fpajonk

After my wife recently had an accident it's time to get a dash cam into every car.
I'm currently looking at the Vantrue N5 although for my 911 I don't care about the cabin camera and I will probably not go through the hassle installing the back camera.

Does anyone have current recommendations for the 911 and SUVs? I was hoping that there has been some image improvements since the topic came up in 2022.

MrMoose

Wirecutter had some recent reviews of higher end models. I got the Garmin Mini Dash Cam 2 (also one of their recommendations) because it's super tiny, relatively inexpensive, and works well. Only downside is there's no screen on it so you need to use the app to aim it or view video, but that's why it's so small.

misterdega

I have had luck with Thinkware and Blackvue. I have the Thinkware in the Volvo and the Blackvue in my 911. If I had to pick one I would go with Thinkware. Get one installed so it is hardwired to your car. Most brands will have parking mode, sentry mode, and automatic battery cut off if it gets too low.

Both cameras have saved our asses from times when people have tried to weasel out of things that were completely their fault.

gary1101

I use a Garmin Mini 2 that I hard wired. My wife claims that someone almost hit her in an intersection. The camera verified that she was almost hit in the intersection, but she was the one who ran the red light!!!!

Bruce In Philly

2009 C2S 196K miles

I have an older Garmin model and am happy with it. But, a few things to consider... 1080 is not enough to read license plates... the lenses are just too small... bumping into physics here. Do you want a rear facing camera too? All should have a bump/accident feature that when it experiences a bump, it saves off the file.... nice.

Peace
Bruce in Philly (now Atlanta)

BHMav8r

I've had Blackview front/rear for a while. No complaints.

Prolly lots of changes since I got it . . . dont know who is best now.

BillB128

I've also got a Garmin Mini Dashcam 2. As stated, it's very small and doesn't have a built in screen, but does everything I need of it.
If you want to view video you can use an app on your phone, or just pop out the micro SD card and view it on your laptop.
If you're just looking for the basics, this has you covered.

Hope this helps,
Bill

Dragon997

This…. Have in my 997.1 and wife’s Lexus. Came in handy when another driver ran stop sign and tried to blame her. Video evidence proved otherwise.

fpajonk

We just had a similar situation when a driver left-turned into traffic, totaled my wife's SUV and claimed she ran a red light. Luckily, the intersection had tons of security cameras.
1080 is probably enough in this situation but I think 4k is needed to read plates if the other driver runs.

ZuffenZeus

My mother was hit by a person that ran a red light. Had witnesses, but the driver claimed the "light was green" and her insurance backed her which meant the burden for auto repair and medical was on my mom's insurance carrier. Her car was totaled and two others damaged. They fought it in court but lost because they didn't have hard visual evidence the light wasn't malfunctioning. Ever since then we have cameras in all our cars. We went with Garmin and they haven't let us down.

BucketList

I wouldn't look any farther than this one.


4K resolution, super-capacitor so no battery to fail in the summer heat, phone app for viewing vids, so no need to remove card and plug into computer and it uses GPS for the date and time, so files are ALWAYS date stamped correctly. Cameras with a battery start to get wonky file names once the battery dies and the cam resets date/time.

BTW - everyone should test their dashcams regularly. The cards can fail once written to a bunch of times and the cameras don't report anything they just beep like usual and are not recording diddly.

ZuffenZeus

The big problem I have with companies like Rove is they are marketing a lower resolution camera as 4K. In the case of Rove, they're using the Sony IMX335 which is a native 2K resolution chip; therefore, they are up-converting the 2K images to give you the pseudo reality of 4K recordings. Rove still seems to have decent dash cameras, but I would recommend paying a little more a getting the R2-4K "PRO" model if you like this brand.

BucketList

Good info. I never thought to check the chip. It works well enough. I looked up that chip and it’s not a 2K chip, it actually operates at Quad HD 2500x1900 which is pretty good. In between 2K and 4K which makes sense at the price point. Since there is no video codec for qhd they probably use a 4K codec to create the files. But you are correct, its not true 4K.

ZuffenZeus

You have to understand what manufacturers (e.g. Sony) means by "effective pixels" being used to create the actual wide aspect HD image. In the case of the IMX335, like many chips, it's NATIVE 4:3 with a native resolution of 2500x1900; however, the "effective pixel" resolution when capturing 16:9 ratio images is closer to 2K resolution which insure crystal clear 1080P HD images. (see my illustration below). On the left is the Sony IMX335 with it's native 4:3 chip and the image on the right is the effective HD resolution (pink rectangle) that is captured for HD recordings. Now, manufacturers for years upconverted to higher resolutions. In this case, you basically line-double the native resolution and that gives you the pseudo 4K recording. But in reality it's just upconverted 2K footage. Smoke and mirrors! hahaha

BucketList

Ah yes! My Panasonic camera allows you to change the aspect ratio and changes resolution accordingly. Forgot about that. Thanks!