I bought my BlackVue DR380G HD (front only) almost two years ago after reading Boss Fox's positive experience with the brand.  Mine is connected to the rear wiper fuse so only operates with the ignition on.  Mort's experience with the BlackVue reflects my own.  They are not cheap but I'd certainly buy again.

I find it quite funny, I have had a dash cam for about 6 years, not the first to have one but certainly at a point when people would look at it weird and ask "why have you got one of them" - especially as it was in a van. Now, they seem to be the next must have 'fad' - everyone seems to think they need one. Not as thats a bad thing of course, it can protect against the unexpected. I had mine as at the time, I was driving on 9 points and driving 50k a year, most of which to/in London and Manchester.

 

The only downside that I see with dash cams as it turns some people into driving gods. They seem to think that as they have a dash cam, any small driving error by their fellow motorists means an instant reaction to make it look like an almost accident - just so they can upload to Youtube (as they have f**k all better to do).

 

In the six years of having a dash cam and driving almost half a million miles Ive only ever uploaded three of the videos to YouTube - more that they were funny than anything else and not to berate others driving - at the end of the day, we are human and make mistakes - well I certainly do and wouldnt be posting others innocent mistakes on YouTube

I bought my BlackVue DR380G HD (front only) almost two years ago after reading Boss Fox's positive experience with the brand.  Mine is connected to the rear wiper fuse so only operates with the ignition on.  Mort's experience with the BlackVue reflects my own.  They are not cheap but I'd certainly buy again.

 

+ 1

 

I had one in my MKII Superb and 2 in the Yeti and all have performed faultlessly.

 

For my MK3 Superb I decided to try a 2CH system (2 cameras connected together using 1 SD card, it was a toss up between the K1S and the Thinkware F750, I decided to go with the F750, the main camera is quite bulky (so used it in the rear window instead of the front) but the other camera is tiny, it does the job, quality is OK but it’s certainly not up to the Blackview standard.

 

The only downside that I see with dash cams as it turns some people into driving gods. They seem to think that as they have a dash cam, any small driving error by their fellow motorists means an instant reaction to make it look like an almost accident - just so they can upload to Youtube (as they have f**k all better to do).

 

I've found that, due to the wide lens and mounting, that most of the 'small driving errors' made by other motorists look extremely benign and non-incident like on the footage. It needs to be a really close call to have any severity on playback.

 

That said, the local roundabout on my commute has been reshuffled by the council and now makes zero sense from a traffic flow standpoint so I have plenty of videos of people cutting across 3 lanes mid-roundabout because they can't be bothered to wait in the correct lane to get on to it. Makes my Facebook page a far more interesting place

 

Besides; without the dashcam I'd not have footage of a cyclist pulling up to a red light and collapsing on the floor as he can't get unclipped from the pedals in time. It's impossible to have a bad day when you can just watch that over and over!

On the Nextbase cam, is it possible to turn the speed recording off? Looking at getting one, but I'm not sure I'd want that feature!

When I got my Yeti I also bought a new dashcam (Nextbase 402-G) at the same time. I asked the dealer if they would fit it for me (accepting that there would be a charge of course) but they said that as it wasn't an OEM item they would not do it. I agree with a post I've seen somewhere saying this ought to be a factory option.

That's terrible service.  :no:  No doubt they have someone whom they mistakenly style as an Auto Electrician.  Better name this place for us so we don't go there for electrical repairs.

Cheers,

Clive

That's terrible service.  :no:  No doubt they have someone whom they mistakenly style as an Auto Electrician.  Better name this place for us so we don't go there for electrical repairs.

Cheers,

Clive

As it happens it turned out to be a non-issue. The plug has got loads of cable on it and routing down the screen side trim to the carpet and back to the 'cig' socket only took a couple of minutes. Gordon Lambs (since taken over by Bristol Street Motors) of Chesterfield saved me a few quid .

On the Nextbase cam, is it possible to turn the speed recording off? Looking at getting one, but I'm not sure I'd want that feature!

I'm not sure if you can or not, it never occurred to me to try but - doesn't that defeat the object somewhat. It's dead easy to overlay/hide the data strip at the bottom of the video with any video editor, if that's what you want to do. I find that the recorded speed on the video is always considerably slower than what the speedometer says.

I've been through a number of cheap cameras, and although some of them were good, I had regular issues with the mounts* breaking or constantly falling off of the window (usually at the most awkward moment).

 

For the last 10 months I have been running a Chinese clone of the GoPro camera; as usual, the mounts* either fell off or broke, so for the last two months it has been Blu-Tack'ed in place.

 

Picture quality isnt up there with the best, although it is better than any 720p camera I have tried; night vision is also OK, and there is no GPS, but it cost about £40 and came with a wide range of car, bike and helmet mounts and a decent battery; I also found a twin spare battery PLUS TWIN CHARGER pack for under £5

 

* Not just the originals, but 3rd party mounts with 5 star reviews

I find it quite funny, I have had a dash cam for about 6 years, not the first to have one but certainly at a point when people would look at it weird and ask "why have you got one of them" - especially as it was in a van. Now, they seem to be the next must have 'fad' - everyone seems to think they need one. Not as thats a bad thing of course, it can protect against the unexpected. I had mine as at the time, I was driving on 9 points and driving 50k a year, most of which to/in London and Manchester.

 

The only downside that I see with dash cams as it turns some people into driving gods. They seem to think that as they have a dash cam, any small driving error by their fellow motorists means an instant reaction to make it look like an almost accident - just so they can upload to Youtube (as they have f**k all better to do).

 

In the six years of having a dash cam and driving almost half a million miles Ive only ever uploaded three of the videos to YouTube - more that they were funny than anything else and not to berate others driving - at the end of the day, we are human and make mistakes - well I certainly do and wouldnt be posting others innocent mistakes on YouTube

 

I've been running dash cams religiously for over 8 years now in the same light as an early adopter. All those who questioned/mocked have all in turn come to ask about what and where to get one etc. My miles covered by cameras will be around the same sort of territory in the initial years but has declined in last 2 to around 50K a year ish now I am living the dream. In difference I will berate drivers. If I have footage of an aggressive driver, drink driver or the odd one who crashes in the presence of my cameras, then I will hang them out to dry for being inconsiderate self centred crap dangerous drivers and have in the last 2 years caused 3 drivers to be banned through court for such offences. I can't be doing with meeting those types on a country road meeting me head on as they are overtaking something on a blind bend etc.