Dashcam ? love or loathe

Decided to get a dashcam for my Nissan xtrail tenka 2015 model from a national retail outlet . Thought some members might be interested on how I am getting on with it. Apart from the usual questions of cost etc it was easy to install, with reservations, at least on my car. First did I want it plugged into cigar lighter (easy option) or hard wire to a fuse. First was finding out if the cigar lighter socket was always live (not a good idea as the dashcam could drain the battery) or if it was switched to come on with the ignition? I tried this with my wifes car as well and both were live all the time, so I gave up that idea had this gismo to check which made it easy.



So it was a case of what is called hard wired. Couple of things came to my mind don't piggyback (came with hard wire kit) to anything to do with safety - some muppet I read piggybacked to part of the ABS system.. The spare fuse point was always live so that was no good , in the end the heated front seat fuses seemed the best option. Have to say at this point the fuse board was right behind the glovebox, the most stupid place ever thought of. So removal of glovebox had to be done and then got access to the fuses.
Ok piggyback done and earth connected to a mounting screw, so now where to put the Dashcam camera unit? everywhere shows passanger side of rear view mirror. With my car there is a lot of rain sensing mesh which the sucker cup won't attach to so had to put on the passanger front piller side. Next was feeding the cable down to the hard wire kit, that was the easy bit , and plugging the two together.and then after securing excess cable refitting the glove box.

One problem is the wipers do not cover where the camera is so might have to move it over later, good idea to put a lot of slack cable into the roof lining ,saves taking everything apart again.

Now you may ask why bother? after all it is not necessary to have one. I only wish i had one when some nutter came around a corner too fast ,slide on the ice with his little peugot 205? and hit my Lexus RX SE-L ,which was in snow mode, so hard he pushed me backwards into a 6 ft deep ditch beside the road. His car was written off and mine had £9,000 of damage. To make it worse his insurance said it was my fault until 18 months later and court date set they backed down and paid into court.

If I had a dashcam there would be no arguement.

May be of interest or not it is up to members

We have one that only comes on when the engine is switched on. It's plugged into the usb socket all the time and doesn't drain the battery.

It was a cheapo (think it cost a fiver off ebay) and we're more than happy with it.

Need to get one for my dad...he had some eejit pull out of a junction on him and when he pointed out their error they got all aggressive and threatening!!

Seems so many have them now.
I am thinking of getting one for each of us after Marks incident on the motorway Tuesday and although his car is driving as good as before it has some minor damage. It is his lifeline to his son and girlfriend and work at the moment.
It might only be a beat up 2002 Astravan but he loves that van and it gives him freedom after taking so long to decide to learn to drive. Plus it is turning out to be a great little van.
Lorry driver continued not sure whether he knew what he had done or not Mark says he must of been in his blind spot.
Him and Gorden travel the motorway regularly me not so much but have to when seeing friends and family.

I think our option would be the cigar lighter same as we charge our phones that way.

Lynn
check the cigar lighter is not perminantly powered but switched with ignition.
otherwise you may forget to unplug and have a flat battery

Thank you Barry wouldn't forget to unplug as we would bring cameras in back in the house like we do our phones.

Thanks for all that info Barry. I'm trying to persuade hubby to get one.

it is all a case of proving who may be at fault in an accident. If you point him towards youtube and look at something like this.
Not my video just one of many on youtube



it might persuade him

You don't have to convince me. I don't do as many miles as him but there are some bluddy twats on the road.