Hi
Been reading these forums for a little while to try and garner as much info as I can before I buy a dash cam for the first time, but wondered if you could provide a bit of sanity check as it can all get a bit confusing, especially for my limited brain capacity!
So, what I am after is just a front camera with GPS (hoping that doesn't come back to bite me) and a screen, up to £150ish, depending. On reading these forums, it seems a lot of the bells and whistles, like wifi, etc are not going to help me too much and to be honest, I think I would find it much easier just to pop the card out and put it in my PC, rather than trying to view on a phone. The majority of my driving is commuting in rush hour traffic in the UK and so for a fair few months of the year it is driving in the dark, so I guess good night time performance is quite important, as well as good daytime performance.
Initially, before reading this forum, I wanted a suction cup mount, but after reading info on here, it would seem not the way to go. I don't need to move the cam between cars, just the one car, but I am a little concerned if I do have to remove the cam about leaving residue on the screen. Is this a real problem, or does it just take a little bit of effort to get the residue off?
I don't want to hardwire, but unfortunately, in my car, all the power sockets are behind flaps, or inside the centre console, which will make neat wiring a bit of an issue. However, there is a netting compartment on the passenger side not far from the glove box, which is big enough to hold a 10000mah power bank, which would be a bit neater if I could utilise this, as I think I can get to the wiring to this area ok. I don't mind getting a few power banks, I already have several that I use for various things, to swap around to power the cam. I gather that I would not be able to power a Garmin cam this way, as they seem to have proprietary wiring, but will most other cams run happily off a powerbank? I am hoping using a powerbank will not be too much of an issue as here in the UK, we don't really get too much of the weather extremes that might cause a problem, I think.
At the moment, I seem to be leaning towards the Viofo A119s V2 with GPS and circular polariser, even though the thought of the sticky mount scares me! Am I right in thinking the A119s has a parking mode that would work off a powerbank, as in it doesn't need a hardwire kit?
I know Street Guardian cams get good reviews in here, but not sure if they are worth the extra? Are there any other cams I should be looking at?
Many thanks.
Been reading these forums for a little while to try and garner as much info as I can before I buy a dash cam for the first time, but wondered if you could provide a bit of sanity check as it can all get a bit confusing, especially for my limited brain capacity!
So, what I am after is just a front camera with GPS (hoping that doesn't come back to bite me) and a screen, up to £150ish, depending. On reading these forums, it seems a lot of the bells and whistles, like wifi, etc are not going to help me too much and to be honest, I think I would find it much easier just to pop the card out and put it in my PC, rather than trying to view on a phone. The majority of my driving is commuting in rush hour traffic in the UK and so for a fair few months of the year it is driving in the dark, so I guess good night time performance is quite important, as well as good daytime performance.
Initially, before reading this forum, I wanted a suction cup mount, but after reading info on here, it would seem not the way to go. I don't need to move the cam between cars, just the one car, but I am a little concerned if I do have to remove the cam about leaving residue on the screen. Is this a real problem, or does it just take a little bit of effort to get the residue off?
I don't want to hardwire, but unfortunately, in my car, all the power sockets are behind flaps, or inside the centre console, which will make neat wiring a bit of an issue. However, there is a netting compartment on the passenger side not far from the glove box, which is big enough to hold a 10000mah power bank, which would be a bit neater if I could utilise this, as I think I can get to the wiring to this area ok. I don't mind getting a few power banks, I already have several that I use for various things, to swap around to power the cam. I gather that I would not be able to power a Garmin cam this way, as they seem to have proprietary wiring, but will most other cams run happily off a powerbank? I am hoping using a powerbank will not be too much of an issue as here in the UK, we don't really get too much of the weather extremes that might cause a problem, I think.
At the moment, I seem to be leaning towards the Viofo A119s V2 with GPS and circular polariser, even though the thought of the sticky mount scares me! Am I right in thinking the A119s has a parking mode that would work off a powerbank, as in it doesn't need a hardwire kit?
I know Street Guardian cams get good reviews in here, but not sure if they are worth the extra? Are there any other cams I should be looking at?
Many thanks.
