Most affordable camera for parking?

Annex

New Member
Joined
May 6, 2015
Messages
8
Reaction score
1
Country
Canada
Im looking for a camera that will record while the car is off, ideally powered by a small power pack of sorts (I want to avoid a hard wiring kit). The VAVA Dash Cam will do this, but it only has a G-sensor activated recording, not motion activated. I need to be able to prove small impacts to my car, like a door hit, which would hopefully be caught via motion activated recordings as the culprit drove off. Im assuming my options are limited to mostly hard wiring kits and expensive $200+ cameras? Or is there something out there more reasonably priced that will do the job?
 
Not sure on the cam choice but a motion activated one is unlikely to detect a door bashing your car, as that will be from the side
 
Right, but once theyre driving off hopefully catch them then, and if they were parked there before me id hopefully catch their license plate as im pulling in etc. Either way its better than nothing which is what I have now.
 
even if you saw them drive off if you don't see them actually hitting your car you still have no proof, even if logic says it must have been them you can't actually prove it
 
Again, better than nothing. They can be confronted by police, or their door can be inspected for matching scratches etc.

Closest camera ive found that does what I want is the Vantrue N2 which has both timelapse and motion recording in parking mode. But that would require a hard wire kit, something id like to avoid.
 
Again, better than nothing. They can be confronted by police, or their door can be inspected for matching scratches etc.
.

zero chance of getting police to follow up on something like that

anything you choose is going to need a power source, none have enough run time on their own power
 
my previous lukas 7200, blacksys CF-100 and my current street guardian SGZC12RC all have very effective pre-buffered motion detection. but they all require a hardwire save for the SGZC12RC that can be powered via the USB port.

hardwiring is not too difficult. it requires you locate a ground | constant power | accessory power to wire to. and it's easily reversible if you're leasing. the most time consuming part of the process is hiding away the cables cleanly.
 
zero chance of getting police to follow up on something like that

anything you choose is going to need a power source, none have enough run time on their own power

Right, which is why I said "ideally powered by a small power pack of sorts". The VAVA for $20 comes with a lithium battery pack which then powers the camera via USB. The camera would be perfect if it wasnt for the lack of motion activation or timelapse features.
 
hardwiring is not too difficult. it requires you locate a ground | constant power | accessory power to wire to. and it's easily reversible if you're leasing. the most time consuming part of the process is hiding away the cables cleanly.

A typical mechanic should be able to do it? I just dont want a costly/messy install
 
ZERO chance of getting a uk cop to do anything about this scenario, they aren't even legally allowed to speak to the guilty party unless they have evidence first,
 
ideally powered by a small power pack of sorts (I want to avoid a hard wiring kit).

Do you really see yourself remembering to charge this battery pack regularly, and then plugging it into the camera every single time you go for a drive?

Regardless, you're going to have to route the power cable for the dashcam anyway. This is really the most time-intensive part of install. Plugging it into your fuse box is the easy part.


It's also worth noting that the total price of this setup is likely going to exceed your insurance deductible and there is no guarantee it will pay off.
 
ZERO chance of getting a uk cop to do anything about this scenario, they aren't even legally allowed to speak to the guilty party unless they have evidence first,
so if someone hits your car and run is free if You don't have a witness? in my country if You have number plates, You can go and report it. ****, You can call the police, to come where Your car is, give them number plates, and they will go to the owner of that car. then they checks for scratches etc. when You have dashcam and Your car is parked it is a proof that he hit You, if You have matching damages. when You don't know plates, You can also report it. it is very small chance they will find him, but still.. to be honest, I would post on my local fb page vid, or pic of that car and ask people if they recognise it ;)

i have 1pfs parking mode turned on. motion detection is pointless if Your car is on the street/parking. hadrwiring is easy, like HeWhoMustNotBeNamed said, You need much more time to put cable.
 
One thing for sure, VAVA isn't a good dash cam at the moment as they are still working on the firmware to get fix some issues related to starting the dash cam when power is detected via turning on your car, as sometime it just stays in parking mode/g-sensor detection. On a budget, if you want decent parking mode, I would suggest Goluk T1/T2 (battery) or T3 (capacitor).
 
Vantrue N2 is a good option but still, you need a constant power from the car battery or a Powerpack. I run it with a power pack Cellink B which is charged thru the cigarette lighter. Hook it up once and leave it, you don't need to take the power pack off the car and manually charge. The N2 parking motion detector works automatically in switching into parking mode and normal drive but it lacks the buffer before it records. It records only after it detects the motion in front of your car so it loses the 1 or 2 seconds before.
 
Back
Top