Questions/ need help choosing dash cam

[HoneyLemonTea]

Hello everyone, I've been paranoid while driving lately and figure I should get a dash cam. I'm looking to buy a dash cam and 2 sd cards for around $100-150 range. I like the idea if something were to happen to me, I'd remove the first sd card to prevent it for accidently overwriting the important footage and put in another sd card to continue recording. I want a dash cam that is reliable (last atleast 1 year or so), decent video quality (720p or higher), and showing my speed would be a nice feature but not a must. Ive pretty much narrowed my choices down to the G1W or the Mobius. I like the G1W because of its price, but I really like the Mobius because its very small. I think I read somewhere the Mobius can be connected to a smart phone for video playback?

Questions:
1. Do I just plug the dash cam into the cigarette lighter? Will this drain my cars battery at a faster rate? I am aware that you can "hard wire" it to the car but id rather just plug it into the cigarette lighter and stash the dash cam in the glove box or my pocket (mobius) when I leave the car.

2. Is having just a front dash cam good enough? Or Should I have a front, and rear facing dash cam?

3. Would you buy the G1W or Mobius? Or is there another good dash cam you recommend?

Thanks!

 

[CheckYourLights]

Questions:
1. Do I just plug the dash cam into the cigarette lighter? Will this drain my cars battery at a faster rate? I am aware that you can "hard wire" it to the car but id rather just plug it into the cigarette lighter and stash the dash cam in the glove box or my pocket (mobius) when I leave the car.

I have a G1W and no experience with the mobius but i am guess the same goes. With the G1W it is a cigarette lead on one end and a USB on the other. You can just plug it in, or you could get a dual USB cigarette plug as long as it supplies enough power to keep the dashcam happy and use the other port to charge a phone or run a second camera.

2. Is having just a front dash cam good enough? Or Should I have a front, and rear facing dash cam?

One can be good enough, but i used to run two back when i first started (GS8000 in front DVR-027 in back) and i miss it. I wish i could put a second camera back in but i'm out of ports and already have other things wired in as is. You never know what you might catch behind you as well. I used to catch dangerous tailgaters and dashing drivers in the rear. Also might help in a parking situation.

3. Would you buy the G1W or Mobius? Or is there another good dash cam you recommend?

I have a G1W and enjoy it. If you do get a G1W a lot of them don't like Sandisk brand Micro Cards and some users including myself have had to switch brands. I after having issues i went with a Transcend card and everything was okay. (Amazon ASIN B00CES44EO)

I don't know about the mobius but the G1W does not have GPS. If you were looking for a good GPS camera the Vico Marcus 1 is coming bu it's a little more expensive.

 

[sludgeguts]

Questions:
1. Do I just plug the dash cam into the cigarette lighter? Yes
Will this drain my cars battery at a faster rate? Wouldn't have thought so
I am aware that you can "hard wire" it to the car but id rather just plug it into the cigarette lighter and stash the dash cam in the glove box or my pocket (mobius) when I leave the car.
Why bother removing & stashing it? http://dashcamtalk.com/forum/threads/mobius-mount.4612/#post-55008
It's such a small cam & very discrete

2. Is having just a front dash cam good enough? Or Should I have a front, and rear facing dash cam? Not essential but could be useful...See my latest offerings http://dashcamtalk.com/forum/threads/remember-the-vid-range-rover-vs-gang-of-bikers.4623/

3. Would you buy the G1W or Mobius? Or is there another good dash cam you recommend? I've used the keyfob cams before so was comfortable using them. I steered clear of the Mobius purely because I wanted any initial faults ironed out, plus, there seemed to be issues with heat (I expect mine to run for the best part of 8 hours)- but I'm told there really isn't an issue. I'm still happy with my G1W & plan to put it in my car

Thanks!

As for GPS, how essential is this? What are you planning to use it for? Do bear in mind that the gps can sometimes go awry. Also, if you tend towards a heavy foot, you might not want your speed displayed on the footage. I had gps on one of my early cams - it was a novelty to look at the footage & watch the little pointer moving on google maps - but the novelty very quickly wore off.
My take on gps is 'why? since you already know where you were driving' unless you want to see where someone else has been (sales rep, lorry driver etc)

 

[HoneyLemonTea]

Thanks for the replies guys. I plan on removing and stashing or hiding the dashcam when its not in use because I don't want it to attract attention or get stolen. I've had things stolen from my car before (GPS, insurance papers, chocolate bar?.. all stashed in the glove box) and my doors were all locked and windows fully up..

If the dash cam has GPS can the speed feature be disabled or no? If no then you bring up a good point.. I guess I don't need the GPS feature. I'm still stumped whether I should get the G1W or the mobius. Summer time is coming soon and the mobius has overheating issues apparaently so I wonder how it holds up in the summer...

 

[Byr0n]

You can buy a G1W-C or install a capacitor into a mobius which would stop over heating issues

If it's between these two then you need to decide if you want screen or not or if you want a large or small dash cam.

Gong on what you have said with the items being stolen, a mobius sounds more suited to you as it's discreet and doesn't even look like a camera at certain angles.

Have a read through each of the forum threads for each device

 

[MoneyT8]

I'm currently deciding between the GS1000 and GT300W from Aliexpress. I'm leaning towards the GS1000, however the GT300W is not bad either. The only difference is that the GT300W doesn't have GPS; is GPS necessary?

 

[GJHS]

Thanks for the replies guys. I plan on removing and stashing or hiding the dashcam when its not in use because I don't want it to attract attention or get stolen. I've had things stolen from my car before (GPS, insurance papers, chocolate bar?.. all stashed in the glove box) and my doors were all locked and windows fully up..

If the dash cam has GPS can the speed feature be disabled or no? If no then you bring up a good point.. I guess I don't need the GPS feature. I'm still stumped whether I should get the G1W or the mobius. Summer time is coming soon and the mobius has overheating issues apparaently so I wonder how it holds up in the summer...

I have the Mobius and really like it. For discreet you can't beat the Mobius. Even if you see it, you wouldn't think it's anything expensive, where to me the G1W, well looks like a camera.

Also I would say for your use the Mobius has a better more durable mount for daily on and off. It's a standard metal tripod mount, so it easily spins on and off. At the moment the G1w mount isn't really conducive to daily removal, it is a bit delicate. You could take the suction cup on and off. You would also have to modify another cameras mount, the G1w doesn't have and adhesive mount. Suction cups for any camera tend to be too big to hide.

Video quality wise they are somewhat similar and both good cameras. Yes, with an Android phone or tablet, you can change settings on the Mobius and coming in the next firmware, live view.

If GPS is important, check out the mini 0801 new model coming soon. It's small and has good, sharp video. I'm just not sure again about the mount. I have read it gets loose after a lot of on and off.

 

[russ331]

Thanks for the replies guys. I plan on removing and stashing or hiding the dashcam when its not in use because I don't want it to attract attention or get stolen.

Mobius is so small that nobody's likely to notice it, even if the car is broken into. Mount it between windscreen & rear view mirror, & it's near-invisible. You cannot fully appreciate how small it is until you hold it...

Summer time is coming soon and the mobius has overheating issues apparaently so I wonder how it holds up in the summer...

@murcod has run 3 Mobius cams through the scorching Australian Summer with no problems. The underlying cause is explained at http://dashcamtalk.com/forum/threads/the-mobius-heat-issues.2392/page-6#post-36892 (post #107). The solution is to ensure that the USB lighter socket adapter is genuinely rated at not less than 1A, so don't buy a $2 adapter from eBay.

 

[Ipol]

@HoneyLemonTea........russ331,s advice is sound it will save you removing the dashcam every time.If as you say the car has been broken into before chances are they will go straight to your glovebox. I suggest you leave it empty.....apart from a very large bar of chocolate (laxative) after carefully changing the outer rapping.....just in case the sweet toothed thief decides to pay your car another visit...Ipol

 

[HoneyLemonTea]

Hey thanks for the replies guys. Yea I watched a 22 minute review on the mobius and I didn't realise it was that SMALL. I think i've narrowed down my choice to the mobius. Is this seller "eletoponline365" selling the real thing? It seems that if I buy the mobious through this guy it doesn't come with a USB to car charger. If I order this one http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=180942478506&ssPageName=STRK:MESE:IT from him will my mobius work properly? Do you guys recommend class 4 or class 6? I am thinking of getting either two 16gb or two 32gb cards.

 

[GJHS]

Hey thanks for the replies guys. Yea I watched a 22 minute review on the mobius and I didn't realise it was that SMALL. I think i've narrowed down my choice to the mobius. Is this seller "eletoponline365" selling the real thing? It seems that if I buy the mobious through this guy it doesn't come with a USB to car charger. If I order this one http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=180942478506&ssPageName=STRK:MESE:IT from him will my mobius work properly? Do you guys recommend class 4 or class 6? I am thinking of getting either two 16gb or two 32gb cards.

Here is the list of verified sellers from the Mobius guide http://dashcamtalk.com/forum/thread...help-requests-here-read-posts-1-8-first.4232/
Direct Sellers:

China: eletoponline365; digitalele889

Re-sellers:
China: Banggood; HobbyKing (Hong Kong)

U.S.: novotm (MA); Massive RC (FL); SPYTEC (NY); ReadyMadeRC (OH)

Europe: Webbex (U.K.); JooVuu (U.K.); Mobius-Cam.com (NL); Revotech (CZ)

Prices can vary from one vendor to the other and depends on what is included in different accessory packages. The cost from the China eBay outlets will be nominally about $70 US with free shipping.

Non-verified sellers may be selling fake imitation cameras at seemingly bargain prices, and you should be wary of buying from them.

Memory CardsClass 4 memory cards from popular manufacturers provide the best compatibility with this camera and are recommended. Class 6 and Class 10 cards, at best, do NOTHING to improve the camera's video and cost more, and at worst, they may not work properly! ALL MEMORY CARDS should be formatted using the camera's internal formatting routine for best compatibility!

Eletoponline365 sells straight from the factory and has great customers service. The adapter you listed is fine as long as it outputs 5v and 1000mah. Some of the US sellers sell packages for a pretty good price. SpyTec can be found on ebay and Novotm (BuyMobius.com or on Amazon). Both have packages for around 90 bucks with everything you need and should save you some shipping time.

 

[HoneyLemonTea]

thanks for the reply and info. I think i'm going to buy from Novotm. Do you guys recommend the regular mobius or the mobius with wide angle lens?

 

[Xybone]

The regular möbius has a 90 degree FoV. The wide-angle has (I think) 140 degree FoV and better low light footage.

 

[GJHS]

thanks for the reply and info. I think i'm going to buy from Novotm. Do you guys recommend the regular mobius or the mobius with wide angle lens?

That purely depends on who you ask. I, myself, prefer the regular over the wide. It covers fender to fender and is more SLR/natural in its field of view so things don't look so far away and fish eyed as they do in the wide angle. License plates are closer so easier to read. Also the regular is shorter due to the recessed lens so it fits in tighter spaces and you can use the lens cap with film from 3d movies glasses as a polarizing filter.

The only other advantage I have heard for the wide angle is that it's slightly better at night. To me they are similar at night.

Again, after me someone may prefer the wide and explain why. It's purely what you want and feel works best.

Here's a post with some opinions on both lenses. http://dashcamtalk.com/forum/threads/which-lens.4334/