Anyone use an on board Crash Cam?

[Disco LT]

Spent a bit too long watching crazy russians drive like lunatics and decided I might pick up a Crash Cam for.. well, I don't know but I want one. Anyone else use one, have any recomendations..or have you used one to some benefit or form of entertainment?

Probably going to buy a Navig8r or the Kaiser Baas from Officeworks - they're $68 and will get me started anyway.

Thoughts?

[Otto-matic]

If you capture something good, post it on Youtube
Might want to block any number plates though

[Disco LT]

If you capture something good, post it on Youtube
Might want to block any number plates though

Probably the only Youtube worthy thing I'd be able to upload with be certain groups of children in lower socio economic parts of town that like to play chicken by riding straight at you on the road on their **** probably stolen bmx bikes..Glenroi here I come

[Bicketybam]

Spent a bit too long watching crazy russians drive like lunatics and decided I might pick up a Crash Cam for.. well, I don't know but I want one.

Yeah those crazy Russians got me thinking too.. but while I would like one it feels too much like a luxury atm... BUT recently I came across this youtube channel of this English guy that reviews the "less" common gadgets that are available all over the net and found it quite interesting.

Anyway he reviews a lot of car cameras and of all the ones he has done I didn't mind this one : http://www.techmoan.com/blog/2012/9/18/ ... amera.html

I even found a link to a few places on Ebay for it, but seemed to have lost them but they were reasonably cheap I think. Anyway, that one looked interesting. His main website is http://www.techmoan.com/ if you want to check out his other reviews.

If you capture something good, post it on Youtube

I would have loved one in my car when Brissy had that Superstorm in mid Nov. this year, as driving home down a road that looked up at the mountain I would have seen 20 - 30+ lightning strikes all around it that was very impressive (and a little freaky) but would have made an excellent video.

Edit: Here is a one on ebay : http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Mini-Reversi ... 416f4a9789

Edit 2: Also found this link that might help you find other cameras : http://dashcamtalk.com/

[Tydus]

Just a little thing, cause im certain everybody knows what your talking about, but they're more commonly known as "dashcams". I also haven't used one, but i am thinking about putting one in also. Ive had a few friends that have had car accidents over the last few years and a couple of them had real problems getting the crash marked as dual fault. These minor accidents don't seem to get much attention from the police and even when you call them straight after, with pretty clear tire markings and panel damage to back you up if the guy you hit tells a very different story to you its pretty much a he said she said situation.

Speaking from personal experience when a young p plater pulled out in front of me and i hit his side, I didn't call the police and he admitted total fault, however if he had changed his mind later and denied everything and said i hit him when he was parked or w/e there wouldn't of been anyway to prove that he's lying and i would of been up for either all or some of the expense.

[steve_rogers42]

I think Negdriver has one in his jeep from memory, think it was either mounted behind the rear-vision mirror or in it, but it loops and stores to cd card from memory, chuck him a PM and he should let you know.... all of his uploaded jeep vids were done with it iirc....

They are pretty handy and some of them are pretty decent quality, just have to shop around i suppose...

[Disco LT]

Yeah those crazy Russians got me thinking too.. but while I would like one it feels too much like a luxury atm... BUT recently I came across this youtube channel of this English guy that reviews the "less" common gadgets that are available all over the net and found it quite interesting.

Anyway he reviews a lot of car cameras and of all the ones he has done I didn't mind this one : http://www.techmoan.com/blog/2012/9/18/ ... amera.html

I even found a link to a few places on Ebay for it, but seemed to have lost them but they were reasonably cheap I think. Anyway, that one looked interesting. His main website is http://www.techmoan.com/ if you want to check out his other reviews.
Edit 2: Also found this link that might help you find other cameras : http://dashcamtalk.com/

Nice links! Funnily enough the dashcamtalk.com website lists the DVR 027 is only $60USD inc P&H from Deals Direct AU and I'm going to buy one if I'm not happy with the cheapo I bought from Office Works.. I guess you could say I'm just testing the water and I prefer instant gratification over waiting for P&H! Anything under $100 has got to be good IMO purely because if someone smashes your window to steal it you aren't out a few hundred bucks. I'm too lazy to take it down and put it up every time I get in and out of the car. I strongly suspect I'll buy one though, just because it really does have a stellar reputation and the videos taken with it are amazing.

I just set mine up and I've taken some **** pictures to demonstrate:

This is the view from the drivers seat where my eyeballs normally are roughly, can barely see it behind the rear vision mirror.





It came with an incredibly long cable for plugging it into your 12v socket which is brilliant, it's a bit ad hock at the moment but I intend on running it under the rubber seals so it's almost completely out of sight. At the moment I've got it going above the passenger door and then behind the seat, and up between the seat and the centre console and plugged in.



The view from outside the car, noticeable but I don't think there is much I can do about that!

I currently have it set up to record 5 minute loops on an 8GB Micro SD card, which in theory should record about 80 minutes worth of footage before overwriting the first file and it does include a time/date stamp. When connected to your cigarette socket it will actually turn on and off with your ignition so it really is set and forget - it also records audio for those interesting discussions with the police.

Not sure how it will perform, but if not up to my standards I'll buy the other one and suck it up since I only paid $30 for it.. (had a gift card from work).

[Disco LT]

Okay this is the video quality of the Navig8r, it's not great.. reading the licence plate of a stationary vehicle in front of you seems to be a fruitless gesture - ignore the dog at the end I didn't want to run it over.

I think I will buy the DVR 027 as it does have better quality video, but this is definitely good enough for demonstrating that someone has pulled in front of you or something

[VitalBlurs]

It looks like the only problem is, it's out of focus. Is it auto-focusing on the edge of your dash in the bottom of the picture instead of the road etc?

[Disco LT]

It looks like the only problem is, it's out of focus. Is it auto-focusing on the edge of your dash in the bottom of the picture instead of the road etc?

That could be an issue, the manual says nothing about focus so I assume it's just auto focus - I'll get out tomorrow and **** about a bit with it's position and see if that helps at all

[Otto-matic]

Just wondering if there's a legal gotcha in there somewhere. For some reason I can remember something about being able to record video or sound, but not both at the same time. We need the lawyer in here

[Disco LT]

Just wondering if there's a legal gotcha in there somewhere. For some reason I can remember something about being able to record video or sound, but not both at the same time. We need the lawyer in here

Yeah I'm not too sure (or concerned) about the legalities of it - I like the fact it can record sound though it could back you up if you ever go to court and a law enforcement officers contemporaneous notes don't match what your audio recording states.. but then it may not be allowed I really don't know, law is a complicated beast.

[v4moose]

does this camera in anyway hook up to the speedo to show how fast your going on screen?

take a look at the youtuve channel - baddriversoz - bogan central, but his setup is pretty good.

side note - I was in my local officeworks in joondalup wa today, and over heard others asking about the camera, seems they're getting popular. The office works guy was still giving the speal that they were sold out of the better kind.

[ChainsawMcP]

Just wondering if there's a legal gotcha in there somewhere. For some reason I can remember something about being able to record video or sound, but not both at the same time. We need the lawyer in here

There is no absolute right to privacy in Australia - and no single law covering the subject. (and the whole area is trying to catch up to rapidly changing technology)

In general you can record video in public places - and conversations that you are a party to - which could be argued to be anything you can hear in public - Buses, taxis, trains, service stations, public places - look around you and you'll see cameras everywhere.

There are some odd/varied restrictions though - no commercial photography of Commonwealth Reserves - some "infrastructure" (some bridges, trains, power plants, water related infrastructure) - certain areas restricted by council by-laws... this list is pretty long and includes things you might not think of, or even be aware of.

[Ralph Wiggum]

Using the Western Australian Surveillance Act as an example, you are not allowed to use a surveillance device to record visually a private activity, which is defined as:

"private activity means any activity carried on in circumstances that may reasonably be taken to indicate that any of the parties to the activity desires it to be observed only by themselves, but does not include an activity carried on in any circumstances in which the parties to the activity ought reasonably to expect that the activity may be observed;"

So a camera installed in a car is fine for Disco, as long as he is only recording what's happening on the road, and not driving into some chick's bathroom whilst she's having a shower