Dash cam

[birdastrompgman]

In today's litigious society, having a dash cam or car dvr is a really good idea. Here's one I found for $110 at geekbuying.com (search for car dvr). It has endless loop recording, HD resolution, accepts up to 32 GB SDcard storage, has front, rear, and auxiliary cameras.

Details.  Camera is stealthy.  I think I can leave it clipped on the mirror most of the time without fear of theft.

Better view of the dash cam from the outside.

Dashcam controls

Video information

Auxiliary camera mounted on third brake light

[fxsarge]

Looks cool. I've always wanted one. Did it actually replace your rear view mirror?

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Xparent BlueTapatalk 2

[birdastrompgman]

No, it clips onto the existing rear view mirror.  I bought a mirror clip-on specifically because California doesn't allow any window obstructions outside of a rear view mirror and a 7"X 7" square in the lower left corner of the windshield.  The latter mounting position makes a rear view dash cam useless, since it would only see the driver.

[fxsarge]

Its pretty darn sweet then

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Xparent BlueTapatalk 2

[birdastrompgman]

Now that I have a dash cam, it looks like there will be an endless supply of bonehead driving mistakes to post up, so here's the thread.

Here are some samples from yesterday.
There might have been 50' between us when this BMW did his unsafe u-turn. The car's so new, it doesn't have a license plate yet. I don't give the car a 10% chance of surviving a year


Lead-in to last minute offramp change. Passing blue minivan decides not to pass between the big rig and me, but to pass us both. At the end of this segment, I've just merged on the highway, and watch the minivan. Apologies for the reversed left to right video. That's how the rear-facing auxiliary camera works.


The blue minivan in the lead-in video cuts in front of me trying to take the offramp, decides he can't make it, and jams on the brakes - so close that I can read his license plate. That means he was about one car length in front of me, at highway speeds.


I'm not the lowest of the low, but I am the slowest of the slow (49.5 mpg over 42k miles in  Scion xB)

[matt]

Nice, wish I had a video of a divebomber exiting from the hammer lane and waving a gun at me when I did not yield fast enough. Cool gismo.