[LockeLamora33]

Hey there,
So after being told only idiots don't have dash cameras in the current year by @Fidget08 (I think it was him) I started looking into them a little more. Now I'm super confused. I read some reviews, looked at the main dash cam forum and still don't really have any idea what brands are good and what cameras are reliable. The forum was huge and I couldn't find a good basic thread to get me started. A lot of reviews are conflicting about the quality and durability of the camera.

Here's what I want:
Parking recording
Crash recording
Good night and day recording
decent memory/expandable
MAYBE front/rear combo, but deff a front one
Discrete so if I crash and it's my fault I can toss it in the glovebox and no one will know I have one.

What I have looked at/ Read about
Blackvues cameras- Seem to have bad night vision?
Street guardian-made in china? prefer USA or Korean if USA doesn't make good options
A119- good but sorta cheap, prob china again?
Garmin-Don't need gps and for some unknown mental reason don't want to really buy stuff from them. Have been very happy with their products in the past though.

Price wise I am acknowledging I might have to spend $2-400 for what I am asking.

 

[LeojST]

SO glad you started his post. After my recent incident, I am most certainly in the market for just about exactly the same specs as you laid out here.

 

[Fiji ST]

I've been looking at the A119 myself for a while now. It seems to offer the best bang for the buck and has gotten pretty good reviews on Amazon and YouTube. I like it because it's pretty discreet and has a wide lens on it.

 

[LockeLamora33]

I've been looking at the A119 myself for a while now. It seems to offer the best bang for the buck and has gotten pretty good reviews on Amazon and YouTube. I like it because it's pretty discreet and has a wide lens on it.

It does have a good rep from what I can tell. I'd just like someone who is a real cam nerd to chime in here. Looking on the forum was almost overwhelming to me since I don't know even to really begin.

 

[elyk864]

Hey there,
So after being told only idiots don't have dash cameras in the current year by @Fidget08 (I think it was him) I started looking into them a little more. Now I'm super confused. I read some reviews, looked at the main dash cam forum and still don't really have any idea what brands are good and what cameras are reliable. The forum was huge and I couldn't find a good basic thread to get me started. A lot of reviews are conflicting about the quality and durability of the camera.

Here's what I want:
Parking recording
Crash recording
Good night and day recording
decent memory/expandable
MAYBE front/rear combo, but deff a front one
Discrete so if I crash and it's my fault I can toss it in the glovebox and no one will know I have one.

What I have looked at/ Read about
Blackvues cameras- Seem to have bad night vision?
Street guardian-made in china? prefer USA or Korean if USA doesn't make good options
A119- good but sorta cheap, prob china again?
Garmin-Don't need gps and for some unknown mental reason don't want to really buy stuff from them. Have been very happy with their products in the past though.

Price wise I am acknowledging I might have to spend $2-400 for what I am asking.

You might find what you are looking for in this thread. http://www.focusst.org/forum/focus-st-photo-videos/18731-official-dash-camera-video-thread.html

 

[LockeLamora33]

You might find what you are looking for in this thread. http://www.focusst.org/forum/focus-st-photo-videos/18731-official-dash-camera-video-thread.html

Thanks, don't know how I didn't see this when I searched for dash cams on here. Hopefully this gets me straightened out.

EDIT: This thread does not have anything helpful really, it's just videos of car crashes and stuff from dash cams.

 

[sh0ebox]

I commented in the thread which sparked your interest into dash cams about the A119/A119S and, based on my research, this seems to be the one I would go for based on the price/performance. I am by no means a dash cam nerd as I've got no personal experience with them, either, but am similar to you in feeling I should probably own one. I can't say I've looked to far outside of this price range, so can't comment too much or recommend anything north of $200.

Something I've found out is that you'll have to make compromises on your wish list and/or prioritize the features you want most. Example: many dash cams have the ability to record an incident while parked (through the use of g sensors), but most of them don't really have a true "parking mode" that can be relied upon for this very reason. If that is a high priority for you, then you will need to look for cameras with a true "parking mode" which may mean sacrificing other features and/or paying for something that originally wasn't in your budget.

I've found that Car Cam Central on YouTube has some great videos that will help you narrow down your search. He explains things in a very simple way which helps for the dash cam naive folks like us.

Once you have a better idea of how much you're willing to spend or what features you really want in your camera, it gets much easier to start looking for specifics from places like r/dashcam and DashCamTalk.

Good luck! Be sure to share any findings or other thoughts you develop along the way, because I'm sure it will be helpful for others who are also searching for a dash cam.

 

[LockeLamora33]

I commented in the thread which sparked your interest into dash cams about the A119/A119S and, based on my research, this seems to be the one I would go for based on the price/performance. I am by no means a dash cam nerd as I've got no personal experience with them, either, but am similar to you in feeling I should probably own one. I can't say I've looked to far outside of this price range, so can't comment too much or recommend anything north of $200.

Something I've found out is that you'll have to make compromises on your wish list and/or prioritize the features you want most. Example: many dash cams have the ability to record an incident while parked (through the use of g sensors), but most of them don't really have a true "parking mode" that can be relied upon for this very reason. If that is a high priority for you, then you will need to look for cameras with a true "parking mode" which may mean sacrificing other features and/or paying for something that originally wasn't in your budget.

I've found that Car Cam Central on YouTube has some great videos that will help you narrow down your search. He explains things in a very simple way which helps for the dash cam naive folks like us.

Once you have a better idea of how much you're willing to spend or what features you really want in your camera, it gets much easier to start looking for specifics from places like r/dashcam and DashCamTalk.

Good luck! Be sure to share any findings or other thoughts you develop along the way, because I'm sure it will be helpful for others who are also searching for a dash cam.

Thanks! I got a row of videos lined up now, and to start : Dash Cam 101! Looking into Thinkware too after reading a reccomendation on another thread for them and going to watch some reviews on that too, although they seem on the higher end price wise.

 

[HBGeek]

I am new to dash cams, but I did get the A119. It has only been in my ST since January, but so far it works great. I hard wired mine and it works great in direct sunlight, at night, has motion detection, is behind my mirror and is pretty discrete if you ask me. I added a 32 gb micro sd card as well. I have not opted for a rear camera yet, but I will consider it down the road. If you guys want pics of my dash cam installed I can upload them As far as video when I have time I can get around to it as I would have to crop it to show you night/day/direct sun/motion.

It is a great product for the price and I ordered mine on amazon.

I also like that it does not show speed:wink:

 

[LockeLamora33]

I am new to dash cams, but I did get the A119. It has only been in my ST since January, but so far it works great. I hard wired mine and it works great in direct sunlight, at night, has motion detection, is behind my mirror and is pretty discrete if you ask me. I added a 32 gb micro sd card as well. I have not opted for a rear camera yet, but I will consider it down the road. If you guys want pics of my dash cam installed I can upload them As far as video when I have time I can get around to it as I would have to crop it to show you night/day/direct sun/motion.

It is a great product for the price and I ordered mine on amazon.

I also like that it does not show speed:wink:

I wouldn't mind seeing a few pictures. It seems to be the most recommended one.

 

[HBGeek]

Sent from my SM-G935T using Tapatalk

 

[LockeLamora33]

That looks nice and clean! Installation pretty easy? They don't seem to be complicated to install except maybe a rear into the hatch from what I can tell.

 

[sh0ebox]

Front hard wire should be pretty easy from what I've read. Seems similar to installing a HomeLink mirror, which I have for my FoST.

The only thing I'm wondering is which fuse to hook into since I'm already using 65 and 85 for my mirror

 

[HBGeek]

These are the instructions I followed. http://www.focusst.org/forum/focus-...-hard-wiring-radar-detector-other-device.html

It is pretty straight forward and easy. It should take you about 30 minutes. If you have no experience a little longer. BTW I HIGHLY recommend hard wiring it. It looks so awful to have the cord just hanging down and I would be concerned with it getting in the way. If you follow the instructions it is quite simple. Feel free to ask me questions. If you are local to me I can help and if you really don't feel up to the challenge...take it to a shop as they shouldn't charge you too much to install it. I am a former mobile electronics installer so this is a breeze for me, but with the linked step by step instructions, it should be quite simple.

 

[LockeLamora33]

These are the instructions I followed. http://www.focusst.org/forum/focus-...-hard-wiring-radar-detector-other-device.html

It is pretty straight forward and easy. It should take you about 30 minutes. If you have no experience a little longer. BTW I HIGHLY recommend hard wiring it. It looks so awful to have the cord just hanging down and I would be concerned with it getting in the way. If you follow the instructions it is quite simple. Feel free to ask me questions. If you are local to me I can help and if you really don't feel up to the challenge...take it to a shop as they shouldn't charge you too much to install it. I am a former mobile electronics installer so this is a breeze for me, but with the linked step by step instructions, it should be quite simple.

Those look easy, I am thinking of the updated A119s for $110 on amazon. Might have to pull the trigger in the next few days. Thanks for the help!

 

[koopiskeva]

I'm not a dashcam nerd, but can at least vouch for the a119 being a good/cheap/reliable cam. I've only had it for 2 months, but I've been able to view both day/night shots. Certainly not the best, but more than good enough with the wide angle lens.

It does also have most of the features you're looking for.

Story time!

I had actually dropped off my current car (STI) to a dealership for some service about a month ago. Seems the tech didn't realize I had a dashcam connected...
The tech that drove my car did the following -
Picked up a friend
Drove a few towns over for lunch
Ran errands with my car
Set it to sport sharp mode and floored it to 90+mph

:\

Was I annoyed? You bet. I emailed the supervisor and let him know about it. Now I specifically let him know that I'm pretty understanding and know these cars were made for fun. I also told him not to reprimand the tech - but to just be aware that others may not be as forgiving as I am about it... but he ended up being suspended for a week anyway. :/
Got some free oil changes for it, but its unlikely I'll ever go back there.

 

[LockeLamora33]

I'm not a dashcam nerd, but can at least vouch for the a119 being a good/cheap/reliable cam. I've only had it for 2 months, but I've been able to view both day/night shots. Certainly not the best, but more than good enough with the wide angle lens.

It does also have most of the features you're looking for.

Story time!

I had actually dropped off my current car (STI) to a dealership for some service about a month ago. Seems the tech didn't realize I had a dashcam connected...
The tech that drove my car did the following -
Picked up a friend
Drove a few towns over for lunch
Ran errands with my car
Set it to sport sharp mode and floored it to 90+mph

:\

Was I annoyed? You bet. I emailed the supervisor and let him know about it. Now I specifically let him know that I'm pretty understanding and know these cars were made for fun. I also told him not to reprimand the tech - but to just be aware that others may not be as forgiving as I am about it... but he ended up being suspended for a week anyway. :/
Got some free oil changes for it, but its unlikely I'll ever go back there.

Wow, as I'm going to have my dealer install some suspension for me and do an alignment I will have to make sure to get this BEFORE it goes in! You are a good and patient man my friend, I wouldn't have wanted him fired, we've all done dumb things, but I would have been pretty pissed off!

 

[lacks_tact]

Was gonna see if it would be worth trying to get a group buy going for a good dash cam, but 110 duckets is pretty cheap for something that seems to work pretty well.

 

[sh0ebox]

Even cheaper if you opt to go with the A119 (the predecessor to A119S) which is $90 without GPS module and $100 with (versus $110 and $120, respectively). Honestly, at this point in time the A119S shouldn't really be considered a replacement of the A119 due to having different sensors, FOV, and max resolution. To some, they are different enough that they should almost appeal to different people based on their desires.

A119 should do the job just fine if you spend most of your time driving during the day and/or have enough light at night (e.g., city street lights). Yes, the A119S will still have better IQ in this instance but where it really seems to outclass the A119 is in little to no light, as the Sony sensor with its larger aperture can really brighten up the image with little to no light while maintaining respectable IQ that should allow you to read a plate in a situation where the A119 might not be able to do so as well.

 

[Fidget08]

The A119S has a sony sensor that the A119 does not. The Sony sensor is worth the upgrade since night visibility is much improved. The A119S also runs off capacitors so there will be overheating in the hot summer sun.