Dash camera cheap May 2018

Tony Bev · Guru

Dash camera cheap May 2018

SouthernComfort · Guru

Tony, I've had three dash cams over the last few years that I've shifted between a couple of cars. First two were real cheapies $30-50, and with 720HD they had limited clarity and virtually no ability for number plate recognition of the car in front, or oncoming. With so much aggression on the roads these days they're useful for recording any "incidents" (which of course, we hope will never occur!), but they are virtually useless if the number plate of an offending vehicle can't be detected clearly. I also has issues with mine not holding the correct date & time stamp on the recordings. THEN I went a bit deeper into it and bought my third cam from Autobarn, a bit dearer at $150 but it is 1080HD, and that's the secret for getting it to pick up the finer detail. Still nowhere near top of the range, barely medium level, but a lot better. Mate, consider it carefully, as sometimes too cheap is for a reason! I'd strongly suggest looking at some 1080HD units and steer away from 720.

Dougwe · Chief one feather

G'day Tony and Bev,

It's always good to get info from someone that has one. Tony (SC) has given some good info there as he has had experience both ways.

Me, I find my 'cheapy' (similar to yours) seems to work fine but I have a 8gb card and find it doesn't hold much at all. I wanted something from it the other day, not a traffic problem but some footage for my records and had to turn it off so it wasn't recorded over. Just another thought for you. The cheapy is a good starting point though.

I might replace it with a better one in the future.

Keep Safe on the roads and out there.

Yuglamron · Guru

I've had four over the last few years. Tried the Kogan cheapie. Had a swivel screen which wasn't very strong and broke off. Then I got one of the Garmin models 1080 and put in a 32 gig card. Great vision and recorded for ten hours before overwriting. Problem I had was two power points used. One for the GPS one for the Dashcam. I passed the GPS to my daughter.

Was in JB HiFi and saw the Navman combined GPS/Dashcam. $399, saw the same one in DickSmiths $199 so I bought that one. GPS OK Camera OK Vision OK.

Had to return it six times for repair. Navman eventually offered me their LM60 GPS and a separate Dashcam 32 gig card and 1080 recording.

Camera fine GPS touch screen absolute Crap. has been back twice for repair. Now reverted to the touch screen not working properly again.

All in all I won't buy Navman again. The older GPS Garmin Nuvi I passed on to my daughter is still going strong. I'll stay away from Navman in future and won't buy a combined GPS DashCam from any manufacturer.

Maybe I've had bad luck with the Navman GPS's but the stand alone camera is still OK.

Still recommend 1080 versions for clarity of vision though.

Bassett52 · Veteran Member

i have had one of these ( www.blackvue.com.au/product/dash-cams/dr650s-1ch/ ) for about 2 years now and it works well. I have never had any problems.
Something a friend, who is travelling sales rep, told me is that some of the cheap units do not like the hot sunny conditions he has experienced out west during summer and has had a couple of failures. Since purchasing the blackvue unit he has had no issues at all.

Tony Bev · Guru

SouthernComfort wrote:
Tony, I've had three dash cams over the last few years that I've shifted between a couple of cars. First two were real cheapies $30-50, and with 720HD they had limited clarity and virtually no ability for number plate recognition of the car in front, or oncoming. With so much aggression on the roads these days they're useful for recording any "incidents" (which of course, we hope will never occur!), but they are virtually useless if the number plate of an offending vehicle can't be detected clearly. I also has issues with mine not holding the correct date & time stamp on the recordings. THEN I went a bit deeper into it and bought my third cam from Autobarn, a bit dearer at $150 but it is 1080HD, and that's the secret for getting it to pick up the finer detail. Still nowhere near top of the range, barely medium level, but a lot better. Mate, consider it carefully, as sometimes too cheap is for a reason! I'd strongly suggest looking at some 1080HD units and steer away from 720.

Thanks for that info, Tony. It is appreciated

smile By crikey, you have a very good Christian name smile

But it is hard to keep a boy, away from a new toy

You are absolutely correct,

The number plates do not show up very good, up to now knock on wood three times and hope for the best

smile Ouch, ouch, and ouch again smile

I have never needed a dash cam

If in the future I find that I need one, then I shall buy a 1080 HD one

Tony Bev · Guru

Dougwe wrote:
G'day Tony and Bev,

It's always good to get info from someone that has one. Tony (SC) has given some good info there as he has had experience both ways.

Me, I find my 'cheapy' (similar to yours) seems to work fine but I have a 8gb card and find it doesn't hold much at all. I wanted something from it the other day, not a traffic problem but some footage for my records and had to turn it off so it wasn't recorded over. Just another thought for you. The cheapy is a good starting point though.

I might replace it with a better one in the future.

Keep Safe on the roads and out there.

Yes agree with you Doug, and thanks for the feedback

Mine only came with a 4 GB micro SD card, but will accept up to a 32 GB one

I have just set it up with no sound, and no park bump to see how much it would last.
I done a 25 minute drive, in my car, as I used something like 3.4 GB of memory, so assume it will get about 30 minutes before it rewrites over itself, at three minutes each loop

Instead of getting a 32 GB micro SD card, I shall probably buy a more expensive dash cam, if I think that I really need one

The main drawback for me, and I will assume other elderly statesmen, is that the owners manual is in very small print
I also feel that the owners manual is not for this dash cam
But I did manage to set the time

Tony Bev · Guru

Yuglamron wrote:
I've had four over the last few years. Tried the Kogan cheapie. Had a swivel screen which wasn't very strong and broke off. Then I got one of the Garmin models 1080 and put in a 32 gig card. Great vision and recorded for ten hours before overwriting. Problem I had was two power points used. One for the GPS one for the Dashcam. I passed the GPS to my daughter.
Was in JB HiFi and saw the Navman combined GPS/Dashcam. $399, saw the same one in DickSmiths $199 so I bought that one. GPS OK Camera OK Vision OK.
Had to return it six times for repair. Navman eventually offered me their LM60 GPS and a separate Dashcam 32 gig card and 1080 recording.
Camera fine GPS touch screen absolute Crap. has been back twice for repair. Now reverted to the touch screen not working properly again.
All in all I won't buy Navman again. The older GPS Garmin Nuvi I passed on to my daughter is still going strong. I'll stay away from Navman in future and won't buy a combined GPS DashCam from any manufacturer.
Maybe I've had bad luck with the Navman GPS's but the stand alone camera is still OK.
Still recommend 1080 versions for clarity of vision though.

Thanks for that feedback, Yuglamron, it is appreciated

I shall remember what you have said when/if I buy a better dash cam and/or a new GPS

As a matter of interest looking at the dash cams on the internet, one came with a giggy type plug, which had a cord for the dash cam, as well as a USB plug for a second device
As the dash cam, and a GPS I have, works off the computer USB, then I assume that they are both 5 volt, which means that you can use both devices from the one giggy plug

Tony Bev · Guru

Bassett52 wrote:
i have had one of these ( www.blackvue.com.au/product/dash-cams/dr650s-1ch/ ) for about 2 years now and it works well. I have never had any problems.
Something a friend, who is travelling sales rep, told me is that some of the cheap units do not like the hot sunny conditions he has experienced out west during summer and has had a couple of failures. Since purchasing the blackvue unit he has had no issues at all.

Thanks for the feedback Bassett52, it is appreciated

The motorhome has a bit of protection against the sun on the windscreen, as the cab overhangs at the front and each side

I only get the morning and evening sun, shining directly on the cab windows

Warren-Pat_01 · Guru

Hello Tony (Bev), I saw your initial post & wrote the item down on my shopping list.
THEN I read the other messages - have crossed it off my list! Repco's oil is cheap though (Valvolene Diesel). Still I have enough oil here at home to do another service on return from my soon to be done trip to the "Chilly South".

Pamela G · Senior Member

We also have Blackvue.650 s 2 ch Daytime it great. But at night it is useless. We have had to have it replaced twice under warranty. Blackvue themselves told me unless it was very bright at night, it won't give much of a picture. Had an accident lastbyear and police used our video for a conviction againt the other Driver. It also meant we did not pay any excess on insurance. Well worth having a dashcam of some sort.

SouthernComfort · Guru

Tony Bev wrote:
SouthernComfort wrote:
Tony, I've had three dash cams over the last few years that I've shifted between a couple of cars. First two were real cheapies $30-50, and with 720HD they had limited clarity and virtually no ability for number plate recognition of the car in front, or oncoming. With so much aggression on the roads these days they're useful for recording any "incidents" (which of course, we hope will never occur!), but they are virtually useless if the number plate of an offending vehicle can't be detected clearly. I also has issues with mine not holding the correct date & time stamp on the recordings. THEN I went a bit deeper into it and bought my third cam from Autobarn, a bit dearer at $150 but it is 1080HD, and that's the secret for getting it to pick up the finer detail. Still nowhere near top of the range, barely medium level, but a lot better. Mate, consider it carefully, as sometimes too cheap is for a reason! I'd strongly suggest looking at some 1080HD units and steer away from 720.

Thanks for that info, Tony. It is appreciated
By crikey, you have a very good Christian name
But it is hard to keep a boy, away from a new toy
You are absolutely correct,
The number plates do not show up very good, up to now knock on wood three times and hope for the best
Ouch, ouch, and ouch again
I have never needed a dash cam
If in the future I find that I need one, then I shall buy a 1080 HD one

I try not to get too paranoid about these things Tony, but when I'm out there among the selfish and enraged knuckleheads on the road, this is how I view it: The trigger that determines you need one could be the event you were hoping would never happen! Just like insurance really...

-- Edited by SouthernComfort on Friday 18th of May 2018 08:50:05 AM

kesa32 · Senior Member

street guardian have a great reputation for backup service and are au based ( made in chine to their specs) , have only heard good things feedback wise.......not the cheapest though

dabbler · Guru

There's a current club special at Supercheap on an entry level dashcam. 720p,120degree field, $39.99. www.supercheapauto.com.au/Product/NanoCam-Plus-720P-Dash-Cam-NCP-DRV720/542621?utm_source=edm&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=MF_SCA01_2018_WK46_CSGC

Tony Bev · Guru

dabbler wrote:
There's a current club special at Supercheap on an entry level dashcam. 720p,120degree field, $39.99. www.supercheapauto.com.au/Product/NanoCam-Plus-720P-Dash-Cam-NCP-DRV720/542621?utm_source=edm&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=MF_SCA01_2018_WK46_CSGC

Just saw this Supercheap one in my Club Special email, but thanks for alerting me, dabbler
Otherwise I may have missed the three day specials

It looks roughly the same as mine with different buttons

It does not say that it comes with a memory card, and it mentions that

Snip from Supercheap website

Supports up to 32GB Micro SD Card (Sold separately)