Simple Dash Cam

[billyblazes]

Had a minor fender bender this morning. Woman claiming she was distracted by her 4 y.o. as she attempted to change lanes ran her left rear quarter panel into my front right fender while we were both traveling in the same direction. She was apologetic and there was no dispute as to the cause of the accident.

While waiting for the traffic officer, I tried to pull up the footage from the dash cam I currently have. I had no success. I read the owners manual and then found a better description of the required steps posted on-line. I was able to access video from days ago. I also have video of my hand removing the dash cam from the windshield after the accident. For the life of me I could not find footage of what had just transpired.

Although the officer said the woman's story was the same as mine and he cited her for careless driving, it bothers me that I could not pull up the video while on-scene to share with the traffic officer. In many ways this completely defeated my reason for having the dash cam. Later this evening I will put the SD card from the camera into my computer to see if I can find the video, but that won't address the frustration of not being able to conveniently locate the footage while on the roadside.

Any recommendations for a dash cam which is constantly recording every moment and allows for simple intuitive history viewing on the camera itself while in the vehicle?

[Frog4aday]

Bumping this back up to help get some eyes on it as I'm also curious what is a good, simple to use dash camera. It's getting crazy out there. Everyone wants to mess with their phone, not drive a car properly. My word & a camera would be a lot better witness to the truth than the old he-said/she-said scenario. 

I'm glad you are okay @billyblazes . Sorry about your vehicle damage though.

[Capbyrd]

14 hours ago, billyblazes said:

Any recommendations for a dash cam which is constantly recording every moment and allows for simple intuitive history viewing on the camera itself while in the vehicle?

Constantly recording may be the hard part.  That much video will destroy storage space. Perhaps just setup a GoPro or action cam.  

[billyblazes]

The SD card in the camera over-writes itself as it becomes full. Because I knew this from reading the owner’s manual when I first installed the camera, I unplugged the camera not long after my fender bender yesterday.  Although I have a 64GB (I think) SD card, which should provide quite a bit of footage, I could not find Yesterdays incident in any of the files. Once home, I used my laptop to go through the SD card. Nothing of yesterday morning’s drive, despite the camera, blinking continuously that it was recording. 
 

This is the second time I have experienced this. Over a year ago I had a close call when someone ran a stop sign. With that particular dash cam I had at that time, it used an app connected to my phone.  Same experience that I was unable to find any footage of that near miss. 
 

I’m at a loss of all the videos I see on YouTube of motorcyclists, truck, drivers, and others who post dash cam footage. The only thing I can ever find on my dash cameras are nonevent.  It has been infuriating as in my case it’s proven to be nothing but a false sense of security.

 

[billyblazes]

Another thing I am learning as I do more reading is that the SD card from time to time may need to be reformatted. However, there’s no indication of when that is necessary. And apparently there’s no rhyme or reason to how often it needs to be done.
 

[Darrell]

What brand and model camera do you have?  I've been thinking about buying one just for the reasons you imply. I only drive a couple days a week, but it seems I encounter oncoming traffic in my lane about every other trip. 

[Defender]

I have an older one I have never really liked so I am not using it.  I would really like to get one I like.  One issue I have is I hate wires laying around.

[Erik88]

The ideal feature would be a Dash Cam that has Bluetooth and sends the video directly to my phone. My dashcam doesn't do this but I haven't had any issues retrieving the data on my computer. I've captured 3 different wrecks on mine. 

Mine is always recording while I drive and will supposedly record if my vehicle is hit while I'm parked. Viofo is the brand. Around $100 on Amazon. 

 

[billyblazes]

It’s Rexing from Amazon. 

[10-Ring]

I've been running an Apeman setup I bought from Amazon for about 5 years now.  It works great.  I think they are about $50. 

[TripleGGG]

I run Rexing dash cams in all my vehicles. Can wifi footage to my phone. 

I run a Garmin (syncs to my GPS and phone) and also a Kenwood (syncs to my flat panel radio) in my motorhome. Monitoring front and rear. 

All cameras have the largest, high quality, SD card they can run. 

Being in insurance I cannot stress how important it is to have some type of proof in accident situations. The number of innocent people left holding the bag just might startle you. 

[BigK]

I'm a big fan of dash cams as well. I run an AKASO DL12 that I picked up pretty cheap on Amazon. I did a lot of product testing for them over the years and one of the products they sent me to test was the previous generation of dash cams. It was so good that I upgraded on my dime when the next gen came out because it has gps and records my speed. Since I don't drive fast, I thought that'd be a bonus if I ever needed to prove I wasn't speeding.

I have some decent offroad footage from the front-facing camera, but haven't needed it for a wreck thank God. It's setup to record 5 minute files until the card is full then overwrites the oldest. You can watch directly on the rearview screen too, which I like. It also has a rear-facing camera that I use as a video rearview mirror because my Jeep tire blocks my mirror. I'd buy this one again in second if anything happened to it.

[Aloha8]

We just got dash cams for both automobiles -- a growing number of incidents right here in our neighborhood -- and this thread reminds me to test and practice bringing up videos on the cams in case we need to show them to the police at the scene. We've been in the "sure, we can do that" camp without actually trying it out .

[Erik88]

Here is one of the wrecks I've captured with my Viofo. I'll eventually upgrade to one that has WiFi capability. 

 

 

 

 

[Darrell]

4 minutes ago, Erik88 said:

Here is one of the wrecks I've captured with my Viofo

Wow, that just came out of the blue, huh?  Good on ya for stopping, not everyone would have.

[Defender]

1 hour ago, Darrell said:

Wow, that just came out of the blue, huh?  Good on ya for stopping, not everyone would have.

And that fence didnt seem to do much good, either.

[Erik88]

22 minutes ago, Defender said:

And that fence didnt seem to do much good, either.

I said the same thing. The only reason why they didn't kill someone on the other side of I40 is because the median had a huge slope that kept them contained to the grass. That type of cable barrier seemed completely ineffective and really concerned me. It's not like it was a big vehicle either. 

[Capbyrd]

1 hour ago, Defender said:

And that fence didnt seem to do much good, either.

I’ve never been a fan.  I’ve always thought they’d be more dangerous.  But I’m generally wary of steel cable in any form.  And I have been since I saw Die Hard with a Vengeance. 

[peejman]

3 hours ago, Erik88 said:

I said the same thing. The only reason why they didn't kill someone on the other side of I40 is because the median had a huge slope that kept them contained to the grass. That type of cable barrier seemed completely ineffective and really concerned me. It's not like it was a big vehicle either. 

I call those the Cuisinart.  They'll slice and dice you right up. 

I saw a guy get into a cable barrier because he didn't notice stopped traffic ahead. The cable failed about 1/4 mile back up the road from where he hit it.  The broken end whipped around and whacked a couple more cars, breaking at least 1 window. 

Imagine if you were on your motorcycle. 

[BigK]

4 hours ago, Capbyrd said:

I’ve never been a fan.  I’ve always thought they’d be more dangerous.  But I’m generally wary of steel cable in any form.  And I have been since I saw Die Hard with a Vengeance. 

I've seen some horrific damage/injuries when winch cables snap, so I agree with you on steel cables. 

[billyblazes]

Reporting back with what I went with.  I purchased this very inexpensive dash cam from Walmart.com.  Only $35.  I bought one for my car and one for my truck.  Being over $50 for the order, no shipping charges.

The buttons/functions are easy to understand.  I've checked numerous times over the past couple of weeks and I've been able to access the footage easily on the camera while seated in my vehicle.  That was just what I was looking for.  No missing footage and able to retrieve footage without hassle on the side of the road.

AUKEY Wifi Dash Cam, 1080P FHD Dash Camera for Cars, 6-Lane 170-Degree Wide Angle Lens Car Camera, Black-DR02 P - Walmart.com

 

[Erik88]

Here is my latest scare. This was 100% intentional by the other driver. He managed to slalom between me and another driver in the slow lane behind me. Had a look of pure crazy on his face when he passed me. I'm uploading the muted version because of my language. 

Well, I thought I muted it but apparently not. Apologies for my words. I don't normally bring Jesus into my cursing but I was rattled. 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited August 9, 2023 by Erik88

[TGO David]

44 minutes ago, Erik88 said:

Here is my latest scare. This was 100% intentional by the other driver. He managed to slalom between me and another driver in the slow lane behind me. Had a look of pure crazy on his face when he passed me. I'm uploading the muted version because of my language

 

Kudos to you for the quick reaction!

[Garufa]

1 hour ago, Erik88 said:

Apologies for my words.

I thought you were rather reserved considering the circumstances. 

 

[Luckyforward]

I have no words . . . so glad you are safe!