bassmechanic
New Member
- Joined
- Apr 19, 2017
- Messages
- 1
- Reaction score
- 0
- Location
- Colorado Springs, CO
- Country
- United States
- Dash Cam
- blackvue
OK a little background. I am an insurance agent by trade, I recommend to all my clients to get a dash cam!
my ONLY experience so far has been blackvue I have one in all 3 of my cars.
the newest model I have is at least 3 years old and is a 2-channel unit.
I recently traded in my 2014 Cadillac CTS V sport for the 2017 CTS-V
my problem is this, the new car has the performance data recorder (not something I would have ordered the car with)
in my last Caddy I mounted the camera right below the base of the black plastic part the rear-view mirror attaches to. in the new car, the PDR camera hangs roughly in the same location behind the rear-view mirror. if I put my black view there it will pretty much block the entire view of the PDR making it useless!
while I do not plan to track the car anyway, I felt like if I go ahead and mount it there I can always just unplug the front camera, remove it from the mount and allow the PDR to see the road ahead.
however, I feel like even as easy as this is ill likely never even bother to use it if I have to go through any more trouble than to activate it as normal by pressing the PDR button on the screen and "record" if I have to remove a camera from the windshield I probably won't bother.
additionally, the factory mirror mount that also contains the lane departure camera and rain sense for the wipers is not centered on the windshield, it sits about 2 inches to the passenger side from center and if I mount the blackvue to the right (passenger side) the camera ends up pretty much in the direct line of sight of the passenger. if I mount it left of the mirror on the driver’s side the lens itself is probably on the left 1/3 not even close to center of the windshield and my OCD cannot live with it too far away from center.
I could possibly mount it to the plastic that hangs from the windshield and it can sit below the PDR centered, hidden from the rear-view mirror, but it would need about an inch taller mount for that to work and I may have to drill a hole in the plastic cover because I know from the previous car the high strength 2-sided adhesive will not hold to the plastic as well as the glass itself and it will fall off. I had even thought about mounting the black vue upside down or backwards if you like bringing the lens to the right, mount on the left and I could stick it to the left side of the mirror mount. but I think only the desktop version of the playback software allows you to flip the image 180 degrees, the phone app wont.
so, this lead me on a search for other options.
in my research, I have found there a few forward-facing cameras that have better quality video, but also have a screen in the back that makes it bigger than it needs to be.
I wish I could find a system that has 2 cameras that both connect via cables to a main unit I can put in the glovebox keeping the camera footprint small.
it seems the only options that offer 2 channels all have lower quality rear view cameras but the size of the rear blackvue fits so perfectly against the back glass and headliner you would think it was made for my car, I cannot see it from the rear-view mirror, and it does not obstruct the rear view even when the rear shade on the back window is used.
so, this leads me back to blackvue. I know the image quality has gotten 2 generations better at least from the cameras I have now, but it's the mounting issue! I wish the main unit was about 50% smaller! if I give up the PDR functionality and just stick it where I had it before, problem solved I guess..
so, do any of you know of a better solution that offers as good of video as I have now or better? or a smaller form factor that has the lens facing pretty much center of the unit like a cube style camera that can be stuck to the brow part of the windshield and sit right next to the factory mirror in a 2-channel option?
I really prefer the ability to connect via wifi, I don't like the idea of playing it back on a tiny worthless screen or have to remove the camera to get video off of it, I like being able to log onto wifi and view files right on my phone.
my ONLY experience so far has been blackvue I have one in all 3 of my cars.
the newest model I have is at least 3 years old and is a 2-channel unit.
I recently traded in my 2014 Cadillac CTS V sport for the 2017 CTS-V
my problem is this, the new car has the performance data recorder (not something I would have ordered the car with)
in my last Caddy I mounted the camera right below the base of the black plastic part the rear-view mirror attaches to. in the new car, the PDR camera hangs roughly in the same location behind the rear-view mirror. if I put my black view there it will pretty much block the entire view of the PDR making it useless!
while I do not plan to track the car anyway, I felt like if I go ahead and mount it there I can always just unplug the front camera, remove it from the mount and allow the PDR to see the road ahead.
however, I feel like even as easy as this is ill likely never even bother to use it if I have to go through any more trouble than to activate it as normal by pressing the PDR button on the screen and "record" if I have to remove a camera from the windshield I probably won't bother.
additionally, the factory mirror mount that also contains the lane departure camera and rain sense for the wipers is not centered on the windshield, it sits about 2 inches to the passenger side from center and if I mount the blackvue to the right (passenger side) the camera ends up pretty much in the direct line of sight of the passenger. if I mount it left of the mirror on the driver’s side the lens itself is probably on the left 1/3 not even close to center of the windshield and my OCD cannot live with it too far away from center.
I could possibly mount it to the plastic that hangs from the windshield and it can sit below the PDR centered, hidden from the rear-view mirror, but it would need about an inch taller mount for that to work and I may have to drill a hole in the plastic cover because I know from the previous car the high strength 2-sided adhesive will not hold to the plastic as well as the glass itself and it will fall off. I had even thought about mounting the black vue upside down or backwards if you like bringing the lens to the right, mount on the left and I could stick it to the left side of the mirror mount. but I think only the desktop version of the playback software allows you to flip the image 180 degrees, the phone app wont.
so, this lead me on a search for other options.
in my research, I have found there a few forward-facing cameras that have better quality video, but also have a screen in the back that makes it bigger than it needs to be.
I wish I could find a system that has 2 cameras that both connect via cables to a main unit I can put in the glovebox keeping the camera footprint small.
it seems the only options that offer 2 channels all have lower quality rear view cameras but the size of the rear blackvue fits so perfectly against the back glass and headliner you would think it was made for my car, I cannot see it from the rear-view mirror, and it does not obstruct the rear view even when the rear shade on the back window is used.
so, this leads me back to blackvue. I know the image quality has gotten 2 generations better at least from the cameras I have now, but it's the mounting issue! I wish the main unit was about 50% smaller! if I give up the PDR functionality and just stick it where I had it before, problem solved I guess..
so, do any of you know of a better solution that offers as good of video as I have now or better? or a smaller form factor that has the lens facing pretty much center of the unit like a cube style camera that can be stuck to the brow part of the windshield and sit right next to the factory mirror in a 2-channel option?
I really prefer the ability to connect via wifi, I don't like the idea of playing it back on a tiny worthless screen or have to remove the camera to get video off of it, I like being able to log onto wifi and view files right on my phone.
