I have never had a dash cam but was looking in auto express at a recent article on best models which has got me thinking:
Thanks and look forward to thoughts
Cheers
Mark
Well if its any help, I bought one from Halfords last year, only a small one, cost about £95, I have it in my Peugeot 208 most of the time, and at weekends I put it in the 5.
It records OK quality on a micro sim, which can be removed and put into an SD adapter and then the contents downloaded onto my laptop if required.
I delete old trips as I go ,but you can lock and save any footage if required.
The downside to my one is the trailing wires once plugged into the cigarette thingy, and also where to put it on the small windscreen in the 5 so as to give a good view of the road ahead but without obscuring the view out.
Works well for me , but each to his own, there are far more elaborate devices available, depending on what you want.
I only bought mine as whilst away last summer, a motorcyclist over cooked a bend, and came over onto my side of the road, I swerved to the left, and he missed my wing mirror by about 6 inches, so it was a close call, so now I have it turned on whenever I go out.
Its not just about the odd biker ( I love bikes by the way ) but the huge amount of uninsured/ drunk/ drugged up complete dickhead car drivers about these days.
Boz
I have a Blackvue 650S hard-wired. I went for this model because it (crucially for me) has a parking mode which saves recordings from about 5 seconds before an impact. It also records sound at that time.
My son has the same camera so recorded an adjacent driver cursing that their door had hit and damaged his. He sent the clip to his insurance company and his car was repaired with no impact on his insurance. In my mind that makes such a dashcam worthwhile 
i installed it myself. It was easy to tuck the cable down the side of the windscreen suround and I took some bits of trim off to hide the cable en route to the fusebox in the passenger footwell. I can’t remember which terminals i attached to but piggyback connectors make it easy. I used a ‘live when ignition on’ to supply the dashcam when drriving and a ‘permanent on’ for the parking mode feed.
The Blackvue range are small and fit unobtrusively by the rear view mirror.
They have some deals at present https://mailchi.mp/348059883854/blackvue-warehouse-clearance-save-up-to-50?e=fe958f48ad
I highly recommend a dashcam.
After trying a cheap chinese one that was bought for me, I have now upgraded all our cars to receive Nextbase 312GW dashcams. Recording quality is reasonable but to be honest picking out a registration number is barely possible under any circumstances on the MX5 with raked screen.
We don’t go anywhere without the cam connected up. Important to have it in place just in case it is needed for whatever reason.
The nextbase can be connected up with no wires showing using a piggy back system on the interior fusebox.
Don’t buy a cheap chinese camera; expect to pay £50 - £100+ for a good make of camera that will serve you well.
I bought one for the NC around 2 years ago. It was for a trip around Scotland and in particular to capture some footage to save of the many spectacular roads. I got an extra card to save such footage on but meanwhile use for the trip up there and back.
It was all going ok until we got just North of the border then the mount broke holding the camera to the screen. I couldn’t get another mount for it anywhere so gave up using it. That was an Amazon special, a non descript name from China.
I’ve recently, well in the last Christmas sales, bought a Nextbase (112) camera, the cheaper priced one and now have it hardwired in to the NC with a Nextbase hardwire kit. Also now have one for my daily driver, again the Nextbase also hardwired.
Troubles I’ve had, mostly with the Amazon purchased one. It worked ok but interfered with the DAB signal in my NC. I only had a plug in DAB unit so I think the cam and the DAB didn’t get on, also I had a cheapo hardwire kit which didn’t help.
Long story cut short, I would recommend getting a decent quality dash cam or at least a well known make and also a decent hardwire kit.
Both kits are now working good in both cars although having fitted the NC’s kit just prior to lockdown I have only covered around 50 test miles using said kit in there.
This is a good size one for an ND (it’s small and will go behind the mirror) and comes with a long enough cable to route around the trim to either tap into a fuse in the left foot well or the accessory socket. It is available elsewhere at slightly lower cost. The use of an app on your phone to download files works really well.
Thank you all very much, all very helpful responses for differing reasons
I fitted the Nextbase 512 to my NC, partly because it has the polarised filter on the lens to eliminate the screen reflections. Dead easy.
Since then I’ve fitted the Nextbase 522 two camera kit (later more ergonomic model) to the Mazda3 (a bit of a pig with some of the trim) I recommend this over the 512, but fitting will be much the same. I did a how-to for the NC with some pics in the first link below. Other dash cams will be much the same, but be aware of possible r.f.i. on your DAB from noisy cheapo power supplies.
Then following this are some Dash-cam pics from when I went to Gaydon
I fitted one of these with the hardwire kit too.
Really small and unobtrusive, easy to fit taking a live from the fuse box in the passenger footwell.
Best thing (for me) there is an app for the phone to transfer files from the camera and control the camera that way. Magnetic mount means the camera can be removed without any unplugging of wires etc.
Very good quality, uses WiFi and not expensive.
Barrie
Thanks both. Installation pictures very helpful as well
I have a dual camera setup in my car. Front and rear cameras that run timelapse when parked and 30fps when driving. It’s hardwired and automatically knows when the ignition is off and will turn off completely when the car battery drops below a set limit. Gps position, speed and registration can be imposed onto the videos or not depending on your preference. They often come up on offers, I paid less that £100 for the dual setup
Some sample footage: [edited and reduced to 720p. It’s dark buu t you can still see pretty clearly
The cameras:
The Hardwire kit:
The polarizer:
Rear camera mounted on wind deflector
Front view and windscreen mounted
Hope that’s helpful
It is very helpful, thank you, much for me to think about but , as ever, the forum comments are invaluable
Cheers
Mark
I have cheap Chinese cameras in both of our cars. About £15 each including the memory cards. I know they aren’t brilliant quality but better than nothing. I know if I bought one expensive one to move between cars if I had an accident it would be in the car that hadn’t got the camera at the time. Here’s some footage from a run with some like minded MX-5 owners.
I bought two Nextbase cams
Not from the above but from Rymans in their sales a while back. I first bought just one and tried it out and was sold on it so got the second for the daily driver. Paid £24.95 each + the hardwire kits for £13.95 if I remember.
Quality is decent does the job and I am happy with them although some reviews are less than complimentary, what’s expected for the price.
Thanks both, job for the weekend to review the responses after I have finished decorating the lounge …
I got a garmin for its in build safety camera warning (through GPS mapping). Works well, and saved my bacon when a coach hit the side of me coming off a roundabout. The driver was apologetic and everything went through the insurance, but weeks later they decided it was my fault and I had hit the coach. Sent the camera footage to the insurance company, and minutes later, all resolved beyond doubt. Without the camera it would have been my word against their’s. Now have cameras in my other car as well.
Thanks for that , glad it was sorted , appropriately, in your favour
Sorry forgot to ask, what Garmin model do you have?
The GPS one is a 55, cost about £120. The one I got for the other car was a Garmin Mini at about £70, very discreet about an inch long.
Cheers
