Thinking hard about a car cam

[Detectorguy]

I have seen three accidents in the last 5 days around town here. Now I am thinking hard which cam to get. Which car camera with good customer service would be a great choice ?

 

[DashCamManToo]

Please check out my article at https://dashcamtalk.com/forum/threads/what-to-look-for-in-a-dash-cam.47183/.

I decided that the support is always available, but we sometimes have to wait for an email response. Bottom line, like in most things, support is where you find it, and we often do not know until we've bought the item.

Going with current quality standards does help some.

 

[StrayCam]

Please check out my article at https://dashcamtalk.com/forum/threads/what-to-look-for-in-a-dash-cam.47183/.

I decided that the support is always available, but we sometimes have to wait for an email response. Bottom line, like in most things, support is where you find it, and we often do not know until we've bought the item.

Going with current quality standards does help some.

If one merely spends some time and reads through this forum, one can find out plenty about companies that are difficult to get answers/support from regarding their dashcams.

And then there are those companies which pride themselves in offering good support... Guardian and Blackvue are a couple of such companies.

 

[DashCamManToo]

Thanks for the info. Blackvue can afford faster service because of the high price of their products. I am unfamiliar with Guardian (Grdian?) or their support either.

In either case, my point is that the speed of response may not indicate a good or bad company.

 

[StrayCam]

Well, if You're expecting service on a timely fashion, support can be indeed very important.

And of course, we all know you get what you pay for. If you don't pay for "service", you won't get it. Guardian cameras come from the same plant in Zhenshen China that Viofo cameras come from. Their cameras cost more than Viofo's, but Guardian offers excellent customer support...

Sometimes people feel they're getting a bargain when they get a cheap price.. that's not always the case.

 

[DashCamManToo]

Yeah, I wonder about all the products made in China. There are precious few made in the states, if any at all. Even US-based companies still order from overseas, and they do not always have stock for replacements anyway. Over-seas support isn't really worth much if you have to wait anyway.

 

[DT MI]

Guardian (Grdian?)

The company name is 'Street Guardian', not 'Guardian'.

It's an Australian company - https://streetguardian.info

The US distributor - https://streetguardian.cam

The US distributor is an active member on the forum - @Street Guardian USA

 

[StrayCam]

Street Guardian (Australian Company) was founded by @jokiin
("Rick" Scott Ramsey), one of the most esteemed members of this forum. Unfortunately, he died after a short illness on October 10, 2021.

Jokiin factored in the cost of providing good service when pricing his dashcams. He valued "good customer service", as do most consumers. Consequently Street Guardian dashcams are priced a bit higher than Viofo dashcams... Is it worth paying more for great customer service? - - You be the judge.

 

[DashCamManToo]

Thanks for the info on Street Guardian. I checked out the web site and they have some problems with it. Also, there is no US phone number displayed under support. I can still add it to my spreadsheet if they make one with 4k res.

What did you all think about the Grdian brand?

If support is a big deal to the buyer, then sending a message by whatever means they offer and then timing the response might be a good comparison technique.

 

[Street Guardian USA]

 

[DashCamManToo]

Like I mentioned, not under "Support". Are you sure that isn't just the general or sales contact number?

 

[Street Guardian USA]

That’s our sales and support number. I’ll ask our web developer to improve the webpage to show under both places

 

[DashCamManToo]

Thank you. You may also wish to tell them that the logo at the top does not take a person back to the home page, and the home page menu does not work to select other pages such as products unless one selects something from the drop-down list.

Thanks again.

 

[Nigel]

And of course, we all know you get what you pay for. If you don't pay for "service", you won't get it. Guardian cameras come from the same plant in Zhenshen China that Viofo cameras come from. Their cameras cost more than Viofo's, but Guardian offers excellent customer support...

Viofo and Street Guardian may get some components from the same suppliers, and they may both manufacture in Shenzhen, but Shenzhen is the home to most of the world's dashcam manufacturers, it does not just have one plant! Viofo have their own facilities.

And you can get good service for Viofo dashcams. If you live in the USA, just buy from one of the better North American suppliers, see:

Where to buy

viofo.com

It may cost a little more to buy local, but as you point out, if you don't pay for the service, then you wont get much! Buying from the Viofo website works, but for someone to talk to in USA language, and easy returns, both @CaptureYourAction and @BlackboxMyCar are North American suppliers that can often be found on this forum.

 

[Nigel]

See - CYA responded within 1 minute of first contact, SG USA took 6 minutes

 

[DashCamManToo]

I thought the two brands looked the same. Thanks, Nigel, for pointing that out. And nice followup on the response time. Handy to know.

However, since they do not offer 4K, I'm really not interested and would not recommend them at all.

 

[Dashmellow]

However, since they do not offer 4K, I'm really not interested and would not recommend them at all.

That seems like a rather narrow minded viewpoint for quite a number of reasons. 4K is not desirable or appropriate (or affordable) for many users and despite your prior claim, heat is indeed an issue with any 4K camera.

While you may enjoy watching your dash cam videos in 4K, keep in mind that the purpose of a dash cam is to gather evidence that is intended to be passed onto others. This includes law enforcement, prosecutors, attorneys, insurance companies, courts of law, etc. Many of these entities do not have computer equipment designed for adequately viewing 4K video. The best approach with dash cam video evidence is to submit files that are as easy as possible for anyone within the chain of custody to view. You'd be amazed at how much older computer equipment is still in use in municipal and corporate environments.

While 4K has its merits, the current "sweet spot" for dash cam resolution is 2K for a variety of reasons and all in all 1080P is still quite viable for many purposes.

 

[Nigel]

However, since they do not offer 4K, I'm really not interested and would not recommend them at all.

SG don't yet, they think 2K is better, as suggested by Dashmellow in the post above, but Viofo do offer a 4K model for those that prefer 4K:

4K Dual Channel Dash Cam

VIOFO A129 Pro 4K front and rear dash cam use the Sony IMX317 sensor for front and IMX291 Starvis sensor for rear, deliver the best video quality for 4K resolution.

viofo.com

Quite a good one too:

 

[Dashmellow]

And even though Viofo has gone to great lengths to build a 4K camera that is as heat resistant as possible, they still recognize that it can easily become overheated and may need to be shut down periodically.

 

[DT MI]

And even though Viofo has gone to great lengths to build a 4K camera that is as heat resistant as possible, they still recognize that it can easily become overheated and may need to be shut down periodically...

And when that happens you have NO video, not even VGA quality.