Suggestion for dashcam with auto-record and collision detection/recording protection?

[hsmcdonald]

I stumbled upon this forum while searching for a solution for my teenage driver that is a few days away from having their own license (yikes!) Great site!

I am hoping to get suggestions on a dashcam that most importantly has:

1) A mode/operation where the recording can start automatically when the unit is powered on.
2) If there is a collision detected, the recording in the moments prior can be saved/protected somehow

My goal is to not have to rely on my teen remembering to turn on the dashcam when they start the car. Additionally, if for some reason there was a collision (which hopefully will never occur) that he will not have to 'remember' to turn off the dashcam to save the footage.

I have seen mention of the latter feature on some dashcam 'recording protection' but really unsure about the first - auto recording.

Any advice would be most appreciated!

- Steve

 

[LateralNW]

I stumbled upon this forum while searching for a solution for my teenage driver that is a few days away from having their own license (yikes!) Great site!

I am hoping to get suggestions on a dashcam that most importantly has:

1) A mode/operation where the recording can start automatically when the unit is powered on.
2) If there is a collision detected, the recording in the moments prior can be saved/protected somehow

My goal is to not have to rely on my teen remembering to turn on the dashcam when they start the car. Additionally, if for some reason there was a collision (which hopefully will never occur) that he will not have to 'remember' to turn off the dashcam to save the footage.

I have seen mention of the latter feature on some dashcam 'recording protection' but really unsure about the first - auto recording.

Any advice would be most appreciated!

- Steve

Hi Steve,
I only have experience with Viofo so my recommendation is based on that.
Others have experience with other brands so I'm sure you'll get plenty of advice.

I use on a day to day basis a Viofo A129 Duo.
It starts when I start the car with a 5 second delay just to make sure the other electrics have settled. This is a configurable setting.
Both front and back cameras are HD and have a good image.
This unit has front and back cameras.
It can also have GPS as an add-on that shows the speed and location of the car.

The unit is compact and sticks to the windshield. (Uses 3M sticky pads and they don't come off easily)

It uses a TFcard (SD card mini) and is able to use a 256GB size. Video files are approx 600MB per 3 minutes so it is able to store quite a few hours.

If the car is in an accident there is a setting that will place that video into a folder so it is not over written.

The dash cam can run directly via the cigarette lighter however bumping it will disrupt the dashcam and may stop recording as there are no batteries in it. It uses large capacitors to start and shut down the dash cam.

Best wiring is hard wiring either by running wires to the cigarette adapter and placing it under the dash or by using the Viofo Hard wire kit.

Here's some links.
Note there is a slightly improved model called a A129 Plus Duo which has a"2k" resolution.

Some Duo footage. Suggest you play at 1.5 times as i must have been tired doing this video

Viofo link to the A129 Plus Duo

A129 Plus Duo Dual Channel Dash Cam Front 2K 1440P + Rear 1080P Wi-Fi GPS Dash Camera

VIOFO A129 Plus Duo Dual Channel dash cam supports 2K 1440P 30fps video recording, it takes Sony Starivs sensor for front and rear.

viofo.com

And why a mobile phone is a bad idea.
My brand new Samsung S7 capturing road rage. This vehicle didn't have a dashcam.
About $1200Au thrown out the car window!

Hope that gives you a starting point.

 

[hsmcdonald]

Hi Steve,
I only have experience with Viofo so my recommendation is based on that.
Others have experience with other brands so I'm sure you'll get plenty of advice.

I use on a day to day basis a Viofo A129 Duo.
It starts when I start the car with a 5 second delay just to make sure the other electrics have settled. This is a configurable setting.
Both front and back cameras are HD and have a good image.
This unit has front and back cameras.
It can also have GPS as an add-on that shows the speed and location of the car.

The unit is compact and sticks to the windshield. (Uses 3M sticky pads and they don't come off easily)

It uses a TFcard (SD card mini) and is able to use a 256GB size. Video files are approx 600MB per 3 minutes so it is able to store quite a few hours.

If the car is in an accident there is a setting that will place that video into a folder so it is not over written.

The dash cam can run directly via the cigarette lighter however bumping it will disrupt the dashcam and may stop recording as there are no batteries in it. It uses large capacitors to start and shut down the dash cam.

Best wiring is hard wiring either by running wires to the cigarette adapter and placing it under the dash or by using the Viofo Hard wire kit.

Here's some links.
Note there is a slightly improved model called a A129 Plus Duo which has a"2k" resolution.

Some Duo footage. Suggest you play at 1.5 times as i must have been tired doing this video

Viofo link to the A129 Plus Duo

A129 Plus Duo Dual Channel Dash Cam Front 2K 1440P + Rear 1080P Wi-Fi GPS Dash Camera

VIOFO A129 Plus Duo Dual Channel dash cam supports 2K 1440P 30fps video recording, it takes Sony Starivs sensor for front and rear.

viofo.com

And why a mobile phone is a bad idea.
My brand new Samsung S7 capturing road rage. This vehicle didn't have a dashcam.
About $1200Au thrown out the car window!

Hope that gives you a starting point.

Thank you! This is exactly the info I needed. I will look up the hardwire kit as well.

 

[Dashmellow]

1) A mode/operation where the recording can start automatically when the unit is powered on.
2) If there is a collision detected, the recording in the moments prior can be saved/protected somehow

Virtually all dash cams are designed to have these two main functionalities you seek.

I too can highly recommend Viofo cameras but if you find another brand or model to be appealing you can have confidence that it will have the core features you are looking for.

The feature that detects a collision is called a "G-sensor" and this can be adjusted for sensitivity to avoid false positives if for example you happen to regularly drive on bumpy roads.

 

[kamkar]

What you ask are pretty much default in all dashcams.

The auto saving / locking however can let some people down as it can work in several ways.

1: use of a memory buffer in the camera, this generally mean you will just get locked seconds before the actual event, and most often also just seconds after.

2: segment handling. This mean the camera will deal in the video segment size you have choose to use, i prefer to use 3 minutes but most camera give the option for 1 - 2 - 3 - 5 - 10 minutes,,,,,, 1 and 10 minutes i would not go near for any reason.
Anyway so in case of a event the camera will lock / save the current segment being made, the problem is if you are right at the start of the current segment you will have little before the event, same if you are at the end of the current segment when the event happen in that case you will have little after the event.

3: multiple segment approach. To my knowledge only the street guardian brand use this, this mean if you are less than 50% into the current segment when you have a event, the previous segment + the current one will be saved, in my case using 3 minute segments this mean i get 6 minutes of video locked.
If you are more then 50% into the current segment the same happen but now the current segment get saved + the following one.
In either case you using 3 minute segment size will at the very least have 1,5 minute saved from before and more after.


BUT ! Anyway you should not focus too much on this aspect, the camera record and save all the time, so as long as you do not have a silly small memory card that will never be a problem and what are not locked in read only mode of your event will still be there just in and among the regular footage.
So even if you crash down a mountainside and sit there with power on / engine running and are not using auto event creation, with a proper sized memory card you will still have to be there for many hours ( +10 ) before the camera get around to overwriting the event itself.

Personally i do not use automatic event creation while driving ( G-sensor ) if i can halp it, but some cameras dont have a off for this only a low setting,,,, which will still be plenty to trigger in case on something major.
The problem is if the G.sensor are too sensitive, potholes ASO might well create false event recordings, which in the old days would fill the memory space set aside for events, today this is not a big problem as even this area of the memory card will also overwrite oldest footage if full,,,, and again worry not with a ample sized memory car d there are room for many many events in that range.

As i said i dont use auto save / lock of events, #1 in accident response here is stop the accident from getting any worse ( traffic ) and #2 is turn off the engine on cars involved,,,, and this will also stop the camera recording.
you should not consider a memory card smaller than 128 GB these days, 256 will be fine for a 2 camera system.

If it is a small event, i might well turn off my car engine but keep the car key at ACC so my cameras will continue to record, thic can always be useful with the many low life people out there.
But if you are hard wired for parking guard turning the car off, will send the camera into parking guard mode,,,,, but here there also are a few things to be aware of.

So with plenty of memory card space, there is no problem having your teen drive the 3 hour drive to the cabin at the lake with the friends, spend all week there and probably drive some more, and then drive home again next sunday, and it will all be there even with no automated events needed.
Of course if G-sensor are on, and the camera setup do not generate too many false events, it will be faster to find the actual event by going strait to the RO folder ( Read Only ) used by many brands to store the event files, some might call the same folder event, but its the same thing where the automated locked events go to live safe from automatic deletion once the card is full.

With a large memory card and say 4 hours of daily driving, you will have many days on a large memory card before it fill up and start to overwrite the oldest recordings.

 

[StrayCam]

I stumbled upon this forum while searching for a solution for my teenage driver that is a few days away from having their own license (yikes!) Great site!

I am hoping to get suggestions on a dashcam that most importantly has:

1) A mode/operation where the recording can start automatically when the unit is powered on.
2) If there is a collision detected, the recording in the moments prior can be saved/protected somehow

My goal is to not have to rely on my teen remembering to turn on the dashcam when they start the car. Additionally, if for some reason there was a collision (which hopefully will never occur) that he will not have to 'remember' to turn off the dashcam to save the footage.

I have seen mention of the latter feature on some dashcam 'recording protection' but really unsure about the first - auto recording.

Any advice would be most appreciated!

- Steve

Steve-

Welcome to the forum! I see you're also from the Bay Area.

If budget is a huge concern, you may just as well consider Viofo. If not, I'd recommend checking out Thinkware or Blackvue. Btw, I also have a Viofo dash cam that I purchased some years ago. I know exactly what Viofo offers.

Btw one of main dashcam reviewers on YouTube (@Vortex Radar ) and a member of this forum chose Blackvue for his cars. After doing lots of research, I also chose Blackvue... DR750X 2Ch LTE Plus.

Blackvue has very good support! You can reach them directly by phone, 6 days a week within about 2 minutes. Most dashcam companies do not provide that kind of support.

In addition, the camera I mentioned above can let you know if there have been certain possible driver safety issues occurring during drives... ( see pic). I personally do not use those settings, but as a parent of a new driver, you may want to.

With Blackvue's cloud features, you can also do a "live view" from anywhere/anytime. You can see what your dashcams see whether parked or driving. In addition, you can have any "triggered event", ie, impact, automatically uploaded to the cloud. This can be done while parked or while driving. In addition, you will automatically be alerted on your phone when there are any important triggered events. These extra features and great customer support are good reasons to consider Blackvue.

Whatever dashcam you decide on, good luck! It's great that you are taking measures to take care of your new driver!

 

[Lothar]

I stumbled upon this forum while searching for a solution for my teenage driver that is a few days away from having their own license (yikes!) Great site!

I am hoping to get suggestions on a dashcam that most importantly has:

1) A mode/operation where the recording can start automatically when the unit is powered on.
2) If there is a collision detected, the recording in the moments prior can be saved/protected somehow

My goal is to not have to rely on my teen remembering to turn on the dashcam when they start the car. Additionally, if for some reason there was a collision (which hopefully will never occur) that he will not have to 'remember' to turn off the dashcam to save the footage.

I have seen mention of the latter feature on some dashcam 'recording protection' but really unsure about the first - auto recording.

Any advice would be most appreciated!

- Steve

All the major dashcam companies support what you're asking.
I personally recommend Street Guardian or Viofo, but you also cannot go wrong with Garmin or BlackVue.

 

[hsmcdonald]

What you ask are pretty much default in all dashcams.

The auto saving / locking however can let some people down as it can work in several ways.

1: use of a memory buffer in the camera, this generally mean you will just get locked seconds before the actual event, and most often also just seconds after.

2: segment handling. This mean the camera will deal in the video segment size you have choose to use, i prefer to use 3 minutes but most camera give the option for 1 - 2 - 3 - 5 - 10 minutes,,,,,, 1 and 10 minutes i would not go near for any reason.
Anyway so in case of a event the camera will lock / save the current segment being made, the problem is if you are right at the start of the current segment you will have little before the event, same if you are at the end of the current segment when the event happen in that case you will have little after the event.

3: multiple segment approach. To my knowledge only the street guardian brand use this, this mean if you are less than 50% into the current segment when you have a event, the previous segment + the current one will be saved, in my case using 3 minute segments this mean i get 6 minutes of video locked.
If you are more then 50% into the current segment the same happen but now the current segment get saved + the following one.
In either case you using 3 minute segment size will at the very least have 1,5 minute saved from before and more after.


BUT ! Anyway you should not focus too much on this aspect, the camera record and save all the time, so as long as you do not have a silly small memory card that will never be a problem and what are not locked in read only mode of your event will still be there just in and among the regular footage.
So even if you crash down a mountainside and sit there with power on / engine running and are not using auto event creation, with a proper sized memory card you will still have to be there for many hours ( +10 ) before the camera get around to overwriting the event itself.

Personally i do not use automatic event creation while driving ( G-sensor ) if i can halp it, but some cameras dont have a off for this only a low setting,,,, which will still be plenty to trigger in case on something major.
The problem is if the G.sensor are too sensitive, potholes ASO might well create false event recordings, which in the old days would fill the memory space set aside for events, today this is not a big problem as even this area of the memory card will also overwrite oldest footage if full,,,, and again worry not with a ample sized memory car d there are room for many many events in that range.

As i said i dont use auto save / lock of events, #1 in accident response here is stop the accident from getting any worse ( traffic ) and #2 is turn off the engine on cars involved,,,, and this will also stop the camera recording.
you should not consider a memory card smaller than 128 GB these days, 256 will be fine for a 2 camera system.

If it is a small event, i might well turn off my car engine but keep the car key at ACC so my cameras will continue to record, thic can always be useful with the many low life people out there.
But if you are hard wired for parking guard turning the car off, will send the camera into parking guard mode,,,,, but here there also are a few things to be aware of.

So with plenty of memory card space, there is no problem having your teen drive the 3 hour drive to the cabin at the lake with the friends, spend all week there and probably drive some more, and then drive home again next sunday, and it will all be there even with no automated events needed.
Of course if G-sensor are on, and the camera setup do not generate too many false events, it will be faster to find the actual event by going strait to the RO folder ( Read Only ) used by many brands to store the event files, some might call the same folder event, but its the same thing where the automated locked events go to live safe from automatic deletion once the card is full.

With a large memory card and say 4 hours of daily driving, you will have many days on a large memory card before it fill up and start to overwrite the oldest recordings.

Thank you for all of this great info! I was concerned he would not 'remember' after an accident to deal with the recording, but I can get a 256 GB and as you are saying there should be enough time for me to be involved just in the course of normal recording.

Thank you so much!!!

 

[hsmcdonald]

Steve-

Welcome to the forum! I see you're also from the Bay Area.

If budget is a huge concern, you may just as well consider Viofo. If not, I'd recommend checking out Thinkware or Blackvue. Btw, I also have a Viofo dash cam that I purchased some years ago. I know exactly what Viofo offers.

Btw one of main dashcam reviewers on YouTube (@Vortex Radar ) and a member of this forum chose Blackvue for his cars. After doing lots of research, I also chose Blackvue... DR750X 2Ch LTE Plus.

Blackvue has very good support! You can reach them directly by phone, 6 days a week within about 2 minutes. Most dashcam companies do not provide that kind of support.

In addition, the camera I mentioned above can let you know if there have been certain possible driver safety issues occurring during drives... ( see pic). I personally do not use those settings, but as a parent of a new driver, you may want to.

With Blackvue's cloud features, you can also do a "live view" from anywhere/anytime. You can see what your dashcams see whether parked or driving. In addition, you can have any "triggered event", ie, impact, automatically uploaded to the cloud. This can be done while parked or while driving. In addition, you will automatically be alerted on your phone when there are any important triggered events. These extra features and great customer support are good reasons to consider Blackvue.

Whatever dashcam you decide on, good luck! It's great that you are taking measures to take care of your new driver!

Thanks for this. I already have the Viofo in hand but I will prob research the Blackvue for my other car.

I honestly had not been too concerned about getting one until I was practicing driving with him the other day and someone pulled out in front of us and I had to grab the steering wheel to move the car and avoid a collision. Completely the other driver's fault. It occurred to me that if I had not been there, there would be a small fender bender and they could have blamed him by default for being a brand new driver. A dash cam would have told the true story that the other guy was at fault. Time for a dash cam!

 

[kamkar]

Just make sure the model support 256GB cards, but i dont think that is too much to ask these days.

If it is anything "big" he and the car will not be driving any more, and so there should also not be recorded any more, but even if with a 256GB card, the car will have to be powered for at least 10 hours before recordings will get anywhere near the accident.

I normally advise to let the camera record, at least in case of a minor thing, open the window or door so the microphone also can capture something, and then when everything is said and done turn off the car and retrieve the memory card or better yet the whole camera, which should slide off its mount and then you unplug a wire or 2.

The little memory cards are seated in a spring loaded slot, and quite a few of us have made a unintentional memory card launch, some times you are lucky to find it, others it is just gone.
Happen so often we have talked about making a club for it .

You can put a piece of thin tape on the back of the card so there are something to hang on to as you press in or out the little card with a nail,,,,,, but these pesky little suckers sure do like to launch, and i assume it would be more of a case for a person not used to handle the memory cards.

You also need to look at the card anyway, no dashcam are truly set and forget, so i take the memory card, put it in my fast card reader on the PC and look it over.
By looking over i mean just look at a few seconds of the files you inspect, just enough to see where it is, in my case i focus on first and last files in a drive session, so this mean i expect to see, where i live - where i go shopping - my favorite gas station - my old mothers place- and my friends place - and once in a while my little sisters place or one of her kids, cuz they sure do know uncles phone number if they need help with something.

After that i test some random files, all in all looking over a full 256GB card take me 10 - 15 minutes, and as you only have to do this every couple of months it is time well spent.

Warning signs would be first or last file in a drive session starting or ending on the middle of some road, some distance from a known destination / set off point, that should prompt further investigation.
Also it is a good habit to format the memory card every now and then, maybe after one of these look over sessions, with all this writing and deleting smaller files, the file structure on the card can get a bit fragmented. a format in the camera should reset this to 0

There are plenty of sleazebags today that will work hard to put the blame for something on a innocent kid,,,,, that we can not have.
My youngest niece ( 19 YO ) just got her first car a few weeks ago, i am putting a dashcam in her car too, sadly her older sister will not allow me doing that in her car, though i do think it is her BF,,,,, which at the age of 25 have already lost his right to drive for a few years, but he are licensed again. But it say a little about his driving i think.