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-   -   The Dashcam / Car Video Recorder (DVR) Thread (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/car-entertainment/134448-dashcam-car-video-recorder-dvr-thread-242.html)

Here is what I have been using for sometime now and it does the job and has a very minimal footprint - https://www.amazon.in/Blueskysea-B1W...dp/B0773FXVKL/
You also wont go wrong with the DDPAI mini OR 70mai.

Has anyone here found a 2 camera system (one for front and one for rear) comparable to Voifo cameras (A129 duo and above) on Indian eCommerce websites for reasonable price?

I think I had read somewhere that for hot conditions like in India, it is not a good idea to go with lithium ion based battery cameras and instead we should get capacitor based and I am aware Voifo A129 duo is capacitor based.

I purchased the Transcend Drive Pro in 2015. So far nothing has happened to the battery in our hot conditions. This is a favourite even in the UAE - the epitome of heat

I have been using the DDPAI mini for over 3 years.

Trouble-free and reliable performance. Both day and night recording are clear. App can be downloaded to configure the device.

I have question which might seem stupid.

Can I hardwire the dashcam to the dome light switch and disable the light. The Duster has 3 cabin lights (one in front and two in the center) and I don't use the front one at all. I am thinking of removing the bulb and keeping the switch on at all times.

Parking enabled dashcam needs power through two wires. Yellow wire need power all the time and same can be wired to dome light, the other red wire needs to be powered from accessories or ignition. When red wire receive power dashcam is aware that car is running and will work in normal mode. When red wire does not have power, it switches back to power from yellow wire and operates in parking mode.

If you are thinking to use normal dashcam without parking feature to be used as parking dashcam through power from dome light, technically possible but two thing will happen. Memory card will be full very soon and battery voltage will drop and you may not be able to start your car after 8-10 hours. Parking mode enabled dash cam consumes less power and have voltage drop protection. Nevertheless you can use as you thought for surveillance when parked in public are or new place for short duration, max 3-4 hours. In that case buy large sd card.

Thank you for your response, I am looking at ddpai mini
here https://www.nexdigitron.com/products...0aAvQJEALw_wcB

The hard wire kit only has two wires in it, the power and the earth.

https://www.amazon.in/70mai-A500S-Pl.../dp/B08X2RTJJJ - 70mai Pro Plus+ A500S is available on amazon for INR 10,499.

I read the detail. You can use dome light power although it would be better to wire it to fuse box. Trust me it’s very easy to route the wire.
The camera has parking mode based on G sensor and may also have voltage protector. Just remember if you are in traffic jam for more than stipulated period set for entering in parking mode, camera needs to be wake again before normal recording.

Dashcam Installation in my Fortuner

As I was changing my car from Scorpio to a Fortuner, I was going through all the recent discussions on the dashcam options and their review and sample videos in this thread. I was thinking of going with 70mai pro Plus+ as I needed front and rear camera option. The reason I was thinking of changing the camera was I wasn't sure if an older camera will have some drawbacks. However later decided to continue using my existing dashcam SJCAM SJ4000 wifi, the camera set I was using in my Scorpio from 2015 onwards.

My dashcam Installation in Scorpio was done by myself and other than one issue of rear camera coming of the rear glass once and was hanging, I never faced any issues during 6 years of usage. Its camera footage also helped me come out of one situation when I was coming back to Bangalore from Pondicherry a few years back

Hence decided to retest their video recording ability once again in the Fortuner. I removed the cameras myself from Scorpio and installed it in Fortuner, the intention was merely testing. However I am now comfortable doing the cabling and installation of these, the setup I did in Fortuner is almost the permanent setup itself.

In Scorpio, the front camera was installed on the handle of IRVM and power was drawn from 12v socket. I haven't hardwired the camers before. The rear camera was installed on the top-centre of rear main glass and power was drawn from the front 12v socket again. I had bought a 1X2 12v socket extension, and a few USB male-female extension cables for wiring the cameras. The entire cabling was concealed by floor/door panels in the Scorpio.

In fortuner, the same way camera was installed in front, camera placing on the IRVM handle and power is drawn from the front 12v socket. Fortuner has a 12v socket in the boot, so the rear camera power was much easy. Here too wires and completely concealed only one small portion wires are visible outside. I didn't have to use any usb extension cables in Fortuner.

Overall the setup was completed in almost one hour, including removing from Scorpio and fixing it in Fortuner.

Reasons I decided to continue with my SJCAM SJ4000 WiFi:
- It's decent Video quality. It gives Full HD videos 1920x1080 resolution for both front and rear videos
- Number plates are readable in the video
- Decent low light and night videos
- As they are 2 independent cameras I have some more flexibility with them and I have one dashcam to act as backup
- Long term durability, 6 years of usage without any issues
- Confidence of having emergency footages
- Familiarity with its features, has decent features like wifi connection with phone, video download to phone, recording length/quality options, etc
- Reduced spending, and I could reuse memory cards and cables and mounts etc.
- On new dashcams reviews I saw many feedback like videos becoming grainy, low light video quality being poor, number plates not being readable, rear cameras having lower video quality etc.

I wish I had these in my SJCAM dashcam:
- More video quality options like ultra HD, 4k etc
- GPS and speed details in the recorded videos
- Video download to phone takes a few minutes, I wish they were faster
- Camera is relatively big, I wish they were a bit smaller. But it wasn't an issue inside Scorpio as well as in fortuner, and they appear small

Here is a sample video from front and rear, after installing in Fortuner.

Front dashcam sample video:
https://youtu.be/wTwsONCeYPg

Rear dashcam sample video:
https://youtu.be/1_0-kM9W8rY

And remember to view these videos in HD mode in Youtube.

Review of these videos made me think of continue using these dashcams. What you guys think? Any thoughts?

Thanks
narayanang76

I had a 70 mai 1s on my car, honestly was very happy with the video quality and even the night vision was good. Disappointed that it conked off in exactly a year. May look at a ddpai now that someone has it up and running for 3 years

In the same boat as you. After almost 5 years, my Viofo has stopped working. Not looking at 70mai given their failure rates. Ddpai seems to be a safe bet. Came across this dual channel dashcam on Amazon:

https://www.amazon.in/dp/B09C3DV35B/...RFRN391CTRMY43

Haven't yet placed an order as I'm still exploring. Like before, planning to stick with capacitor types rather than lithium batteries.

Hi normaltusker !, I was thinking of going for a new dashcam and wound up with the saem one you have mentioned. I had a very queries though which I think you'll be able to answer since you must have been using the device for some time now.

1. Does it come with GPS? If so, then how exactly does the GPS help me? Is it only the coordinates imprinted in the footage or does it also record a route I want it to store?

2. Most importantly - does it have a dedicated emergency recording button? (not the automatic collision detection one) This feature is very useful and I find it missing in a lot of devices presently in the market. Imagine you are driving and suddenly you decide that a certain footage has to be saved, locked from being overwritten. You just press a button and that section of footage is stored in a separate folder, preventing it from being over written in loop.

TIA

Yes, it comes with GPS and it does both; it imprints in the footage and also keeps the route info in a .txt file (something like GPSData0001.txt). You can also browse the route on the app (screenshot below)



Yes, there's a dedicated emergency recording button (second button from the left, a flag icon).

PS: I find the 70MAI dashcam model names confusing and I assume you are referring to Pro Plus+ (A500s).

Looks like Amazon sells only fake SanDisk MicroSD cards. This is the second instance from a reputed seller. I found the packaging cut from top. Behind the card, the Regn. Number was hardly visible. Then I inserted into the DashCam, recorded just once and 'Card Corrupted' Message Appears. Out in a refund request and got Western Digital SD card from FK, this seems to be fine. Amazon outright rejects 'refunding' the money, but might replace the card. Just sharing my experience