My new car camera: accident captured today

[Good Times]

Anyone have a GoPro Hero3? If you then you already have an expensive car cam! The Hero 3 is suppose to be able to continuously record over and over on the same card so using it as a car cam works well. I've seen a few guys mod the cam so that you're able to connect the USB charger.

Those w/o a GoPro well.... Just get the one that Bob got. Cheap insurance!

The best part about these devices.... being able to relive the exact moment of pure action! lol Just make sure you're not the one in the "action" haha.

[Bob98SR5]

i thought about go pro, but i didnt want something that expensive and that desirable hanging off my windshield. not to mention, its not the smallest thing in the world.

[Bob98SR5]

I took a trip up the coast to No Cal this past week and had a scary incident. Up on the highway in Big Sur, a POS impatient a-hole on the other side of the road decided to cross the double line and attempt to pass 3 other cars. It was apparent to me that this guy was hell bent on passing these three cars and so I had to brake hard and watch this a-hole thread the needle between me and the front car. Camera caught all of it, but the camera software continually records over prior footage if its not stopped and downloaded. I have a 32GB card, but from the time the incident occurred and by the time we got from Big Sur to Oakland, it had recorded many times over. Lesson learned: carry two SD cards. Had this been a head on collision, at the very least, it would've revealed who was at fault.

[4x4mike]

A second card sounds like the ticket. Must be pretty good images if it's filling up 32gb cards so fast. I wonder about this because I still want to get a camera for the house that uses SD cards. If I'm gone for an extended period of time or it takes me a while to realize I need to check the footage it may be gone. I just want to avoid a DVR.

We were in Big Sur last year and Hwy 1 was pretty dicey especially with the couple of sections that have the temporary signals. I think it's the locals that go balls out. They're probably lit from the big bar out near Pfeiffer or ticked off by all the tourists.

Is Big Sur still on fire?

[Bob98SR5]

Mike,

The car cam captures the vids on a 2 min cycle and loops to overwrite. I was hoping to download the near head on collision video when I got home. I guess I need to read the manual again :P The guy made a really stupid move trying to pass all those cars on a double yellow. My guess he wasn't a local.

Big Sur was not on fire. It was gorgeous. The only road closure was the bridge that's south of the famous Bixby Bridge---the imposter Bixby bridge as I call it. They had traffic control as the bridge was under construction

[paddlenbike]

Mike,

The car cam captures the vids on a 2 min cycle and loops to overwrite. I was hoping to download the near head on collision video when I got home. I guess I need to read the manual again :P The guy made a really stupid move trying to pass all those cars on a double yellow. My guess he wasn't a local.

Are you sure the card is being filled every 2 minutes? Some devices can only see the first 2GB of a card (SD vs SDHC.) My dSLR won't fill a 32GB card nearly that quick. Take a look at the settings and see if you have any other video compression options. If you had a major accident and didn't pull the plug on it within 2 minutes, you would have nothing.

[4x4mike]

I read Bob's quote as saying it takes 2 minute videos (as shown on the 2 minute video where he's talking with his boy toy). I assume it stacks the 2 minute videos until it thinks it's full, then records over them. It probably calculates that a 32 card has, say 100 slots each being 2 minutes. Once the 100 are full it starts back at 1.

[Bob98SR5]

Mike's got it right. 2 minute segments, then it starts recording again for another 2 mins segment. When the card gets full, it starts all over again.

[Bob98SR5]

hey guys,

you guys probably think im nuts with these car cameras, but i'm getting a new one not the cheapest, but well reviewed enough to try it and see (amazon prime, baby).

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...ustomerReviews

this is the type that has clips that fit over the existing mirror. why am i getting this when i have two decent cameras? well i visited my local tint shop (if you so cal guys need a good tinter, please contact me; 5 star yelp reviews) and he showed me a product that i almost put on my mom's car. its basically clear tint. while this may not be news to some of you, it was to me. he took a device that measured btu's and pointed it at the sun and then from behind the clear tinted glass. reading was 450 to 44, respectively.

i ended up getting the shade up from it, which you can barrrrely tell that its tinted. she loves it, i might add.

so my tint guy says alot of his customers now get this clear tint placed on the front windshield. i was a bit surprised b/c i thought you couldnt do that, but he says as long as it complies with the visible light law (80% or above), you can put film on your tint. heat rejection is about 45% he says, which sounds about right when you consider medium to limo tint block anywhere between 50 and 60%

he says that he doesnt recommend any suction devices placed on tint, so i'll have to buy the camera above as my current ones have suction mounts.

I'll let you know how it goes. I get it on Wednesday. The clear tint in maybe 2 weeks or so.

Bob

[Kryptoroxx]

I am planning on getting one soon! Did a lot of reading and given the fact that a lot of drivers lie and insurance companies do not want to pay out but gladly take your money every month. Only thing I am not clear on right now is the legality of having them on base (for obvious reasons) and I had to do a LOT of reading over heat tolerances of these devices given where I am stationed right now. It can easily clear 140 in my 4runner during a summer day and sometimes I would dare say it gets to 200. I have no proof of that higher number but it takes 5 minutes for my 4runner to get to a cool temperature in the front.

I found a lot of support for this little guy and this specific vendor from a few locations regarding heat resistance, bang for buck, and quality.

http://www.ebay.ca/itm/131208541342?...84.m1423.l2649

After further reading it might just be something I have to take out of the 4runner unless I'm travelling out of nowhere. Seems even the $400 cams won't stand up to the heat 29 palms is known to have. That's fine with me. Most people on base are decent enough drivers (can't say the same when it comes to watching for a bicycle).

Thanks for turning me on to this. I thought the only cameras out there were the GoPro type deals that demand your first born so you can record you crashing on a bicycle lol.