Приложения на Google Play – Dashboard Cam

Dashboard Cam - Виджет, компас карты, GPS-данные, пульт дистанционного управления, внешняя поддержка GPS

* GPS-данные веб-браузера игрока: пожалуйста, посетите HTT :/ / www.busywww.com

* Пользователь может играть и просматривать записанные GPS данных из веб-браузера (рекомендуется использовать последнюю Chrome)

1. OBD режим (транспортное средство, на Diagnostics): Скорость автомобиля, RPM, и температура двигателя

2. Google Map Версия 2: Оффлайн карты и поддержкой 3D Посмотреть

3. Обмен Текущее местоположение GPS: Email или других приложений

*** OBD режим: см. справочный раздел OBD Режим получить дополнительные сведения.

Основные режимы записи:

* Видео + GPS

* Фото + GPS (карты и спидометра Overlay)

* Виджет: GPS

Dashboard Cam позволяет пользователям записывать видео или сфотографировать снимки в полном экране изображения с камер вместе с картой и компасом GPS информации о скорости, и узнать ваши вождения статистики с GPS записи данных. И приложение может использоваться в качестве автомобиля целей черного ящика.

Dashboard Cam Виджет миниатюрный вид приложения, которые могут быть встроены в главный экран.

С виджетом, без открытия основного приложения, пользователь может отображаться текущая скорость GPS и записывать GPS данные о спросе.

В то время как виджет приложения GPS записи работает, пользователь может открыть или использовать другие приложения, не прерывая обслуживания GPS.

Dashboard Cam Приложения для Android можно управлять с удаленных устройств с Android реального времени удаленный просмотр кадра камеры.

Функции пульта дистанционного управления может быть очень полезным:

1. Когда устройство мужской состыкован (или, расположенный) в местах, где рука управление ограничено.

2. Управлять удаленным приборной панели камеры приложений с жесткого монтажа устройства, таблетки.

3. Управление удаленной камерой приборной панели другим человеком, который не смог достичь удаленного устройства.

Для получения дополнительной информации, пожалуйста, проверьте ссылку.

Dashboard Cam поддерживает внешние Bluetooth GPS.

С внешним GPS, точность GPS данные будут улучшены в хорошей цене. И было бы очень полезно в различных ситуациях.

1. GPS сигнала приобретения будут гораздо лучше.

2. Полезные под обстоятельств, как лес, в центре города или аналогичных местах, где GPS сигнал слабый или заблокированы.

3. Для Android-устройств без реальных устройств GPS или только A-GPS функции, пользователь теперь может пользоваться всеми функциями приложения.

С фото + GPS записей данных, пользователь может просмотреть или генерировать карту + скорость overlaied записи позже.

Для overlaied вид записи, отображения и записи настройки доступны для индивидуальных опыта воспроизведения.

5 of the Best Dash Cams

Resolution: 1920?1080 @ 30fps

Viewing Angle: 120 degrees

File Format: .MOV

Size: 4? x 2 x 1? inches

It's no coincidence that the world's best-selling dash cam also happens to be one of the cheapest, but for the money, there's no way you can go wrong with the Novatek G1W. The G1W is ready to use out of the box and includes a car adapter, windshield mount, Mini-USB cable, and HDMI cable. It also has an HDMI output that connects directly to your television. The 2.7-inch LCD screen makes it simple to change settings such as adjusting the camera resolution, changing loop clip recording length, or setting the screen duration (a must to prevent driver distraction). Like most dedicated dash cams, the G1W includes an accelerometer (sometimes called G-sensor in dash cams) that detects if the car's been hit, and earmarks that footage for later review.

Resolution: 1920?1080 @ 30fps

Viewing Angle: 116 degrees

File Format: .MOV

Size: 3? x 2? x 1? inches

The ActionCam is a discreet, high-quality dash cam that's small enough to fit on your keychain. Its compact size makes it a hobbyist's dream: This cam could easily attach to remote control planes, cars, or drones, not to mention helmet mounts or handlebars. Unfortunately, it sacrifices some features to stay small, including GPS, accelerometer, and the most important being a built-in screen.

This camera is an action camera first, but you can use the software included with the camera to configure it into a reliable dash cam using your Windows PC. For this, you'll need to pick up an extra-long Mini-USB cable and a suction cup mount, and you should turn on the Auto Loop feature, set the Clip Length, and turn Flip Movie on in your settings.

Likes: The compact size means it won't distract the driver or other motorists. There's ample firmware support by the manufacturer and an active online community.

Dislikes: LED notifications are hard to see, especially when the camera is mounted. Heat sinks on the camera's housing get very hot. Included software is PC-only, so Mac users will have to download a third-party app before setting up their camera.

Загружайте Dashboard Cam для Android от Busy WWW

Dashboard Cam - Виджет, компас карты, GPS-данные, пульт дистанционного управления, внешняя поддержка GPS

* GPS-данные веб-браузера игрока: пожалуйста, посетите HTT :/ / www.busywww.com

* Пользователь может играть и просматривать записанные GPS данных из веб-браузера (рекомендуется использовать последнюю Chrome)

1. OBD режим (транспортное средство, на Diagnostics): Скорость автомобиля, RPM, и температура двигателя

2. Google Map Версия 2: Оффлайн карты и поддержкой 3D Посмотреть

3. Обмен Текущее местоположение GPS: Email или других приложений

*** OBD режим: см. справочный раздел OBD Режим получить дополнительные сведения.

Основные режимы записи:

* Видео + GPS

* Фото + GPS (карты и спидометра Overlay)

* Виджет: GPS

Dashboard Cam позволяет пользователям записывать видео или сфотографировать снимки в полном экране изображения с камер вместе с картой и компасом GPS информации о скорости, и узнать ваши вождения статистики с GPS записи данных. И приложение может использоваться в качестве автомобиля целей черного ящика.

Dashboard Cam Виджет миниатюрный вид приложения, которые могут быть встроены в главный экран.

С виджетом, без открытия основного приложения, пользователь может отображаться текущая скорость GPS и записывать GPS данные о спросе.

В то время как виджет приложения GPS записи работает, пользователь может открыть или использовать другие приложения, не прерывая обслуживания GPS.

Dashboard Cam Приложения для Android можно управлять с удаленных устройств с Android реального времени удаленный просмотр кадра камеры.

Функции пульта дистанционного управления может быть очень полезным:

1. Когда устройство мужской состыкован (или, расположенный) в местах, где рука управление ограничено.

2. Управлять удаленным приборной панели камеры приложений с жесткого монтажа устройства, таблетки.

3. Управление удаленной камерой приборной панели другим человеком, который не смог достичь удаленного устройства.

Для получения дополнительной информации, пожалуйста, проверьте ссылку.

Dashboard Cam поддерживает внешние Bluetooth GPS.

С внешним GPS, точность GPS данные будут улучшены в хорошей цене. И было бы очень полезно в различных ситуациях.

1. GPS сигнала приобретения будут гораздо лучше.

2. Полезные под обстоятельств, как лес, в центре города или аналогичных местах, где GPS сигнал слабый или заблокированы.

3. Для Android-устройств без реальных устройств GPS или только A-GPS функции, пользователь теперь может пользоваться всеми функциями приложения.

С фото + GPS записей данных, пользователь может просмотреть или генерировать карту + скорость overlaied записи позже.

Для overlaied вид записи, отображения и записи настройки доступны для индивидуальных опыта воспроизведения.

Dash Cam Videos

PROTIP: Press 'i' to view the image gallery, 'v' to view the video gallery, or 'r' to view a random entry.

Dash Cam Videos. short for Dashboard Camera Videos. are surveillance-style clips taken from the dashboard of a person’s car. Online, they’re usually uploaded to share footage of car accidents or arrests.

Dashboard cameras became common in police vehicles in 1990 after two officers from Houston, Texas bought a standard video camera with their own money in 1988. The camera was a way to provide more evidence in court to help prosecute drunk drivers, as their impaired driving and demeanor would be captured. Between November 1989 and April 1990, all 17 videotaped arrests lead to guilty pleas in Franklin County, New York. [1] As early as 2002 [2]. local news websites began hosting dashboard-filmed videos of accidents or car chases released from the police.

In January 2011, a LiveJournal community [11] dedicated to discussing dash cam accident videos was created, generating more 570,000 comments in just under two years. The community organizes the videos with several tags including “поциент”, a wordplay on the Russian term for “schmuck”, for videos with people put in unfortunate positions, “летчик”, or pilot, used on videos where a driver will speed by and crash at the end of the vido, “кирпичи”, short for “shitting bricks”, which describes videos where the driver is shouting, and “железобетонное очко”, or “anus of concrete” (shown below, left), used to laud drivers who were able to avoid an accident while remaining calm.

2013 Russian Meteor Explosion refers to the meteorite impact event that took place over the Chelyabinsk region in Siberia, Russia on February 15th, 2013. The spectacle of the meteor streaking across the sky before exploding in mid-air was recorded on several dash cameras from multiple vantage points near the impact site, the footage of which was subsequently uploaded to YouTube later that same day.

Dash Cam Buyer s Guide Latest 2016 Range

Whether you are driving for business or leisure there are always incidents on your journey. Often you would benefit from being able to video the events in the road ahead or even behind you.

This is when a in-car camera becomes the ultimate in car accessory (also known as a Vehicle Driving Recorder). The latest dashboard cameras will help you provide evidence for insurance purposes or even as evidence at the scene of a accident - as many devices also feature a LCD screen for video playback. This video-proof can help protect your driving licence and even reduce your insurance premiums.

We sell a range of accident cameras here at SpeedCamerasUK.com. Please click here to buy your dash cam.

Dashboard or windscreen mounted car video cameras can accurately record cases of bad driving that result in a collision - whether that collision was a mere accident or was staged.

Without the need for third party witnesses you can now continuously record the road ahead and/or the rear view from your vehicle. Many in-car cameras can also start recording at the push of a button or using a built-in 3-axis G-force sensor when an impact is detected, the seconds before are all recorded and saved to the device.

Parking mode is standard on the majority of dash cameras too, so you can document evidence of events whilst away from your car too - this works via motion detection to start recording so you do not need to waste video recording time.

Video evidence caught on a dash cam can be used in a court of law.

"Crash for Cash" or "induced accidents" is the name given to the illegal activity of purposely crashing a car or other vehicle into another to claim an insurance payout.

In the UK Crash for Cash is estimated to be costing car insurance policyholders nearly £400million a year. Leading UK car insurance company Aviva, which insures one in ten of the cars in the UK, detected about 820 "induced accidents" in 2013 up 51% on the previous year. Read more here .

Organised gangs operate this criminal activity throughout the United Kingdom. However there are some UK hot spots, these areas include; Bradford, Birmingham, Liverpool and London. To view a poster of UK hotspot post codes click here or on the image to the right.

By driving with a driver vehicle recording device. you can accurately record any motoring incident involving your vehicle - giving you peace of mind.

The video above by the UK's Insurance Fraud Bureau explains what a Crash for Crash - Induced Accident is.

Some car insurers offer discount for drivers who use a dash camera in their vehicle of between 10-15% off car insurance premiums.

Installing an in-car camera will also protect your driving licence and vehicle insurance costs because you will be able to prove who was at fault at an incident.

Some individuals and criminal gangs have recently been attempting to purposely cause accidents so that they can claim and get a payout on their insurance this is known as 'Crash for Cash' (more details here ). If you have the means to document such attempts you can use it as evidence for the Police to view. This will likely save your driving licence premium costs from rising too. Without dash camera evidence you could face an increase in car insurance costs.

There are two types of dashboard cameras - those that appear cylindrical, like the Road Angel Halo and Snooper DVR-1HD mini pictured right, and those that are larger and include a colour screen like the Mio Mivue car camera pictured below.

When it comes to mounting either device the best place to position the DVR system is behind or close to the rear-view mirror. There are small dash cams such as the Garmin Dash Cam 30 that will allow for a discrete installation. Also the slightly larger Garmin Dash Cam 35 is also a great device for a discrete installation which also features GPS speed camera warnings and records GPS location and speed information.

However with some dash cams e.g. the Mio Mivue range and Snooper DVR-4HD that include a colour display you may wish to mount these in the same position you might expect to find a sat nav. Especially as many of these in-car cameras also include speed camera warnings via the colour screen.

Some vehicle drive recorders also include two cameras - one camera to film the view from the front of your car and a second camera to film a rear facing view. In-car cameras with two or twin cameras include the BlackVue DR750LW and BlackVue DR650GW .

When installing Driver Vehicle Recorders (DVR) with two cameras you will need to install (and if you choose hide) the cabling running from the front of the vehicle to the rear windscreen.

You may also choose to have this type of DVR system hardwired into your cars electrical supply, so the device is fully integrated into your vehicle. For this type of installation, you may need to seek the services of a qualified auto electrician.

An increasing number of in-car cameras feature a LCD screen. While you can watch playback of recorded videos on this display (at the roadside), devices from Snooper and Mio also include on-screen speed camera information as you drive.

So as well as recording traffic offences, these dash cameras can also serve to protect your driving licence too.

On approach to a speed cameras location the dash cam will warn of the speed camera location in the road ahead, your vehicles speed, and there will also be an audio 'beep'.

Some models within the Mio Mivue range charge a subscription fee, however the new Snooper DVR-4HD includes free lifetime subscription to the Snooper AURA speed camera database, this is worth £29.99 year. However, unlike other dedicated Snooper speed camera detectors, you can only update the DVR 4HD four times a year - once a quarter.

The Garmin Dash Cam 35 optionally offers a speed camera database which costs £16.99 per year for UK and Ireland.

To view and buy the Snooper DVR-4HD click here .

There is an increasing number of in-car cameras available to buy. Some devices, like the BlackVue DR650GW (pictured right) offer both front and rear video cameras for recording events in front and behind your vehicle. Other features include a built-in screen, speed camera database, full HD recording and GPS capabilities - to record speed, time and location.

Twin camera (front and rear) Road Angel Halo. this is the first in-car camera featuring a 150 degree viewing angle. The Halo also has GPS technology built-in for playback of your journey with Google Maps. There are four recording modes including continuous, impact detection, manual mode and parked mode. An in-built microphone enables you to record commentary of events as they happen too. This feature can be turned off giving you privacy as you drive.

The Garmin Dash Cam 35 is a great dash cam with a 3-inch screen and it is a discrete, windscreen mounted device. The Garmin Dash Cam 35 also features GPS technology providing speed camera database and records GPS location and speed information.

The dash cam comparison table below looks at six of current 2016 range of in-car cameras. The first three devices all include a colour display, while the latter three devices don't feature a screen.

CDR 900

The road is a wild place, where anything can happen. Anything.

Which is why it’s a good idea to record your ride with the Drive HD Dash Cam by Cobra. Now, you’ve got evidence. Unbelievably funny footage. And all kinds of other great stuff too. Never miss a moment again with the CDR 900 Drive HD Dash Cam from Cobra.

The CDR 900 let's your share those moments right from your smartphone. The series’ Wi-Fi enabled flagship model goes the next step in video capture and sharing through the free Cobra Drive HD App. Wi-Fi functionality allows the user to connect and stream live and recorded footage directly to the user’s iOS or Android device to instantly view and share footage. Through the Cobra Drive HD App, users can remotely command their CDR 900 to start recording, as well as control its settings through the app’s easy-to-use menus. Through Cloud Mode, users can view their camera in real-time from their smartphone anywhere in the world.  In addition to innovative features, the CDR 900 captures amazing 1296P Super HD or 1080P HD video using an Ambarella™ A7LA chipset to ensure high-quality imaging, even during nighttime.

Like the other Drive HD Dash Cams by Cobra, the CDR 900 utilizes Continuous Loop Recording, which automatically overwrites the oldest footage when the memory card gets full.  It also features a motion sensor for automatic recording while driving, as well as a G-Sensor, which senses sudden acceleration and collisions to automatically capture and protect critical footage surrounding an accident. The CDR 900 includes an 8GB memory card so that they are ready to use straight out of the box.

What's in the Box: Dash Cam (Model # CDR 900), Product Manual, Heavy Duty Suction Cup Mount, 8GB Micro SD Card (Installed), Cigarette Lighter Adapter, Micro USB Cables (1 foot power/data & 12 foot power only), Tripod Connector, Lanyard and Lanyard Mount

Sometimes, you have to see it to believe it. Never miss another epic moment. Record your ride with a Drive HD Dash Cam by Cobra.

The Best Dash Cam

You can get a G1W for less than $60—plus the cost of a microSD card if you don’t already have one lying around. There are lots of convincing fakes of this great camera, so make sure to buy from one of our approved links.

However, if I lived in a hot climate, I would buy the G1W-C. It’s the same exact camera as the G1W, but it uses a capacitor instead of a battery, which (for reasons we explain below ) does better in hotter climates where batteries might not function optimally.

But, if I were nervous about buying from anonymous businesses (more on that below), I’d get the Garmin Dash Cam 10. It doesn’t really do anything better than the G1W, and costs roughly 4 times as much, but it does come backed by a legitimate warranty and a company with a reliable reputation.

If you’re reading this, you’ve probably seen footage of the meteor explosions and ridiculous traffic collisions captured by Russian drivers. As WIRED explains. drivers in Russia and elsewhere use dash cams to have legal evidence to protect them from insurance fraud. In a place like Russia (or anywhere, really), there’s the potential for depraved drivers to, for example, back into your front end and claim it as you rear-ending them .

With a camera rolling, you have proof of the grift—and in a country with potentially unscrupulous law enforcement, this can be especially valuable. With globalization and the quick shrinking of technology, dash cams are cheap and reliable enough to be a worthwhile buy if you think you’d benefit from one.

I need to emphasize that dash cams are not meant to capture memories. In fact, a dash cam is meant to be completely ignored until an event happens. Consider them more like a security camera (or an airplane black box, as Techmoan describes them ). They record constantly so when a con man reverses and claims that you rear-ended him, you have footage that shows the stop, his reverse lights, and the impact. While a dash cam holds hours of footage, its sole purpose is to capture a very decisive few seconds of a collision.

These cameras might not capture every license plate or the face of other drivers, but they will show that you were being safe.

We have more details below, but understand that these cameras are to prove your own innocence, not to identify and capture the guy who nicked your bumper in a hit and run. The dash cam is used to show how a collision went down from your perspective and show that you were driving legally. These cameras might not capture every license plate or the face of other drivers, but they will show that you were being safe.

These dash cams are made by unidentifiable manufacturers without a corporate headquarters, often based in China or South Korea. Since there’s no proper regulation, there are many, many fakes that sell, even on Amazon (check out the full guide below for more explanation). With our other guides, you can reliably buy the same pair of Bose headphones we recommend from someone other than our vendor links, but with dash cams, you need to buy from a specific, trusted, and certified vendor. We’ve worked hard to ensure that we link through to legitimate sellers because we get lots of reader inquiries about malfunctioning units, and a lot of the time the trouble comes from a fake unit. It’s made even worse because there are so many out there that there are no external identifiers to distinguish the true models from the fakes.

Buy from one of the links we’ve found and you’ll be safe. Buy without verifying and you’ll have spent a solid chunk of money and no customer support to call.

Another common source of malfunction originates with the SD card. Read our explanation below to make sure you have the right card, and then make sure you format it within the camera itself: use the on-screen prompts to format it, not just using your computer.

Buy from a verified source, use the right SD card, and format it within the camera and you’ll be a happy customer.

Dash cams worth purchasing have a few key features that make them easy enough to use every day. It’s these features that make a dedicated camera a much better option than using a smartphone. However, as technology shrinks and parts become cheaper, many are now loaded with functions you don’t need or want. Understanding the dash cam as a security camera instead of a camcorder is vital for knowing which models are best. Here, we’ll separate the essential features from the add-ons that manufacturers put in their cams to justify a higher price tag or a claim of innovative design.

By now, any worthwhile camera has high-definition recording, particularly 1080p at 30 or more frames per second. With a well-fitted camera, this resolution will clearly show license plates and street signs when played back. HD capability has become so cheap that it’s not worth saving cash with anything less. Last year, 720p was good enough and so much cheaper that it wasn’t worth paying more, but now 1080p cameras with better image quality can be had for the same price.

Don’t judge the quality of different models based on the footage you see uploaded online. That video is typically compressed after being pulled from the cam.

Auto stop and start

A majority of us will plug our dash cam directly into the 12-volt cigarette lighter of our car. Almost every production automobile has what’s called a switched power supply, which simply means that when you turn the car on, battery power goes to the cigarette lighter. Turn the car off, and the lighter socket loses power. Auto stop and start cameras plugged into the 12-volt socket will sense when the car has been turned on, power up, and automatically start recording. When the car shuts off, it turns off as well. Almost all dash cams have this feature since it’s an essential convenience for ensuring that you’ll actually use your camera consistently. Again, the goal of a dash cam is to not think about it until you need it. We only looked at cameras that had this feature, which proved to be essential.

For most people, a camera needs to have a display. The size saved by not having a display will mean frustration and confusion when trying to tinker with the settings. With a display, it’s easy to fiddle with the exposure settings or to format the memory card (see below). All cameras have a timeout function that turns the display off after it begins recording, meaning you won’t be distracted by another glowing rectangle on your windshield.

I specifically like screens because they reassure you that the camera’s recording. Some compact models convey this with LED colors or frequency of blinking, but I fear discovering the camera was in standby mode after an accident happens. A display also lets you make sure that it’s angled correctly so it captures all the important detail in its field of view.

Setup (for most cams)

Most dash cams, including the G1W, have a plastic female indent on the top that connects into a male plastic clip attached to a suction cup. Some models come with or can accommodate a two-sided adhesive, as was the case with our test Mobius. These adhesives can be more secure than suction cups if your car has a dot matrix near the rear view mirror–these are ostensibly supposed to help shade sun glare. Unfortunately, we couldn’t find any official explanation of how to deal with these dots, only forum discussions ; in our testing, these dots could impair a mount’s suction, so factor that in when deciding where to mount the camera.

Know that at least in California there are laws on the books that regulate how much of your windshield can be covered up by gear. Anything that cuts into your visibility is dangerous, so mount accordingly.

If you own your car and can afford the installation, hard-wiring is worth considering.

If you own your car and can afford the installation, hard-wiring is worth considering. With the installation, you won’t take up the 12-volt plug. If you’re really worried about killing your car battery, you can pay an extra $40 for a battery discharge prevention device. which stops delivering power to the cam if the car battery’s voltage drops too low. Whether you use the internal 12-volt cigarette lighter plug, or have it hard-wired, look for a long power cable. Having a short cable that hangs down from the camera to the center console is a visibility nuisance and it’ll take away from the camera’s discretion.

The batteries that come with the cameras are small and recording video requires constant power. The models that have batteries are meant to be used sparingly, like if there’s an accident and you want to take out the camera to record a walk-around. For the aforementioned parking mode, you can turn the camera to be fully on while you’re parked, but that’ll only last for about half an hour, maximum.

Every camera has this feature, but it’s worth explaining. Rather than having you replace the camera’s microSD card every five hours or so, these cameras, upon filling a card to capacity, overwrite the oldest footage with the newest. Again, the goal is to never need your dash cam until a collision—when an impact happens, you can pull over to the side of the road, turn off the camera, eject the card, and you’ll be certain to have footage of the incident.

To organize this overwriting cycle, cameras record in segments, a setting that’s almost always adjustable. Setting your camera to record in five-minute segments, for example, will produce a spread of five-minute HD videos when you view the footage on a computer. Set it to three-minute segments, and you’ll get three-minute videos.

There’s no distinct advantage to any particular setting with modern cameras. Even a year ago, many dash cams would produce a very conspicuous visual blip or footage gap in the footage when it ended one segment and began another. Now, even cheap cameras record so that you get two examples of the same milliseconds of footage at the end of one segment and the beginning of the next—basically, the camera can use the same card without intervention without losing any footage. Two minutes of high-definition video will take up about 100MB of memory, so you don’t have to worry about lack of storage.

No camera will work as well at night as it does during daylight, but you want a camera that has strong enough resolution and clarity to function in the dark. This is just an extension of the lens and sensor capabilities.

From the testing I’ve done and experience using other forms of cameras, dash cams generally have extremely disappointing nighttime clarity. Even with the $400-plus models, the street lights are flared and blown out and it’s difficult to read license plates on nearby cars since my headlights would cause a glare.

Some cameras feature nighttime “infrared” lights that surround the lens, and they’re useless. Often, the light is just a basic white LED that, at worst, washes out the footage. Dash Cam Talk agrees that these are a useless feature, but some models have them, we suspect, to conform to perceived expectations of bells and whistles on these cams–a cam with these lights isn’t necessarily junk. Ignore any auxiliary lights and don’t use them. If your car has headlights, you’re set.

These cameras are too small to hold much of a charge, so without connection to the car’s power source, they only last for about half an hour…

Almost every camera has one, and it’s a generally useless feature. These cameras are too small to hold much of a charge, so without connection to the car’s power source, they only last for about half an hour–the idea, we gather, is that it can keep functioning if an accident severs the connection to the battery or if you want to unmount it and get footage of the wreck. These are both unlikely scenarios, but manufacturers keep including them in the cameras. Don’t pay much attention to mAh figures or any other statistic relating to the battery.

After covering dash cams for more than a year, I haven’t found any reason to value GPS functionality. That said, a majority of manufacturers have added GPS chipsets to their cameras as an enticing upsell, but I cannot imagine a scenario in which the data would be beneficial. Actually, that additional info could be a problem.

Going back to the basic purpose of a dash cam (evidence in case of an accident), there is generally no argument over the location. Besides visual cues from the footage like road signs, you wouldn’t flee the scene of the collision—unless you were the perpetrator, in which case, the dash cam would only prove your transgressions.

Cams with GPS typically calculate and record your estimated speed. This can potentially be a bad thing. For instance, you’re involved in a collision for which the other driver is inarguably at fault as the video shows, but miles back while approaching the intersection, you were, however benignly, breaking the speed limit by five or ten miles per hour. That information would go into consideration when the insurance company or police reviewed the tape.

We don’t condone unsafe driving, but your insurer and local police follow the letter of the law rather than the spirit. Basically, GPS has almost no discernible benefit but a considerable potential for self-incrimination.

This is the number one thing we’ve been asked about, and the answer is not very satisfying. Many cameras have accelerometers inside, which serves two hypothetical purposes:

One, the camera detects a sudden acceleration or deceleration, identifies it as a crash, and flags the current footage segment so it won’t be overwritten. Seems like a great idea—if you crash in the middle of a five-hour road trip and have no way to extract the footage from the microSD and don’t have a backup card, you might want to ensure that the footage stays put. The downside, however, is that even on low sensitivity, potholes and construction zones can be jarring enough to trigger the crash sensor, as I found driving San Francisco’s crappy roads. If this happens enough times, the camera will fill the microSD to capacity. In all but the most unusual driving circumstances, the crash sensor is unnecessary and potentially problematic.

To the dozens of folks who’ve written in asking for advice on how to catch the neighbor/ex-boyfriend/street sweeper who has been leaving dents in the car, a $60 or even $400 dash cam isn’t the solution.

Two, and this is the big one, the camera might begin recording when your parked car gets jostled. The idea is that you can hardwire the camera to your car battery (as of now, no camera has a big enough internal battery to last through a night) and have it remain dormant in your parked car. When a shopping cart, uncouth youth, or a drunk driver hits your car and causes damage, the camera will fire up and catch the perp on film.

To the dozens of folks who’ve written in asking for advice on how to catch the neighbor/ex-boyfriend/street sweeper who has been leaving dents in the car, a $60 or even $400 dash cam isn’t the solution.

If a car parked on a high-traffic street has a dash cam set to record when jostled, that camera will only record significant seconds after the incident has taken place—even the best cameras have a delay from turning on to actually recording. If an impact happens in the rear (we explain multi-cam setups below), the front-facing footage is useless, too. If someone lets the air out of the tires, sticks a potato in the exhaust, or keys the paint, the camera likely won’t even turn on. As for leaving them on and recording all night, you’ll wake up to a drained car battery. Besides that, these cams aren’t robust enough to handle being engaged, even when asleep, for all hours of the day—think of how much a MacBook or iPhone battery deteriorates in just a year. If you do hardwire, though, coming back to a dead car isn’t really a problem—drivers have said they’ve left their cameras on in parking mode for days without killing the battery, and if your car is in the safety of your garage, you can just unplug it and it won’t take any power.

I’m not the only one who can’t recommend dash cams for this use. Mat from Techmoan reviews dozens of these, and in this dash cam tutorial video. at about 8:30, he agrees.

For anyone looking to use a dash cam to catch hit-and-run impacts or vandalism, recording won’t start until a few seconds after the incident, dash cam batteries are too small to run on their own for any length of time, hardwiring requires additional parts and know-how, and the chances of actually capturing useful footage are slim. For now, these are not security cameras.

Yes, but that’ll require a lot of work. If you have reason to be exceptionally nervous about a collision with an unscrupulous driver, you can go this route, but it’s not really an option unless you own the car and have a budget of around $500 for two cams, discharge-prevention devices, and installation. For most of us, it’s not necessary; forward-facing footage will often suffice, especially when supplemented with audio recording.

Right now, the twin-camera setups (bottom of the page) are large, slow, and have poor video quality. It’s better to use two of the same dedicated cameras, if you must.

Obscure electronics companies, most from Korea, Taiwan, and China. In total, there are just less than 100 different manufacturers out there, a great majority of which we’d never heard of before researching this piece. Only a few of the brands sell in English-speaking markets, so you’ll notice strange syntax in the instruction manuals.

Recently, brands like Garmin, HP, and Panasonic have started making dash cams, often selling them at a higher price tag than you’ll see on the unknown Asian brands. We’ll be reviewing them as they become available.

This is a big, unregulated market that’s rife with knock-offs.

This is a big, unregulated market that’s rife with knock-offs. Beware of vendors selling cams for unusually cheap prices. (If you find cams for the prices we note here, you’ll probably be fine.) Definitely avoid Sunweb  and BAIKLOV. as customers have complained of receiving knock-offs. For most popular dash cams, there are checklists of features that distinguish true models from knock-offs. We trust Dash Cam Talk ’s detailed FAQs, which have listings of the unique characteristics of the major models. We’ll go into specifics for each of our picks, but this site’s research has scrupulous intel on the subject. More generally, if you stick to a trusted seller, you’ll be fine.

Dash Cam Talk’s editor told me that reputable eBay sellers are the best way to buy cameras. Amazon, our source for almost everything we buy and recommend buying, can be dicey for dash cams as a lot of fakes show up. If you go with eBay, as I would, Car Cam Central and other sites use Estore009. Generally, if you find a vendor that has a high positive feedback rating (Estore009 has a 99.6 percent), you’ll be good.

If you end up investing in a quality cam, or even a cheap cam like our pick, you can buy a warranty for it through Square Trade. We called up Square Trade to see what exactly this meant. If you pay the extra $11 or so when you buy the dash cam, you have a three-year period in which, if the menu button breaks or the screen goes kaput from normal use, you can send it to them so they’ll send it to a repair facility or you can find someone to repair it and send them the receipt for reimbursement. That’s a substantial deal, we think, though we can’t say whether the repair or replacement process is more hassle than just spending $60 for another.

As you can expect from such a vast market, brand warranties are non-existent or too obtuse to be worth the effort. If you get a warranty from Square Trade, a United States company, they cover product breakdowns, even from overheating. For a more expensive camera, $35 gets you three years of coverage on a $250 camera, according to Car Cam Central.

Kind of, but since dash cams are so cheap, we wouldn’t recommend it. Translogic has a guide for converting one into a dash cam, but the GoPro’s limitations keep it from working as a good dedicated dash cam. Specifically, the casing’s design, which keeps the power plug set in the waterproof housing, means that if you want to hook up a permanent power connection to the camera, you need to drill into the housing to keep it plugged in. From there, turn on the looping feature.

The benefit of a good dash cam is that you can forget that it’s there until you actually need it.

The tradeoff you get for using a reliable product like this is that you’ll ruin the plastic housing for the camera and you need to manually turn it on every time you drive. You’re basically left with a $300 camera that you could have for less than $50. The benefit of a good dash cam is that you can forget that it’s there until you actually need it. With a GoPro, you need to turn it on every time, which, we think, will get you in the habit of not using it for, say, a short drive down the street on errands, which might be the one time you need the footage. We say spend the $50 on our pick of a dash cam and ensure your security. If you end up in an accident that’d otherwise cost you hundreds of dollars and more in insurance premiums, we say it’s worth it to get a dedicated model.

Yes, you see these capturing race footage, but Dash Cam Man explained: “Dash cams should have loop recording and automatic auto-start / auto stop.  Older GoPros do not have either of these functions.  The GoPro Hero3 has looping but no auto start and auto stop, hence it is great as a track cam, not so much a dash cam.”

There are apps that can turn a mounted iPhone into a dash cam, but using one this way means taking the time before every drive to turn on the app and position the phone. It’s a pain and it interferes with using Waze or another GPS app. It’ll also kill the battery quickly.

Spend what could be less than $100 and get a dedicated device. The time saved along will be worth it.

Fortunately, there are several websites with reviews that are, despite their non-professional appearance, extremely evaluative. For now, these are the only sites conducting thorough reviews of dash cams: Techmoan. Dashboard Camera Reviews. Car Cam Central. and Dash Cam Talk.

(There are other dash cam reviewers like The Gadgeteer and Auto Express. but none of them are nearly as comprehensive or as well-versed in this product category as the aforementioned sites).

Since there are hundreds of dash cams in production and even the great ones can come from no-name Chinese and Korean manufacturers, we read these sites’ reviews to come up with a list of the dash cams that were well-esteemed across multiple sources.

From there, we contacted the editors of Car Cam Central and Dash Cam Talk. who helped us sort out questions about features and rank the various models based on what average users would need in a dash cam—details on that can be found under “What to look for.”

We also spoke to the folks at the Spy Tec  in New York City, where they sell many of these obscure dash cams. Their staff have visited the factories producing these cams and picked what they consider the best models. We considered their advice with caution since they are a retailer, but their expertise helped us negotiate the differences between models.

From there, we ordered or called in the top contenders, models that had the basic features like looping, 1080-pixel resolution, small size, and solid night vision. We then drove around with them through a variety of conditions—sunny Hawaii highways, overcast and potholed San Francisco streets, and tours through suburban New Jersey woods.

From left to right: Papago! DashCam P2, Mobius, G1W, Papago! GoSafe 110, BlackVue DR500-GW, HP F210. We will be constantly testing new models and adding to this list.

We were particularly attentive to how well each camera could “disappear” from our attention while driving.

Besides those criteria, generally build quality was weighed against price as we do for all our product reviews.