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dicion wrote:

Kanuk wrote:

dicion wrote:

Keith B wrote:

EEllis wrote:

Dashcam.

I got mine for $70,

Where does one get a $70 dashcam? is it forward and rearward?

And how have you used it? Can I produce it as evidence?

Mine is forward and audio only, but there are models that do both, as well as track GPS position and speed, but after long hard thought, I didn't need all that stuff.
Even if the camera is simply looking forward & recording audio, it is usable to show what you were doing, even if the other car isn't visible. Eg, if you get sideswiped, and the other driver claims you changed lanes into them, the camera will show you were just driving straight when you got hit, etc.

I have not personally done this yet, but I know a friend of mine who had some guy hit him while he was driving, and tried to start something when they pulled over. My friend pointed at the camera, and told the guy 'dashcam', which shut him up immediately and caused him to back off.

You can produce anything you want as evidence in court, if it gets that far, but the real beauty of it is, if I'm ever in an accident, and the officer comes to me asking what happened, I can go "here officer, let me SHOW you what happened", since it has a display, and can instantly playback whatever it just recorded, right there, on the spot. In addition, it makes a nice submission to any insurance claim, and I'm sure your insurance company will love you if you can produce video clearly showing another party at fault.

Mine is the first one on this page, the DVR027:
http://dashcamtalk.com/dash-cam-comparison/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
I bought it via Ebay from one of the sellers with thousands of positive feedback.

I got it via a recommendation from a friend of mine who had one.
I have two, one for my car, one for the Wife's. Since I bought mine, two other friends of mine have bought the same one as well, and many others are considering one, and none have any complaints, all from the same place.

EDIT: I pulled a small part of my drive home from work from my camera for ya to see it's quality.
[youtube][/youtube]

First of all, nice music choice. Boston is the best thing to come out of Boston since the Revolution.

$70 seems a very reasonable price, and the video quality is pretty good. But for those who can't afford even that but who have a smart phone, there are several iPhone/Droid dashcam apps that turn your cellphone into a dashcam, with a number of features. I bought one called "DashCam" (https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/dashcam ... 87757?mt=8) for $1.99. The product description says:

Have your own black box/dashboard camera, at a fraction of the cost.
This application can be used with cars, bicycles, motorcycles, boats, anything that moves.
Record videos of your driving, track your location, speed, average speed, and distance.
Store the videos on your device.
Use the videos with all of the information to fight a traffic ticket, in case of an accident, learning purposes, or personal entertainment.
Play the videos showing all data within the application or via AirPlay enabled devices.
Share the videos via YouTube, Facebook, Email, AirPlay enabled devices, or just save them to your Photo Album.
Use the application in all portrait and landscape modes.
Use the application while playing iPod.

Requires iOS 5.0 or later, iPhone 3GS or later. Not recommended for iPod touch or iPad.

Features include:
Video recording
Route tracking on the Google Maps
Speed and Average Speed Tracking
Distance Tracking
Start time, End time, and Date stamp of the recording
Screen recording
Storing the recordings within the application
Playback on the device within the application
Playback via AirPlay enabled devices
Sharing via YouTube, Facebook, Email, Photo Album, and AirPlay enabled devices
Video format allows you to export the video to Photo Album and use that video with iMovie for iOS
Loop recording
Screen recording
Option to turn off audio recording
Video resolution settings
Memory size allocation
Speed tracking either in miles or kilometers
All Landscape and Portrait mode support
Allows you to listen to iPod while using the application

The app records up to an hour of video incrementally, in either 6 10 minute increments, or 10 6 minute increments....I don't remember which, but whichever it is, the increment being recorded is overwriting the oldest one. The videos can be archived. It also uses the phone's internal GPS to record the trip (if you want it to....the feature can be disabled) as part of the total information it records; as well as other trip info like timestamping, and other info.

The downside is that it requires A) a bracket to hold your phone which you have to choose and buy separately; and B) even with the phone connected to a charging source, it exerts a net drain on the battery. All you can do is slow down the discharge rate by connecting it to the charger.

I bought the following items from Amazon to support it:

1. A windshield/dashboard mount to hold the phone: $19.95 http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B007FH ... UTF8&psc=1
2. A PowerGen dual USB charger which plugs into the cigarette lighter: $10.99 http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0088U ... UTF8&psc=1
3. A 6' long USB data cable to connect the iPhone to the charger: $3.84 (for three of them) http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00741 ... UTF8&psc=1

So my total outlay was $36.77 plus tax. All of the Amazon.com items were "Prime," so there was no shipping charged. For comparison purposes, that's a fungible number because someone else might spend more or less on mounting brackets and power accessories, but it is a good ballpark number. There is a potential downside, and that is that incoming phone calls may interrupt the recording. However, that could be a good thing, as your phone use while driving can't be used against you as evidence that you were not paying attention.

That DVR027 you bought seems very reasonably priced, and I might have gone that way instead if I had known about it. But using a smartphone app might be another way to do this.

Kanuk wrote:

RottenApple wrote:

Kanuk wrote:I guess living in Texas road rage is a common sight.

I take exception to this statement. As a professional driver,

I've driven across the country, lived in California, and Florida, and I have seen some very ignorant driving. But the drivers in the DFW area, are a special breed. The best I can say is they're angry. When you say a "professional driver" does that mean a semi? I have no problems when I drive my square body suburban. but I can tell you on a weekly basis I can find at least 10 people that drive angry. and this is a 30 mile commute.

In fact the litany of people on this post, and the high number of views would lead me to believe they agree with my statement.

Actually, I lived in California most of my life. I saw more road rage there than here, but I think that was a function of total years spent there. I think the rate is about the same here as there.

What I DID notice when I first moved here is that 35E in the metroplex has very short on-ramps.....much like the old Pasadena Freeway into downtown L.A. which I used to have to navigate daily.....and that guys in lifted monster trucks moving 15 mph over the flow of traffic which is moving at 65-70 like to use the right lane as a passing lane, RIGHT when I'm trying to merge into traffic at a speed that matches the flow of traffic. Then, when they find themselves thwarted by a puny SUV, they get mad and run right up onto my bumper with their lights flashing. There's no place on either side to escape to, and I can't speed up because the guy in front of me is going the same speed I am, so exactly where do they think I'm going to go?

Yeah.....those poopyheads.