Hope to pick up our X next week and have one installed. Lot to learn but feel good about having one installed.
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Why get a dashcam?
- Thread starter dsvick
- Start date
You don't have to get the top-of-the-line BlackVue 900DR in the $400+ category. You can get a really decent 1ch dashcam for $100. which is .17% the cost of an average specc'd Model 3? You pay more for tires, and even in insurance annually. This 1 time purchase just helps with peace of mind and actual claims.
wbhokie
Member
Exactly. You don't have to get a BlackVue. You can get a good dashcam for cheap. There are trade-offs. Will it work in a parking lot? Will it see the back of the car? Will it pick out license plates? Things like that. Still, there have been so many crazy things on the roads that I don't see why anyone wouldn't spring for at least a $100 dashcam these days.
Think about it. Something falls off a vehicle or something is in the road. You get pulled over can a cop isn't quite truthful. You witness something horrible and can help someone else out. Someone hits you. You have date, time, weather, location, traffic, situation, audio, video all right there to back you up.
Think about it. Something falls off a vehicle or something is in the road. You get pulled over can a cop isn't quite truthful. You witness something horrible and can help someone else out. Someone hits you. You have date, time, weather, location, traffic, situation, audio, video all right there to back you up.
I've had one in a box since Dec 2017.
I was backed into in a parking lot in my S a month ago. Insurance companies are still fighting over it, but it looks like they are going to settle on 50% fault each. Not sure how/why, the dent is on the side of my rear quarter. $4-5k damage on my car.
I didn't install the dash cam because I didn't want to mess up my front window "clear" tint.
Had I installed it, would have saved me this headache.
I was backed into in a parking lot in my S a month ago. Insurance companies are still fighting over it, but it looks like they are going to settle on 50% fault each. Not sure how/why, the dent is on the side of my rear quarter. $4-5k damage on my car.
I didn't install the dash cam because I didn't want to mess up my front window "clear" tint.
Had I installed it, would have saved me this headache.
Tex EV
Member
A handful of examples...
My S had its battery pack punctured by road debris last month. Dash cam captured the object and the impact. Insurance didn't ask to see the footage, but it was there in case they needed proof to back the claim.
Police knocked on my door one morning to ask if I had any recordings of the street because my neighbor had a break in. Was able to pull footage of a suspect and submit it.
While on a road trip, the family and I stopped at a park for the kids to play. We realized later in the day that we'd lost my youngest son's favorite stuffed animal. I was blamed because we assumed I was the last one to handle it. When reviewing dash cam footage of us walking up to the car, we clearly saw the stuffed animal falling out of the bag my wife was holding.
Get a dash cam.
My S had its battery pack punctured by road debris last month. Dash cam captured the object and the impact. Insurance didn't ask to see the footage, but it was there in case they needed proof to back the claim.
Police knocked on my door one morning to ask if I had any recordings of the street because my neighbor had a break in. Was able to pull footage of a suspect and submit it.
While on a road trip, the family and I stopped at a park for the kids to play. We realized later in the day that we'd lost my youngest son's favorite stuffed animal. I was blamed because we assumed I was the last one to handle it. When reviewing dash cam footage of us walking up to the car, we clearly saw the stuffed animal falling out of the bag my wife was holding.
Get a dash cam.
sperkin
Active Member
I was stopped and a van next to me brushed up against my front bumper and traded paint with me when he changed lanes. He only spoke Spanish so a CHP had to be called to translate. It was his word vs my words but once CHP saw the footage he told me to leave. Since the other driver wasn’t from here and had no insurance or license there wasn’t anything they could do. However, I didn’t have to pay their damages.
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NOW I'm convinced
Did you set it up on the big screen TV to review the footage as a family?
Austindude
Member
Hey my car got hit by another electric vehicle (in this case electrons actually attracted instead of repelled?) while it was parked on the street at a private Tesla event! That was two months ago and the parts to fix it just came in, but I digress. Anyway in this case the op was very responsible, searched me out, and will be paying to correct the damage, but what if he wasn't? I would have never known who hit me since I wasn't present when it happened. I'll be getting a Blackvue dashcam once my car is fixed. I figure if it works for five years that's about two hundred bucks per year. A dashcam is simply cheap insurance and like auto insurance you hope it is never used and just turns out to be money lost.
You can get blackvue for under $300 (DR750s) when it's on sale, I'm waiting for the next sale as well. Install shouldnt be $700, thats pricy.
A lot of people are waiting for a power source solution for the model 3, I agree the model S was very easy.
Yes it does, Non-switched 12V, yellow wire that you can tap into. It drops to 9V when its asleep, but AFAIK, dashcams still remain fine at 9V.
wbhokie
Member
Cost of course is the primary reason, which is almost nil if you choose for a front-only, driving-only option.
The only drawbacks are if you want to do an always-on installation, or a 2+ channel installation. The multi-channel installation isn't that big of a deal, it is only a little bit more difficult. The always-on installation is only a pain because of the model 3 itself. So far it has been very sneaky about when to kidney punch some people when they hard-wire their dashcams to direct power. Everything may seem OK and then later on, months down the road they get an error message and their car must be taken to service. The service center knows to look for dash cam installs on that error message too, and usually gives you a 1 time pass on it. I think a lot of people at this point are still waiting for proof of a single always-on installation method that doesn't cause issues, though there appears to be a working solution using the rear view mirror. There are of course solutions using a battery, but those solutions start adding additional complexity to the install, and additional cost. Paying $100 for a driving only dash cam shouldn't even be a question. Paying $300 for an always-on dash cam is still worth it... but to me once it goes beyond that it starts to get cost prohibitive.
Keep in mind, most of the time if your car will get hit, it will be when it is parked, so an always-on solution is ideal. On a Model S, that was easy to do (DIY), and it was also easy to do with several different brands of dashcams you could buy off of amazon. Right now I haven't seen an always-on solution for the Model 3 that looked easy DIY yet. I'm still waiting for that. But that doesn't mean a $80 dashcam that only works while driving isn't still worth it too. Just depends on what you want to do personally.
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Glamisduner
Active Member
Almost every car i have owned for longer than a year, with the exception of a geo metro no one every bothered with, has been hit it broken into while I'm not around. A dash cam only saved me once when i was hit parked in front of my friends house. I didn't actually have to use the camera but the people only write me a note after they noticed it recording them. you don't have to spend $1000 there's lots of options.
Recently my Father had someone hit him while driving then blamed him . If my dad had a dash cam they never would have had a chance, but instead they split fault 50/50.
It mostly sits in the car doing nothing but it's there if you need it.
I have not yet find an easy always on option, but many can be directly wired to the battery. I don't understand why this is an issue in the model 3?
I wouldn't mind paying for a black vue but it's missing one critical feature for me. You have to plug the power cable into the camera instead of the mount. That is problematic for me because I have to remove my camera daily as they are not allowed at work. constantly messing with the cable tends to mean re tucking it into the headliner and it's also not easy to plug in our remove while driving. Requires me to pull over after leaving work to plug the camera back in or hold up the line leaving while i reattach the camera. plus the whole rear camera is right out as i would need to pull over before work every day to remove both cameras...
I have been fairly happy with my vantrue, but i have been running it in 1080 because the 4k option is worthless at night. But I can install it on the mount with one hand and remove it with one hand. Once I get my model 3 I'll see if i can figure out a constant on solution but having it on while driving is way better than nothing.
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halfricanguy
Model 3 - LR RWD - MSM
For those who are still waiting for built in functionality, and/or don't care about having a dash cam that's always on, it's very easy to mount one below/beside the rear view mirror, and tuck the USB/power cable into the trim at the top of the windshield, then wire it underneath the black seal along the door on the left side of the car, all the way down to underneath your seat, and then up into the center console to plug in to the cigarette lighter. It can be done with without needing to take anything off and can be removed just as easily.
This is my setup. Although it isn't on while parked, I hope that the presence of it will at least deter crime or guilt a person to leaving information if they do hit my
This is my setup. Although it isn't on while parked, I hope that the presence of it will at least deter crime or guilt a person to leaving information if they do hit my
Mo City
Active Member
wbhokie
Member
I used a Vanture on my Model S and it was cheap and easy to install and had good quality video.
efithian
Member
I have had a dash cam in my S5 for several years. I have not had an incident during that time, but I did get some interesting footage of people driving the wrong way into a shopping mall, sliding down an ice covered highway, etc. I will definitely transfer it to my M3P+.
