Dash Cam

Boris the spyder · Mar 28, 2018

Hello All

Anyone have recommendations as to a good dash cam for a Boxster ? Not really interested in removing trim and making it permanent (unless folks have an easy install tip) Think it’s starting to be a must have these days unfortunately. Thanks in advance and happy pothole avoiding to all. (Oooppsss just noticed the shop on here sell them. Bit of a none question ??)

Wollemi · Mar 30, 2018

I have a Nextbase 512 which works really well - the polarising filter does make a big difference especially for an open roof car.
I‘ve not hard wired it but have "fitted” the power lead by tucking it under the edge of the trim and under the floor mats and plugging it into the socket in passenger footwell. It took about about 5 minutes to do and would take about 30 seconds to remove.

The socket is permanently powered in my car so I have to either plug it in and out to turn on and off or leave it plugged in and turn it off manually. Forget and you have four hours of film of the view from your parked car.
i use the same unit in my Land Rover - I bought a second power lead and "fitted” that the same way but that has a power socket switched with the ignition which is preferable for this purpose.
You can get a "hard wire’ kit is just a wire with a plug that replaces a fuse in a switched circuit ( the fuse thent fits on the back of the plug) - it look easy to do but I didn’t want a potentially loose wire hanging around in my drivers footwell - you’d have to make sure it was properly secured.

Roger Goode · Mar 30, 2018

I have Nextbase or Trancend dash cans in each of our cars. They’re all good but the Nextbase 512 GW with a polarising filter produces the best images. A tip: Show as little sky as possible to avoid under exposed images of the road. Hard wiring is very simple and easy to do. You will need a trim removal kit £9.59 @ Machinr Mart. Hard wiring is by far and away the best way to go. There is no risk of having wires dangling anywhere as long as you do a tidy job.

richardjjs1 · Mar 30, 2018

Presume you hard wire it into Ignition controlled fuse Otherwise you not only have 4 hours of Video but a flat battery

Ive got a Prestigo 028 BUT it only recods 20 minutes

WEnt to Scotland and hoped I could use it for Filming the scenery Useless

Roger Goode · Mar 30, 2018

You can choose whether to piggy back onto a fuse which provides power only when the ignition is switched on or one that provides power without the ignition switched on. One might require the latter if concerned about potential damage to the car whilst parked, when motion detectors trigger recording e.g. if someone bumps your car. To the best of my knowledge good quality dash cams detect when battery voltage drops below a certain level and switches off to prevent draining of the car battery. Clearly dash cams do drain some battery power but I haven’t found that to be a problem even after my car hasn’t been used for a couple of weeks.
I bought my first dash cam with the intention of recording scenery especially in the Pyrenees, however, I was encouraged by a colleague not to be a skinflint and to buy a GoPro camera for that purpose. The GoPro is much easier to use for that purpose and the video quality was excellent, mind you so is that from dash cams but one would need to have a number of micro sd cards and would need to change them frequently.