Dashcam Thread: Yes I ran the red light pretty badly, but

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Automotive Insanity > Dashcam Thread: Yes I ran the red light pretty badly, but

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spog: Aug 7, 2004; It's your own bloody fault.

I bought a Mobius and I am very happy with it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7wmIyD1fM4M

It doesn't have a screen - but to be honest, you don't need one, so why pay for one?

This also makes it slimline, so it tucks up out of the way pretty easily and looks less like something you would want to steal. build quality seems pretty good - it has a real feeling of quality about it, rather than the plastic crap you tend to get.

The camera is easy to setup with some freeware software. Image quality is excellent.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xSZ8UMDQ_EA

# ¿ Dec 25, 2013 16:18

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# ¿ Apr 28, 2024 21:08

spog: Aug 7, 2004; It's your own bloody fault.

The only thing about the 1+ hour recording is that if you are doing it to protect against theft, there's a good chance that whoever steals your car/breaks a window, will also take the recording device.

A lot of the dashcams do have a motion sensitive option where they start recording when they see something - I suppose that may work as an option if you are looking for recording what goes on around you? With 32GB, the Mobius gets 8hrs of capture time - with motion capture, that could be enough?

# ¿ Dec 25, 2013 20:38

spog: Aug 7, 2004; It's your own bloody fault.

some texas redneck posted:

I asked about making this kind of thread awhile back (2-3 months ago?) in the "you share a road with these fucks" thread... and was shot down. I'm not bitter. Really.

Seriously though, hoping to see some other affordable (<$100 with 1080p and auto start/stop) models brought up outside of the G1W. Partly for variety, partly because I'm a little hesitant to replace my dying one with another G1W. The picture quality is fantastic, but the build quality on mine is garbage, and the issues mine has are definitely hardware. It has a warranty, but shipping it back to China will cost almost as much as buying a brand new one... shipped.

My Mobius was $70, The SJ1000 Action Cam is $80

# ¿ Dec 27, 2013 17:26

spog: Aug 7, 2004; It's your own bloody fault.

Ak Gara posted:

I was thinking about getting one of those square Mobius', and I have a question about the looped recording. Let's say I have it set to 10 minute looped recording and something awesome/terrible happens, can I press a button to save that last 10 minutes and start a new loop with out overwriting that last 10 minutes?

Yes.

Pressing the Mode button while recording will protect the current loop from being overwritten.

That said, with a 32GB card in it, you get 8hrs of recording, so I probably wouldn't bother and just rely on getting home before I run out of space.

http://www.mytempfiles.info/mobius/MobiusManual.pdf

# ¿ Jan 2, 2014 19:12

spog: Aug 7, 2004; It's your own bloody fault.

Lilleput posted:

Looks like Garmin is getting into the Dashcam game

First up is a new high-definition dashboard camera that records video footage of the road ahead and saves data in case of an incident. The dash cam automatically starts recording when the vehicle starts and stops when it stops, and uses a g-sensor to determine if there's been an incident, automatically saving the footage on a four-gigabyte microSD card along with vehicle speed, direction of travel, time and date, geographic location (on the available GPS-equipped model) and even optional audio from inside the vehicle. It's got a 2.3-inch color display and a suction cup to mount to the window. The unit begins shipping in February, starting at $219.99 without GPS or $249.99 with.

http://www.autoblog.com/2014/01/06/garmin-dash-cam-nuvi-gps-ces/

Thanks for the info, but based on my Garmin satnav experience, I think I would rather choose some random chinese manufacturer as there is a greater chance of it actually working (and not crashing when you try to use the voice input facility)

Same specs, less than half the price and much more discrete.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=331062684569

# ¿ Jan 6, 2014 16:56

spog: Aug 7, 2004; It's your own bloody fault.

MrOnBicycle posted:

Anyway, content: I really wished I had a front and back camera today. Whilst going into town I encounter a driver going 60km/h on a 90km/h road. Overly cautious, except when going into a round-about where the driver nearly crashed. Then going home I had a retard riding so far up my rear end I couldn't even see the light from his headlights, and it was dark outside.

I bought one because a good friend of mine was hit by another driver, who admitted fault at the time.

Later, when it came to insurance claim time, the other guy suddenly found a handful of people who all 'witnessed' the accident and blamed my friend who got screwed over.

For me, it is a fit and forget insurance policy.

# ¿ Jan 15, 2014 23:01

spog: Aug 7, 2004; It's your own bloody fault.

The new Russian dashcam video for Jan is up at VodkaVideo and there are some real doozies this month:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xhf6Y4ZLYvA

# ¿ Jan 21, 2014 18:37

spog: Aug 7, 2004; It's your own bloody fault.

Bajaha posted:

They do, but you can buy your license for the equivalent of $20 US from what I hear. I guess it explains the complete lack of skill that some drivers display, as beautifully captured by these dashcam videos.

Having watched a lot of these, I can only assume that the stereotype of hard vodka-drinking is somewhat true.

EDIt: I don;t mean 'LOL, Russians always drunk!!!' - I mean for some of the accidents, I can't figure out why they would make a particular decision unless they were blind drunk.

spog fucked around with this message at 10:30 on Jan 22, 2014

# ¿ Jan 22, 2014 09:27

spog: Aug 7, 2004; It's your own bloody fault.

Nothing to see here

# ¿ Jan 22, 2014 10:30

spog: Aug 7, 2004; It's your own bloody fault.

some texas redneck posted:

Looks like you found a way to deal with it, but I use Windows Movie Maker to trim video clips. It's free.

iMovie works pretty well too.

Freemake Video Convertor was the only option I found that let me edit the quicktime format my dashcam uses. It's a very easy-to-use bit of software.

# ¿ Feb 28, 2014 17:42

spog: Aug 7, 2004; It's your own bloody fault.

Pfox posted:

This is exactly right. Both times I've been hit in a lot, my car was parked and unattended. What I'm looking for is a camera that would sense the shock of an impact, turn on, and hopefully catch the perpetrator's vehicle still touching mine, which ought to be enough to get insurance involved in a constructive manner.

You could get one of the ones with a g-sensor and leave them on all the time.

They would be recording all the time and looping over the old recordings, but when the g-sensor is triggered, that section of recording is marked and never deleted.

Not quite what you want, but would should work.

# ¿ Mar 7, 2014 15:13

spog: Aug 7, 2004; It's your own bloody fault.

You're going to hit a problem with memory.

My 32GB card gives 8 hours of recording: ideal for driving as it gives me 2-3 days stored on the card at any time. If you park your car in the evening and it gets hit, by next morning you'll probably find the accident has been overwritten.

# ¿ Mar 27, 2014 10:42

spog: Aug 7, 2004; It's your own bloody fault.

dpidz0r posted:

My G1W just showed up 2 weeks earlier than expected. I ordered a giant pack of velcro cable ties and a 32gb kingston sd card along with it. Wrapped two velcro ties around the camera on either side of the lens, then wrapped two more around my rollbar to stick the camera to. Another pair of ties around the entire assembly keeps tension against the bar so that it doesn't rotate around, and now I should be all ready to record my morning commute tomorrow.

My 8 minute test drive generated a half gig of video and I'm too lazy to compress it (plus it's a bit crappy since it's dark), but here's a screencap of what the camera is seeing:

It's a bit grainy for my taste, and I feel like the mounting is a tad high. I'll see what it looks like in the daylight tomorrow. I'm also thinking of how I can cut up some PVC pipe to make a mount that'll clip to the rollbar and hold the camera a few inches lower.

Personally, I would avoid having your speedo in shot.

First time I mounted mine, I was quite happy that my GPS was in shot and readable as it was a great way of showing where I was. Then I realised that having the speed visible was a bad thing as it could be used against me (even if such an incident were entirely not my fault, I could image 31mph in a 30mph zone being used against me)

# ¿ Apr 3, 2014 09:24

spog: Aug 7, 2004; It's your own bloody fault.

trouser chili posted:

I was about to ask the same thing. I've got a few good clips since installing the g1w, but uploading full 10 minute clips for a few seconds of action each seems dumb.

Freemake Video Convertor seems pretty good

# ¿ Apr 17, 2014 15:26

spog: Aug 7, 2004; It's your own bloody fault.

Coredump posted:

Is there a reason the Mobius camera isn't more of a consideration for dashcams?
http://www.techmoan.com/blog/2013/7/8/the-mobius-camera-the-do-it-all-mount-anywhere-1080p-micro-c.html

I dunno - I've been singing its praises since the start of this thread.

# ¿ Apr 25, 2014 14:17

spog: Aug 7, 2004; It's your own bloody fault.

Tomarse posted:

I was all set to buy a g1w but loads of you seem to be having weird issues with then. A m�bius is only �5 more - should I get one of these instead?

I really like my mobius. It feels like a quality product, there aren't any known hardware problems with it and there's new firmware about every month - fixing issues and tweaking things that I didn't even know existed.

# ¿ May 7, 2014 23:43

spog: Aug 7, 2004; It's your own bloody fault.

Baconroll posted:

The mobius ignition issue is currently causing me grief. The 12v power socket on my car is always live so I don't want to use it for a dash cam, so I'm using the usb socket instead. The problem is when you unlock the car the usb powers on briefly but not long enough to fully boot the mobius, and by the time I've started the car a few seconds later the mobius doesn't seem to catch it in time so its not turned on. This is a known limitation with the mobius where it needs uninterrupted power at 5 seconds into booting.

I don't want to have plug/unplug the camera or press the power button, so its kind of useless at the moment as I can't rely on it actually recording.

I think the only answer is going to be to put in a separate usb socket thats linked to the ignition which I could hide away in the glovebox to be a bit tidier and more discrete.

Doesn't this setting help that?

quote:

Power-on Delay
This parameter gives the user the choice of having a 2-3 sec. delayed power-up, or an instantaneous power-up with no delay.

# ¿ May 8, 2014 12:42

spog: Aug 7, 2004; It's your own bloody fault.

veedubfreak posted:

I wonder how long before someone like Garmin or TomTom makes a unit that is a windshield mounted GPS unit that also has a camera built in. That would be super sweet.

If Garmin made it, it would probably stop recording just before an accident.

Seriously: I can crash my Garmin Satnav just by shouting at it.

# ¿ May 13, 2014 20:12

spog: Aug 7, 2004; It's your own bloody fault.

MrLonghair posted:

If WinMovieMaker craps itself (it usually does, irreparably) an old version Sony Vegas is the cheapest you can get for replacement, $40 for the most basic, $50 for a more advanced capable one.

WMM will fall over and die if you try to import .mov files (though the error message doesn't explain why). Running them though a convertor (e.g. Handbrake) seems to solve the problem.

# ¿ May 16, 2014 17:12

spog: Aug 7, 2004; It's your own bloody fault.

Axim posted:

I can't believe its this difficult to get a good problem free dashcam. I looked into the mobius as was suggested here, and I did not want to mess with its configuration and such. If only someone would make a custom firmware for the garmin that increases the bitrate to 12 or 15 like the G1W and removes the stupid mass storage prompt when using a non-garmin usb cable.

You don't need to mess around with the config file: there is a dead-simple GUI to use with it:

In fact, I would say that this is easier to use than trying to set up any camera using the limited buttons and screen that they have.

# ¿ May 22, 2014 17:46

spog: Aug 7, 2004; It's your own bloody fault.

TheJoker138 posted:

Yeah, night vision is probably a plus. I'll look into the phone app thing for the GPS. Any suggestions for specific cameras and mounts?

At the the risk of being the resident Mobius pimp....the mount is pretty good.

You can use a suction cup to hold the cradle in the right place and the camera simply slips in and out of the cradle when you need to remove it. You don't have to realign it every time and it even comes with a little lens cap to protect it in your pocket.

# ¿ May 29, 2014 19:40

spog: Aug 7, 2004; It's your own bloody fault.

TheJoker138 posted:

Do you have a link to this? I know literally nothing about dash cams.

grab a packet of popcorn and watch this guy:

http://www.techmoan.com/guide-to-dashcams/

# ¿ May 30, 2014 08:41

spog: Aug 7, 2004; It's your own bloody fault.

FogHelmut posted:

The only thing I question about the Mobius is the small viewing angle.

In the under $100 range, I'm currently thinking the B40/A118. Everything seems reasonable, unless there's some huge negative I'm missing?

http://dashcamtalk.com/b40-a118

Viewing angle is something of a compromise - the wider it is, the more you get in, but the downside is that the interesting area in front of you is smaller.

So, if you think you're going to get T-boned, wider is better. If you think you're going witness bad driving directly in front of you, narrow gives you a clearer picture and makes plates easier to read.

# ¿ Jul 10, 2014 12:43

spog: Aug 7, 2004; It's your own bloody fault.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xq2xStb0R-c

Warning. This is not a feel-good video. Not graphic, but will definitely bring you down.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-norfolk-29064891

quote:

Police have released footage of a motorcyclist's final moments, captured on his helmet camera before he collided with a car.

David Holmes, 38, was riding at 97mph when he died on the A47 at Honingham, Norfolk, in June last year. He collided with a Renault Clio as it turned at a junction.

Police said the driver, who admitted not seeing Mr Holmes or the car travelling behind, was prosecuted in April. Mr Holmes' family allowed the film's release in a bid to try stop more road deaths.

His mother Brenda, of North Walsham, said: "I know he rode fast, he loved speed, he loved motorbikes. "This isn't an easy thing to do but I just hope that someone benefits from it."

Apart from making me sad and making me look 4 times before turning, I found it a very powerful use of this technology. Hopefully it will save a life.

# ¿ Sep 5, 2014 12:49

spog: Aug 7, 2004; It's your own bloody fault.

trouser chili posted:

Yeah, I'm kinda surprised they prosecuted the other driver.

I researched a little further:

quote:

The 38-year-old was an experienced motorcyclist, who had been travelling at speeds of up to 97mph as he returned home to Sprowston from King�s Lynn on June 8 last year but an inquest heard that driver Benjamin Austin would have had sight of him and his bike for seven seconds before the collision.

Austin, 29, of Long Lane, Stoke Holy Cross, pleaded guilty to causing death by careless driving in April and was disqualified from driving for 18 months and ordered to carry out 130 hours� unpaid work.

I think it is signifcant that the prosecution was 'causing death by careless driving' (up to 5 years in prison), rather than 'causing death by dangerous driving' (1 to 14 years in prison). The actual sentence probably reflects how they apportioned blame.

http://www.cps.gov.uk/news/fact_sheets/dangerous_driving/

Still, that final 'oh!' is probably going to haunt me.

# ¿ Sep 5, 2014 15:17

spog: Aug 7, 2004; It's your own bloody fault.

Oddhair posted:

What are the current recommendations, if the G1W is behind the times? I saw the post about the B40/A118 and it not tolerating heat, so for Houston that sounds right out, and I also saw some references to the SJ1000 and SJ4000 and the Mini 0803. I really think I'd like the SJ4000, but I would also like a pair of cameras in the end. Even if they're not the same model, I can have front and rear with the front of course being the higher quality camera.

If it matters, I drive a 2007 VW Rabbit (which is the golf in every other market) so the windshield is raked really far forward, but in the rear it's pretty much a vertical pane of glass. Currently I'm leaning towards the SJ1000 or SJ4000 for the front and maybe the Mini 0803 for the rear, does anyone see anything out of place with this pairing, or have negative (or any, really) experience with the SJ4000? I'm not worried about the wiring side of things, I'm mainly concerned about weird mounting issues, software misbehavior, etc. I'll be watching Techmoan's review videos of the SJ4000, his review of the SJ1000 is what turned me away from it.

I am still very happy with my Mobius (a Techmoan favourite). It's had 4 firmware updates since I bought it and they have all added some good functionality (I can now record in MOV, AVI or MP4).

I can see myself using it forever - possibly relagating it to a rear-view use and adding in something with GPS for the front.

# ¿ Oct 28, 2014 16:10

spog: Aug 7, 2004; It's your own bloody fault.

Samsquamsch posted:

Also, I am thinking about getting a Mobius for my front camera; my car's interior is all beige/tan, and the all-black G1W stands out pretty starkly against my rearview mirror. Also, I am interested in seeing how other dashcams stack up now that I have the admittedly well-functioning 'budget' camera. The Mobius seems at least a little more covert, but also seems to have a lot of potential problems according to this review. Anyone with experience with the Mobius/G1W care to weigh in? Particularly, why does the viewing angle drop when you go down in resolution (shouldn't it be the other way around)?

I have encounted precisely none of those issues: the worst I could say it that the heatsinks do indeed get hot to the touch if you use it on a hot day.

It works well in very low light, the dynamic range/exposure control work well, you can dial in colour correction on the latest firmware if you wish. It sits behind my rear view mirror - my GPS is on the dash directly beneath it.

# ¿ Nov 13, 2014 10:53

spog: Aug 7, 2004; It's your own bloody fault.

Samsquamsch posted:

Thanks, I will probably get a Mobius! Quick question, does it have to be plugged in to my computer to configure, what with the lack of a screen?

Yes.

And I would much rather do it this way, than by playing with little buttons and a shite menu system

http://www.mytempfiles.info/mobius/

# ¿ Nov 13, 2014 20:38

spog: Aug 7, 2004; It's your own bloody fault.

Samsquamsch posted:

Power: Is it 5V? The fuse tap and converter module I bought to originally hardwire my G1W is 12V -> 5V, and I'll be running a 15-20 foot USB cable from the fusebox (left of the steering wheel) all the way across the floor and up to the camera on the right side of my rearview.

Storage: Amazon images say the memory slot is a TF card slot. I assume I can use a microSDHC card. Is this somewhat like the opposite of the G1W in terms of the class of card to use? I'm reading people saying they had problems with lower-speed cards. Amazon is having a sale on flash memory so if a 64GB class 10 SDHC is what I need, I'll scoop one of those up.

Thanks!

5V Mini USB. I am using an ebay 3m cable, plugged into a cigarette lighter USB port.

I believe some people originally had problems with faster SD cards and the recommendation actually was to use a slower card. I bought one with the camera from the supplier, since I knew it was guaranteed to work. Given their proactive approach to firmware updates/bug fixes, I would be surprised if it were still an issue, but I am sure Google can help.

# ¿ Nov 21, 2014 11:17

spog: Aug 7, 2004; It's your own bloody fault.

some texas redneck posted:

I put in my 2 weeks notice yesterday - was already planning to, but that's what pushed me over the edge.

Your boss is a Piece of poo poo and you are a Good Person.

Thanks for stopping - when I had my accident, half a dozen mums on the school run drove past me, depsite my being bent double, next to a crashed car and flagging them down for help.

Makes me consider a rear-facing camera as being essential now.

# ¿ Nov 21, 2014 17:19

spog: Aug 7, 2004; It's your own bloody fault.

Spatule posted:

Aaaand 1 month in, my 0801 led started blinking erratically/randomly. gently caress. Good thing Amazon has my rear end covered.
Any reputable brand making dashcams ?

All the Mobius users here seem happy.

Including me.

# ¿ Dec 17, 2014 19:43

spog: Aug 7, 2004; It's your own bloody fault.

DELETED posted:

Been looking into dashcams lately... the problem is, I live somewhere with an extreme climate. Winter can see lows in the -20° to -30°f range, and highs around 105°f to 110°f. What should I be looking for that will withstand this kind of use? Or should I just get a G1W and replace it whenever it finally bites it?

Get one that quickly unclips and take it out of the car when you stop driving.

# ¿ Jan 16, 2015 08:21

spog: Aug 7, 2004; It's your own bloody fault.

Being a Brit, we don;t have to worry about all that nonsense.

What does worry me is dying in a car accident, having my dashcam played as evidence and having my last words be noted as my singing along (badly) to Rocky Horror.

# ¿ Jan 20, 2015 17:50

spog: Aug 7, 2004; It's your own bloody fault.

Laserface posted:

skim the videos. I do and dont feel like i miss anything important.

Glad it's not just me.

I feel a bit guilty, but drat it, you don't need 20mins to review a single camera.

# ¿ Apr 9, 2015 14:08

spog: Aug 7, 2004; It's your own bloody fault.

Trying to move my dashcam to a new car and it's not easy to find a way to cable it in neatly.

I have a satnav that I use - is there such a thing as a USB mini Y adaptor? So I can take the satnav's USB mini plug and also use it to supply the dashcam's USB mini?

# ¿ Apr 12, 2015 22:33

spog: Aug 7, 2004; It's your own bloody fault.

CharlesM posted:

Sure but it's questionable if the power adapter can supply both. If your navigation also has FM traffic it often uses a signal from the power adapter too.

You're probably right: the Garmin has something funky going on with its power supply: a genuine Garmin cable will let you use it in a car, a generic USB cable will force it into charge-only mode: so they've probably got a short or something in there.

I am currently having a problem working out how to install my dashcam without horrible cables all over my shiny dash.

# ¿ Apr 13, 2015 09:31

spog: Aug 7, 2004; It's your own bloody fault.

Laserface posted:

hide them in the roof liner like everyone else in the thread.

About that....

actually, it's not a big deal to run it around the windscreen/A pillar, the problem is getting it from the base of the A pillar to the centre console, without having to open up the dash. I am half-wondering if I could take a feed from the courtesy light or autodim mirror and hide a 12v-5v converter up inside there. Can you tap straight into a light feed that, or will the CANBUS complain?

# ¿ Apr 13, 2015 14:23

spog: Aug 7, 2004; It's your own bloody fault.

Hdip posted:

I drive a lot for work and my old garmin gps is starting to freeze up. Been thinking about a dash cam too and found this tonight. Nuvicam http://www.amazon.com/Garmin-010-01378-01-NuviCam-LMTHD/dp/B00WAP8PI2

I'm assuming you guys are going to say it's too expensive, but keep in mind it's a write off and I don't really know how to wire stuff up. All that said am I better off going with separate gps and Dashcam?

If I understand the Garmin product range, then you're paying an extra $200 for a dashcam - yeah that is excessive.

Wiring up a dashcam is identical to wiring up a GPS: if you can manage one, you can manage the other.

# ¿ May 23, 2015 23:03

spog: Aug 7, 2004; It's your own bloody fault.

SpeedGem posted:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5IQSpHYkMkY

You don't need to watch the whole thing, but this ones pretty good, watch at 4:58 for a polite tire, and at 9:39 for peak russia.

Be warned: it's not exactly 'no one was harmed in the making of this movie' material.

# ¿ Jun 16, 2015 16:15

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# ¿ Apr 28, 2024 21:08

spog: Aug 7, 2004; It's your own bloody fault.

For context, this was at the end of a long, 'spirited', though legal drive.

I'd just entered the outskirts of town and was coming up to a point which was a favourite location for a mobile speed trap - so I was consciously being careful about my speed and keeping an especial eye out for signs of police vehicles.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f4HCBAE81Jc

# ¿ Jun 17, 2015 10:14

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Automotive Insanity > Dashcam Thread: Yes I ran the red light pretty badly, but

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