I've been using a Garmin mini for both front and rear on my now deceased Octy, and helpfully recorded my recent write off, but I missed a lot of files as the damn things are so sensitive they save a file every time I cross a cat eye or any moderate bumps. The app is so clunky it's a right pita to delete files, without taking out the SD cards and cleaning them up on a PC, also a pita job. I'd like to replace them with something more user friendly, criteria being:

 

- Front & rear cam

- Over-writing files (I use 64Gb cards so not huge space)

- small as possible, not bothered with having a screen

- preferably nothing from Garmin as the whole experience is shoddy product development.

 

The obvious candidiates are Nextbase 622 and 522 and the Kenwood models. Anyone got positive recommendations? I don't want to spend more than £250, so the blackvue is probably off my list, unless it is so good that it's way better than anything else...

3 hours ago, stever750 said:

I don't want to spend more than £250

I was thinking GoPro until I read this.

Unfortunately the one I can absolutely highly recommend is the Blackvue. I’ve had one in my wife’s cars for quite a few years now. Works flawlessly and has a fantastic picture night and day. Hard wired with battery module and ticks all the boxes you’ve listed except the price. 
In my opinion I’d say it’s worth the extra money though. Can’t remember the exact model, but think it was 650/750s 2 channel. 

23 minutes ago, UndertheRadar said:

Unfortunately the one I can absolutely highly recommend is the Blackvue. I’ve had one in my wife’s cars for quite a few years now. Works flawlessly and has a fantastic picture night and day. Hard wired with battery module and ticks all the boxes you’ve listed except the price. 
In my opinion I’d say it’s worth the extra money though. Can’t remember the exact model, but think it was 650/750s 2 channel. 

can you run them from a USB port? I've got an OBD powerline adapter, which is has a low voltage detection circuit to switch it off. I don't want to hardwire it into the car, as I might occasionally move it to another vehicle temporarily. 

3 minutes ago, stever750 said:

can you run them from a USB port? I've got an OBD powerline adapter, which is has a low voltage detection circuit to switch it off. I don't want to hardwire it into the car, as I might occasionally move it to another vehicle temporarily. 

Yes. It came as standard with a usb power lead. The hardwire kit was an extra. My Ocd kicks in if it’s not fitted neat and tidy 😂. 

31 minutes ago, UndertheRadar said:

Yes. It came as standard with a usb power lead. The hardwire kit was an extra. My Ocd kicks in if it’s not fitted neat and tidy 😂. 

similar, but I managed to almost completely hide my two garmin mini installations in the Octavia, the cables are thin enough to push into the roof and door trims. I had a small loop running into the centre console mostly hidden in the tray coimpartment. The rear had a bit of coiled cable running from the rear hatch trim to the camera to allow it to be opened, and to put the camera into the area swept by the rear wiper. No rear wiper on my Superb, so not sure it's even worth fitting a rear camera...

8 hours ago, stever750 said:

similar, but I managed to almost completely hide my two garmin mini installations in the Octavia, the cables are thin enough to push into the roof and door trims. I had a small loop running into the centre console mostly hidden in the tray coimpartment. The rear had a bit of coiled cable running from the rear hatch trim to the camera to allow it to be opened, and to put the camera into the area swept by the rear wiper. No rear wiper on my Superb, so not sure it's even worth fitting a rear camera...

My wife’s last car was hit at a roundabout from behind. The driver claimed she had caused it by driving off then standing on the brakes to cause the accident. 
when I passed on the rear footage of them clearly looking for something on their passenger seat and not even looking where they were going, along with telemetry showing my wife’s car at a complete standstill the entire time, they decided to change their stance. 
makes me more cautious about having both front and rear cameras fitted. 

1 hour ago, UndertheRadar said:

My wife’s last car was hit at a roundabout from behind. The driver claimed she had caused it by driving off then standing on the brakes to cause the accident. 
when I passed on the rear footage of them clearly looking for something on their passenger seat and not even looking where they were going, along with telemetry showing my wife’s car at a complete standstill the entire time, they decided to change their stance. 
makes me more cautious about having both front and rear cameras fitted. 

Interesting. The accident I just had was similar, only the driver in front of me slammed her brakes on in the outside lane of the motorway for no reason, and I hit her from behind. I had dash cam footage that shows the car veering ever so slightly to the central reservation then back again, then an emergency stop. We suspected she was distracted by something, a phone maybe? Then panicked passing the speed camera and performed a full emergency stop. My insurance company immediately ruled out crash for cash for several reasons, the profile and her history indicated this was unlikely, so even without video footage your wife would probably have not been found to be at fault. However, I agree having both is sensible, which is what I had in my octavia. 

I've narrowed it down to 2 choices:

 

Nextbase 522GW duo £189

Viofo A129 Duo £145 when you add the necessary circular polariser

 

Both give me the resolution and connectivity options that I need, anyone got experience of either of these? Amazon reviews are similar, mostly good, some bad.

I've got 2 Nextbase 512? Wifi cams, 1 in OH's 500 and other in work van plus an extra mount hardwired into the Superb. 

No issues with any of them although front facing only. 

Always connected via phone no problem when needed, App seems okay and PC video editing is easy to use, I 'think' you can also edit on the app? 

64gb card, 10 mins segments at hi-res is around 3 days of recording, so maybe 4-6hrs?

Mine are 312GW's not 512's...

After much research and reading / watching reviews, I decided to stick with Garmin. I'll use the mini2 for my rear, and I bought a 57 for the front, and added the garmin ODB2 power adapter which addresses one of my main gripes of using up two switchable power supplies (the 12V sockets are always on, and can't see how to change that, and no 12V power adapter has a low voltage detector built in). 

I can then install the spare mini into my wife's car as a front cam, as she only has a short commute on rural roads.

Just came across an email from black vue showing 60% off some of their systems. There was a 2 channel for £199 with memory card.