Welcome to the forum Sean.
The Viofo come with a means of power that you plug into the 12 V socket in your dash or console, this will give the camera power to record when you drive.
The wire are generally plenty long, so you can route it to a side, up the A pillar ( behind the plastic trim there ) and then back across the windscreen to the middle, at the top excess wire can always be crammed in on top of the headliner, there are usually just a gap between it and the windscreen / roof.
You can find many tutorials on how to install dashcams on youtube, no matter the brand it is generally the same for them all.
Hard wire you only need in 2 cases. A. you want to keep your dash 12 V socket free for other stuff, or B. You want to be able to use parking guard, meaning the camera will record while parked for a set time or until a low voltage limit are hit ( never go below 12.2 volts in low voltage it will damage battery / take off its service life )
Parking guard in SoCal can be a problem in the sun at least, after all all electronics have a MAX temperature, a dashcam will just shut itself off it it get too hot.
BUT ! if you do not use parking guard, the camera will sit there OFF and cook just fine, and come on when you go for a drive, mind you you do NOT want to use one of those things you put in the windscreen to keep the sun out, these generate SO much extra heat in the small gap to the windscreen that a dashcam there might have buttons melt, but if you do not use something like that you should be good.
The internal power source in a dashcam ( capacitors or lipo battery ) are just there to finalize the last recording in case of a violent event where power might get cut, capacitors are more heat tolerant than lipo batteries that night swell up.
Capacitors can also die but it is very rare VS lipo batteries, capacitors are the way to go.
In my case seating up the cameras there are a few default things i change or make sure are selected as my settings.
A. i want to record in 3 minute long segments, there usually are a option for 1 - 2 - 3 - 5 - 10 minutes.
B. I want to use the best image quality / bitrate, so i always use the highest option often called maximum.
C. I set my time zone to have the time date correct, right now in summer this mean GMT +2 hours for a Dane, but GMT +1 hour outside of summer time. Dashcams like computers and phones can not handle this automatic.
D. i just use 30 FPS video, some cameras can do 60 FPS, but in this case as it is a accident recorder a faster frame rate are not needed, if you was making scenic drive videos it would be different, but then a dashcam would be the wrong tool for that, at least if you want to do it really well.
E. I disable ( if possible ) the G-sensor for when driving, and if OFf are not possible i set it to LOW, the G-sensor will automatic lock what it think are events, but you driving on a road the damn state do not take care off are not really a event.
For the little things in traffic i do want to save i use the manual event button on the camera.
E. i do like to have my speed displayed / watermarked on the footage, as well as the time / date, some also allow for other things like the map coordinates, but my OCD dont like those.
Aside for that there are a option to have the factory name / model in the footage, this can be turned off in the Viofo camera, same go for a custom txt option where you can enter your plate # or something else, just 9 - 10 digits long,,,,,, most done use this and it is off default.
The camera record all the time no matter what, some newbies think they just save actual events, but thats not the case, so with a plenty large memory card, ans here you should at least have 128 GB, you will have many hours on storage, if you drive as little as i do daily it is more like days of footage.
So just press the event button for things you want to be damn sure are not deleted, this lock the current file segment, so in my case that would be a 3 minute file.
It can be a problem if the moment you press the event button are light at the start of a segment or the end, as then you have little from before or after, but this will them be in the regular files, so just dont take too long to retrieve your footage.
IF ! you have had a major event, you will not be driving any more today anyway, so dont turn car completely off to let the camera record any useable after event footage, like the other part lying his ass off to you or maybe police if they are there, it could also be threats ASO flying, so let the door be open or open a window so the microphone have a chance to record things like that, only talk to people near your car if possible, but of course if it is a wreck in the middle of the freeway you want to stay clear of it.
Also buy your camera and memory card at a trusted local seller, so you have some degree of service and support, memory cards are faked or can be fake if you go shopping for the absolutely dirt cheapest card, this will mean the card you think are 128 GB are only 16 GB in size
Also be advised that no dashcam are truly set and forget, so looking over your footage every few months are a good idea, i do this on the PC with the memory card in a card reader, and it take me 15 minutes or so looking over a 256 GB large memory card.
What i look for are primarily the first and last files in drive sessions, and i just play a few seconds of each file, just enough to see where it is, in my case that is where i live - where i do my shopping - my favorite gas station - my friends place - families place.
If you have a first / last file that are in some random place,,,,, well that should warrant further investigation for sure.
Afer that is done, i sample some random files around the card, again just playing a few seconds of the file in this case just to see if the files are playable ( not corrupted )
