Dashcam Fitted in my Mk3

[SluggCone]

Got my dashcam fitted yesterday - fantastic little gadget!

Got the Blackvue 380G HD fitted in with a smart power monitor.

Really great video quality. It has a parking mode so it captures footage when its parked up which also gives me peace of mind for my new car.

Would highly recommend!

Camera, smart monitor and fitting cost £280.

 

[Biker]

I am a convert to dashcams to. I have a Winycam X100FHD in my current Ibiza and will be swapping it into the Leon.
I fitted mine as I witnessed an accident and the legal wrangling went on for two years, a video would have ended that pretty much instantly. About three weeks after fitting the camera, this happened to me......

http://youtu.be/kIEYp4vNz0w

As not one other motorist stopped to act as a witness I would never been able to prove what happened and the Police said had it not been for the video, they would have been looking to prosecute me for the accident. They said they would never have believed the bike just rode into me.

Driving with a camera running doesn't appeal to everyone but take my word for it, they can save you a fortune and lots of grief!

 

[SluggCone]

Totally agree Biker - I have knowledge of insurance and liability. I know how easy it is for people to dispute liability and lie.

The settings on the blackvue are quite good so if you are adverse to having your MPH showing you can turn this off and you can turn off voice recording.

Think it is definitely worth the money - looks smart too

 

[morini]

I'm interested in the idea of a dashcam, but is there not the possibility (under certain circumstances) it could work against you? I'm not condoning speeding or anything like that but could the data captured by the dashcam be used against you by another party (e.g. the police) if you happened to be driving a bit fast? I guess the police have their own video evidence anyway, but just wondered where a person would stand legally if the police knew they had a dashcam? Could they insist on seeing the footage?

I don't think I'd use one in France. Bloody gendarmes are keen enough to extract money from brits without giving them more evidence!

 

[SluggCone]

The police can insist on seeing your footage but if you do not have the MPH showing on the camera then really its a matter of proving speed as if all they can do is look at footage, you cannot categorically say how fast someone is driving, they only way that can be done with conviction if by a speed gun/camera.

The only other way it would be used against you is if you were driving dangerously and it was all caught on your own camera.

 

[niggle]

The police can insist on seeing your footage but if you do not have the MPH showing on the camera then really its a matter of proving speed as if all they can do is look at footage, you cannot categorically say how fast someone is driving, they only way that can be done with conviction if by a speed gun/camera.

Not correct. There are markers painted at fixed distances on many roads. These can be used to calculate your average speed between these points. Obviously if any of your recorded footage shows you travelling past two or more of these markers then you might incriminate yourself.

In almost 30 years of driving I have accumulated only one conviction - an SP30 issued by a Police motorcyclist who timed me between two markings in a 40mph zone on a dual carriageway.

A family friend of mine is a policeman. He gave me a few driving lessons whilst he was assigned to the Traffic Division. He mentioned that lamp posts are often spaced at fixed intervals as well ...

 

[labmousee]

Is there a nice way to install it so the power will come from the ceiling and you won't have the power chord interfering with your view and gears handle?

 

[Biker]

I have the power lead hidden behind the cover on the A pillar then tucked behind the headliner. The only visible bit is about two inches where it comes from the headliner to plug into the camera.

 

[Subc]

I think they should be fitted to all cars, save a whole heap of grief with insurers.

 

[daniel575]

I also got a dash cam, a pretty cheap one but of incredibly good image quality (for the price):

E-PRANCE New Mini 0801 Original Ambarella A2S60 Chip 5M pixel CMOS Car DVR Recorder With High Resolution Full HD 1080P 30 FPS, OV2710 G-sensor + Car L

You can find it on Amazon (I can't post links yet) for just over 50 GBP. There are some videos around on Youtube showing quality - I tested it a little myself and quality is indeed very good, even in the dark. Way above what the others look like at the lower price range.

However I still didn't really get around to installing it properly (after 4 months!) since I have been struggling with the same question: how am I going to hook it up without having a power cable dangling in the middle of my car?!

Argh, now I was going to install it and found that I lost the window mounting piece when moving. Anyway, they even sell the mounting piece separately (luckily!) so I'll give it another try in a couple of days when I get it.

That video by Biker sure motivated me. You really would have gotten all the blame without the dash cam. If I were the officer investigating I'd have blamed you too, without that camera - nobody would have believed you, indeed!

 

[bigbadjay]

Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk

 

[komoornik]

Pictures when mounted?

 

[Biker]

This is fitted to my current Ibiza, I don't have my Leon yet (11 weeks and four days to go, not counting mind )

The angle of the picture makes it look worse, it is hardly noticeable when driving. Plus in hindsight I could have mounted it higher up the screen, my bad....lol

 

[daniel575]

Be very careful where you mount it. If it's in your sight in any way it will 1) make you risk a fine, 2) guarantee an MOT fail when the time comes.

I intend to mount it right behind the mirror in such a way that I cannot see it at all while driving since it will be completely hidden behind the mirror. Bit difficult to do anything (like take a picture or whatever) that way, but it should (hopefully) be legal.

 

[bigbadjay]

Some vans iv seen have dash cams fitted so the lens is aimed at a hole thats cut out of the fly eye blank off on the windscreen (pictured)

Pretty much as high as you can get it then remove a section of the fly eye stuff.

Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk

 

[sixysix]

I got myself a Blackvue DR500GW HD Wi-Fi back in January and its been working just fine so far
I hard wired mine in and only have it in use when driving and take it out when parked up as I don't think its worth the parked record feature as it's just an excuse to have the window smashed.

I captured a van reversing into a lorry and smashing hs back window within 5 minutes of using the cam for the first time

I fitted mine right behing the mirror and I cant see it whilst driving and a hard mount is legal as long as it's high enough and out the way.

All suction cup mounts are actually illegal in the UK now because most are too big and obscure vision.

The Mobius fob camera gets good reviews and is quite cheap and am thinking of getting one as a rear facing cam. £70 from Amazon, or around £45 from Ali express but take your chances as to if that will be a genuine or a copy.

 

[GlanzaV]

Just a word of warning - I've read that if you declare these cameras to the insurance and you do have an accident they can call on the footage, and for any reason , if you can't provide it then it can invalidate your insurance.

So have them fitted, and should anything happen, you can use it at your discretion in a claim situation.

I would also tend to agree with some of the comments about them being invalid for speed trapping purposes. Generally Traffic police cars spedometers and speed guns etc are all calibrated. As your little camera isn't then it's totally invalid. What's to say it's not recording at one frame rate and replaying at another, so even with fixed markers it's not necessarily accurate.

 

[niggle]

I would also tend to agree with some of the comments about them being invalid for speed trapping purposes. Generally Traffic police cars spedometers and speed guns etc are all calibrated. As your little camera isn't then it's totally invalid. What's to say it's not recording at one frame rate and replaying at another, so even with fixed markers it's not necessarily accurate.

I would agree that the frame rate on cheaper cameras can fluctuate significantly but the timestamp overlay is usually spot on. With the timestamp overlay present on your recordings there is still the possibility of incriminating yourself.

 

[SluggCone]

Just a word of warning - I've read that if you declare these cameras to the insurance and you do have an accident they can call on the footage, and for any reason , if you can't provide it then it can invalidate your insurance.

So have them fitted, and should anything happen, you can use it at your discretion in a claim situation.

I would also tend to agree with some of the comments about them being invalid for speed trapping purposes. Generally Traffic police cars spedometers and speed guns etc are all calibrated. As your little camera isn't then it's totally invalid. What's to say it's not recording at one frame rate and replaying at another, so even with fixed markers it's not necessarily accurate.

Ive never heard that and I work for an insurance company!

Plus if you declare it to some insurers they give discount

 

[betty_swollox]

I am a convert to dashcams to. I have a Winycam X100FHD in my current Ibiza and will be swapping it into the Leon.
I fitted mine as I witnessed an accident and the legal wrangling went on for two years, a video would have ended that pretty much instantly. About three weeks after fitting the camera, this happened to me......

http://youtu.be/kIEYp4vNz0w

As not one other motorist stopped to act as a witness I would never been able to prove what happened and the Police said had it not been for the video, they would have been looking to prosecute me for the accident. They said they would never have believed the bike just rode into me.

Driving with a camera running doesn't appeal to everyone but take my word for it, they can save you a fortune and lots of grief!

Wtf? I thought you might have been exaggerating a bit, but he did literally cycle INTO YOU!!!!


Unreal lol