Looking for a well-hidden dash cam (concerned about theft issues)

[szh]

Hi, all.

I am a newbie when it comes to dash cams, and am investigating to get one for my son's car (mine has built-in capabilities luckily).

He is primarily concerned about break-ins to steal the dash cam ... when he is parked in San Francisco, or Oakland, CA, for example, and wants something that is internal battery operated if possible.

Leaving items in "plain sight" is an invitation for a window to be broken, and he is concerned that he (a) will forget to hide the unit or (b) not be able to use parking mode ... his car was backed into when parked, and the perps took off!

I have looked at some "mirror" attached cams (with "replacement" mirror functions), but they don't seem to be well-made or work that well (at least the ones I looked at), or are pretty large (screens of 9+") that could be too big for his 2 door coupe.

So ... what would people recommend?

 

[szh]

I should note that I bought a Street Guardian unit years ago, but never ended up installing it ... medical issues intervened, and I cannot find it anymore.

 

[Kremmen]

This stealth issue was one of the reasons I bought the Viofo A119 in the first place. Compared to the large 'bricks hanging off stalks' it was a very neat and discrete installation.

If you have a car with a large windscreen black dot area it can be installed with just the lens sticking out underneath, then when parking drop the sun visor to mostly hide it from view from the side windows.

 

[OldEastSider]

The miniscule Garmin Mini 2 would fit the bill, but it's twice the price it should be and records a maximum resolution of 1080p. It's still worth considering though.

Garmin Dash Cam™ Mini 2 | Dash Cam

Dash Cam Mini 2 is a tiny in-car camera with voice control, 1080p recording, automatic incident video saving & monitoring options when away from your parked car.

www.garmin.com

The last thing you need in California is an internal battery. A supercapacitor is essential in hot climates (which seems to be 75% of the United States these days).

 

[Dashmellow]

The miniscule Garmin Mini 2 would fit the bill, but it's twice the price it should be and records a maximum resolution of 1080p. It's still worth considering though.

Garmin Dash Cam™ Mini 2 | Dash Cam

Dash Cam Mini 2 is a tiny in-car camera with voice control, 1080p recording, automatic incident video saving & monitoring options when away from your parked car.

www.garmin.com

The last thing you need in California is an internal battery. A supercapacitor is essential in hot climates (which seems to be 75% of the United States these days).

1080p has become somewhat of a bastard child in these days of higher resolutions but there ain't nuthin' wrong with it and it still has its uses. I still have a couple of Mobius 1 camera in service and I have no complaints as they do what they need to do and they do it well.

Speaking of the Mobius, the 2K Mobius 1S model could make for an excellent, discreet solution to the OP''s request.

 

[szh]

Thanks for the input and recommendations!

With regard to the internal dash cam battery (or a long-duration super-cap!), our thinking was to have enough charge to allow the car to be turned off and still have parking mode. It would be hard-wired for normal driving, of course!

Because a problem with older BMW's is that add-on electronics that "stay on" at ignition off can cause the car computers to not turn off - the current draw from the main 12 V battery is monitored by vehicle electronics.

This drains the main 12 V battery in three to four days if you don't drive the car! Till we figured this out (the car was purchased used some years ago), we killed two 12 V batteries. Argh!

I had to install an ammeter in the circuit - pain in the neck with a trunk-mounted battery - to see what was happening.

Eventually, we found the thing (I forget what it was) that was not shutting down on ignition turn-off. Instead of a few milliamps, the final power-off drain was almost 500 mA to the main car computers - it would step down from almost 1.2 Amps as different electrical circuits turned off.

 

[Dashmellow]

@szh, You know, I mentioned the Mobius 1S 2K camera as an option and I got to thinking further about it. If you have some basic DIY skills and you are really serious about a stealthy install it has the potential to be the most discrete and stealthy option you will find. The camera itself is tiny, about the size of a box of matches and is highly versatile and customizable . Aside from being stealthy just by itself, Mobius sells an 8 inch (or 2 inch) extension cable for the lens module. So, for example, you could mount the camera behind you sun visor and have only the lens mounted on the windshield or just poking out below the sun visor.

I've done several projects along these lines such as HERE & HERE. It would be possible to do something far smaller and more discrete than I did.

The camera performance is excellent and it is quite affordable but it is an "enthusiasts" camera that has a bit of a learning curve and generally needs to be configured using a PC GUI.

Here is a link to the camera (manufacturers eBay site). HERE is a link to the camera. HERE is a link to the extension cable.

The camera is available with different lenses and you can use an internal two hour battery or a super-capacitor (user swappable)

If any of this interests you, there are many members on DCT who would be happy to offer advice and assistance.

 

[szh]

Interesting thought! I will take a look at the links you provided ... thanks much.

It might end up needing more time than we have available at the moment, but I will certainly take a look at the possibilities!