Newbie and 1st Time Buyer - Need some advice please

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Tino11

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Hello all,

Glad I have found this site as I am stuck as to which camera(s) to buy.

I am from the UK but I am going to the US in June and will be travelling throughout the US for 3 - 5 months before going to Canada.

I will be hiring a car for all of my time in the US and will be doing a lot of driving, some of this will unavoidably be at night when I have a particularly long area to cover.

Ideally I want to have two cameras, one that covers the front and one for the rear, or a dual camera that is good quality at seeing out of the rear window. I want to cover both front and rear as having a hire car for such a long time will increase the chances of being in some sort of incident.

I want something that is simple to use and that I can just set up and forget about it. I also need something that I can fit easily without damaging the hire car at all. Finally the power source, I may also need to plug in phone charger and possibly a Sat Nav so I need something that I can combine in to the cigarette lighter socket.

I have a US mailing address and I am already picking up some parcels there when I first arrive so shipping to the US is preferred (product is likely to be cheaper) but if something is available here in the UK which better suits my needs then I can purchase here before I go.

So my criteria is;

Budget of $250 (£165) combined for front and rear.
Decent Night time video
Easy to setup
No tampering or modifying of car interior or exterior (hire car)

Bonus - I can use one of the cameras/the camera, out of the car for video, I suppose the Mobius would be a good example.

Thanks in advance for any help. :)
 
I took one of my two Mobius cams with me on a fly-drive holiday to the USA last September.

I simply affixed it to the dash with adhesive pads & ran a short power cable across the dash to the accessory socket.

When parked unattended, I just covered the camera & cable with a magazine or similar, to hide it from view.
 
Suction mounting to the rear window can be difficult due to the slight ridges where the heating elements run across.
The window and the mount will need to be immaculately cleaned to have any hope of the mount holding suction for any length of time. I've struggled to find any dash cam suction cup that will hold onto the rear window for more than a few days and often not more than a few minutes.

I bought a Transcend DP100 specifically because it has two versions available - one with adhesive mount and one with suction mount - and planned to stick the adhesive mount to the rear window.
But while experimenting to find the best spot I was lucky enough to get the (optional extra) suction mount which I had bought separately to stick. Although it has stayed put for some time, I expect it to fall off at some point and I'll then use the adhesive mount. But an adhesive mount won't be a good idea in a hire car.

Other cams with suction mounts which have held onto the rear window better than most are the small lightweight ones such as the Cobra 820 or Nextbase 101. But the Cobra 820 has a short power cable, needs a software update from the manufacturer site, and mine came with a defective micro sd card which caused all sorts of bizarre errors and recording failures. The Nextbase 101 is a fairly low-spec cam which is adequate in the daylight but struggles to gather enough light at night. The DP100 is better than the Nextbase 101 but not as good as the Cobra 820 apart from the DP100 having a wider field of view.
I've generally found that the 720p/60fps option of Cobra cams outdoes the 1080p/30fps option on other similar cams at higher road speeds, but the 1080p/30fps is better at lower road speeds or at night.
 
Last edited:
Hi, thanks for the replies.

I was wondering if anyone had any experience of any of these cameras, they seem to be the only ones that aren't found on Amazon.com and only on .co.uk, I will probably end up buying in the US but if one of these or something similar in the UK is the best option for my needs then I'll go for it.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/B00PY5T066
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/B00RUJEN2U
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/B00RO9QICY
Finally, are the 'Monkon' branded G1W-C and other models on amazon.co.uk legit?

Thanks.
 
With your needs why not GPS ?
 
Hombré said:
With your needs why not GPS ?
Click to expand...

I will be using a separate Sat Nav unit or app so GPS isn't needed, the decent video at night and easy install are most important, but if a model within my budget has GPS then I don't mind.
 
In my experience of dash cams, generally speaking you get what you pay for, and internet purchases are a gamble as to whether it's genuine, reliable and not always easy to return for replacement or refund.

At the moment, Currys and Halfords have a 10% sale on dash cams.
From their stock, I would buy a Nextbase 402G as a front cam - that cam always seems to be popular and in short supply so I've not been able to get one and now have more than enough cams in our household's cars to justify buying another. Rear cam is trickier but as my Transcend DP100 remains attached with its suction mount I'd have to suggest it, although most DP100 come with an adhesive mount and need a suction mount buying as an extra.

But I think you could have unrealistically high expectations of any cam's ability at night.
 
Don't know, if you'd be lucky to get GT680W at reasonable price, personally, I am over the moon so far, especially with night time footage. ;)
Warning though- MUST use supplied charger as there where quite few "unlucky" and grumpy comebacks from users, that used dodgy power supply and blamed camera. :D
Also, as for footage out of a car- no go- battery is good for 30sec, no more, so Mobius would be better for that.
 
2000rpm said:
In my experience of dash cams, generally speaking you get what you pay for, and internet purchases are a gamble as to whether it's genuine, reliable and not always easy to return for replacement or refund.

At the moment, Currys and Halfords have a 10% sale on dash cams.
From their stock, I would buy a Nextbase 402G as a front cam - that cam always seems to be popular and in short supply so I've not been able to get one and now have more than enough cams in our household's cars to justify buying another. Rear cam is trickier but as my Transcend DP100 remains attached with its suction mount I'd have to suggest it, although most DP100 come with an adhesive mount and need a suction mount buying as an extra.

But I think you could have unrealistically high expectations of any cam's ability at night.
Click to expand...

I honestly haven't got high expectations of any camera at night, I just want something that would pick up an accident clearly enough, most of the reviews on here that have night video look more than adequate for that.

The Nextbase 402G looks good but seems pricey for what it is compared to what is available in the US. As far as warranty and returns go, as I will be travelling I won't have the time or chance to send anything back, if it fails it goes in the bin and I get another one/two.

I think I will buy both cameras in the US as I will get more for my money, unless anyone has tried the Polaroid or Kiwibirds I linked above?

If I go on the homepage and click on 'Dash Cam Comparison' and scroll down, I was looking for something that is rated as 'Good' at night time and 'Good' reliability. The G90 https://dashcamtalk.com/g90/ fits the bill as far as I can see and as I need two cameras (front and rear) that is in my budget. Or perhaps a Panorama S on the front and a G90 or similar on the rear.

Any thoughts?
 
Tino11 said:
....The Nextbase 402G looks good but seems pricey for what it is compared to what is available in the US. ....
Click to expand...

Due to UK taxes, an item which sells for $100 in the US tends to sell for £100 in the UK. Therefore, subject to exchange rate movements, it tends to average about 50% more expensive to buy in the UK than the US.

Some cameras look awesome from the specifications, but in the real world are far less impressive. Many things have to come together to make a good camera and a camera is only as good (or reliable) as its worst component. Some cameras look unremarkable from the specifications but end up great performers in the real world because the manufacturer struck a good balance between all the important factors.
 
Another bonus of buying when I get to the US or delivered to my US mailing address ready for me arriving is compared to me buying in the UK is, there is just a much bigger choice in the market and models have a lot more reviews, when you look at the models sold in the UK the number of reviews for some models just isn't enough to go on.


For my needs, which are 6 months hire car use in the US and possibly a couple of months in Canada, with some night-time driving, front and rear to be covered, plus the fact I may have to ditch it when I travel to another country where I won't be using a car so don't want to splash out a lot of money;


Is my choice of 2x G90's (rated good on night-time video and reliability on this site) sufficient?


Or would you go for 1x Panorama S and 1x G90?


Thanks.
 
Tino11 said:
Another bonus of buying when I get to the US or delivered to my US mailing address ready for me arriving is compared to me buying in the UK is, there is just a much bigger choice in the market and models have a lot more reviews, when you look at the models sold in the UK the number of reviews for some models just isn't enough to go on.


For my needs, which are 6 months hire car use in the US and possibly a couple of months in Canada, with some night-time driving, front and rear to be covered, plus the fact I may have to ditch it when I travel to another country where I won't be using a car so don't want to splash out a lot of money;


Is my choice of 2x G90's (rated good on night-time video and reliability on this site) sufficient?


Or would you go for 1x Panorama S and 1x G90?


Thanks.
Click to expand...


Just bumping this as I need to buy now, preferably from Amazon.com as my billing address is UK but my delivery address is in the US and Amazon allows for that.

So I need 2 cameras, front and rear;

$120 or less each
Rated 'Good' on this sites comparison page for night video as well as daytime, doesn't have to be 'Very Good' (G90 for example)
Will be driving in hot temperatures so Super Capacitor?
Something that is easy to install and forget about. (going in a hire car so no hard-wiring)

Any suggestions please?
 
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