recommendation for a DashCam” 2020 E350 W213, that is easy to install

 

I have been using the Blackvue 900 for a couple of years, it is 4K front and rear and it has been awesome, they are a little more pricey, but totally work the money. Easy to install and hardwire for recording while parked.

 

RECOMMENDATION: use the forum's search function?

 

I've been considering the Blackvue 900. The rear is only 1080p. How is the video on the rear? Can you make out license plates clearly?

 

I wonder how many posts are on this forum telling someone to search. Maybe I should use the search function.

 

Maybe this is a stupid question -- but more a naïve one -- however, what do most people use the dash cam for? Recording police stops? LOL. My back-up/rear camera (wide-view) is really great. With backing up, parking, etc., it is very helpful. So what's the benefit of the dash cams? Thanks.

 

I would think the main reason is documenting an accident.

 

Got it. Makes sense. Thanks!

 

In which case, having a one-touch "accidental erase" button is absolutely necessary when the accident is one's own fault.

 

Documenting accidents is a very good reason stated. Having a rear one is also helpful, especially for rear-ended accidents. Another reason (region and country specific) would be to record potholes (basically landmines) the city that was supposed to fix in a given timeframe but didn't which caused tire or wheel problems, it doesn't apply to my city but it did apply to some of my friends' cities, they received compensation once this footage was shown.

A high-quality dashcam can also just record the drive in general, you might be driving and you came across a beautiful scenery that you can't take a picture of or record a video of while driving, you can just check the footage from your dashcam. (The main limitation being you won't have footages of the scene if it is on the far left or far right side of the car since the cameras are forward facing and/or rear facing if you have both) It can also be something that you want to remember a few years later. Just remember to back up the data before the camera erases it to make room for new recordings.

Dashcam can also be used to report drunk drivers or drivers that are driving irresponsibly or ... back to the accident reason, you can be a witness of another person's accident and you can then give them the footage.

Anyways, the bottom line is, it is a piece of mind that when something happens, you have the footage of the before and after of the event. Hopefully no one here gets in an accident, drive safe and enjoy your cars!

 

When picking a dashcam, pick at least 1080P so you can tell what the plate of a car says within a certain distance of the video, best is go 2K or 4K.

A high capacity SD card is also recommended unless you don't want to keep the footage for more than a few days as they get full quick especially for 4K cameras. Get something high quality, you don't want a card to fail during recording and preferably something with a high read/write rate or very least something that meets minimum requirements of the camera.

Get a dashcam that has bump sensors so it turns on to record an accident that happens in a parking lot when the car is off and then turns off to conserve battery power, unless you want to hardwire it so it is always on that way.

It will be helpful if you have the mic enabled as well, you don't necessary need a dashcam that has a built-in GPS but it may be helpful, another nice feature is wifi-direct that you can download an app to view the footage and download the footage to your phone without removing the SD card from the dashcam, this is especially useful if your phone doesn't support Micro-SD card which include most phones nowadays.

It is up to you if you want to get two separate cameras for front and back but I think it is a good idea to do that incase one fails, you still have footage from another perspective while-as if you only have a main camera in the front and a secondary lens connecting to the main camera, if the whole thing fails, you lose both footage.

It is up to you if you want a dashcam with a built-in screen, it is useful if you want to view the footage on the spot (especially if you don't get one with wifi direct, although the built-in screen is usually tiny and low resolution). Make sure to test the two cameras front and back in different lighting conditions, you can also rotate them to the angle of your liking, you want the rear camera to be above the trunk but still low enough to see part of the floor as you want to record people's plate when they get uncomfortably close and especially if something happens (although honestly, as long as you get a high resolution camera, this step can be omitted) The front camera on the other hand, you can be flexible. Make sure your rear window is wiped periodically if you have a sedan since it doesn't have a wiper, the last thing you want is blurry footage. You can set the ISO and white balance of the camera manually, just configure it to a value that works for you in both night and bright conditions, try not to set it so it is over or under exposed and you are golden.

 

Get a Thinkware Q800 dual or U1000 dual.
they are better than blacvue as they overheat less

 

I just installed this 2K dash cam with 1080 P in the rear


Rear dash cam from outside

Rear dash cam from inside with the sunshade up

Front dash cam from outside

Rear dash cam from inside

Front dash cam from inside
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Quality is great, but I am not 100% sure about reading license plates as I live in Florida and they are not required on the front - but from the videos I have watched it does have great details.