IROCZman15

iTrader: (25)

Was not sure what section of the forum to put this in, but here seemed appropriate.


I am starting to look into onboard Dash-Cameras for the camaro. I do currently have a GoPro Hero4 Silver that I have used for years, but I don't always want to have that running when I am just driving around anymore. Mostly because I kinda want to use the GoPro camera to film different/creative angles of the car while I am racing or driving, so having an independent semi-permanent forward facing dash-cam might be better. Budget is of concern here, and the most I would feel comfortable spending would be $200-250. I do NOT need one with built in GPS. The dash-cam would be something I would simply wire up to the car's 12volt power source. I would NOT want to plug it into a cigarette lighter or have to plug it into anything; so permanently hard wired is a must have.
. I would basically turn on the camera to record if I knew I was going out and driving in a heavy traffic area, or on a fun exciting scenic drive. I would also certainly use it for drag racing, autocross, and any other racing events. However, mostly just the fear of a random deer running into the road or a distracted/bad driver crashing into me certainly weighs on my mind as I am driving around New Jersey. Having a dash camera would help me in any such unfortunate incident and the footage wouldn't lie. Some types of cameras can even pre-record 15-30 seconds before being actually activated, so something with a feature that would be a worthy investment.
I don't think I would want a camera with a LCD display screen on the back, because there won't be a need for me to playback video footage right away when I could just simply save it to a computer and play it later. I plan to hide the camera behind the windshield's rear-view mirror out of my eyesight (and keep it there always), so I wouldn't be able to view the display screen anyways. I also would not be interested in a camera with an additional lens that faces rearward.


Therefore, small lens, black, compact overall size, good memory storage, a way to hard wire it to the battery(fuse panel) and a pre-record feature are of high importance.

Of NO importance is a GPS feature, speech-activation, wi-fi connection to a phone, a rear facing camera, lane-detection type features nor a viewable display screen.


Anyone have any thoughts or advice? I am looking for real-world, hands-on, typical user feedback, not the stuff written by authors in magazine journals, but I did brows through some of those prior to writing this post:
https://www.thedashcamstore.com/dash...r-motorsports/
https://www.eyewitnessdashcams.com/b...or-track-days/
https://www.digitalcameraworld.com/b.../best-dash-cam

IROCZman15

iTrader: (25)

well

I've emailed a few dash-cam companies recently, and the response I get is that they typically only cater to companies/customers who have large fleets of vehicles. I basically wasn't going to be their customer, so they just gave me the generic reply of " sorry we can't help, try searching online". I get it.

I started looking online on https://dashcamtalk.com/ and started a forum post (exactly the same text as I wrote above) hoping to get some guidance. We'll see... maybe. I am not a tech guy, so some of the tech jargon is way over my head. I know what i am hoping to find, but I don't know if it exists.

IROCZman15

iTrader: (25)

I'm kinda thinking that I might wind up having to sacrifice some of my wants/needs and get something like this: https://freemanscarstereo.com/produc...BoCjbEQAvD_BwE

which I can hard-wire with a setup like this:

Amazon

Amazon

IROCZman15

iTrader: (25)

ok, SO I have made some headway with this topic. It is all new for me, so I spent a bunch of time online and on the website. www.dashcamtalk.com especially on the forums. After doing my own reading for a bit, I decided to make a forum post: https://dashcamtalk.com/forum/thread...r.43727/page-2 Thankfully some people were able to point me towards a great camera system that is right within my budget and meets pretty much every need I was hoping for the Viofo A129 camera platform. There is some discussion on my thread there, but


I am between the A129 Pro Duo or the A129 Plus Duo. I went onto the official Viofo website for the technical specs and comparing both the Plus and the Pro, the single only difference I can find is the resolution. 4k for the Pro and 2k for the Plus. Everything else spec and feature wise seems the exact same. Price for the Pro is $212 and for the Plus is $152. Both are therefore within my $250 ballpark budget. I will need the hardwire kit and the fuse kit, so thats another $30 putting me right at $250 total if I get the A129 Pro. I already have a 128gb micro SD card, but i do use it for other things, so I might spend some money on a new microSD card and get the biggest (128gb). I think that would about do it for the purchase of components?



Thoughts on me selecting the A129 vs any other cams? Pro vs Plus?


I might just run the front camera only (better quality recordings) Or maybe I will like the rear camera feature. I think instead of unplugging it, I can just disable it in the touchscreen options.




A129 Pro Duo:
https://www.viofo.com/en/home/149-24..._stock_for_all



A129 Plus Duo:
https://www.viofo.com/en/home/197-23..._stock_for_all



Viofo hardwire Kit:
https://www.viofo.com/en/accessories...e-not_included



Viofo Fuse Tap connectors : (I actually already have the parts to make my own)
https://www.viofo.com/en/accessories...er-holder.html



Thoughts on me selecting the A129 vs any other cams? Pro vs Plus?

I might just run the front camera only (better quality recordings) Or maybe I will like the rear camera feature. I think instead of unplugging it, I can just disable it inthe touchscreen options.


the term I was looking for earlier during my research is called "loop recording" not "pre-record". essentially the camera(s) is recording all the time and just over-writing itself in a 10 minute loop. So if something tragic happens on the road and I need to play it back, I have 10 minutes to save the file before it is over written. or if I forget to press the record button at the racetrack, I can hopefully realize it before 10 minutes elapses and save the footage. all done by the LCD screen OR the app which connects via built in WiFi


Thanks again !

scooter

iTrader: (11)

Those look decent. I like that there is a DC/DC converter available to power the unit instead of being forced to use/cut the cigarette lighter adapter.

I don't care for the adhesive mount only, but I could probably get over that pretty quick

I would get the lens filter right away too

IROCZman15

iTrader: (25)

I totally agree about the DC converter and hardwire setup. that is a must for me. As you mentioned, I do not want to have to cut the wire if it was setup to run off the cig lighter. Additionally, I certainly don't want to have to fiddle with plugging it in/out at the cigarette lighter and have the wire in my view. I am going to do my best to tuck the camera in a nice spot but still be able to view/touch the LCD, and also the camera has a quick disconnect-slide away from the adhesive mount too so its not really "fixed in place" I've read a bunch about the suction cup mount styles having much more vibration. Also, my go Pro is the suction cup style and I get a ton of vibration from that mount!. Lots of people recommend the lens filter too, so I will get it; perhaps two (front and rear).

IROCZman15

iTrader: (25)

Got the camera in the mail last week, but didn't have a chance to get it installed until just yesterday. Packaging was great, and everything appears to be pretty good quality. The front camera I wanted it tucked away and in the center of the windshield glass so that's where it is mounted for now. I can easily slide it off of the adhesive (GPS) mount which stays on the glass. I can also easily pop-out the 256gb micro-SD card and I can access the 5 buttons just fine. The rear camera will eventually be mounted to the roll-bar, but that is not installed yet, so for now I put it on the hatch glass. I put it off to the drivers side, but there is plenty of wiring for me to put it anywhere I want. It is "hidden" from my view when i look in the rear-view mirror because it is behind my head/headrest, which makes the view "off-center" For now I am ok with that... but VIOFO supplies a few extra adhesive strips in case I want to re-mount the camera. In fact, the rear camera is only held in place now with my own double sided Velcro and not the supplied sticky mount.. yet.







I had my wife drive the car around the neighborhood while I messed with the lens angles, some settings, and the mute button. I did not install the polarized sun-glare eliminating lens yet, as I wanted to test the camera without the lens.. but there was no sun today. I have not gotten too deep into messing with the settings yet, but after these videos were filmed I did enter the correct date/time, changed kph to mph, changed the VIOFOA129 tag to my IROCZman15 username, and a few other things. The camera was default setup to record footage in 1 minute files, so I have a bunch of 1 minute clips; however after the drive I changed it over to 5 minute long files. I can also view Front and rear cameras on the LCD at the same time (picture in picture) and I can put the display to sleep.


Front camera location:







Rear camera location (for now.. and its on sticky velcro so I can move it):






I hard wired the camera to the 12 volt junction post I have under the hood, so anytime that the master on-off battery kill switch is On, the camera is recording. I can adjust the settings if needed. I have not yet played around with the wi-fi and cell phone control(app).




So.. for some videos:
again, my wife was driving so I could fiddle with stuff, so its just basic 20 mph neighborhood driving. I tested the audio mute function during middle of video #2 front and #2 rear. I WILL move the rear camera a touch lower too, less of the horizontal stripes on the glass.

VIOFO test drive video 1 front

VIOFO test drive video 1 rear

VIOFO test drive video 2 front

VIOFO test drive video 2 rear

VIOFO test drive video 3 front

VIOFO test drive video 3 rear

scooter

iTrader: (11)

That's cool man

DynoDave43

iTrader: (11)

Agreed!

IROCZman15

iTrader: (25)

thanks:

this was the kit I bought, and I bought it directly from VIOFO a few weeks ago when they had a deal where it was priced around $212. plus $15 for a hardwire kit and $15 for the polarized lens. So, all in, call it $250. I used my credit card's bonus/rewards points to buy it, so it was essentially "free" ...kinda!

https://www.viofo.com/en/home/149-vi...sh-camera.html

It will give me peace of mind too while out driving around.
If some errant NJ driver does something problematic while driving near me, and they try to blame me, I'll have it on camera.
Also, for racing, since it will always be loop- recording, I won't accidentally miss a recording. it is unlikely I will double-click or fat-finger the record button like I have done on my gopro. Clarity is way better than my GoPro, and I do not need to worry about constantly charging the batteries since it is hard-wired. So now, I can take the gopro and maybe mount it in different spots, like underneath the car to record the suspension during a race, or under the hood, or in the cabin, etc.

IROCZman15

iTrader: (25)

started exploring more in the Viofo dash-cam settings. For this weekends Test and Tune drag race day, I set the front camera to 4k resolution and the rear camera to 2k resolution. I set the bitrate to highest also.


(fyi: the HD version of the video is still "processing" to youtube, so it might not be the proper quality for a few hours from now)
In this video, you will see:

front footage = 4k
rear footage = 2k
inside footage +goPro Hero 4 silver

video: