Small dash cam for rental cars

[salajander]

Hi folks - I don't own a car, but do rent frequently, and would like to get a small dash cam to use while driving rentals. Does anyone have any suggestions?

Needs to be relatively small, as I don't want to have to pack something bulky, and use suction mount for ease of installation and removal. It would be nice (but absolutely not necessary) if it had an internal cabin camera I could use as a poor-man's rear cam. Any features after that are great, but I'm completely new to the dash cam world and have no idea what features are out there that I may want.

I'd like to keep it relatively inexpensive, as this is just for a few weeks of rental car usage a year.

The Garmin Dash Cam Mini seems good, I guess. After that, though, there is just a dizzying assortment of models and manufacturers out there, and I'm just hoping for a few suggestions I can pick though.

Thanks!

 

[SawMaster]

Welcome to DCT @salajander

Though you probably wouldn't use it, the Garmin Mini has parking mode problems in higher heats along with a few lesser reliability issues so I won't recommend it. Otherwise Garmin does build good cams, just not this one. In single-channel cams the Aukey DRA5 Mini is pretty good, also the newer Blueskysea B2W which has excellent image quality- much better than the DRA5. Both come with suction-cup mounts.

In a 2-channel single-unit 'rideshare' cam things get more expensive and most of these are intended for a permanent install so you may have to buy a suction-cup mount, which at least one of these does not have because of it's form-factor. These are not small cams, but can be discreet in appearance.

Something to consider is theft. While dashcam theft isn't a big thing in the US (yet), thieves iknow how to identify rental cars and target them, as the user is often neither local or someone who will be hanging around to prosecute them. I would definitely not have an expensive cam in such a car myself. Another important point is the SD card which you will probably have to purchase separately. This must be a good quality card recommended by others using that particular cam, as cheap cards are the most common failure point with dashcams. Good cards are cheap right now so go with at least a 64GB size which can cover several hours of driving time. In your intermittent usage you'll also need to remember to set the date/time when you rent a car, as these settings are lost after several days to a week of inactivity.

If your sole intention is to be able to prove that you made no errors in driving, then a single front-facing cam is almost always more than enough as it will show your lane position and movements, and most of what else is relevant in a road incident usually happens in front of you, which it will show. A rear cam can be helpful to show where someone may have been driving dangerously before they attempted to pass you, but almost always a collision from the rear is automatically their fault and your front cam can prove you didn't 'brake check' to cause it. Your real protection is insurance and with rentals here it's wise to either opt for the extra coverage or to be sure an existing auto policy covers that for you. A dashcam only helps insurers and Police to sort out the unbiased facts thus helping you prove your innocence and in that it usually reduces or eliminates the hassle and time you have to go through after a crash.

If you settle on a specific cam or have questions about one come back here and we'll help you with answers or solutions to any problems you might have..

Phil

 

[salajander]

Thanks for the thoughtful reply. I think I'll probably go with the Aukey DRA5 Mini with a high-endurance card for now at least as it's pretty cheap and looks pretty small. If nothing else, it'll be a good entry into dashcams and I can re-evaluate what I actually want/need after using it for a while.

We're pretty well covered by insurance through various means when renting, and I have so far been fortunate to never have had any situation where a dash cam would have been useful in the last few decades of driving, but since dash cams seem to be pretty cheap now and I happened to stumble into a YouTube hole of insurance scam and bad driver compilations, I figured getting something would probably be worthwhile

 

[kamkar]

A dashcam work well against other peoples stupid, even if it is just a single one aimed forward.

 

[SawMaster]

I hope I never need my cams, but there is comfort in knowing they've 'got my back' and that they will defeat anyone who lies or conspires against me.

The site DashCamTalk site owner has a review of the DRA5 HERE and you can find things on YouTube as well, including videos from the cam. Good cam for the money. Cheaper cams can be had, but this is about as low as you can go and have reliability and good vids- the two most important aspects of a dashcam.

Phil

 

[salajander]

Just received the DRA5 today, and it looks to be just what I need. It's quite small, and I've a few short trips in rental cars next week I can test it out on. Thanks for the help, everyone.