TTR
New Member
As the title indicates, I'm a newbie to this forum and look for advice/recommendations for a simple & reliable dash/in-car action camera.
Little background:
I'm a vintage car enthusiast and like to record some of my drives, as far as tech goes, I'm a bit of a luddite.
I've had couple of different cameras before, including Sony HDR-AS300 and COOAU 4K Ultra HD, but looking to replace both.
Sony had been good with nice quality image recording and stability features, but has become unreliable, i.e. tends to quit on its own, initially after maybe 10 or 20 minutes, but subsequent attempts to record will get shorter and shorter from maybe a minute or two to a few seconds, rendering the efforts annoying/pointless.
COOAU, IMO is just an inexpensive junk which generally may or may not work at all, has less quality image & stability features and a short battery life, i.e. also unreliable (my wife bought it online as gift, but admitted she wasn't sure if it'll work. It didn't)
I've asked recommendations in couple of car forums, but most I've received do not seem to match my expectations/requirements.
I've also tried to look at various manufacturer websites, but like anything, be it cars, kitchen appliances or vacation cruises, their main focus is to market/sell an image (pun intended).
Basically or ideally, I would like to find something similar to aforementioned Sony with following requirements:
- Must have self-contained battery preferably long battery life (Most cars I drive do not have power outlets and some have 6V electrical systems). Can be rechargeable or replacable.
- Must come with or have a port for an external microphone that can be routed anywhere in the car (I usually route it to inside the trunk, somewhere above/near the exhaust outlet, to capture that sound rather than cabin or wind noise, latter being especially annoying in convertibles with top down, etc).
- Must be simple to operate with easy, self-contained controls or dedicated, simple remote (I don't want anything requiring a smartphone, etc or other complex digital tech).
While the price is a secondary concern, I don't wish to spend several hundred or more to find out the camera does not serve my needs/requirements.
Do any manufacturers offer demos or reasonable return policies ?
Little background:
I'm a vintage car enthusiast and like to record some of my drives, as far as tech goes, I'm a bit of a luddite.
I've had couple of different cameras before, including Sony HDR-AS300 and COOAU 4K Ultra HD, but looking to replace both.
Sony had been good with nice quality image recording and stability features, but has become unreliable, i.e. tends to quit on its own, initially after maybe 10 or 20 minutes, but subsequent attempts to record will get shorter and shorter from maybe a minute or two to a few seconds, rendering the efforts annoying/pointless.
COOAU, IMO is just an inexpensive junk which generally may or may not work at all, has less quality image & stability features and a short battery life, i.e. also unreliable (my wife bought it online as gift, but admitted she wasn't sure if it'll work. It didn't)
I've asked recommendations in couple of car forums, but most I've received do not seem to match my expectations/requirements.
I've also tried to look at various manufacturer websites, but like anything, be it cars, kitchen appliances or vacation cruises, their main focus is to market/sell an image (pun intended).
Basically or ideally, I would like to find something similar to aforementioned Sony with following requirements:
- Must have self-contained battery preferably long battery life (Most cars I drive do not have power outlets and some have 6V electrical systems). Can be rechargeable or replacable.
- Must come with or have a port for an external microphone that can be routed anywhere in the car (I usually route it to inside the trunk, somewhere above/near the exhaust outlet, to capture that sound rather than cabin or wind noise, latter being especially annoying in convertibles with top down, etc).
- Must be simple to operate with easy, self-contained controls or dedicated, simple remote (I don't want anything requiring a smartphone, etc or other complex digital tech).
While the price is a secondary concern, I don't wish to spend several hundred or more to find out the camera does not serve my needs/requirements.
Do any manufacturers offer demos or reasonable return policies ?
Hopefully some reviews will appear soon as I'm interested to see what the mount is like and the thickness of the cable. etc.
