School me on Dash cams please.

[mowin]

Live in a fairly quiet, country setting. Not a lot of stupid drivers, but we've got our share. Most of the stuff I wish was recorded would be deer and bears crossing the road, but occasionally see someone that is just doing something stupid. 

Zero knowledge on what dash cam would work best. What little research I've done, I would like both a forward and reverse cam.

What's everyone using? 

Are the videos easy to transfer to a laptop? 

How much data do they record, and will they rewrite over old video?

[Bionic]

Apeman C450 from Amazon, has a micro SD.  There are a couple of other threads on this actually.  I too live in a rural area, but people are scumbags, and drive worse, so they are worth it in my opinion.

Edited July 17, 2021 by Bionic

[Gobbler Chaser]

Interested in this. Do they work on battery power/wireless. And how is the data transmitted for viewing

[Bionic]

1 hour ago, Gobbler Chaser said:

Interested in this. Do they work on battery power/wireless. And how is the data transmitted for viewing

With the specific dashcam I mentioned/use, it uses a micro SD card.  I can take that car card, and insert it into an adapter that comes with micro SD cards.  The adapter is basically a full-size SD card, and it has a slot to insert the micro SD into.  This allows you to insert it into a smart TV, Laptop, etc, thats what I would personally do.  This particular unit plugs into the 12V round accessory outlet in your vehicle to charge it.  The unit can be unplugged at the camera side too, if you do not want the clutter of the wire there, all the time.  I leave it plugged in so it stays charged, due to length of commute.  It is an inexpensive unit, but has been great for what it is.  I was traveling at about 60mph on a back county road, had a deer sprint across the road, I missed him by feet, but it was one of those times you share that story with coworkers in the morning….I pulled the video, and showed one buddy, thankfully the only time I truly used the cam.

[Grouse]

How much recording time does a dash cam unit have?  Does it save everything until it's erased, or do you have to erase it manually?

[mowin]

24 minutes ago, Grouse said:

How much recording time does a dash cam unit have?  Does it save everything until it's erased, or do you have to erase it manually?

From the research I've done, it looks like most cams have a loop feature which overwrites the oldest file. Then there's the wifi models which saves the footage in the cloud and you can access that footage on your phone in minutes vs removing the SD card and viewing on a PC with the non wifi models. 

[Bionic]

3 hours ago, Grouse said:

How much recording time does a dash cam unit have?  Does it save everything until it's erased, or do you have to erase it manually?

What Mowin said, loop features, or wifi transmitter.  I was unaware of the wifi versions, but god forbid you NEED footage at the scene of an issue….you could show who needs footage immediately.  If you purchase a dashcam, some need the correct GB of space on the memory card, my cam said no larger than 32gb I believe.  Just keep an eye on that, if the cam you like states a gb recommendation, or not.

[mowin]

4 hours ago, Bionic said:

What Mowin said, loop features, or wifi transmitter.  I was unaware of the wifi versions, but god forbid you NEED footage at the scene of an issue….you could show who needs footage immediately.  If you purchase a dashcam, some need the correct GB of space on the memory card, my cam said no larger than 32gb I believe.  Just keep an eye on that, if the cam you like states a gb recommendation, or not.

The thing I'm confused about with the wifi models is does the cloud storage cost anything? Some sources say it's free, some charge a monthly fee?  

[Bionic]

24 minutes ago, mowin said:

The thing I'm confused about with the wifi models is does the cloud storage cost anything? Some sources say it's free, some charge a monthly fee?  

I really don’t know, I assume it depends on the seller.