[RichardM]

A few people have mentioned about getting a dashcam of some sort so I thought I'd post some pics of the one I went for, a Blackvue dr500gw-hd wifi.

It seems pretty good. I paid £240. Although there is a cheaper group buy on another forum I would have had to have waited to get it, this came next day. It was easy to connect up and to run the wire around the top of the windscreen, then down to the socket in the passenger foot well. You can't see the wire at all other than where it plugs into the unit. I may hard wire it at some point so that it records when parked up.

Spec wise it records in HD, has built in wifi to view the videos from your phone and records sound but poorly. Probably the lower 400 model would have been better, you don't really need the WIFI as you can plug the USB into the car to view, and the camera on the 500 seems too wide angle.

The software is pretty good, you can view speed, GPS location etc and has a magnify functions to view number plates etc. I plan on just leaving it connected all the time. I would have placed it higher on the windscreen but the it would have been out of the wiper reach.

[RichardM]

And a couple of videos

Day

Night

[RedPepper]

That's pretty cool and defintely something I'm thinking about after a couple of near misses in the past week.

[Hprice1099]

I would recommend mi witness, it's a uk company and there camera is smaller than the DR500. I have front and rear cameras

[venkata]

Looks a very neat and clean solution.

Didn't know there was a socket in the footwell! I'm hearing mixed comments about cameras hardwired in, as it could drain the battery especially if continually recording???

Quality is very good. Will have a look at these cams...

[Hprice1099]

Originally Posted by venkata

Looks a very neat and clean solution.

Didn't know there was a socket in the footwell! I'm hearing mixed comments about cameras hardwired in, as it could drain the battery especially if continually recording???

Quality is very good. Will have a look at these cams...

I have a power saver device hardwired in with my camera, but the F30 has a device (which I didn't know at the time) in the car that disconnects the battery to save it going dead, you get a warning when you start the car but goes off after 5 mins

[derekh929]

Very good Richard how much is lower model , thanks Derek

[Captain Cow Pat]

Do you need a Windows computer or will it work with a Mac. I have Mac's.

[RichardM]

Originally Posted by Hprice1099

I have a power saver device hardwired in with my camera, but the F30 has a device (which I didn't know at the time) in the car that disconnects the battery to save it going dead, you get a warning when you start the car but goes off after 5 mins

Do you know where they hardwired it to? I hear it should be straight to the battery to avoid this.

Originally Posted by derekh929

Very good Richard how much is lower model , thanks Derek

They seem to be about £40 cheaper so about £200. They are quite a bit smaller too in size

Originally Posted by Captain Cow Pat

Do you need a Windows computer or will it work with a Mac. I have Mac's.

Looks like they do have the viewer for Mac
http://www.blackvue.com/en/contents/...ch=&searchstr=

[SimonB]

Originally Posted by Hprice1099

I have a power saver device hardwired in with my camera, but the F30 has a device (which I didn't know at the time) in the car that disconnects the battery to save it going dead, you get a warning when you start the car but goes off after 5 mins

I have the Blackvue too, ready for my new car when I eventually get it. Can you elaborate more in the built in battery saver deal? I also bought the power saver thing, don't I need it?

[Wo-Wo]

This would be something I'd consider for when the wife borrows the car :-)

[Steve C]

Are you worried about someone breaking in the car to steal it when you're parked up?

[-AndyH-]

A couple of questions...

1) How do you power it?

2) Can you set it to record when say parked and it detects motion? I am trying to catch people who open their car doors into mine.

[Floriank]

On a different note, as the camera also records your speed it might be conceivable that the device could also work against you?

It may be useful in a no-fault crash situation but what if the boys or girls in blue rewind a little further back only to find that a couple of hours before you stretched your beemer's legs a little and went 85mph on the motorway (not that any of us would ever buy a performance car for the reasons of breaking the speed limit )?

You'll end up winning the crash case but get a fine and points at the same time for any earlier indiscretions you may be guilty of.

Purely hypothetical all this of course, we're all completely sensible drivers, aren't we!

[mproudfoot]

Originally Posted by Floriank

On a different note, as the camera also records your speed it might be conceivable that the device could also work against you?

It may be useful in a no-fault crash situation but what if the boys or girls in blue rewind a little further back only to find that a couple of hours before you stretched your beemer's legs a little and went 85mph on the motorway (not that any of us would ever buy a performance car for the reasons of breaking the speed limit )?

You'll end up winning the crash case but get a fine and points at the same time for any earlier indiscretions you may be guilty of.

Purely hypothetical all this of course, we're all completely sensible drivers, aren't we!

Was thinking the same thing.

[Cilonen]

You would not have to provide all the footage, not could the police compel you to do so, as we are protected under UK law by the Privilege against Self-Incrimination.


The European Convention of Human Rights (ECHR) (as incorporated into English law by the Human Rights Act 1998) Article 6 provides the right to a fair trial. The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has stated that ‘the… right to silence and the right not to incriminate oneself are generally recognised international standards which lie at the heart of a fair procedure under Article 6’

There are provisions under the Road Traffic Act 1998 that require the registered owner of a vehicle to identify the driver to the police at the time of an alleged offence. The ECtHR has determined that to do so would not infringe Article 6, even if the identification led to a prosecution.


There is only one avenue open to the police to seize all footage from an on-board camera, and that is if they can show reasonable suspicion that evidence of criminal activity will be found.

(Wife is a solicitor if anyone's wondering. This is why I will love her forever and never ever consider divorce )

[Floriank]

Originally Posted by Cilonen

You would not have to provide all the footage, not could the police compel you to do so, as we are protected under UK law by the Privilege against Self-Incrimination.


The European Convention of Human Rights (ECHR) (as incorporated into English law by the Human Rights Act 1998) Article 6 provides the right to a fair trial. The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has stated that ‘the… right to silence and the right not to incriminate oneself are generally recognised international standards which lie at the heart of a fair procedure under Article 6’

There are provisions under the Road Traffic Act 1998 that require the registered owner of a vehicle to identify the driver to the police at the time of an alleged offence. The ECtHR has determined that to do so would not infringe Article 6, even if the identification led to a prosecution.


There is only one avenue open to the police to seize all footage from an on-board camera, and that is if they can show reasonable suspicion that evidence of criminal activity will be found.

(Wife is a solicitor if anyone's wondering. This is why I will love her forever and never ever consider divorce )

Fair point. Hopefully, after the crash you aren't incapacitated to the degree that you still have full control over the footage - just looking at worst case scenario here.

But then, a few points and £60 would be the least of your problems anyway.......

[dopper99]

What happens when someone goes into the back of you?

Surely the idea of having a camera in the car is only 100% useful if you have cameras in both front the rear of your car?

[pete18]

Both sides and roof.

Pete

[RichardM]

Originally Posted by Steve C

Are you worried about someone breaking in the car to steal it when you're parked up?

It is quite discrete and hard to spot and it is also easy to remove. If I park anywhere I think dodgy (i.e. not at home, work or somewhere busy) I remove it and put it in the centre console.

Originally Posted by -AndyH-

A couple of questions...

1) How do you power it?

2) Can you set it to record when say parked and it detects motion? I am trying to catch people who open their car doors into mine.

As I described it is powered to the socket under the glovebox. You can't see the wires anywhere but that socket does power off several minutes after the car is locked. You need to hardwire it to be powered all the time. The unit itself does have a park detect mode where it will use minimal power.

Originally Posted by Floriank

On a different note, as the camera also records your speed it might be conceivable that the device could also work against you?

I now have it set not to record the speed in the video. Only the time/date is stored. The speed is recorded in the separate gps co-ordinates file. Basically it would then be up to me if I decided to show the speed

Originally Posted by dopper99

What happens when someone goes into the back of you?

Normally if someone goes into the back of you it is assumed to be their fault by police and it would be up to the third party to prove otherwise. Ideally yes, you would have front and back cameras but at least with this you will prove you did nothing wrong.