I'm just watching a program on ITV about "accidents" captured on dash cameras and it's proving to be a really good advert for the use of such devices. I actually live not far from Eden point, the scene of several staged "accidents" where a crash-for-cash scam was going on some years ago. It was actually featured in the program tonight. To the point though; who here uses one, and can anyone recommend a decent unit?
The guy over at http://www.techmoan.com/ does good reviews of units. I got one of these ones and its been brilliant so far. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X16kiyDtTms#t=159
I'm a Techmoan subscriber too, and have made a couple of purchases based on his advice. I'm currently running a Mobius as a rear facing camera in this configuration and a Transcend Drivepro 200 dash cam, mounted just behind my rear view mirror in the van. I took the decision to install these in the van after my insurance company blamed me for two accidents in which I was completely innocent last year. One involved a van pulling out in front of me at a roundabout and was partially blamed on both parties and one was a single vehicle incident caused by a slippery road surface, which was put down to driver error. If I'd had a dash cam on board for either incident I would have been able to provide my insurer with evidence that would leave me completely blameless on both occasions. I haven't had any problems whatsoever with either camera yet; what I will say is that because the Mobius lacks a screen, it's very hard to position it to capture exactly what you want. I have a wide angle lens on it and spent some time adjusting it, downloading a clip, readjusting it, re-downloading the clip and so on until I got it where I wanted it. The DP200 is a brilliant dash cam, unfortunately because of the size and angle of both my windscreen and dashboard, it picks up fairly bad reflections of the dash in sunlight and streetlight at night, but you can still see what's going on out in front of the vehicle so it wouldn't be a problem if the footage was going to be used as evidence of an accident. I might upload a clip from the DP200 when I get to my desktop computer later; I downloaded footage of a few trips from earlier this week to compare some journey times.
I've been watching a few of his videos now, and they are very informative. The Mobius in particular looks good. My main concern with all the dash cams he reviews, and in fact all the cams that seem to be readily available, is that they all seem to be rather plastic fantastic. Like they've all been shipped in from China. While they do the job, there's no indication of reliability. I'm also amazed how there's no major players involved in their manufacture. The only brand I recognised was Transcend, and I thought they only did sd/cf memory cards.
He does tend to review the cheaper models, 'tis true, but that's mainly because they/those ones are popular in China and Russia where no one can drive and insurance scams are prolific. Keep going through his vids though, there are some better models that are a little more premium in quality/construction worth looking at.
I was given a BlackVue by my Dad after I had my last (and only) accident - the video quality is excellent, but I must admit I'm yet to set it up in my daily work-shed... Probably should do given how awfully people drive!
The main reason he reviews the cheaper models is because they fall into the price range of what most people want to spend on something like this. My Transcend DP200 is much better quality though, definitely a cut above the rest of the cheap Chinese models. If you're concerned about longevity and believe in spending more to get more, I've heard and read lots of good things about the BlackVue range, but you'd expect that anyway when compared the sub-£100 club.
Just watched a few of his reviews and the Mobius looks like insane value for money. I'm struggling to think of a reason not to buy one just to play around with.
Yep, it's a real winner. Very popular among RC flight enthusiasts as well. I first heard of them when Daniel of Rctestflight and Stratus Productions began putting them on FPV planes.
Some good info here and a forum https://dashcamtalk.com/ Beware though when buying from some foreign retailers as they do sell cheaper knock-offs. For example I attempted to buy a popular model from Amazon but what arrived had a different chipset, highlighted by the device recording in MOV rather than the advertised H.264 AVI.
I got a BlackVue after a bus took a chunk out of the side of my (then stationary) car at a junction and their insurance company tried to blame me saying I jumped the lights. It was only footage from the bus cctv cameras proved they were at fault that I didn't loose out completely. It also gives my missus peace of mind when driving my car which is a bonus
After a journey on the North Circular pretty much every weekend recently, with drivers being complete asshats (and therefore having a couple of near misses), time for a Dashcam, methinks! The Mobius idea looks good
I wired an additional 12v socket in the back of the van whilst I was putting the new LED lights in the cargo area. It's got a single Belkin USB phone charger in it powering the camera when the ignition is on, the wire is clipped down the inside of the door with stick on wire clips, then fed through the existing rubber flexi joint between the door and the body of the van. It's very stealthy, you'd hardly know it's there unless you're looking for it.
It's just occurred to me that you could pair the Mobius with something like this power bank and it would run for 64 hours without a power source. Presumably much longer than that if set to a lower FPS mode. I can't figure out exactly what for yet, but this has to be useful. Home surveillance, or something (disguise it as an old shoe, catch burglars, profit).
You're right, it's extremely useful! I'm currently powering a second Mobius camera using a 5Ah DeWalt 18v Li-Ion battery (DCB184) and my DCB090 USB charger for tool batteries, to try and catch someone tampering with equipment in a remote location. I just set it up at the end of last week and am going back tomorrow to download the footage. I left a second battery for a member of staff to swap in, so there's 10Ah of juice, good for about 2.5 days or a whole weekend
I avoid the North circular whenever possible. People speed like it's the motorway right up to speed cameras. Then there's the congestion. I use a cheap dashcam. I think most important feature of a dashcam is that it's out of the way, you don't have to turn it on or turn it off everytime you use the car.
