In Car Cameras

Honest John Back Room » Motoring discussion
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Tue 10 Jul 2012 22:51
In Car Cameras - Mrbluesky

Quite an emotive subject this... but am I the only one of the opinion that the standards of driving in the UK in recent years has somewhat deteriorated?

I travel extensively across the globe - and rack up circa 15k miles per year by car on UK roads. With this in mind I have been considering for some time investing in a 'third eye' to effectively 'record' my journeys.

I have nothing to hide as I am not a budding schumacher and I generally stick within the tolerances of the law to speed limits. During my driving career (24 years) there have been some seriously close calls - not least this morning the silver avensis joining the M6 slip southbound from the M58 at 0920 in appauling weather (rain/spray/mirk) at 20MPH with a warburtons bread van bearing down on her fast. (in fairness the breadvan was not tailgating - merely trying to judge the motorway we were about to join - and obviously not expecting an old lady with no lights on doing a 'kerb crawl' onto the motorway. How the woman got away with it god only knows...but she did.

Had a collision occurred, i have no doubt that the sterotypical respoinse of 'truck too close' would have been the cause. This then got me thinking. This incident, along with the increase in crash for cash scams, is now the time to invest?

The Roadhawk DC-01 seems to fit the bill - but before I leap and part with the best part of 200 sheets, has anyone any experience of the device and given your chance again, would you buy it again?

Edited by Mrbluesky on 10/07/2012 at 22:58

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Wed 11 Jul 2012 00:26
In Car Cameras - Wukl

Must admit I've been thinking the same thing. Bit of a doubled edged sword though, isn't it? I've considered the DC1 as well but thinking on recent driving experience I'd be tempted to spend the extra £100 for the reassurance of the additional rear facing camera in the RH2. And in the process doubling the value of my car!

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Mon 8 Apr 2013 04:34
In Car Cameras - cnrysn

Maybe you can consider a dual-lens car black box, it can record the interior and exterior of the car at the same time, now HD720P version is available.

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Wed 11 Jul 2012 08:03
In Car Cameras - oldroverboy

The Roadhawk DC-01 seems to fit the bill - but before I leap and part with the best part of 200 sheets, has anyone any experience of the device and given your chance again, would you buy it again?

I got the £30 jobby from amazon (other sites are available) and it records well enough when i replay the sd card on my laptop, Has a screen to, fits nicely out of sight behind the rear view mirror and the cable is long enough for me to route behind the sun blinds and down the a pillar. the other option is to buy a dash top one, but make sure it is one that won't suffer a power surgeif you leave plugged in. I leave mine plugged in and ok so far) Another post on this subject on this forum tells of someone who used one in his defence of a no fault accident! but even the road hawk is worth it.

Edited by OldRoverboy on 11/07/2012 at 08:07

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Wed 11 Jul 2012 08:43
In Car Cameras - Graham567

I have bought the same one as OldRoverBoy but got it from Ebay.Link below.

tinyurl.com/blodnr9

Postage took 10 days from China.

I am very pleased with the quality.

Edited by Videodoctor on 11/07/2012 at 08:44

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Wed 11 Jul 2012 13:43
In Car Cameras - KB.

Thanks for that useful info. and link. Have been dithering over the Roadhawk for ages and appreciate it has GPS on it and is probably (must surely be) better...but it's a lot dearer, as you say. Will watch this thread to see what othe input may come in.

Any other user experience on the Ebay jobbie would be gratefully received. Would it see a number plate? Has anyone compared the cheapy with the roadhawk, I wonder?

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Wed 11 Jul 2012 14:03
In Car Cameras - Ethan Edwards

Yes I have the Ebay one as well. Cheap peace of mind. Records OK plays back with pretty good resolution...not great at night though.

Sorry I have no experience of actually using these images in a legal situation.

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Wed 11 Jul 2012 17:18
In Car Cameras - oldroverboy

mine is the one supplied by GTLS on the amazon website, currently £26 ish + a n sd card. no need for more than 4gb, but that is your choice. gtls are uk based, so easier in case of problems. returns very simple with amazon too.

Edited by OldRoverboy on 11/07/2012 at 17:20

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Mon 24 Sep 2012 11:07
In Car Cameras - samcarcamera

too much new car on road, accident occured every day,i find more and more people install car camera on their car,when traffic happen, it will record it

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Mon 24 Sep 2012 12:17
In Car Cameras - AlexT

Last week I oredered a GO PRO HERO HD 2 for my car, still waiting for it to be delevered, and I think it's worth having it to be sure you don't get blamed for nothing that isn't your fault.

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Mon 24 Sep 2012 12:30
In Car Cameras - Honestjohn

A Go Pro will only record what will fit on the SD card you put in it. And you need the suction mount motorsport version. It's also best to get the LCD back so you can make sure it is working and know what you are getting. Downloading 3 hours into a PC or Mac will take a while.

In car cams seem popular in Russia. Take a look at some of this footage. WARNING: some of it could shock.

Dashcam crashes:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B_FLwN8GIaM&feature=g-vrec

Dashcam crashes 2:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PmwMTRMbBRk&feature=g-vrec

Dashcam crashes 3:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7s6MUlJO9KE&feature=g-vrec

Dashcam crashes 4:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?annotation_id=annotation_977332&feature=iv&src_vid=7s6MUlJO9KE&v=U2n8Re8exwk

Dashcam crashes 5 (all Russian):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d6F1brJ3UVY&feature=g-vrec

Edited by Honestjohn on 24/09/2012 at 12:32

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Mon 24 Sep 2012 13:43
In Car Cameras - davecooper
My son was in a five car shunt a few weeks ago. No one hurt and he is squeaky clean as he was at the front. However, a couple of the drivers have said they stopped in time but were hit from behind and pushed into the car in front. Difficult to prove though. This is a situation where a camera would be very handy.
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Mon 24 Sep 2012 14:32
In Car Cameras - AlexT

Yes, and here's some (less shocking) footage from Romania:

2 people nearly get hit by a bus (happened yesterday):

www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&...0

Some guy gets disqualified for going pased a parked car with the hazard lights on:

www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&...E

A minor accident (nobody injured):

www.trafictube.ro/accident-in-bucuresti-cu-auto-di.../

EDIT: @Honestjohn I have a 32 GB SD card, 16 hours of continuous filming fit on it. Not worried about running out of tape.

Edited by AlexT on 24/09/2012 at 14:36

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Mon 24 Sep 2012 19:57
In Car Cameras - a900ss
I must be in the minority because I would not have in an car camera giving the police evidence of my own offences unless it was compulsory.

I admit I cruise at 80/85 on the motorway when traffic/weather permits. Illegal and therefore incriminating if on a camera.

I have nothing against the cameras but you do need to ask yourself if you truly do stick to all speed limits.
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Mon 24 Sep 2012 20:15
In Car Cameras - AlexT

Yes, it is self-incriminating, but who is going to go "What's that on your windscreen?"

I mean, can they force you to give the recordings if you don't want to ?

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Tue 25 Sep 2012 09:00
In Car Cameras - Honestjohn

Talking about this to the driver in an Addison Lee Galaxy last night. His was fitted with a camera recording onto 2 week 'loop'. Apparently Addison Lee is planning to fit all 4,200 of its Galaxys with these.

HJ

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Tue 25 Sep 2012 17:59
In Car Cameras - grimep

This one raises a couple of questions....

warning- a pedestrian gets hit so don't watch if you're of a sensitive disposition.

youtu.be/2ex6dHzcgOE

Did the dash cam car incriminate themselves trying to catch the hit & run driver? Looks like there's a bit of speeding, and a dangerous overtake in a built up area. Also, could the defence argue that the hit & run driver was afraid they were being followed and was trying to escape? Morally they more or less did the right thing, but you can imagine all sorts legal of problems they could get into.

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Tue 25 Sep 2012 21:29
In Car Cameras - injection doc

i use a Roadhawk. I have 4 of them and have used them for some years.One in each car.
I have also had successful prosecution with video evidence.

One of Criminal damage caught on camera
one of taxi driver carving me up big time ! he got three points
Car hit in supermarket car park caught on camera. Guy got done for hit and run !

It records audio as well as colour + time and date + GPS + XYZ axis g force data.
Has many other clever quirks as well, including a capacitor so it runs for 10 sec after electric cable cut so ideal in head on crash ! as most cars have a pryro technique mains cable now that breaks on impact !
also records at 25FPS from 5FPS if it sense's pending doom !

For me they are brilliant.

i739.photobucket.com/albums/xx33/injectiondoc/Inca...g

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Wed 26 Sep 2012 18:43
In Car Cameras - injection doc

actually grimep I have to admit that the Police do seem at times to use common sense.

I had to produce a video that could of been incriminating for me but they didnt take any notice tof the fact that i had driven down an except for access road that i had no right going down

and just used it to prosecute the person involved in criminal damage.

That video is amazing to watch and that woman didnt have a clue what she had done !

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Wed 6 Feb 2013 22:30
In Car Cameras - pound365

I have ordered a Mi-Witness dash camera from

www.policewitness.com/webshop/mi-witness-hd-in-car/

As they are aproved for use in a court of law. They may be £249.99 but I was emailed a £50. discount code. Was amazed by the clarity from distance of registration numbers. Will let you know what its like. They even act upon your footage and liaison with police.

Time to let my insurance company know. Most Insurance companys offer 10-15% off. I know Adrian flux do.

discount code: summary£50off

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Thu 7 Feb 2013 07:00
In Car Cameras - dadbif
For those of you who have iPhones, there is an excellent app called "witness driving", it does just about everything. Only problem is remembering to put your phone in the cradle and turn it on for every journey. A dedicated camera is always active.
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Sat 12 Apr 2014 05:20
In Car Cameras - AlexT

"Did the dash cam car incriminate themselves"

Does not matter, in my country at least, dash cams are not admissable in court because they are not approved by the government, except for the dash cams mounted on police vehicles. So the internet is full of people doing ilegal things in their car but nobody will take any measures because the footage is not admissable in court.

My friend has a saying: if the policeman did not see you do it, it didn't happen.

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Mon 8 Apr 2013 04:25
In Car Cameras - cnrysn

Some of my friends use the car camera from a Chinese company S.WILL, HD720P in full realtime without frame leakage, it is said that they are top 3 in car camera company there.

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Mon 8 Apr 2013 11:34
In Car Cameras - FP

Spam.

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Mon 8 Apr 2013 12:24
In Car Cameras - Collos25

Afriend of mine took his car for a service dropped the car off at 8.30am and said he would collect it at 16.00pm he arrived at the garage on time and the car was not ready it was brought gleaming having been washed at 16.20pm,he looked at his camera when he got home which is mounted behind the mirror the garage had in fact started work on the car at 15.55pm taken it direct to cleaning department and then put it on the car park no.work was done not even an oil change.So these camaras have more uses than just for safety.

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Mon 8 Apr 2013 20:02
In Car Cameras - injection doc
I have had quite some eye opening experiences where I have switch the camera over to permanently on whilst in the garage for repair and yes your right, I was charged for an oil flush when it was never added. £600 service took just 59 minuets from start to finish.
One of my cars suffered an excellent handbrake turn in a garage car park !

Worth their weight in gold! And cheaper than most people's excess but even better is very little hassle should you have to make a claim!
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Tue 9 Apr 2013 10:32
In Car Cameras - MrEckerslikefromRamsbottom

I'm happy with the Roadhawk DC-1 which I have positioned behind the rear-view mirror with the cable neatly run behind the roof trim to the passenger side, down behind the pillar trim (held by two blobs of 'Blu Tack') to the dash, spotted along a groove in the dash with drops of superglue, then down to the power socket next to the gear stick. At the socket, I use a three-way socket adapter so that I can still use a phone charger as well. None of my passengers has even noticed it until it 'dings' as I go over a pothole! ---- This is in response to getting involved in a 'cash for a crash' incident - which, of course, may never happen to me again!

However, if I had the money, I would go for the new HD one which I see is now available.

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Tue 9 Apr 2013 11:43
In Car Cameras - meldrew

We do a monthly 500 mile round trip to visit ageing relatives. TBH I am appalled at the standard of driving on motorways and am astonished that there are actually so few accidents. I commented to Mrs M that such a camera might be a good idea and she was similarly in favour of it. If there is an incident it would at least be recorded correctly.

I had a near miss awhile ago when a car went across all three lanes, hit the barrier, went almost over my bonnet and hit the car on my left before ending upended back on the hard shoulder. Amazingly I suffered no damage but had I done I would have like more than a brief recollection of the incident.

They will probably be standard equipment soon!

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Thu 11 Apr 2013 22:06
In Car Cameras - Hamsafar

I too got one, a cheapo £17 jobby from China.

Very discreetly hot-melt glued to the rain sensor mount behind the mirror.

I doubt anyone would see it.

Here is the only time it was nearly useful.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=QP77Jho94uw

Not great quality, but adequate. I disable audio, as I think it is a step too far.

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Tue 15 Apr 2014 20:08
In Car Cameras - groaver

Here's an interesting story. The camera owner is probably happy that he installed one:

tinyurl.com/l9tw6p2


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Wed 16 Apr 2014 20:26
In Car Cameras - paulc924

A minor query please. If the footage is only viewed following an incident say, is it possible to fill the memory card without realising it and then find there was no memory space left when the incident took place? Do these cameras overwrite previous footage? Regards,

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Wed 16 Apr 2014 20:31
In Car Cameras - bathtub tom

Mine records on a loop, so continually overwrites the oldest stuff on the SD card.

The SD card holds around eight hours recording.

I carry a spare SD card.

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Wed 16 Apr 2014 21:42
In Car Cameras - paulc924

Thank you.

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