I’ll throw away $300 sunglasses if i get a one nanometer scratch on them that obstructs my vision. Can’t see the road in front of me because I’m staring at the micro-scratch. So that dangling cord is a non-starter for me.
If the video survives the fire, the last recording before crashing into something will be the sound of a spilled coffee cup then me cussing “gee-dee-12volt cord!”
@MehnofLaMehncha there’s no dangling cord if you install it right. you’re supposed to stuff the cord into the lining of the ceiling of the car and in the trim on the frame. look up how to install any dash cam and you’ll see what i mean.
@everfalling maybe for a $300 device I would put an hour or two of work into it. But for a $15 device that might stop working next month? No stank you.
I also thought they exact same thing Yakko- for a moment I was thinking “hey, 15 bucks? Maybe I’ll get 4, and give some as gifts!”
Then I saw that photo…with that cord…and that cheese…oh the OCD agony.
Besides actually being in the way of controls, dials, etc…it is so tacky and ugly looking!!! But, to each their own!
@PapaSha when i installed my dash cam it took me like 10 minutes. if it breaks and i need to remove the cord it would take me under a minute to pull it from the liner. i mean do what you like but your complaints about installation woes aren’t realistic.
@MehnofLaMehncha Or you attach one of those handy battery packs that we’ve all bought to it! Stick that thing to the headliner or behind the mirror! Now you just have one more thing to charge all the time!
@Kevin Dashcam–records video in front of you. Ever see that cool video of the asteroid in Russia? It’s because Russians have dashcams to protect themselves from insurance fraud. You just catch cool stuff now and again too.
@Stallion Perfect work gift for the office douchebag that parks his beemer across two spaces next to the handicapped spot so nobody else can possibly door ding him.
@Konraden If you give them your footage of an accident, say someone backed into you, they could absolutely use that same footage to give you a speeding ticket if earlier in the footage you were doing 60 in a 45.
@daveinwarsh A law enforcement officer can, at any time, request that you show them the recorded footage on your dash cam. However, they cannot force you to do this, it is entirely your choice. In order to force you to show them the footage, or allow them to make a copy of it, or even for them to view it themselves after seizure, any law enforcement agency will require legal consent through a subpoena or a search warrant, if you have not given consent. Your dash cam may be demanded by any law enforcement agency under what are known as “exigent circumstances" if they declare that they have a reasonable suspicion it contains potential evidence of a crime and they suspect it could be lost, destroyed or tampered with if it is left in your possession. Even if they take your camera claiming such circumstances, they will still need a subpoena or search warrant to actually view the footage after seizure (although how anyone would stop them from surreptitiously doing so remains an unanswered question). So unless the police believe your camera has recorded a crime, they cannot legally force you to hand over your dash cam or it’s recorded footage. I personally will immediately switch out the SD card if I am stopped. Every time. No exception. Blank card? Hmm . . . guess the damn thing broke.
@MehnofLaMehncha
As someone who’s ridden a segway with a 16’ 4x4 under my arm, I probably have no right to say this, but I feel like that’d be dangerous.
I thought about getting a backup camera like this, but this mirror would prevent the “dimming” function from working, so headlights behind you would be a problem.
You know all those movies where the person is driving the car and being shot at, so they’re laying down and driving backwards by using the rear view mirror? This will let them drive forwards too!
Interesting choice of dashcam. Not fond of the rearview mirror kind, but that’s not the worst part of the deal: It’s only 720p. When it comes to Dashcams, you’ll want 1080p\60fps at a minimum really for front\rear facing cams since it takes about that to grab license plates clearly when moving. You know, if you want a dashcam for recording the fun stuff that happens when you drive.
Otherwise, this might be good for anyone who has very little money to spend on something that could theoretically save you hundreds in fines or insurance rates by proving one is not at-fault for an accident. It’s $14 insurance-insurance, essentially.
@mike808 unless the film was mysteriously erased or written over…since I’m just a dummy who rear ended someone you can’t expect me to preserve evidence.
@mydrivec@username Advocating destruction of evidence and obstruction. What if your wife and children were the ones that got rear-ended by some dbag that did what you just suggested?
“I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one Nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.”
Nice. Stay classy, 'Murica.
That’s a nice justice system you got there. It would be a real shame if something happened to it.
@mike808 so if you had a dashcam and it recorded an accident that you KNEW was your fault, you wouldn’t try hide/erase the memory card? You are more honest than I am. Dummer too, but more honest.
I’m curious to see if this is worth anything. Curious enough to spend 14 bucks? Maybe. Curious enough to get two in case I ever need a random ‘hey sorta practical’ gift? Probably.
@trisk With this crap dashcam you’ll be telling the cops the hit-and-run car was red and had four wheels. With a good dashcam you’ll have the make, model, and license plate.
i have one from different company. my main complaint, in summer when it gets over 85°ish the ball joint of the mount bracket that attaches my mirror to the windshield gets heated enough that the extra weight of this mirror makes the whole thing drop to its lowest position -a perfect view of the stick shift
Let me get this correct a rear view mirror cam so looking in your rear view isn’t enough you need to record behind you , who comes up with this shit obviously a shit idea my guess meh picked these up at 6 bucks each and bought 2000 meheads will be looking at these the next 12 months lol
@mellowirishgent It’s a forward facing camera that mounts on your rear view mirror. It doesn’t record behind you, it records what’s happening up front.
@mellowirishgent Maybe the next deal will be for some reading comprehension with a free punctuation pack thrown in you should jump on that one then your posts would be easier to read and understand you know it’s ridiculous to type like this lol
@Dislimpet These can be used anywhere as long as you can provide power to them. My question would be why do you want car rearview mirrors in your house when there are many other options when it comes to cheap Chinese crap cameras?
5 minute loop? Essentially useless unless the first thing you do after an accident is hit the stop button. Better hope your accident doesn’t happen in the last minute of that 5 minute loop.
Would love to see some sample videos - just saying it’s 720p means nothing (like, if it’s got a plastic lens, which I’m guessing it does)
@Pufferfishy I have a super cheesy ArmorAll camera I got for $5 net at Staples. On that one this 1/3/5 is referring to the length of the videos and it just keeps recording them until the card is full and then starts deleting the oldest ones to make room. 720p really is too small for any detail, quality is low and at night it is completely useless. All it’s good for is occasionally funny things that happen on the road. I got my daughter a 1080p WITH a backup cam for Xmas, still off brand semi-cheesy so we will have to see what an improvement that is.
@Pufferfishy It’s Mazda’s i-Activesense. Technically yes, there is a camera in there but it’s only for the safety features. Radar cruise control, lane departure, etc. My favorite feature is probably the high beam control. It automatically turns my high beams off when it sees another car so I don’t blind them.
A better explanation of what it does…
As others have said, the picture quality is under suspicion. Actual screenshots in the ad would solve that, but they didn’t provide them.
I have a Vivitar 720p action cam which I have used on my bike. You can’t read a license plate number on an overtaking car, even when the car is quite close to you.
I also have a couple very cheap dash cams, that are alleged to be 1080p. Both of them have bad picture quality too. Chalk it up the two-cent plastic lens in the camera.
So the screen covers my rear view mirror…where my back up camera screen is located. So I can either record what’s in front of me with a crappy camera, or I can use my car’s back up camera. Yeah, I’ll pass.
Oy Vey!
Caramba, where did that come from? I’m not Jewish or Spanish!
Ok the trolls and the folks who cannot figure out how to install a power cable behind the headliner trim and, I hate to mention, the option to cut off the 12 volt lighter plug and connect it to an ignition activated power line via a tap or an actual fuse box circuit of its own, as many manufacturers have an empty socket or two.
I’m in for two. If they record decent images, and the looping function works well, they area bargain.
Oofta! Such a deal!
(Besides, they cost less than taking my Significant Harassment out to dinner, and that money is magically transformed to crap I would not put in a drawer overnight) I’m not sure about the sunlight degradable rubber strap mounting schema though.
Hey!
When is the phone app coming out to obsolete these, that makes my super duper new droid Moto PLay a dashcam while in use too. Could record to the SD Card on real phones, (iPhones are for children) and have a user selectable amount of Micro SD it will use. Then we have the high falutin phone cameras which get mounted where I can see it anyway on my dash.
@bxm83 same, it’s like it is perpetually in dimming mode… also at night the screen segment reflects multiple sources (since the light sources are also hitting the screen).
The picture quality is fine. Better picture quality than another cam I have. The 1/3/5 minutes is just how long the camera waits to save the picture. You get continuous recordings. It saves recordings until the SIM card is filled up then it erases the oldest video and replaces it with a new one. This is pretty standard.
That being said, the mirror is tinted very dark. You can’t really see the camera picture in the day time and the mirror image is marginal. If your glass is also tinted it’s almost useless.
At night, the camera view is really good, but the mirror is so dark you can see headlights behind you and that is all.
The manual is almost useless and it takes a lot of fumbling to get the camera set up.
I’m very glad I didn’t spend more than $14.
There are a few things that bother me about this RV-camera:
1 - The microsd slot has no “diagram” to show which way is the correct way to insert
2 - Unless you have some serious fingernails going on, you’ll have to use a tool or some other device to get the microsd card to “click in”, and also to eject it.
3 - Camera placement on the RV-mirror device is TOO FAR to the right; maybe they were thinking this would be used in another country where they really want to look more to the right, but I prefer a more “centered” view, and the camera doesn’t quite adjust far enough to the left
4 - Also with the camera placement, if I “center” the RV-mirror on my vehicle’s RV-mirror, the camera is blocked by the vehicle’s RV-mirror. Seems like crappy design or something.
With all that said, the roughly $15 I shelled out for this was worth it, as I’m getting some experience mounting/unmounting the device from our cars, testing out which ones this will work with better.
@kevnad1966 Ah…Point #3 makes sense. With the mirror angled for a left-side driver’s seat, the camera does point too far to the right. It would work much better if I drove on the left side of the road!
@travis if you get no images at all it looks like they forgot to put the polarizer film on the screen. Contact meh support by going to my orders and clicking the “I need help with this” button under the order for the dashcam.
Do it quickly these have a 90 day…
In the mean time the button order to get it to turn off the display backlight after a few minutes is:
Menu
Down
Down
Down
Down
Down
Rec
Down
Rec
Menu
Menu
@qmirage Sorry to hear that, that is a bummer. On the bright side, at least we know we can always use the mirror to verify that we are still not vampires. That would have a large impact on my retirement planning.
@travis Thanks for the empathy and the tip about vampires. I have traced the problem to a bad USB cable that came with the camera. It was not charging although the light was on. It only took me an hour to figure out the menus after that …
@qmirage It is great that you got it to work. It’s too bad about the menu user experience, but I find that is often accompanied with a sweet, sweet price discount.
Mine doesn’t work on battery power. I’ve fully charged it, but 5 seconds after I unplug it from the power source, it shuts off. I have tried fully charging it several times, but it never holds a charge.
@thismyusername@narfcake Yes that seems to work fine. It would be more helpful if it would automatically switched to battery when the plug power source stopped. Instead of just bailing from the car, I have to wait for it to power off then hit the power button so it will record while I’m in the liquor store.
@medz I think there is a setting for that… I will dig mine out later (it is in pieces now, I’m yanking the camera parts out) and scan the menus, but I swore I saw an option to disable auto power off (or I am confusing it with another model, I’ve got quite a few of these cheapo dashcams).
I finally got around to opening the box and installed it – is there some sort of magic film on this thing or is the mirror really tinted this dark blue – practically unusable at night…can barely see cars behind me.
@styloroc Blue “film” is just a tint that makes the screen visible. I have turned the screen saver on and that makes the screen turn off after awhile. Lots easier to see at night. I find the blue tint to be similar to those rearview mirrors that have the auto-dim setting for night driving so you’re not blinded by headlights behind you.
It’s almost like you’re wearing sunglasses…and if you’re already wearing sunglasses, which is more or less a necessity in Texas…pretty much unusable. oh well, into the “2017 Meh Christmas gifts for people I don’t care about” bin.
Specs
What’s in the Box?
1x Mirror
1x Cigarette lighter charging cable
1x USB charging cable
Pictures
Included
Retail box
Screen
Driving
Bottom view
Back view
Warranty
90 Day Mediocre
Estimated Delivery
Monday, July 13th - Friday, July 17th
Nope.
I’ll throw away $300 sunglasses if i get a one nanometer scratch on them that obstructs my vision. Can’t see the road in front of me because I’m staring at the micro-scratch. So that dangling cord is a non-starter for me.
If the video survives the fire, the last recording before crashing into something will be the sound of a spilled coffee cup then me cussing “gee-dee-12volt cord!”
@MehnofLaMehncha there’s no dangling cord if you install it right. you’re supposed to stuff the cord into the lining of the ceiling of the car and in the trim on the frame. look up how to install any dash cam and you’ll see what i mean.
@everfalling maybe for a $300 device I would put an hour or two of work into it. But for a $15 device that might stop working next month? No stank you.
I also thought they exact same thing Yakko- for a moment I was thinking “hey, 15 bucks? Maybe I’ll get 4, and give some as gifts!”
Then I saw that photo…with that cord…and that cheese…oh the OCD agony.
Besides actually being in the way of controls, dials, etc…it is so tacky and ugly looking!!! But, to each their own!
@PapaSha when i installed my dash cam it took me like 10 minutes. if it breaks and i need to remove the cord it would take me under a minute to pull it from the liner. i mean do what you like but your complaints about installation woes aren’t realistic.
@MehnofLaMehncha Or you attach one of those handy battery packs that we’ve all bought to it! Stick that thing to the headliner or behind the mirror! Now you just have one more thing to charge all the time!
There’s also no dangling cord if I save my $14 for a nice six pack of something festive.
@MehnofLaMehncha Send the $300 sunglasses w/ a nanoscratch to me. My addy is: Imafreeof Ohseedee, 123 No First World Problems Lane, Anytown, USA
@MehnofLaMehncha
Meh. Don’t forget to have the car crushed if you get a bug splat on the windshield.
What a “record” gift tonight –
@AttyVette You drive a hard bargain.
@mike808 I see what you did there.
@ParadisePete Even through the dangling cord?
@ParadisePete Just a reflection of my position on this deal.
@warpedrotors Depends on the angle of the dangle.
@mike808
Don’t let your dingle-dangle dangle in the dirt
Pick up your dingle-dangle, tuck it in your shirt.
Wait, this is a rear view mirror with a front facing camera? What’s the point?
@Kevin Dashcam–records video in front of you. Ever see that cool video of the asteroid in Russia? It’s because Russians have dashcams to protect themselves from insurance fraud. You just catch cool stuff now and again too.
@Konraden I’ve had one for years…not a mirror one but a regular suction cup. Frankly, I wouldn’t want to rip out my permanent factory mirror for this
@mydrivec This clips over the mirror. It doesn’t replace it.
@Konraden Hey man aintcha got eyes in your head-bone? This mirror straps over your existing mirror, no ripping out needed.
@Dabidoh Great. Another strap-on. The wife will love it.
@Dabidoh Loving the replies to the ‘Doh’ posters.
Looks gangster as all hell with that cord dangling…
@Stallion Perfect work gift for the office douchebag that parks his beemer across two spaces next to the handicapped spot so nobody else can possibly door ding him.
@Stallion
Cord looks long enough that you could plug it in inside and mount the mirror on your front license plate.
@mike808
@cinoclav brilliant
I’ve heard that your recording can be used against you if needed.
@daveinwarsh Citation? The data on the camera is yours and would have to be subpoenaed if anyone wanted to use it without your consent.
@Konraden I was reading a story a few months ago on the internet (and the internet never lies…) that cops seized & used the recording.
@Konraden If you give them your footage of an accident, say someone backed into you, they could absolutely use that same footage to give you a speeding ticket if earlier in the footage you were doing 60 in a 45.
@daveinwarsh A law enforcement officer can, at any time, request that you show them the recorded footage on your dash cam. However, they cannot force you to do this, it is entirely your choice. In order to force you to show them the footage, or allow them to make a copy of it, or even for them to view it themselves after seizure, any law enforcement agency will require legal consent through a subpoena or a search warrant, if you have not given consent. Your dash cam may be demanded by any law enforcement agency under what are known as “exigent circumstances" if they declare that they have a reasonable suspicion it contains potential evidence of a crime and they suspect it could be lost, destroyed or tampered with if it is left in your possession. Even if they take your camera claiming such circumstances, they will still need a subpoena or search warrant to actually view the footage after seizure (although how anyone would stop them from surreptitiously doing so remains an unanswered question). So unless the police believe your camera has recorded a crime, they cannot legally force you to hand over your dash cam or it’s recorded footage. I personally will immediately switch out the SD card if I am stopped. Every time. No exception. Blank card? Hmm . . . guess the damn thing broke.
@daveinwarsh
I heard it was one of these that recorded Hulk Hogan that got gawker shut down …
@Pavlov “Well, die-yum! My husband always forgets to replace the SD card when he borrows it.”
Poop. If I only had a car…
@gertiestn how sweet would this be on your tricycle though?
@gertiestn
Now, if you had ordered 2 of those cheerson quad copters, you could crazy glue this inbetween then, and fly it in front of your Segway …
@MehnofLaMehncha
As someone who’s ridden a segway with a 16’ 4x4 under my arm, I probably have no right to say this, but I feel like that’d be dangerous.
@HotDogFatality
Mad Respect
@HotDogFatality In that case, I’m glad it was only the hot dog that didn’t survive.
@gertiestn works on bicycles too. All you need is a 10,000 power supply. Easy peasy
I thought about getting a backup camera like this, but this mirror would prevent the “dimming” function from working, so headlights behind you would be a problem.
@rmeden Maybe a pain, but remove it at night. Not sure the quality of nightvision a $15 mirror attachment has anyway.
You know all those movies where the person is driving the car and being shot at, so they’re laying down and driving backwards by using the rear view mirror? This will let them drive forwards too!
Interesting choice of dashcam. Not fond of the rearview mirror kind, but that’s not the worst part of the deal: It’s only 720p. When it comes to Dashcams, you’ll want 1080p\60fps at a minimum really for front\rear facing cams since it takes about that to grab license plates clearly when moving. You know, if you want a dashcam for recording the fun stuff that happens when you drive.
Otherwise, this might be good for anyone who has very little money to spend on something that could theoretically save you hundreds in fines or insurance rates by proving one is not at-fault for an accident. It’s $14 insurance-insurance, essentially.
@Konraden Or cost you when that subpoena rolls in.
@mike808 unless the film was mysteriously erased or written over…since I’m just a dummy who rear ended someone you can’t expect me to preserve evidence.
@mike808 whoops i forgot to put in an sd card.
@Konraden in my experience, even the cheap 1080 dashcams suck at grabbing license plates .
@mydrivec @username Advocating destruction of evidence and obstruction. What if your wife and children were the ones that got rear-ended by some dbag that did what you just suggested?
“I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one Nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.”
Nice. Stay classy, 'Murica.
That’s a nice justice system you got there. It would be a real shame if something happened to it.
@mike808 Yes, and what I say on a silly thread about a dashcam clearly may be held against me…
@mydrivec Doesn’t make what I said on a silly thread any less true.
@mike808 so if you had a dashcam and it recorded an accident that you KNEW was your fault, you wouldn’t try hide/erase the memory card? You are more honest than I am. Dummer too, but more honest.
@mike808 Doesn’t make what you said on a silly thread any more true either
Its funny just when im reading the product descriptions a accident happen right in front of the car i ride…
I’ve spent my whole life trying to drive forward from my rear-view mirror and look where it got me. Here. Every night at midnight.
why not…
\buy
@wronkerville didn’t work?
@medz Wrong way slash
Does it get ESPN or just OTA?
Can I Tivo it?
@mike808 Yes to both…buy one now, you will not be disappointed.
I’m curious to see if this is worth anything. Curious enough to spend 14 bucks? Maybe. Curious enough to get two in case I ever need a random ‘hey sorta practical’ gift? Probably.
@koifish I have investment land…very nice farmland, in Louisiana. Yes, you can farm gators
@mydrivec
What does that have to do with anything? Also, lemme go hunt on your land.
Meh. Living in NYC with no car makes this…pretty useless!
@jds2001 Do you wear a helmet ?
@jmbunkin not when I’m walking or on the subway. That would look odd.
I have one of these mounted to my chest with the display strapped to my face to see where I’m going. The future is now guys.
@MehAmphetamine
Only if you can steer with your iPhone.
@MehnofLaMehncha Problem solved.
even at $14 it is a pass. super low resolution = fail.
@wnovak Geez, I used to watch movies in 720p (or less) all the time. Do you need to count the hairs on the next deer that runs out in front of you?
@trisk With this crap dashcam you’ll be telling the cops the hit-and-run car was red and had four wheels. With a good dashcam you’ll have the make, model, and license plate.
I can imagine aiming the camera, or the mirror, but not both at the same time.
It’s pretty close to Christmas!! Could we get some non junk items?
I’d bite, but I have one of those wide angle clip-on mirrors already so this wouldn’t be worth the downgrade.
Don’t car accidents happen in slow motion? Would 5 minutes be enough time?
I’ve honestly been trying to justify this … and I can’t. Nothing about its encoding format, processor, or actual videos of it in action.
@narfcake and no reviews that i can find after 45 seconds of google searching
@narfcake FYI: there’s currently a dash cam available over at woot
Does it record audio?
Any sample video recordings?
@Collin1000 yes, includes built-in microphone.
Wonder if it could work as a back up cam instead
@MalerieAnn Nope. The camera is part of this unit, and it points forward.
@narfcake what if I strap the mirror to my rear plate?
Caught a high speed police chase whizzing past on my own dash cam a week ago. Would reccomend
@ethansight and you’re not posting it,why?
/giphy weedy-infamous-tungsten
i have one from different company. my main complaint, in summer when it gets over 85°ish the ball joint of the mount bracket that attaches my mirror to the windshield gets heated enough that the extra weight of this mirror makes the whole thing drop to its lowest position -a perfect view of the stick shift
Let me get this correct a rear view mirror cam so looking in your rear view isn’t enough you need to record behind you , who comes up with this shit obviously a shit idea my guess meh picked these up at 6 bucks each and bought 2000 meheads will be looking at these the next 12 months lol
@mellowirishgent It’s a forward facing camera that mounts on your rear view mirror. It doesn’t record behind you, it records what’s happening up front.
@mellowirishgent it’s early, read again. It records what’s ahead of you, like a dashcam, not behind you.
@mellowirishgent Maybe the next deal will be for some reading comprehension with a free punctuation pack thrown in you should jump on that one then your posts would be easier to read and understand you know it’s ridiculous to type like this lol
@warpedrotors
Some people need a swift smack to the back of the head.
@iggy71
@warpedrotors any one force you to read it ?
I wonder if these could be used in my house if they’re plugged in via the USB?
@Dislimpet These can be used anywhere as long as you can provide power to them. My question would be why do you want car rearview mirrors in your house when there are many other options when it comes to cheap Chinese crap cameras?
@warpedrotors Cuz his house has wheels? Or, at least used to.
@warpedrotors Just trying to see if I can come up with additional uses to justify buying this. So far, I got nothin’.
5 minute loop? Essentially useless unless the first thing you do after an accident is hit the stop button. Better hope your accident doesn’t happen in the last minute of that 5 minute loop.
Would love to see some sample videos - just saying it’s 720p means nothing (like, if it’s got a plastic lens, which I’m guessing it does)
@Pufferfishy I have a super cheesy ArmorAll camera I got for $5 net at Staples. On that one this 1/3/5 is referring to the length of the videos and it just keeps recording them until the card is full and then starts deleting the oldest ones to make room. 720p really is too small for any detail, quality is low and at night it is completely useless. All it’s good for is occasionally funny things that happen on the road. I got my daughter a 1080p WITH a backup cam for Xmas, still off brand semi-cheesy so we will have to see what an improvement that is.
So is it ONE loop, or does it do “X” amount of 5 minute segments until it loops?
A rather crucial difference.
@Pufferfishy X amount. The length denotes the length of the individual files.
Considering this is what it looks like in front of my mirror, this is the easiest pass yet.
@cinoclav WTF is all that mess? Hell, if one of those isn’t already a camera…
@cinoclav duct tape it somewhere else. It doesn’t HAVE to be on your rearview.
@medz Actually, I bought the Nabi to use as a dash cam.
@Pufferfishy It’s Mazda’s i-Activesense. Technically yes, there is a camera in there but it’s only for the safety features. Radar cruise control, lane departure, etc. My favorite feature is probably the high beam control. It automatically turns my high beams off when it sees another car so I don’t blind them.
A better explanation of what it does…
@Pufferfishy Thought I included the link…
http://www.mattcastruccimazda.com/blog/what-is-mazda-i-activsense/
lol - that video
@cinoclav As did I, major mistake there.
As others have said, the picture quality is under suspicion. Actual screenshots in the ad would solve that, but they didn’t provide them.
I have a Vivitar 720p action cam which I have used on my bike. You can’t read a license plate number on an overtaking car, even when the car is quite close to you.
I also have a couple very cheap dash cams, that are alleged to be 1080p. Both of them have bad picture quality too. Chalk it up the two-cent plastic lens in the camera.
A rear view?? So who’s rear do I get to look at?? Jennifer Lopez?? With my luck…well, we won’t go there.
@eeterrific Goatse? Eeewww.
At least when I get pulled over I’ll have a good reason for double vision!
Almost bought. Glad I read the comments. Thought this was cheap backup camera. Always wanted one for backing up to trailers and such.
So the screen covers my rear view mirror…where my back up camera screen is located. So I can either record what’s in front of me with a crappy camera, or I can use my car’s back up camera. Yeah, I’ll pass.
@twowackykids Your backup cam is on the rear view? Is this a factory cam and if so, what kind of car?
@DeuceSevin yeah. It’s a factory cam. It’s a 2012 Subaru Outback.
On one hand, calling 720p low resolution is silly; it’s likely the lens on this thing is more of a limiting factor than the pixels.
On the other hand, the 1/3/5 minute thing seems to imply that unless you set it for 1 minute (which, really?) you aren’t getting even that resolution.
I was trying to think of ways this could be hacked for use as a sacrificible, poor-man’s GoPro, but that 12V requirement kind of blows that idea too.
I found what looks to be this unit on Amazon under the ArmorAll brand of all things.
https://www.amazon.com/Armor-All-ADC2-1004-BLK-Mirror-Black/dp/B01C905ELS/
@ozob That has a 2.4" screen; this has a 2.7".
does that power cord wrap around your neck in a car accident ?
Oy Vey!
Caramba, where did that come from? I’m not Jewish or Spanish!
Ok the trolls and the folks who cannot figure out how to install a power cable behind the headliner trim and, I hate to mention, the option to cut off the 12 volt lighter plug and connect it to an ignition activated power line via a tap or an actual fuse box circuit of its own, as many manufacturers have an empty socket or two.
I’m in for two. If they record decent images, and the looping function works well, they area bargain.
Oofta! Such a deal!
(Besides, they cost less than taking my Significant Harassment out to dinner, and that money is magically transformed to crap I would not put in a drawer overnight) I’m not sure about the sunlight degradable rubber strap mounting schema though.
Hey!
When is the phone app coming out to obsolete these, that makes my super duper new droid Moto PLay a dashcam while in use too. Could record to the SD Card on real phones, (iPhones are for children) and have a user selectable amount of Micro SD it will use. Then we have the high falutin phone cameras which get mounted where I can see it anyway on my dash.
Oops! Read the reviews on the mother ship cancelled!
/giphy polarizing-last-ass
thanks for curing my desire to get one of these - its gone!
Anyone get theirs in yet? Mine is tinted blue and there doesn’t seem to be another layer of plastic to peel off.
@bxm83 same, it’s like it is perpetually in dimming mode… also at night the screen segment reflects multiple sources (since the light sources are also hitting the screen).
@bxm83 Same. I can’t use it as a mirror. Trying to figure out what to do next. Right now my 10year old son holds it as we drive. He loves it at least
The picture quality is fine. Better picture quality than another cam I have. The 1/3/5 minutes is just how long the camera waits to save the picture. You get continuous recordings. It saves recordings until the SIM card is filled up then it erases the oldest video and replaces it with a new one. This is pretty standard.
That being said, the mirror is tinted very dark. You can’t really see the camera picture in the day time and the mirror image is marginal. If your glass is also tinted it’s almost useless.
At night, the camera view is really good, but the mirror is so dark you can see headlights behind you and that is all.
The manual is almost useless and it takes a lot of fumbling to get the camera set up.
I’m very glad I didn’t spend more than $14.
@Crotalus Turn the screen saver on. That should help with night driving.
There are a few things that bother me about this RV-camera:
1 - The microsd slot has no “diagram” to show which way is the correct way to insert
2 - Unless you have some serious fingernails going on, you’ll have to use a tool or some other device to get the microsd card to “click in”, and also to eject it.
3 - Camera placement on the RV-mirror device is TOO FAR to the right; maybe they were thinking this would be used in another country where they really want to look more to the right, but I prefer a more “centered” view, and the camera doesn’t quite adjust far enough to the left
4 - Also with the camera placement, if I “center” the RV-mirror on my vehicle’s RV-mirror, the camera is blocked by the vehicle’s RV-mirror. Seems like crappy design or something.
With all that said, the roughly $15 I shelled out for this was worth it, as I’m getting some experience mounting/unmounting the device from our cars, testing out which ones this will work with better.
@kevnad1966 Ah…Point #3 makes sense. With the mirror angled for a left-side driver’s seat, the camera does point too far to the right. It would work much better if I drove on the left side of the road!
Mine has a screen that is always white. Did anyone else get one like this and try to fix it? I tried basic troubleshooting, but to no avail.
@travis if you get no images at all it looks like they forgot to put the polarizer film on the screen. Contact meh support by going to my orders and clicking the “I need help with this” button under the order for the dashcam.
Do it quickly these have a 90 day…
In the mean time the button order to get it to turn off the display backlight after a few minutes is:
Menu
Down
Down
Down
Down
Down
Rec
Down
Rec
Menu
Menu
@thismyusername Thanks a lot for this information! Very cool of you to post it.
Mine does not turn on at all, have the SD installed, plugged it in to charge—no change, with the USB cord plugged in or without.
@qmirage Sorry to hear that, that is a bummer. On the bright side, at least we know we can always use the mirror to verify that we are still not vampires. That would have a large impact on my retirement planning.
@travis Thanks for the empathy and the tip about vampires
. I have traced the problem to a bad USB cable that came with the camera. It was not charging although the light was on. It only took me an hour to figure out the menus after that …
@qmirage It is great that you got it to work. It’s too bad about the menu user experience, but I find that is often accompanied with a sweet, sweet price discount.
Mine doesn’t work on battery power. I’ve fully charged it, but 5 seconds after I unplug it from the power source, it shuts off. I have tried fully charging it several times, but it never holds a charge.
@medz AFAIK, that’s part of the design. Power shuts off, it stops recording. Power comes on, it starts recording.
The battery is only so that there’s power to finish writing the file when it stops; otherwise, the data would be corrupted if it was cut midway.
@medz just hit the power button after you unplug it if you need to turn it on after it “auto offs” to run down the battery…
@thismyusername @narfcake Yes that seems to work fine. It would be more helpful if it would automatically switched to battery when the plug power source stopped. Instead of just bailing from the car, I have to wait for it to power off then hit the power button so it will record while I’m in the liquor store.
@medz I think there is a setting for that… I will dig mine out later (it is in pieces now, I’m yanking the camera parts out) and scan the menus, but I swore I saw an option to disable auto power off (or I am confusing it with another model, I’ve got quite a few of these cheapo dashcams).
I finally got around to opening the box and installed it – is there some sort of magic film on this thing or is the mirror really tinted this dark blue – practically unusable at night…can barely see cars behind me.
@styloroc Blue “film” is just a tint that makes the screen visible. I have turned the screen saver on and that makes the screen turn off after awhile. Lots easier to see at night. I find the blue tint to be similar to those rearview mirrors that have the auto-dim setting for night driving so you’re not blinded by headlights behind you.
@medz it’s pretty bad even during the day… I took it off after 5 minutes of driving.
@styloroc it makes me feel like we must know what it was like back in the 1700s when mirrors were hard to make
It’s almost like you’re wearing sunglasses…and if you’re already wearing sunglasses, which is more or less a necessity in Texas…pretty much unusable. oh well, into the “2017 Meh Christmas gifts for people I don’t care about” bin.