Talk to me about dashcams - useful for track videos/vandalism?

[Nocturnal]

I had picked up a fairly cheap forward facing cam a while back that I had planned to use. Seems like it is TBD whether or not the Tesla dashcam will only work for EAP owners or everyone with the EAP hardware.

Questions. If I pick up something like the Blackvue, can it pull double duty to record track videos? (my gopro is missing and they aren't much cheaper than the dashcam) People routinely cite always on dashcams as beneficial for vandalism. Am I missing something there? Most of the time it will be a video of some random guy damaging the car right? Is the hope that you can pull a plate or something?

I'm sure I've seen threads about power sources etc. for those so I think that's not an issue.

 

[outie]

I don’t see why you can’t use it for track videos. One of the most important reasons for dashcam is to record accidents to determine / prove at-fault parties. Both track and vandalism are just icing on the cake.

 

[Canikony]

I think most dashcams offer very little vandalism protection. If someone keys your car on the sides, you wont catch them with front and rear dash cameras. The hassle of installing them to record even when the car is off doesn't seem worth it to me. The biggest benefit is determining who is at fault in an accident. I have personally used a dashcam to disprove someones claim that they were not at fault.

 

[Linkeds2]

Lying cops

 

[TeeEmCee]

I think most dashcams offer very little vandalism protection. If someone keys your car on the sides, you wont catch them with front and rear dash cameras. The hassle of installing them to record even when the car is off doesn't seem worth it to me. The biggest benefit is determining who is at fault in an accident. I have personally used a dashcam to disprove someones claim that they were not at fault.

Have video of some thoughtless a-wipe slamming his door into mine, I have faces, license plate, everything. Showed the video to cop in same parking lot, he looked at me like I was retarded for expecting him to do some police work, said "take it up with your insurer". Of course, the ding cost is below my deductible, so there would be no interest for the insurance co to do anything about this.

 

[dailo]

Outside of peace of mind for accidents, I don't think the dashcam will help much. Unless you know the person that damages your car, probably not much you'll be able to do.

 

[Nocturnal]

Outside of peace of mind for accidents, I don't think the dashcam will help much. Unless you know the person that damages your car, probably not much you'll be able to do.

That was my thought, but people seem to talk about vandalism being a prime benefit.

 

[dailo]

I mean there is probably some satisfaction of being able to post who damaged your car on the internet or potentially knowing how something might have been damaged on your car. I have a dashcams on both my cars and have yet to look at any of the footage.

 

[Nocturnal]

Have video of some thoughtless a-wipe slamming his door into mine, I have faces, license plate, everything. Showed the video to cop in same parking lot, he looked at me like I was retarded for expecting him to do some police work, said "take it up with your insurer". Of course, the ding cost is below my deductible, so there would be no interest for the insurance co to do anything about this.

In some places you can request an investigation from the DMV for those sorts of things. I feel like it would be rare to get details like that though.

 

[SMAlset]

Our car won't go to the track but having had a 2-channel Blackvue for over a year now can tell you it has come in handy many times, even if not related to an accident or car breakin. Actually we did have our car broken into with one running and it really still wasn't that helpful for a few other reasons (setting sun in our rear camera when perp walked by and sun made it difficult to see the plate of their car; also car breakin not a priority crime for police in our area despite the tremendous numbers of cars hit). So it may have limited value in that respect but if they can ID the perp or already know him in the system it does give them some extra ammo to prosecute I guess.

We've taken a few car trips and sometimes it's nice to review the footage afterwards. Can always grab a photo from it. If you see an accident happen you're not involved in, it could be useful for the police. Seeing behavior prior to the incident happening can be useful or same as to observing the behavior of the driver after impact.

Since even Tesla's version 9 software with "dashcam" is only available for cars with Autopilot 2.5 according to Electrek* and I think will only give you moments in time, I still feel there is a lot of value in a dashcam and Electrek points out some excellent reasons why a dashcam is still relevant. Getting rear ended would be one. Not sure what the resolution of the images will be ie. good enough to read a license plate, another. While I think Tesla allowing easy access to owners to some of the images in a frontal impact is useful, I'm still a firm believer that a dashcam, at least a 2-channel, is very beneficial.


"The owner’s manual indicates that the feature is only available for vehicles with Autopilot 2.5 (starting at around August 2017). Here’s how Tesla’s new dashcam feature using Autopilot cameras works

 

[Zextraterrestrial]

look at my thread in my sig line/ all videos are from an older blackvue. Autocross Racing / drag + someone 'ran over' my car last week when it was parked..all decent to have on video ;>

 

[m3snowy]

Since you plan to use it on the track, you should check this one out:
Waylens | Automotive cameras for security and performance

I do not track my cars but I've seen many in the Waylens community have.

The other camera they make, the Waylens Secure 360, is more for 24x7 surveillance but the video quality isn't nearly as good as the Horizon.

fyi I'm not affiliated with Waylens but I'm a Kickstarter supporter for both of their cameras.

 

[Nocturnal]

Since you plan to use it on the track, you should check this one out:
Waylens | Automotive cameras for security and performance

I do not track my cars but I've seen many in the Waylens community have.

The other camera they make, the Waylens Secure 360, is more for 24x7 surveillance but the video quality isn't nearly as good as the Horizon.

fyi I'm not affiliated with Waylens but I'm a Kickstarter supporter for both of their cameras.

They don't seem to discuss much in the way of security features. Does it operate as a proper dashcam as well?

 

[m3snowy]

They don't seem to discuss much in the way of security features. Does it operate as a proper dashcam as well?

I use the Horizon as a dashcam for regular driving, but it lacks parking mode for surveillance when parked. The surveillance/security part is the strength of their Secure 360 camera.