vehicle until it was toasty overnight twice was good enough to keep the interior warm, and it died.

So here I am, asking if anyone has any suggestions. I work overnights, which is why I was hoping to keep the parking mode on overnight in the winter.

 

[Dashmellow]

I too live in a northern location where we can experience extreme sub zero winter temps (although admittedly not as cold as you have) and I've had various experiences with a wide range of dash cams in the winter. The fact is that the electronics in dash cams, in particular the processors that operate the cameras have a very specific range of operating temperatures from both hot and cold. Many dash cams will fail to boot up when the temperature reaches -15º below Fahrenheit or thereabouts. Some will experience problems at even higher but still freezing temperatures. In many cases, if you know what processor is in your camera you can go online and look up the technical specifications such as operating temperature range. This may be helpful when shopping for a new camera.

In my experience, when a camera will not boot up due to freezing temps, the solution is to leave it powered up for about 60 seconds or a bit longer even if nothing happens. Then unplug the camera briefly and plug it back in. Apparently, leaving the camera powered up even if it is not functioning will slowly warm up the processor and other internal components until they reach their minimum rated operating temperature and at that point the camera will start working again. It is "possible" that your Viofo A129 is not actually dead. It would be worth checking this out.

I had a different cold temperature issue with a dash cam one time. I had a lens go permanently out of focus due to contraction and expansion when the camera warmed up from a very frozen state sitting out in my truck all night. But that only happened one time with one camera over the years among many different cameras I've owned and tested. Other cameras operating in my vehicle at the same time of that incident experienced no focus related issues.

 

[StrayCam]

My poor dashcam was a Viofo A129 that regrettably didn't last the winter because I was something of an idiot and forgot to take it inside when temps hit down to -33F at night because I erroneously thought that going out and warming up my vehicle until it was toasty overnight twice was good enough to keep the interior warm, and it died.

So here I am, asking if anyone has any suggestions. I work overnights, which is why I was hoping to keep the parking mode on overnight in the winter.

Since you are asking for suggestions, I'll give you one which happens to have one of the best parking modes on the market... Blackvue. Their operating temperatures range from 4 - 140 degrees Fahrenheit.

Their current models also have cloud features which presumably you don't need, but they are handy to have. "Push notifications" to your phone if anything happens to your car... ie, motion, g-sensor triggers/impact, etc.

Yes, this camera costs a bit more, but you get what you pay for. And btw Blackvue has great customer support which is extremely important. - - Good luck with whatever you decide on!