I know this subject has been discussed some time ago, but as I am now looking for one as a prezzy for my SIL, I find that they have more functions from when I last was interested in them.
I have been reading reviews on a few and the reports are two sided as for good and bad reports.
So asking of the experience that you people have had, what is the recommended ones that I should be looking at.
I am looking to spend about £100.
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Which magazine’s Top 5 are all Nextbase models.
I have the 312GW Deluxe which, apparently, £87.95.
The newer 412GW Professional is currently selling for £109.00.
They are ranked at No 1 (72%) and No 5 (70%) , respectively.
No 6 is the Transcend DrivePro 230 for £149.94 at 69%.
If you have another model in mid, let me know what it is and I will check it for you.
I have the 312GW which does the job and the hard wire kit is well worth getting. Don’t forget you will also need a micro SD card about 32 gig is right.
hard wiring isn’t hard , working from the window position all you have to do is feed the cable under the roof cover , being plastic it will pull out enough to feed the cable behind. Take it down inside the door rubber shut and to where the inside fuse box is.
You will need to look to either find a spare fuse or piggyback off an exisiting one, I did it to the heated car seat fuse. Make sure the fuse is not perminantly live and is off when the ignition is off.
Sounds hard but actually relatively easy or the well known car part shop will do it for you for a small fee .
this is mine in action . I can’t position it by the centre mirror and had to place it next to the A pillar passanger side. I also put black tape around the camera over the name as it stood out like a beacon . I am trying to persuade my wife to have one as well
Here is one of mine, not often close enough for number plates in this clip as I don’t drive up to bumper of the car infront
This is on the settings as bought but can be altered via the menu button
One where[FONT=“Arial Black”] if[/FONT] the car was hit we had proof of whose fault it was. Luckily we were far enough away to stop in plenty of time. count the number of steps away the person walking took, about 7 or 8 so you can work out how close we were
Thanks Omah.
I have been looking at the Mio Mivue models. But the reviews were not so good.
Also I was surprised at the Garmin models, also some bad reports of after sale service.
Some time back a neighbour gave me a Nextbase to play with. The battery was dead and I opened it up in an attempt to replace the battery. Too many wires became detached in the effort. So it was a bin job.
I did run it at first with the power lead, and was impressed at the quality of the results.
Mio MiVue 538 Deluxe £119.00 58%
Review extract:
The footage from the MiVue 538 is reasonably detailed, but the image can be blocky and this does affect the quality of the video. Number plates are legible up to around 10m, which would allow you to read the number plate of a car if you had a crash, but we would prefer it to be more - you’re expected to see number plates from 20m away to pass a driving test.
As with most of the older dash cams we’ve tested, footage deteriorates a lot in low-light conditions. Number plates could just about be read when driving in well-lit areas, but only from less than 5m away - unlikely to be enough if you wanted to prove whose fault a crash is.
Early battery failure was common with previous models - I believe that’s no longer the case.
Thanks for your quick replies guys. It would seem the ‘Nextbase’ is the one to go for so far.
When I am ready it will be an Amazon purchase and for me it is easy to ‘click and collect’ from my local Morrison’s and their yellow boxes.
So much easier than waiting in all day for a parcel to be delivered.
As for hard wiring, that would be up to my SIL. I notice that you can use an USB lead with a suitable car lighter. Plug.
I looked at a lot of makes and decided on the one above
I have a Nextbase, and am very impressed with the quality of recording. I have not hard wired it but prefer to keep it indoors. I have to remember to press the sucker pad hard onto the windscreen before pushing down the clamp, as otherwise it will fall off if hitting a bump and it records the sky before I can stop and redo it. Brother got someone to hard wire his.
I put my sat nav on a heavy base in front of it. (The sat nav holder was bought in Halfords.)
Jazz
with hard wired you can either slide the unit out of the suction holder part or unplug and remove the whole lot. Having it hard wired saves having something dangling down into a cigar lighter plug. Halfords do hard wiring by the way. i did mine straight into the fuse box with a piggyback connector
I bought one of these (and one for Marge too), following a recommendation from someone on here.
http://www.carcamerashop.co.uk/mobius-action-camera-dash-cam-version.html
They are small and unobtrusive, yet provide excellent high definition pictures.
If you buy one, I’d suggest you pay a fiver extra and ask for the capacitor option to be fitted (free). If you then connect to a cigar lighter socket (if they still do them) the camera will turn on when you turn on the ignition and turn off when you turn off or, of course, you can have it hard-wired with the same effect.
I’ve had no trouble from it for the best part of a year (I think), and I’d recommend it to you.
JBR. I think we have gone down this road in the past.
I agree the Möbius makes a good car cam as I also have one. Yes it is very versatile as I also use mine on my model planes and cars. Also for FPV with the added transmitter.
I cannot have a capacitor fitted or hard wire it in, as I said it’s used for other things.
Ah, I’m sorry. I forgot that it was you who recommended the Mobius.
I take it, then, that you are not considering this particular one for your SiL?
Definitely going to recommend the Mobius Action Cams here.
The large dashcams like Nextbase are imo pointless.
They are too large and easily spotted that you couldn’t feel happy leaving one in your car when you leave it. In fact you’d be stupid to leave such a dash cam on your windscreen/console in plain sight, it will just entice thieves to break into your car and take it.
To avoid that you’d have to constantly remove the dash cam each and every time you leave the car. Every visit to the supermarket, every time you go out. That’s an inconvenience.
Plus then, every time you come back you have to put it back in place and make sure it is pointing in the right direction and plug in the power cable. A nuisance and one that will eventually see the power connection point compromised imo.
You could leave the dashcam in the glove compartment but let’s be honest, every thief knows silly people do that. They leave sat nav’s in there too. Thieves know they are there because the dimwits leave the windscreen holder in full view still stuck to the windscreen.
My final point is this. If you are going to do dashcams then you need 2 cameras, one front, one back. Deadly serious here. Of al the incidents that occur, rear end shunts are extremely common. If you get shunted you’ll want the footage. It might show the driver on their mobile phone, eating, drinking etc.
How inconvenient would having 2 Nextbase dashcams be, having to remove them every time you leave the car etc?
The Mobius cameras sit in the palm of your hand, approx 2 inches long. They are extremely discrete, can not be seen when stood outside the car if you install them well and they perform brilliantly. Recording in full HD with fully configurable loop recording.
If you did want to remove one when you leave the car you are carrying something the size of your car remote key fob. No problem at all.
I now own 4 of these devices.
I have 2 permanently installed in the car, one front, one back.
I carry a 3rd in my trouser pocket everywhere I go, 24x7. I can record anything at a moments notice in full HD and do so completely discretely, unseen. If I am involved in a car accident, the first thing I do is switch it on, get out of my car and make sure I point it at the other driver and anyone in his/her car. I do a walkaround of their car, filming the damage. I point it at the surroundings to capture road and weather conditions and any witness car registrations etc.
This stuff is absolutely vital for any claim.
Within 4 weeks of receiving my first 2 Mobius cameras, my car was rear shunted by a young lad in a Peugeot. He claimed not to have a mobile phone when we asked him for a number. He borrowed my wife’s phone to call his dad or other family members who arrived amazingly quickly, within 10 mins and towed his damaged car away.
The lad could have given us any made up old info. False name, address etc.
My handheld dashcam had complete footage of HIM and of his family members who arrived and of their towing vehicle.
The family of the young lad phoned me and asked not to go through insurance. I refused on the basis that it is a known phenomena that many people say they will settle privately but then go back on their word.
I sent everything to the insurance company and they responded instantly, waived my excess, arranged repairs at a really good garage, gave me a courtesy car and all was sorted swiftly.
The dashcam footage made all the difference, not just the footage from the car camera but equally the handheld footage of the driver and the damage to his car.
It was a slam dunk case.
Large dashcams are imo just a waste of time. A discrete device is needed as well as one you can carry around in your pocket.
Realist, I take your point about front and rear cameras. When Marge retires after Christmas, I’ll seriously consider getting rid of my car. At that time I can install my camera in the back window of her (our) car, so we’ll have both.
One minor problem, however. My old car has a power socket both in the front below the dashboard, which I presently use, and a second one in the boot. My wife’s car doesn’t have the extra one in the boot, so I’m not sure how to connect the rear camera to the power.
May I ask how you connect to power for your rear camera?
Sure
I bought 4 of these, 1 for each camera
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0042RQU42/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o08_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Basically 3m long digi cables.
The important aspect, apart from the length, is the right angled connector that goes into the camera. This is essential because any cable that simply connects straight out of the camera socket will eventually wear the socket, pulling at it with the weight of the cable.
This cable allows you to connect really well with the cable at right angles to the camera so no stress is put on the socket and you can conceal the cable easily then.
I run one 3m cable from the centre console cigarette lighter down to the floor, under the car mat, over to the door, up and inside the door seal and out at the top where it ends behind the sun visor. The only part of the cable that is visible is the small part at the top going to the visor.
The front camera is placed “inside” the visor, i.e between the visor and the roof. The visor keeps it in place and being up there so high it is not readily visible from outside of he car.
The other cable again runs from the centre console (I use a 2 socket USB adapter in the lighter) and goes to the back of the car.
You can work this any way you want really. Just buy a cable long enough to do what you want with it.
Definitely get cables with those right angle connectors though imo.
Thanks Realist.
That’s what I was hoping for: the two cameras run from a single, two outlet USB adaptor.
The cable that came with the camera is just about long enough to extend as far as the front camera, but the back camera will certainly need a longer one.
I’ll have to measure up for the rear camera, but hopefully a 3m cable will do.
Very sensible, as you say, to have a rear facing camera. In addition to the reasons you give, one annoyance I find is the occasional tailgater! I make it a practice to gently slow down if one of those prats tries it on. For one thing, should they actually run into me, the damage will be less. For another, slowing them down really seems to upset them!
There are another few cameras that you can use as a dash cam. I know someone that uses a Go-pro.
In the past I have even used a ‘key fob camera’ that was a pre Möbius type. Very small and inconspicuous.
Some of the dedicated dash cams are offered with a second one for the rear window. Also they are Wi-fi so that you can download your video clips to your smart phone.
They also will automatically save the video clip if an accident happens. Something called ‘G force’. Again there is motion detect.
But I expect that you all know this if you keep up with market trends.
If anyone is interested in acquiring a Möbius, they can be got for less than £60 in places.
I should mention that there is a new Möbius model out now. I don’t like it as it has the buttons on the side. So easily pressed when removing it from is holder.
So back to the topic of this thread.
It would seem that I will go for a Nextbase dashcam for my SIL as I feel sure that he would not be happy playing with a Möbius.
What Realist said about using a third one to record vehicle damage and the people, I feel sure that the smart phones would be brought into action for this.
I think I misunderstood your ‘SIL’ earlier, thinking it was your sister in law. Perhaps it was ‘son in law’?
Go on then, where can I get a Mobius for £60? I wish I’d known that earlier!
https://m.banggood.com/Mobius-Mini-1080P-110-Degree-Wide-Angle-Super-Light-FPV-Full-HD-Camera-DashCam-60FPS-H_264-AVC-p-1092165.html?gmcCountry=GB¤cy=GBP&createTmp=1&cur_warehouse=CN&utm_source=googleshopping&utm_medium=cpc_ods&utm_content=heath&utm_campaign=pla-quad-gb-pc&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIvKqEsp7a1wIVjrftCh3FRQWxEAQYASABEgLTdPD_BwE
It’s the new version.
My mistake. It is my Son-in-law.
Also the old version.