Time For A New Dash Cam - Need a Capacitor Model Under $100 1080P and Above! Help?

Joined
Apr 5, 2017
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Location
Central Florida
Country
United States
Dash Cam
Black Box G1W-H // Vantrue X1 Pro // Viofo A119-S V2
Hey guys!

I'm roughly new to this whole thing. I got inspired to buy a dash cam of my own last year after watching some YouTube channels for a number of months,
showcasing people's bad driving. I edit for a living, started up my own channel, and bought a "Black Box G1W-H Capacitor Model" based off of a couple
of "Best Dash Cams of 2016" videos. The camera is basic, and very much cheap. $52 and you get a super light, button rattling, all-black camera that
shoots 1080P and has an "okay" quality when it comes to its "night view" feature (whatever). Here's the deal. I know I need to spend some more money
and this camera loves to break. This is the third of the same camera I've owned because it's cheap. $52 every 8 or so months before the input jack falls
in (this has happened twice...bad soldering joints), it does it's job though. Well the camera's buttons are SUPER loose, and you can't really do anything
about it (cheap), and the video has this horrible "BBBVBVBVBRBBBVBVRR" sound as I drive or idle. As mentioned, I run my own YouTube channel and
I'm ready to spend up to $100 (I'll even spend at much as $120) on a dash cam with excellent video and sound quality.

I'm looking specifically for a camera with a capacitor in it, as I live in Florida...where temperatures can soar to 105 degrees easy (I drive for an hour, each
way, per day). I am not interested in the hard wired dash cams that stay in the car, as I live in a not-so-great part of town and I prefer to take the camera
with me when I go inside, to prevent theft. Currently, my dash cam hangs from a holder that secures to the joint of my rear view mirror (where the mirror
mounts to the front windshield) - so the camera hangs just below the mirror and I don't have to particularly worry about the suction cup coming off and
damaging the camera. This was a big plus for me. The camera must shoot 1080p or higher, 2k is a big plus!!

As you can see, I have some specifics, and you folks are the only forum I know of that may be able to point me in the right direction.

Thanks so much for anyone that can help me!
 
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And the A119-S if you want better low-light vids at the cost of some daytime vid quality. The A119 is no slouch at night though. Either A119 cam is probably the best overall value in a dashcam today :)

As you probably know, YouTube compresses the uploaded vids and the average viewer just goes with the automatic low-res settings. 1080p will look about as good there as anything higher for those folks. There are some 4K action cams which can be used for a dashcam if you can work around their shortcomings, bit for ease-of-use and reliability in all conditions it's probably best to stay with cams designed to be used as dashcams :cool: Adhesive mounts are the best way to go; even the lightest cams often move a bit on mirror mounts and heavier ones will definatey have an issue there. Some suction mounts are decent but all will need to be reset occasionally. Those are best reserved for temporary installs ;)

You're the first person I've seen here who has a G1W-H with caps other than me. Mine came from Gearbest (sold as G1W-HC) and were pretty good cams in every way, but GB has discontinued them. Yours seem to be a bit different- not uncommon with any G1W type cam as there are many different manufacturers of these. Of my 2, one is rapidly dying after 15 months hard usage but the other one is still doing well. I couldn't ask for more from a $35 cam :D There are much better cams to get nowadays and for not much more money (y) For a primary front cam you need the best you can afford or at least something better than any G1W type.

And welcome to DCT!

Phil
 
Thanks guys! I saw someone else liked the first comment on the Viofo A119 and I really appreciate the insight you gave me, SawMaster!
Huge thanks to you and Jokiin! I did about 2 hours or so of research and bought the A119-S V2 with the foam adhesive mount. Got it for
$99, but couldn't find it on an Amazon Prime deal, so it won't arrive until January 10th - 19th, but I will feel great about the wait if I love
the camera! We'll see what happens and I'll reply to this thread when I've used it enough to discover whether or not I think it's the right
fit for my application.

Thanks again!
 
I think you'll like it- it's on my 'short list' of cams that I am highly impressed with. Let us know what you think when you get it :)

Phil
 
I've have an A119V1 since mid-2016. It's excellent, but I did have some buzzing to start with due to rattling buttons. This may well have been sorted by now on your newer model, but if not my solution was to get some clear glue of the type you can pick off your fingers (I used UHU) and, with a needle, drop a tiny drop into the slot at the bottom of each button.
A little seeped in, the rest I scraped off the front when dry. Buttons function as normal, buzzing stopped.
Naturally try yours, and listen to the recording, to see if yours buzzes. before any action like this.
Otherwise, after recent new research for a cam for my wife's and son's cars, I'm back to choosing two more A119 cams for them.
 
I've have an A119V1 since mid-2016. It's excellent, but I did have some buzzing to start with due to rattling buttons. This may well have been sorted by now on your newer model, but if not my solution was to get some clear glue of the type you can pick off your fingers (I used UHU) and, with a needle, drop a tiny drop into the slot at the bottom of each button.
A little seeped in, the rest I scraped off the front when dry. Buttons function as normal, buzzing stopped.
Naturally try yours, and listen to the recording, to see if yours buzzes. before any action like this.
Otherwise, after recent new research for a cam for my wife's and son's cars, I'm back to choosing two more A119 cams for them.

Thanks for your input! Yeah, you wouldn't believe (or maybe you could) some of the problems I have had with the Black Box G1W-H I have. As mentioned,
I have owned 3 so far of the same camera. The first camera I bought had the lithium ion batteries in it, and they somehow came unmounted. Over a few
months time, me taking the dash cam out of my car, shoving it into my pocket, and walking inside, caused the batteries to basically swing around on the
inside until they smacked into the hardware around it and broke tiny little bits of the hardware until the camera stopped working. The second one I
owned...I went to turn it on one day after owning it for a few months, and the lens appeared to be out of focus...with a couple of dirty water marks on the
inside. I was confused as to how the heck the lens was out of focus and reluctantly took the camera apart to find out. The glue line holding the lens in
perfect focus somehow broke, and the lens was able to be twisted lol. I had to plug the camera into an external monitor, take the camera lens off, clean it,
then focus it perfectly, add another glue strip and a couple of dots with white out for future reference...two weeks later, the input jack falls in as I go to plug
the camera in. Same thing happened to this new one I have after owning it for 4 months. My father builds computers and was able to solder the joints for the
input jack and we're golden now. But man is it annoying.

My big hope is the A119S-V2 is problem and headache free, because I'd like to possess a "set it and forget it" dash camera. If I have to toy around fixing the
thing all the time, it really bugs me and makes me feel like my money was wasted lol. Hoping with your good experience and the recent advancements they
have made, the buzzing buttons problem is corrected and this thing is the answer to all my prayers!

Thanks again!
 
The "BBBVBVBVBRBBBVBVRR" can often be slop in the mount, you might be able to add a little duct tape to make the connection between mount and camera more rigid, or maybe add a drop of glue on a surface and then let it harden, again to make the camera fit the mount more tight.

the SG9665GC wedge camera much like the vifo solved this problem by adding a thing neoprene sticker to put on the mount.

The vifo seem like a good bet, and you can get it locally and enjoy American buyer protection in regard to the purchase.
 
The "BBBVBVBVBRBBBVBVRR" can often be slop in the mount, you might be able to add a little duct tape to make the connection between mount and camera more rigid, or maybe add a drop of glue on a surface and then let it harden, again to make the camera fit the mount more tight.

the SG9665GC wedge camera much like the vifo solved this problem by adding a thing neoprene sticker to put on the mount.

The vifo seem like a good bet, and you can get it locally and enjoy American buyer protection in regard to the purchase.

Yeah it's for sure the camera's buttons. The mount comes with a nice little flexible foam fitting that sits in the grip that attaches to the mirror arm,
so the mount is solid. But if I take the camera and shake it up and down vigerously, I can recreate that annoying buzzing/vibration sound I hear
when I am driving. I almost put clear tape over the buttons and then thought to myself, if I'm going that far, it may leave residue, might as well
finally just spend enough money and get a dash cam with a better application all around. I am very excited to try the wedge dash cams, because
they're so discreet and unassuming.

Hopefully the A119S-V2 will be awesome. Thanks for your input!
 
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