The title says it all. I’m thinking about getting a dash cam because you never know when someone on the road will do something stoopit. A quick scan shows they’re not very expensive, so it sounds like cheap insurance.
What is a good storage capacity? Front and rear or just front? Brand recommendations or advice as to which to avoid? I’ve read descriptions of several models, but I’d like some real-life feedback, if you please.
Thanks!
There’s a couple threads already–this one’s kinda recent. The Missus and I each have one of these.
There’s a tiny bit of debate about how cool it is to document your every traffic violation, but I’ve never heard anyone say, “Dang, I wish I didn’t have the dash cam on.” Well…a few cops excepted. 
Avoid the ones with GPS built-in, or at least get one that can be turned off. Should you have to use the footage in court and it shows, for example, you were even engaged in the mildest of infractions, you could have your case chucked.
Papago! makes some good cams, at a reasonable price. The mountslike this also are pretty unobtrusive vice the windshield mounts. We have Gosafe 220s on our work trucks and they work very well.
Front and rear is useful but I haven’t used them at all so I won’t comment there.
As a general guideline the higher the resolution, the bigger your card will need to be, so once you decide on the features and cam just use the largest memory stick it will allow (within reason and budget). Most of them just re-write in a loop and will lock the footage if the accelerometer registers over a certain level (ie an accident).
I’ve got an Aukey branded one (DR01, maybe?) that is probably a few generations/years old but it exceeded my expectations when I bought it. I admit I haven’t yet gotten around to installing my cam in the car I bought in November.
What dash cam?
I have the predecessor to this one. 3 years of service, so far, so good. I would recommend it.
That was a replacement for this one, which was a wretched piece of shit. The heat of a SE Michigan summer quickly warped the rear display screen, and after about a year of service it stopped recording anything.
Good storage capacity? Enough to store all of the video from your most recent stint of driving, so you’ll have a chance to copy/save the footage from whatever happened during that drive. Assuming HD video, a few gigabytes can store an hour of content. For longer recall, get a bigger card. I use a 32GB card. Check the manual for your camera to make sure you buy a card that has adequate speed specs.
These cameras typically use micro-SD cards. micro-SD card slots on laptop computers aren’t 100% ubiquitous just yet, so if the card needs to be read by anyone in the immediate aftermath of a traffic incident, it might be helpful to have a micro SD card adapter tucked away in your glovebox.
My camera is front-only, but installing a rear camera has been on my to-do list for a while now. As you’ve noted, it’s cheap insurance.
One thing that I find befuddling - one site I read mentioned something about 10 hours of video storage - unless you’re doing a very boring travel documentary, why would you need that much? I would think capturing an accident or an aggressive driving event wouldn’t need more than a few minutes to maybe an hour in the worst case. Or is there something I’m not considering?
Anyway, thanks for the information. Based on some of the idiotic things that have happened around me on the road, I tend to think this purchase would be a good idea.
You generally can’t download/transfer the file on the go, you need to take the SD card out of it and stick it in a computer. Most dashcams just run the entire time the car is on, and you may not be within an hour or two of going home.
Unless you plan on leaving the thing turned off and somehow turn it on just before someone does something stupid in front of you. 
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Also the read/write cycles shorten the life of the card, so the fewer cycles it undergoes the longer it should last (theoretically). The rear cam is not a bad idea.
Check this thread I started recently before I bought one. Most dashcams have multiple recording resolutions (anywhere from VGA to 4K) and frame-rates (15-60 fps). A frame-rate setting of at least 24 fps is required for smooth video, and 1K resolution for reading that license plate.
The subreddit on dashcams has an excellent sidebar discussion on what to buy. It is often updated.
I have a Z3 in front. I have another one, still in the box to rear mount but need to go on ebay & buy a longer power cord for it.
A couple of things to remember.
They can record things you don’t want recorded
GPS - you were speeding
Voice - You were doing (poor) ‘caraoke’; embarassing! Or taking on the phone or having an argument with someone, either on the phone or in the car; shows inattentiveness.
Interior facing - you were looking at your phone, eating pizza, looking at radio, picking your nose, etc - indicates distracted driving.
Spend the money to get a good front one; however, the rear one isn’t as important because at night, the headlights are going to overwhelm the sensors & make it very difficult & more likely impossible to see things like license plate (if you’re in a state that has front ones) or even make/model/color of the car.
Ideally, you’d have a 360° cam (like a Garmin Virb 360° to capture something like being sideswiped at an intersection where the other car turns & keeps going.
As DCinDC stated, you might need to wait until you get home to view/download the incident. If it happened shortly after pulling out of your driveway & you have a ½ hour or 45 minute commute, that’s an hour or one & a half hours before you are home. Mine has the ability to press one of the buttons & save it to an ‘incident’ directory, which is separate than the boring, routine video captures directory. The former is saved whilst the latter one is overwritten. The instrux are piss poor (Chinese(?) to English translation), & also in a very small font & therefore, I don’t know how to do such.
However, one caveat, mine will autolmatically save something there based upon a g-shock sensor. However, lots of things trigger it, a pothole, the scalloped lane lines, either on the double yellow or on the white, right shoulder that can help an inattentive, dozing-off driver realize they are going out of their lane. Obviously, the more saved stuff the less room there is for the routine files to be saved until overwrite. Periodically it needs to be brought in the house & have all of those saved ‘incidents’ deleted via plugging into the computer. Also, it isn’t the greatest suction cup in the world. Coming back to my hot, locked up car on occasion has found the dashcam sitting on the pax-side footwell.
One alternative: keep a spare micro-SD card in the glovebox so you can swap out the one in the camera if it’s got video you really want to keep.
I opted for an el cheapo action camera instead of a dedicated dash camera because I have an enormous steeply angled windshield which made it very awkward to reach a camera mounted there unless it was really high (where the windshield wipers do not reach). Not to mention I couldn’t put my sunshield up, so I wanted the camera standing on the dashboard where my old GPS used to reside. It has a “car mode” so that it turns itself on and off with the power. It’s standing on a gopro mount that is adhered to the dash. I’ve been using it for two years now and it’s holding up fine. It cost less than 30 bucks, unlike the actual dash cam that I hated.
Good luck finding a small, micro-SD card in your glove compartment when you want it, though. 
Today only, B&H is having a daily deal on this dash cam. I have no connection to them, but they are reputable; have made many purchases there over the years; any photographer knows them.
Spousal unit isn’t convinced we should get one. I feel like it would be a good idea. The debate continues. I do appreciate all the info, tho. Thanks, folks!
Do these things have lithium ion batteries?. If so, how do they hold up on the heat of a parked car on a hot day?
From my research, there are two distinct power source type, the rechargeable battery (usually some variety of lithium ion), which can be damaged by high heat, and “Supercapacitors”, which are more heat resistant, but need to be connected to a source of power, usually a cigarette lighter adapter, or hardwired into the electrical system
I’m leaning towards the supercapacitor, for the durability
Empty pill bottle (remove prescription info.) Old film canister. Envelope. Extra micro adapter.