Recommendations for Parents

tripletuba

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Looking for dash cams for my less-than-tech-savvy parents. My dad had previously been using a Vantrue R2, but we've just learned it hasn't been saving recordings since May.

Biggest factors are image quality and reliability (along with alerts when the camera isn't functioning properly - neither of my parents are disciplined enough to diligently check the camera if it's not providing notifications/alerts).

They mostly drive during the day to/from work and for neighborhood errands, so night-time driving is limited, and parking mode would only be used for <2 hour stints.

App + WiFi pairing will probably never be used. Lane assist and driving-too-close are nice to have, but won't affect the purchasing decision.

Will either do 2x single-channel or one dual-channel. I would imagine that doing a single-channel and then adding a Viofo A119/A129 for the rear window would be recommended.

Right now my leading candidates are Blackvue DR900S ($370 for 1-ch, $500 for 2-ch), the Vicovation Opia 2 ($200), and the Garmin 55 ($200).

Is the Blackvue worth the $150 upgrade over the other two options? Is Garmin a safer option because of their brand? Am I missing an obvious choice?

Any and all help much appreciated!
 
Well its probably the memory card in the old camera that have given up, its by far the weakest link in most dashcams, and also why you cant just set and forget a dashcam.
If you are looking at the DR9000S price tag, then you should just do that, and then take your money and look elsewhere.
I would just contact Jon at street guardian USA in Nevada, and have him hook your parents up with a SG9663DC dual channel dashcam, it just work, and if it dont within minutes you will have at least 2 guys flat out trying to get you back up and running, and you can register for 2 year warranty.

I am testing for street guardian, but you will find it hard to find someone who have gotten bad service from them ( right away service, not days later service ) so hard for me as a Dane to come up with anyone else in the US with that kind of dedication to their product or customers.

Lane assist and driving-too-close
those often dont work right in dashcams, and so just make annoying maybe confusing dings and beeps.

The DC do have wifi and will get a app for that at some time, but for now its not talked about, and really there are not much you can do with it anyway that you cant do on the little screen on the camera.
 
Looking for dash cams for my less-than-tech-savvy parents.
You want the simplest of dashcams? How about a Blueskysea B1W, if anything goes wrong it either talks to you, or possibly it fails to talk to you on start up, If the memory card has an error it says "memory card error", you don't need to be tech savvy to understand that. Plus there is 1 LED that can be checked, flashing = recording, not flashing = problem.

I would imagine that doing a single-channel and then adding a Viofo A119/A129 for the rear window...
I don't understand that, the A129 is normally a dual camera, gives you everything you need for front and back, and it is a good choice, although it is a bit of a black box, if it was to loose power then a non-interested person might not notice, and if there was a memory card error the constant alarm would cause them to remove the power, after which they would forget about it ... like smoke detectors!

Both those suggestions seem to be very reliable.
 
There are no "set and forget" dashcams. You positively must check the card occasionally, and keep an eye on the cam for any sign of errors. Especially at start-up. Forget about the DR900S; it's still buggy and unreliable. The Opia2 and Garmin 55 are good, but perhaps not the best here. I have to side with Nigel- the B1W is the best 'beginner level' single-channel cam and very reliable with good video and the voice alerts make keeping up with it's operation easy. Another choice would be the original Mobius, but it is limited in low-light. The A129 is showing great promise as a dual channel cam, and the SG9663DC is even better.

You don't have to spend a lot to get a good cam, and with many of the more expensive cams you are paying for a name, not performance. If you're buying any cam for parents or anyone who can't or won't keep up with things, then you are going to have to do that for them so you want the most reliable cam you can get first, then one which makes any failures easy to detect second. The more complex something is, the more there is to go wrong.

My vote is either 2 B1W's or the Street Guardian SG9663DC dual-channel. Darn good cams and darn good values both.

Phil
 
Yeah a B1W is getting the job done and cheap at that, i only suggested the DC as his price bracket was "up there" anyway with the DR900, and he expressed a wish for dual channel.
Two B1W can do that too on the cheap, but as OP probably will be the one to do maintenance on the system a contained setup like the DC seem better to me, also if he do manage to teach the parents to do it on their own.

I wouldn't be able to do that if my parents was drivers now, none of them have a PC or smart phone, and none of them would have any interest in learning such things, so if they was driving i would have to do it, which are also a okay reason to go visit the parents.
 
Appreciate all the input. Will take a look at the SG9663DC.
 
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