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Had a minor fender bender Monday morning. Woman claiming she was distracted by her 4 y.o. as she attempted to change lanes ran her left rear quarter panel into my front right fender while we were both traveling in the same direction. She was apologetic and there was no dispute as to the cause of the accident.
While waiting for the traffic officer, I tried to pull up the footage from the Rexing dash cam I currently have. I had no success. I read the owners manual and then found a better description of the required steps posted on-line. I was able to access video from days ago. I also have video of my hand removing the dash cam from the windshield after the accident. For the life of me I could not find footage of what had just transpired.
Although the officer said the woman's story was the same as mine and he cited her for careless driving, it bothers me that I could not pull up the video while on-scene to share with the traffic officer. In many ways this completely defeated my reason for having the dash cam. Later in the evening I put the SD card from the camera into my computer to see if I could find the video. Numerous files on the SD card. None of the morning drive and accident.
Nothing but frustration of not being able to locate the footage while on the roadside. Even more frustrating to learn it wasn't even recorded, apparently.
Any recommendations for a dash cam which is constantly recording every moment and allows for simple intuitive history viewing on the camera itself while in the vehicle?
I don't know how "intuitive" mine are. Anything with more than one mode and menu are too much for me. NOT tech savvy at all.
But I bought three, 2 -- a Motorola and a Polaroid -- from HSN (Home Shopping Network) that would suction to the windshield -- and one on Amazon (one that goes over the rear view mirror. All had removable chips.
I saw the home shopping presentations -- and also did lots of online research -- videos and reviews -- on the best rated ones.
Of the three, I had my brother set up the over the mirror one. Mostly I chose it because it I really didn't wanton that stuck to the windshield. I wanted as inconspicuous as possible. Never used the other two.
He ran the wiring under the dash board, around and over the windshield, etc.
All he showed me how to do was turn it on and off. I still don't know how to navigate through the mode and menu settings. And hope I never need to. But I'm glad I have it.
All I do is start the car and look to see if the red dot starts flashing.
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Hard to give a good answer on how to properly use "your" dashcam...
Unless you have the unit in hand and have access to the "albeit bad instructions", there is no way to figure out how to operate "your" unit. Get somebody a bit savvier with this unit and he or she can help you there.
I bought this one. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1
which is sadly apparently not in stock, but it is an example of what you should be looking for and then buy it from Amazon for the simple reason that if you do not get it operating, you can then always return the bugger...
So, get some help.
Or bite the bullet and get a simpler or better one...
By the way, mine seems to have simple instructions, and I found it easy to operate.
I even make travel movies with it besides having it as proof of what happened...
When you do get one, get an extra large memory stick as big as you can afford, so the time of recording is long enough to figure out what happened in some accident for instance.
Reporting back with what I went with. I purchased this very inexpensive dash cam from Walmart.com. Only $35. I bought one for my car and one for my truck. Being over $50 for the order, no shipping charges.
The buttons/functions are easy to understand. I've checked numerous times over the past couple of weeks and I've been able to access the footage easily on the camera while seated in my vehicle. That was just what I was looking for. No missing footage and able to retrieve footage without hassle on the side of the road.
Reporting back with what I went with. I purchased this very inexpensive dash cam from Walmart.com. Only $35. I bought one for my car and one for my truck. Being over $50 for the order, no shipping charges.
The buttons/functions are easy to understand. I've checked numerous times over the past couple of weeks and I've been able to access the footage easily on the camera while seated in my vehicle. That was just what I was looking for. No missing footage and able to retrieve footage without hassle on the side of the road.
Reporting back with what I went with. I purchased this very inexpensive dash cam from Walmart.com. Only $35. I bought one for my car and one for my truck. Being over $50 for the order, no shipping charges.
The buttons/functions are easy to understand. I've checked numerous times over the past couple of weeks and I've been able to access the footage easily on the camera while seated in my vehicle. That was just what I was looking for. No missing footage and able to retrieve footage without hassle on the side of the road.
How large of a viewing angle does it have? This one has 170 degree which is good.
How long will it stay on when power is removed? If you're in an accident and the first hit disconnects your battery.. You still want at least a few more seconds of footage. This one says it has a 'supercap' which provides that power.. But.. How long does it last after you unplug it from power?
Can you pull the footage to your PC and zoom in? Someone sideswipes you and runs away, you want to make sure you can read their plate. Check this in day and night conditions. Some of these dashcams have a proprietary format.. Mine sort of does. It records in MP4, but to access all the GPS, you have to use their software to view the files.
GPS is a nice function to have on it, but not critical. If someone says you were speeding, you can actually clock yourself based on the lines in the road or mile markers or similar. Takes some doing (and some math) but possible. I can guarantee from the price point yours doesn't have the GPS.
For a basic dashcam.. What you got seems to be a very good value.
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