dj_efk
A2OC Donor
We haven’t had a recent thread like this so thought I would solicit recent experiences / feedback.
I am of the opinion that a dashcam is essential in today’s environment to provide hard evidence of the true events of / leading up to an incident should the worst happen to you. As @timmus will at some point in the near future be working on my A2 soon, I was thinking a hardwire kit installation would be simple to do at the same time.
My requirements of any dashcam and how it should be installed are as follows:
I don’t mind spending some money on a good brand and model - for our Touran I splashed out on a pukka Nextbase setup with excellent image quality plus lots of bells and whistles; and as they have a deal on, I’m happy to again if no better options present themselves. However, as I’ve not yet returned to the U.K. and actually had the chance to drive the Touran and appreciate either the car or the dashcam therein, I wonder whether any of the lesser known manufacturers have a product that’s just as good but perhaps doesn’t have all of the neat features that I may not need / use anyway?
Here is the Nextbase camera I bought for the Touran: LINK
I’m also happy to consider models that have a rear view cam built into the rear “main” unit that look through the gap in the rear headrests to save a little on cost (on the Touran this isn’t an option due to the rear seats / passengers blocking the view and also the car is much longer, so I went for the separate camera mounted on the rear window with a hardwire kit running under the headlining on one side to the front camera - As the A2’s dimensions are tiny by comparison and as it’s a four seater, this won’t be a problem). The Nextbase has a neat module available as an upgrade that slots into the side of the camera for this.
So my question is, are there any alternatives out there that you’ve bought recently that are as good?
I am of the opinion that a dashcam is essential in today’s environment to provide hard evidence of the true events of / leading up to an incident should the worst happen to you. As @timmus will at some point in the near future be working on my A2 soon, I was thinking a hardwire kit installation would be simple to do at the same time.
My requirements of any dashcam and how it should be installed are as follows:
- Front and rear recording;
- Excellent quality footage, regardless of whether broad daylight or in the dead of night (including not being phased by headlamp glare etc.) - after all, accidents happen at night too!
- Easy to use with no manual intervention needed: Automatically records when switched on or when it detects movement if the car is parked, overwrites oldest footage when the card is full etc.
- Easily able to download the footage, ideally onto my phone without taking the card out!
- Very discreet when installed; especially from the outside - I don’t want it’s presence advertised to any passing (oxygen) thieves;
- Must not block my field of vision - I’m worried that some cameras will have to be mounted too low down and hence visually get in the way due to the position of the rear view mirror, which on Merlin is an auto-dimming version if that makes a difference. I wonder whether this would be an issue with the Nextbase one I link to below...
I don’t mind spending some money on a good brand and model - for our Touran I splashed out on a pukka Nextbase setup with excellent image quality plus lots of bells and whistles; and as they have a deal on, I’m happy to again if no better options present themselves. However, as I’ve not yet returned to the U.K. and actually had the chance to drive the Touran and appreciate either the car or the dashcam therein, I wonder whether any of the lesser known manufacturers have a product that’s just as good but perhaps doesn’t have all of the neat features that I may not need / use anyway?
Here is the Nextbase camera I bought for the Touran: LINK
I’m also happy to consider models that have a rear view cam built into the rear “main” unit that look through the gap in the rear headrests to save a little on cost (on the Touran this isn’t an option due to the rear seats / passengers blocking the view and also the car is much longer, so I went for the separate camera mounted on the rear window with a hardwire kit running under the headlining on one side to the front camera - As the A2’s dimensions are tiny by comparison and as it’s a four seater, this won’t be a problem). The Nextbase has a neat module available as an upgrade that slots into the side of the camera for this.
So my question is, are there any alternatives out there that you’ve bought recently that are as good?
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