[contrail_25]

Anyone here have or had a dash camera? I've had several '****-your-pants' close calls here in ABQ and am thinking about investing in a camera to record the crazy ass drivers here.

...and to have proof when someone hits my new crosstrek.

 

[Subir_roo]

It's not a bad option. Can't ever hurt to have film! Just make sure it's not in the way and it's secured well!

 

[avimia]

I too have been seeing drivers adding this more and more. The only concern I would have is how/if it could affect any air bag deployments or sensors up there. Got to seriously re-thinking about putting things on my dash (including something as simple as a dash mat) specifically for this reason. Maybe not an issue, but I haven't seen any "proof" for it yet either. Wonder if a person could hook up a "second" camera on the back of the rear view mirror some how??

 

[AWDfreak]

Definitely a good idea. Heck, I'm even thinking about riding my bike with a camera, I'm tired of riding my bike amongst drivers who don't care for cyclists!

 

[Subir_roo]

That's for sure! I have been hit and run off the road a few times on my bikes.
Check this one out, it was local here in CO:
Driver harasses cyclists as cameras roll

Guy got the whole thing on his iphone. Turns out this same driver had been harassing multiple people over the past few weeks.

 

[chasem]

I don't own one yet, so I don't know about their battery life and such yet... But GoPro cameras are supposed to be phenomenal and can be mounted pretty much anywhere you could want.

Granted, they're not cheap, but the low end model would suffice for this purpose.

I'm not familiar with the market for dash cameras though, so there may be something that works far better for this. Just had those on my mind because I've been researching them for bike riding, snowboarding and whatnot

 

[RubySu]

I think that is a idea whose time is coming. I saw a program where the drivers are so bad in Russia that nearly everyone has some type of recording device on their vehicle. If the insurance companies get behind it, you can guarantee that it will become widely available and encouraged. They already have the devices that plug into your OB computer that can discount your rate...can camera evidence be far behind? I'm undecided if I would support this type of technology as standard.

 

[AWDfreak]

I think that is a idea whose time is coming. I saw a program where the drivers are so bad in Russia that nearly everyone has some type of recording device on their vehicle. If the insurance companies get behind it, you can guarantee that it will become widely available and encouraged. They already have the devices that plug into your OB computer that can discount your rate...can camera evidence be far behind? I'm undecided if I would support this type of technology as standard.

Standard equipment, no. Some people value privacy.

Though readily-available option, yes! Proper evidence for certain situations would be helpful for everyone.


Subir_roo, I have definitely seen that terrifying video and single-handedly convinced me I need a camera system while riding.


As for automotive camera systems, anyone know if this is any good? 4 cameras seems like a great idea to me
http://www.brickhousesecurity.com/product/covert+rear+view+mirror+cam+with+recording+dvr.do?sortby=bestSellers&from=fn

 

[Skidder]

Here you go...

http://gopro.com/camera-mounts/suction-cup

Perfect.

 

[skillet]

The GoPro and the Contour Roam are popular options for this kind of thing, both have numerous attachment options available, including numerous ways to attach one to a vehicle (even on the outside; lots of car demos use them, as do TV shows). I own a Contour as I prefer its 'bullet' shape given my needs when I bought it (I own the headband attachment) and its simple on/off slider switch (not sure if the newer GoPros have gotten around to implementing this same idea, but the older ones had clunky interfaces; granted, if you're just using it as a dash camera and not for other stuff, 'instant on' video capture may not be a requirement for you).

 

[LittleBigHead]

Jalopnik just did some dash camera review recently. They reviewed a cheapo $10 cam, a mid priced ~ $50 cam, and an expensive $200 They chose the mid priced one. The cheap one was what you'd expect. The expensive one was sketchy. The mid priced one was decent as long as you got a real one and not some knockoff.

http://jalopnik.com/this-is-the-mid-priced-dash-cam-you-should-buy-475625317

 

[AWDfreak]

Jalopnik just did some dash camera review recently. They reviewed a cheapo $10 cam, a mid priced ~ $50 cam, and an expensive $200 They chose the mid priced one. The cheap one was what you'd expect. The expensive one was sketchy. The mid priced one was decent as long as you got a real one and not some knockoff.

http://jalopnik.com/this-is-the-mid-priced-dash-cam-you-should-buy-475625317

WOW! Thanks! That's the kind of camera I would buy for my daily driver (because the other one I previously posted is a bit overkill)

 

[contrail_25]

I have several GoPros, and started using my old one this week. It's only Tuesday and I've caught some good stuff on camera. Mostly red light runners, as in not even close, one of which was a school bus. I'm going to start a highlight reel of Albuquerque drivers. They don't disappoint.

Most dash cameras I've seen online are mounted up near the rear view mirror and include a DVR. The low-light performance of my GoPros is not that great, so that's another reason I'm looking at some of these dash cams.

 

[chasem]

I have several GoPros, and started using my old one this week. It's only Tuesday and I've caught some good stuff on camera. Mostly red light runners, as in not even close, one of which was a school bus. I'm going to start a highlight reel of Albuquerque drivers. They don't disappoint.

Most dash cameras I've seen online are mounted up near the rear view mirror and include a DVR. The low-light performance of my GoPros is not that great, so that's another reason I'm looking at some of these dash cams.

I'd watch that video! Back when I used to kinda keep up with failblog, there was a picture posted once where one police officer plowed into the rear end of another so hard that the front car was up on the rear car's hood. You guessed it, Albuquerque Police.

Which GoPros do you have? I read somewhere the low-light performance of the hero3 black isn't too bad. Of course if you have one, I'd take your word over that

 

[contrail_25]

I have the original HD, and the new Black edition. The functionality on the Black is just amazing. I haven't used it much at night, might have to take it for a test run.

I'm still leaning towards finding a dash cam since I don't have to mess with charging batteries every night, running out of space on the HD card, ect. While the Black does have a 'loop' capability, the battery would still be an issue.

As far as driving on the front lines, nothing all that interesting today. Well there was a homeless guy wearing some sort of Russian army overalls with a Santa Claus hat....

 

[chasem]

I have the original HD, and the new Black edition. The functionality on the Black is just amazing. I haven't used it much at night, might have to take it for a test run.

I'm still leaning towards finding a dash cam since I don't have to mess with charging batteries every night, running out of space on the HD card, ect. While the Black does have a 'loop' capability, the battery would still be an issue.

At the risk of going off topic, why did you choose black over silver? I'm definitely wanting a GoPro, but I can't choose between the two. I kinda felt like the features of the black were almost worth the $100 upgrade price, then I realized the black also comes with the $80 remote... so the features are really only $20.

But then I saw the estimated battery life is ~30 minutes longer on the silver (on similar settings), and wondered if I'd really use the higher resolution and other features of the black to warrant the feature/battery life tradeoff...

I guess what I'm asking is what features got you to go with the black over the silver, and is the "loss of battery life" worth it, or did you just pick up some additional batteries?

 

[contrail_25]

I went with the Black because it offered me the most flexibility in my shooting. 1080p at 60fps is great for high res slow motion. It also has a ton of extra video modes the Silver doesn't. I'm not sure if the Silver does the continuous loop recording (think dashcam). For plain photo shooting, it can do a 30 frame per second burst (only 10/sec on the silver). This is a really slick option to catch fast motion. I've played around with it a few times and am impressed. The Black also can do simultaneous video/photo. Supposedly the Black has better low light, but I haven't tested this and don't have a baseline other than my HD GoPro to compare it to.

Now as far as the batteries go...I'm not all that impressed. If you have wifi on, it's abysmal. I usually shoot with all the extra emitting stuff turned off, and can get about 1+15 out of it. I'm going to buy one or two extras. That's how I rolled with my old HD anyways, or any of my cameras for that matter.

I usual advice is take into consideration what you are going to use it for and then how much editing you are going to be doing. Does your style really require all the special bells and whistles?

I'll post some examples of videos with the Black in a bit.

 

[contrail_25]

Here's part of my drive today. 1080p 30fps


http://youtu.be/iKCynNmQ2bc

 

[chasem]

It had slipped my mind that you're in Albuquerque. Had to watch that a few times just for the scenery. I should be back out there this time next month - I miss that area so much.

Anyway... that footage looks fantastic. I'm always amazed at the quality of what I see from GoPros. Gonna have to figure out how I want to narrow it down...

By the way, I read that these batteries are good ones for the GoPros - two batteries + charger for ~$25.

 

[contrail_25]

$25 for two new batteries isn't a bad investment. I'm going to see if my USB cable will charge the camera in the car.

If you miss ABQ scenery, here's a shot from our hike last weekend: