looking for separate camera and dvr dash cam

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02fx4dude

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Hi All,
I currently have two of the street guardian SGZC12RC which is a small discreet camera with remote DVR/screen which can be hidden/locked away. I like the setup since the cameras are barely noticeable (inside or out), and if someone breaks into the truck they won't be able to find the recorder. I kinda doubt they would even notice the cameras.

Anywho, one of the DVR's is having intermittent problems, and wouldn't you know it street guardian discontinued the model.

So, I'm looking for something similar if available. I could also consider one of the dual channel cams such as the street guardian SG9663DCPRO, and if possible disable the main "front" camera and only record the "rear" camera. I'm not sure if that's possible with any of the dual dash cam setups available.

Ideas?
 
HI welcome to the forum.
There haven't really been any single channel remote cameras since the RC.
BUT ! there will soon be that in dual channel if you can stretch that far cuz 1 more camera will of course also cost more.
You will also be glad to know image quality are a lot better nowadays too, not least low light performance have gone up with the IMX 291 based cameras.

If if your 2 cameras are in 1 car, it will be making very good sense to replace them with a dual remote camera, which Street Guardian will be having out "soon" in form of their DR model.
 
You can get a feel for what they are in this thread, i am beta testing a K2S from the makers of the mini cameras, its not out yet but probably will be soon.
Anyway for a general feel of a dual remote camera its good, this model even have smaller cameras than SG and others will use for their camera as they will be using the same housing as current remote rear cameras use.

K2S received

And what a nice looking little camera it is, also nothing to blame on packaging though there was no protective film on cameras or the LCD, but it is also a pre - production sample i have received. And it have put me in a damn dilemma, it is - 3 degrees outside and snow in the forecast for the...
dashcamtalk.com dashcamtalk.com
 
You cant disable the main camera in current conventional dual channel cameras, so its footage will take up memory space.
 
Kamkar1, Thanks for all the replies above.

kamkar1 said:
You cant disable the main camera in current conventional dual channel cameras, so its footage will take up memory space.
Click to expand...

That's what I've been finding. I've been reviewing online manuals for some candidate dual dash cams, none of them mention ability to shut off the main camera. I think that option is out. I also asked on amazon about the Street Guardian model I mentioned and the seller misunderstood the question and assumed I wanted to use only the rear camera without the recorder, so the answer wasn't really an answer.

In some ways I like two single camera setups. If a camera, SD card, or DVR stops working the other camera keeps recording. If both are the same setup I can easily swap parts to make sure I'm always recording the front view, assuming the camera cable isn't the problem. I looked at the K1S when I was looking a few years ago, part of the decision against it was for those reasons.

I found the SG663DR update thread, and your review of the K2S. Sounds like both are not available yet. Who makes the K2S?
 
K2S is made by MEGtech, they will likely have theirs out before ours, our spec is higher and a bit more involved as a result of that, nature of the best unfortunately
 
As jokiin say.
MEGtech have nothing on street guardian in regard to support and customer care then again few have, thats for damn sure, you also pay a little for that which i personally think are money well spent.
SG give you a 2 year warranty if you use 2 minutes online to register your product ( both on camera and a bundled memory card ) MEGtech don't do that as far as i know.

You are right in a somewhat redundancy of having 2 memory cards in 2 recorders, but the modern cameras have alerts in them, so all hell should be loose if the camera are not able to record when you start the car, or go bust in the middle of a drive ( audio and i think as well visual alerts ) though visual are a little silly if you have the main unit of a remote camera out of sight, even audio if you bury it really deep in the car.
Having a spare memory card in the car are something many of us dashcam addicts have, and with the price of a 128 GB card today thats not a big problem, even for a decrepit old Dane on a pension.

The link i dropped to the K2S thread of mine on page #2 it have a picture of the K2S camera beside the rear camera of my SG9663DC, as you can see the SG one are larger but have the flexibility of a detachable wire, where as the K2S have a fixed wire ( that are fairly east to bend so its not something that come off the camera at a angle and ruin stealth )
But the remote camera of SG are plenty small to do a stealthy install, should be at least as good in that regard as the stuff you have been using so far, but the K2S camera units are super small for sure.

MEGtech make anything in the mini series, which also have their own sub forum in here. https://dashcamtalk.com/forum/categories/mini-series.101/
 
kamkar1 said:
The link i dropped to the K2S thread of mine on page #2 it have a picture of the K2S camera beside the rear camera of my SG9663DC, as you can see the SG one are larger but have the flexibility of a detachable wire, where as the K2S have a fixed wire ( that are fairly east to bend so its not something that come off the camera at a angle and ruin stealth )
But the remote camera of SG are plenty small to do a stealthy install, should be at least as good in that regard as the stuff you have been using so far, but the K2S camera units are super small for sure.
Click to expand...
part of the delay involves a design change on the cameras which will be smaller form factor than the current DC style rear cameras
 
Like.
Smaller in my book = bigger chance of being creative with install and be successful.
 
When I was shopping a few years ago most of my research indicated street Guardian was a decent quality brand, so I went with SG, and probably would again unless there's a compelling reason to try something else. The K1S was spytek brand which may have been a private branding of megtech, not sure. The Spytek K1S had a significant number of bad reviews and issues from what I remember and for that reason I would hesitate on the K2S if it's the same manufacturer.

Spare memory cards aren't a problem. I have two sets of cards and I swap them every 2-3 weeks and review a random sampling of videos on my laptop to make sure they are recording, that's how I found my rear cam is having issues. Since my front cam is still working without problems I don't have a big sense of urgency at this time so I may wait until both are released and wait for some reviews on both.

Jokiin, got an estimated release date for the dual remote system? Anyplace I can review specs and features?
 
Specs as such are not out on the DR model yet, SG hold their cards close to the body for good reason.
Hardware will be the same as in their current high end dual systems, so if you have room for one of those and money burning a hole in your pocket there are no need to wait for the DR model.

I am hoping for a July release of the DR, but it is pure guesstimate on my part, though i am affiliated with SG then this kind of inner workings i have no special knowledge about.
I think a handful of pre production test samples will be sent out before Jokiin press go on the assembly line, and with those arriving around the world i also recon you will see just about anything aside for the inner workings as i doubt any testers will be brave enough to risk their new cool gadget.
 
02fx4dude said:
When I was shopping a few years ago most of my research indicated street Guardian was a decent quality brand, so I went with SG, and probably would again unless there's a compelling reason to try something else. The K1S was spytek brand which may have been a private branding of megtech, not sure. The Spytek K1S had a significant number of bad reviews and issues from what I remember and for that reason I would hesitate on the K2S if it's the same manufacturer.

Spare memory cards aren't a problem. I have two sets of cards and I swap them every 2-3 weeks and review a random sampling of videos on my laptop to make sure they are recording, that's how I found my rear cam is having issues. Since my front cam is still working without problems I don't have a big sense of urgency at this time so I may wait until both are released and wait for some reviews on both.

Jokiin, got an estimated release date for the dual remote system? Anyplace I can review specs and features?
Click to expand...

no firm date as yet sorry, the K1S was from a different factory that has since closed, the K2S is just a copy of that design, hopefully with some improvements as the K1S certainly had issues
 
K2S seems pretty good so far but I'm sure SG's DR will exceed it. Which given the probable pricing it should; SG does only premium well-developed cams while MegTech occupies a more mainstream market position. Both are good and necessary market niches. K2S has some very good potential and so far it hasn't shown any large and serious misbehavior in testing.

Although I haven't seen SG's version (or heard much about it) there is one problem with these cams and that is in there being a lot of cables to contend with- a minimum possibility of 3 and more with a wired GPS and/or accessory 'panic button'. Being that you need the main unit accessible for card retrieval that can become an issue. A "clean" installation is going to be harder, but the reward for putting in enough effort there will be the most discreet and clean install you can have with any dashcam. Unless the lens is spotted by someone, nobody will instantly think "cam" the way they might with most other cams. Acts of theft will require too much time to gain a marketable product so maybe thieves will pass by these for easier pickings.

Even with unknown marketing times these kinds of cams are going to be a game-changer so are probably worth waiting on. If you don't have a cam now while you wait, grab a cheaper simpler one and when these hit the market make a gift of the 'temporary' cam.

Phil
 
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