Dash cam.

[Wallace]

Just ordered an IS350h F-Sport, i am thinking of a dash cam for it. Has anyone any recommendations or experience fitting one? 

[Verbout]

[floggit]

Ive ran one for 3yrs now. Basically so many idiots in the road its not worth moving without one. There are lots if choice from the cheap chinese rubbish to   The £300 topline stuff. I run a £150 unit from Halfords a nextbase one. I preffered having a shop to go back to if it needed while under warranty. Its been fine. 

As far as fitting. It didnt like placing next to the dab aerial as i kept losing stations. Other side of mirror is fine. I run the cable along headliner and behind a pillar and under dash to centre console. I didnt like having the flap open for the 12v supply so ordered another and plumbed it in under center console so basically hardwired. 

As for the memory card , to insure smooth recording make sure you match or exceed the card speed to the camera.

i did once catch a lorry sideswiping a womans car and the video was used as evidence as the lorry didnt stop.

the sooner cams come as standard the better imo

 

[Wallace]

Thanks floggit, i have been looking at a Nextbase unit from Halfords, and we get 15% off with our LOC card.

 

[capese21]

I wanted a tidy no wires showing no suction mounts installation. I went with a A118/B40. Works well with good picture quality.  No parking mode though.

 

Picture of it installed in my IS300 Fsport and it is now in my GS.

 

[steveledzep]

I went for this one too.  Fixed installation with no cables visible.  Very pleased, cannot fault it !

 

[ISJason]

Hi , I was interested in that A118 In the pictures. Does it come with all the wires so you can plug it into your cigar socket or its best to hardwire it? How do you in fact hardwire it, is it threaded through the pillar, and does this interfere with any of the airbags in the RX? Thanks

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[capese21]

I ran the cable under the headlining and down behind the door pillar trim and connected it to the power socket in the centre arm rest. . No wires are visible. I like the neatness as it looks OEM very similar to how Lexus have installed the mirror & rain sensor wires.

It auto switches on, the screen shows a picture for around 15 seconds. Fit & forget until needed.

Don`t have an RX but no problem with the airbags in my GS.

[steveledzep]

If I recall correctly, an original post by Edwardo guided me in the installation of mine. I hid the cable along the exact same route.

 

The unit comes with plenty of cable to reach the 12v supply in the centre armrest for a saloon (not sure about RX).  I had to drill into the armrest box and thread the cable out from there, going backwards in effect towards the camera (12v plug too large to thread through).  The camera unit itself allows very discrete mounting with the lens just peeking out beneath the shade band at the top of the windscreen.

[sorcerer]

A review of the A118 by Techmoan:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R3eDXKLNLys

[Wallace]

Thanks for everyones input, i think a trip to Halfords is called for to see them in real life.

[Linas.P]

On 1/6/2017 at 1:30 PM, Wallace said:

Just ordered an IS350h F-Sport, i am thinking of a dash cam for it. Has anyone any recommendations or experience fitting one? 

I want IS350h as well where I can get one?

On the serious note... just personal opinion... Halfords dash cams are crap... yes they are of the shelf options and they will hardwire it without problems. My point is - there are better and cheaper dash cams on the market, or much better for same price... or miles better for slightly more.

I would go for BlackVue is quality matters (or you wan't to equipt premium car with matching quality dash cam), but there are many other options and cheaper. 

[J Henderson]

I can also recommend the cheap A118. I had one installed in my old car and it came in handy when it was written-off by an idiot. I installed mine the same way as Steve, but a hardwire kit is available.

 

[capese21]

7 hours ago, Linas.P said:

On the serious note... just personal opinion... Halfords dash cams are crap... yes they are of the shelf options and they will hardwire it without problems. My point is - there are better and cheaper dash cams on the market, or much better for same price... or miles better for slightly more.

Halfords sell Blackvue if that is what you want. I fitted the A118 because it looks neat & works well with good enough resolution to read registration plates. Been in for nearly two years without a problem.  I didn't want a Blackvue costing £350 left on view to attract thieves.   

 

[Linas.P]

9 hours ago, capese21 said:

I didn't want a Blackvue costing £350 left on view to attract thieves. 

That is because BlackVue is £350 only in Halfords, same model in amazon is probably £179 if not less. Obviously, now we would need to check each model one by one to say how much cheaper they are, but buying dash cam in Halfords will be at least 50% more expensive. Something Halfords can fit you for £100 will cost probably £25 (dashcam itself) and to expect decent quality from £25 dashcam is slightly unresonable. 

Have you looked to the picture... can you actually tell the number plates when driving e.g. car which is overtaking you (I know almost any cam can do it when stationary)? I would be very surprised.... 

[sorcerer]

14 minutes ago, Linas.P said:

That is because BlackVue is £350 only in Halfords, same model in Amazon is probably £179 if not less. Obviously, now we would need to check each model one by one to say how much cheaper they are, but buying dash cam in Halfords will be at least 50% more expensive. Something Halfords can fit you for £100 will cost probably £25 (dashcam itself) and to expect decent quality from £25 dashcam is slightly unresonable.

I got a Nextbase 402G from Halfords, on offer for £115 when other places were charging over £120. It's like anything else, you just have to shop around for the best price at the time and it just happened that at the time I was looking for a dashcam, Halfords had this one on offer and it's excellent so I'm well chuffed. A month or two either way and maybe somewhere else may have been cheaper, who knows?

[capese21]

3 hours ago, Linas.P said:

That is because BlackVue is £350 only in Halfords, same model in Amazon is probably £179 if not less

Halfords same price as amazon for the Blackview I looked at. £330.  But as you say "Halfords dash cams are Crap"  so why are you stressing?

 

3 hours ago, Linas.P said:

Have you looked to the picture... can you actually tell the number plates when driving e.g. car which is overtaking you (I know almost any cam can do it when stationary)? I would be very surprised.... 

Why not watch the review and be very surprised.

How come you always know better?

[Linas.P]

Sorry, maybe I just jumped in bit too quickly and negatively...  What I was trying to say is that standard Nextbase camera, which is probably best seller in Halfords is rather crap and not that BlackVue sold at Halfords are somehow worse than sold elsewhere. 

Now when it comes to prices Halfords is rather expensive place and that is not only for dashcams, but for many things. When it comes to BlackVue cameras in particular, you are right (and I am surprised) Halfords price is same as amazon, but that is "web special", which means that if you go to your local Halfords it will be more expensive on the shop floor than it is via web page.

I brought the number plate thing because even expensive cameras struggles with that... So it is very common that people fit dashcams thinking it is all going to be clear and well, but when they look at actual footage, they realise that they are only good to give some background i.e. "I was going through green", but quite unlikely be clear enough to catch number plates of hit-an-run car.

....anyways... My point overall was that, it is better to do your own research and not just go to Halfords and pick up something from the shelf based on their advise.. rather opposite better avoid something Halfords advises for good measure... but maybe that is just me.. I don't trust people especially when it comes to sales staff, sometimes they are simply clueless, but sometimes knowingly pushes you for the brand which gives them bones e.g. Halfords own brand camera in Halfords.

[Guest]

I got a Nextbase 402G professional from Halfords on black friday weekend for £90 reduced from £149.

Still to fit as yet but did purchase Nextbase hardwire kit as well.

[Wallace]

What about if you have one hard wired, does it draw current all the time? Will it flatten the little Battery in the boot?

[sorcerer]

51 minutes ago, Wallace said:

What about if you have one hard wired, does it draw current all the time? Will it flatten the little battery in the boot?

Some cameras do have a 'parking mode' where they are energised all the time. Not sure if they draw enough current to flatten the Battery but I would hope that you could disable that mode via the menu, otherwise if not, I'd buy a camera without it. After all, the camera can only capture from one direction (possibly two if you have dual front/back), which still leaves a huge area uncovered, so a parking mode only has a very limited use anyway.

[sorcerer]

On 11/01/2017 at 2:59 PM, Linas.P said:

I brought the number plate thing because even expensive cameras struggles with that... So it is very common that people fit dashcams thinking it is all going to be clear and well, but when they look at actual footage, they realise that they are only good to give some background i.e. "I was going through green", but quite unlikely be clear enough to

Here's a three-minute clip from my Nextbase 402G (it's set to record in 3-minute chunks). The disclaimer is that it looks clearer on my computer so BT Cloud may be doing something to the file or how it's played, but it'll give you an idea of the quality of recording. All in all, I reckon the camera is excellent for the money and I'm well pleased with it.

FYI - the road at the top is a one-way with traffic flow from right to left of the screen. The Nissan Micra committing the offence is clear enough to easily read its number plate.

https://btcloud.bt.com/web/app/share/invite/CggA288Hs8

[C Mclean]

8 hours ago, Wallace said:

What about if you have one hard wired, does it draw current all the time? Will it flatten the little battery in the boot?

You can get the Powermagic Pro which will monitor the 12 v Battery and switch off the camera at a preset level. I've had one fitted with a BlackVue in an IS and NX with no problems at all.

[baxlin]

I also went for the very neat installation Edwardo (capese21) showed above.  No problem with routing the cable to be completely hidden, except for where it went into the centre armrest.  But this was between the seat back and the armrest, it was black against a black interior, and therefore invisible and out of the way.  Also, as it was on a lease car I wasn't about to start drilling.......

Now the Lexus has gone (given grade one rating for its condition by BCA) the camera's installed in my Volvo convertible, but I've hardwired it using a piggyback fuse to a female trailing ciggy socket, so the camera's plug is used.  I had to buy new double sided sticky pads to mount the camera on the screen, otherwise a dead straightforward installation.

[Farqui]

I've a Thinkware F770 that has a built in feature which monitors the Battery level ;)

I've just removed it from my Civic and will be putting it into my GS soon, once I collect it.

 

The Civic had a neat 'option connector' in the fuse box that provides switched sources for addition gizmo's. Was very handy but I can't see that Lexus provide anything similar :(