Hilux 4x4 Forum

Hi Forumites

Who regularly uses a dashcam?
Why do you have one?
What make / recommendation?

I've been toying with the idea of getting a dashcam and have look at a couple, from cheapies to the more expensive, and am trying to decide on which route to go.

At the moment I'm trying to decide between the Eagle Eye V2 or the Garmin 35/45, reason being is that these have GPS logging, etc.

What are the thoughts and recommendations.

Hi this is an interesting subject
And here is my opinion It all comes down to what the application is for . If you just want to use it as n nice to have a cheap one will be okay but if you want to use it say for defense in case you get into a accident You should consider having something with good display and good resolution to capture detail. For instance In a truck application to monitor driver and cargo a good camera and a dvr with GPS tracking is a must
The other aspect to think about is "You get what you pay for and you pay for what you get"

Just my 2c worth

I have two cheapies. One a name brand. Polaroid. That one packed up first
The other one which is a no name brand is still going.

The problem with the cheapies is that the vid quality is not spectacular even when on HD.
In addition, the file sizes are HUGE. Even if you scale it down using software its still huge

Got a Garmin 20, very happy with it. Quality is good, 720p and the Garmin Dashcam program bundles it nicely (still a huge amount of data, but it could be worse) and allows you to cut the video, as well as take screenshots. It is important that you can "tag" while recording, otherwise you are left with endless video footage and will most likely not remember the incident you wanted to keep. I use a GoPro attached to my helmet when on the motorcycle and it is frustrating to go through endless amounts of video footage, I usually end up deleting most.

The Garmin dashcam has also got an incident detection feature, as well as a proximity sensor, both off which I switched off as the beeping started to irritate me. The incident detection sees almost all bumps as incident, even minor uneven road surfaces, so you can imagine based on the quality of our roads...

I have not yet had to use it in any sort of incident and am thus not sure how this footage holds up in front of a court.

To answer your questions:
Who regularly uses a dashcam? Dashcam in Hilux, GoPro on Motorcycle

Why do you have one? Mostly for when the s..t hits the fan and I need evidence to prove my innocence, but also to record the poor adherence to traffic laws in our country. Unsure at this stage if a Youtube channel is worth it, but also not keen on lawsuits. Not sure on our laws regarding the publishing of these videos.

What make / recommendation? Definitely can recommend the Garmin, had it for three years and still going strong.

With cameras in general and dashcams in particular the guys are correct. You get what you pay for. It is getting more and more important to have one and I am actually also considering getting one. The other morning I was on my way to work. It was still dark. I approach an intersection and a taxi drives in front of me as if the red light or me for that matter, does not exist. I only missed him as I was going quite fast and could accelerate around him. Had we connected it would have been my word against his and the co-driver.

I have considered these but I am afraid at times any proof of my chioce language use might have me end up very deep in jail!

I use my smartphone, works like a charm. The reason for using my smartphone is because it is compatible with laptop for downloads, only I have access to the content and if I caused the Sh1t I just delete it ... easy peasy.

You have to have a SD card and it records over and over if you run out of space.

Cheap and effective.