Car-mounted camera suggestions?

[Ron3]

I see all kinds of stuff during my commute.

It would be nice to record things out of my front windshield and save up the interesting parts for prosperity or laughs.

What is a good camera system to do this with?

I'd like it to be discreet. Power is another issue because I'm not willing to have a power cord hanging down in my field of view all the time.

Ideas? Products?

[Ned Christiansen]

Me too. Looking at YouTube, apparently, Every. Single. Driver. in Russia has one. We should have them too for a variety of reasons. Interested in the responses.

[C-grunt]

Dont know about battery life or capacity but a few buddies have GoPros and they are amazing.

[Hmac]

I can't say my commute is particularly interesting...might not even see another car. But...there are a lot of great twisty back roads up here and I love rippin' those up in the Z, usually with a GoPro on a suction cup mount somewhere on the body.

[ForTehNguyen]

In addition to this I bought a mini USB hardwire, mini USB extension cord so I dont hog a cigarette socket. I like the clean hidden wires look. 4 cars at the house are running this camera

http://www.amazon.com/G1WH-Recorder-Dashboard-140%C2%B0-Authentic/dp/B00KZ0J452/ref=sr_1_10?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1430172213&sr=1-10

[nimdabew]

I don't work for this company. I have not used their product yet.

When I was searching for a forward mount dash cam, I wanted something low profile, had GPS, shock sensors, and auto record for the car. I finally settled on this model, but haven't gotten around to buying it yet.

There are some really good videos that would allow you to look at the abilities of the unit that know a lot more about these things than I do. Do your on research, but from what I have found, spending a couple bills on one is a better investment than cheating out and getting a cheaper model.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00CXB186Y/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_S_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&colid=2HJFJCXC1R9FR&coliid=I3NG145M64EU15


https://youtu.be/ZBCWZtOlbVU

Here is one supposidly done by the listed camera above.


https://youtu.be/ngCkMu4ByHg


https://youtu.be/-gf9uLzjCGo

Like I said, I really want one of these, but I can't justify it right now with my current car. As far as the wire routing, you can hard wire it into your car. There is 10 feet of power cable going to the camera so you can do a quick and dirty fuse and then wire it up to a relay, say make it replace the wires going into the cig lighter Or maybe splice it into your radio power cables and a ground somewhere. It wouldn't be hard to hide the wires under your A pillar and then route it to your car stereo. If you wanted to get fancy, you can open up the overhead light panel and splice it into your moon roof power cables as well.

[jmp45]

This is crazy cheap now, $16. I have 2 for a couple of years. The first was effected by heat over a period of time. Second works without issues. Just make sure you use a class 4 not a class 10 card. We have a GoPro Hero3 but it would be overkill for the purpose, plus we don't worry about this cam in a car lot. It's cheap. Video quality is suitable on these. I have it recording in 3 minute segments. After a few incidents with idiots I always have it up and on when we venture out on the weekends. It's on always when the car is running. We have it mounted just in front of the rear view mirror out of the way. You can turn the audio off too so conversations aren't recorded.

Not sure about the reviews, maybe the product has changed, it was about $35 or $40 a couple years ago.

http://tinyurl.com/kqpdbno

Review..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ajxnm3xFCTk

This is a pretty good example of this cam, it's a k6000. Viewing full screen not so much, focus is better on ours. We can read signs and plates. You can set digital zoom on it too. Works for us.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t1ckXMa-OsA

[tb-av]

I was researching these for a while. Seem to be popular with the quadcopter crowd. http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_1?url=search-alias%3Delectronics&field-keywords=sjcam5000&sprefix=sjcam500%2Celectronics

[montrala]

Those are also popular here. According to several tests and reviews what makes out useful ones from useless usually comes down to field of view and how they work in low light conditions. BlackVue brand seems to have good reviews.

[Spiffums]

The Tachyon DPS HD (what they call the guncam) has a mode for recording while plugged to a 12v socket. It's about $200 and you can use it for riding a motorcycle or recording gun matches.

[ex95B10]

I have been using a GoPro for 8 years now and each new model is more impressive than the previous, but as stated above it might be overkill if you're just recording your commute to work.
The GoPro can record upside down and right side up, it is also extremely durable and the company stands behind their product.
My GoPro is mounted on a RAM suction mount which makes it even more versatile in the many different ways it can be mounted and moved in just seconds.

[Voodoo_Man]

The Tachyon DPS HD (what they call the guncam) has a mode for recording while plugged to a 12v socket. It's about $200 and you can use it for riding a motorcycle or recording gun matches.

I have had three k6000 cameras. One still functions well with a class 10 32gb card.

I recently bought a g1w and its been having issues but the quality is light years ahead. 720@60fps is amazing.

Go on amazon, do some research and find the one right for you.

I would highly suggest to get one with a lcd screen because that way you can show the recording to an officer.

[1_click_off]

Check out this guy on YouTube. MarkHawkCam he does a in depth review of POV cameras. A friend turned me onto his channel and he does some good reviews.

[Ron3]

Thanks everyone!