Soundrecording
andprivacy
Even the most careful drivers
don’t always want sound to be
recorded – especially if they’re
having private conversations with
passengers. In all the dashcams
we’ve seen you can turn audio
recording off, but it’s usually on
by default. Of course, if you’re
wanting to contribute to various
Australian dashcam-owners
highlight reels, it’s worth keeping
the sound on and
spouting some good
Aussie vernacular to help
your clip go viral.
Noscreenno
problem?
Barrel-shaped dashcams
look cool but you have to
trust that they’re
recording. Even their
manufacturers point out
that errors happen –
especially when
complex, round-the-
clock monitoring is occurring.
We suspect that few people will
regularly connect to screenless
models with their phones despite
there being many almost-horror
stories of people finding that
footage stopped recording
months beforehand. While this is
still a potential issue on dashcams
with screens, you’re more likely to
get a visual warning if something
goes wrong.
Suckerorsticker
If you want to remove your
dashcam from time to time –
whether it’s to swap cars, or take
it travelling – it’s worth opting for
a model with a suction cup mount.
While it’s not impossible to
remove a ‘permanent’ sticker,
once it’s come off it will usually
need replacing.
Batterypower
All dashcams turn on
automatically with a car, but only
some have varying degrees of
battery power, which will allow
for impact or motion monitoring
when it’s off. While you can wire
dashcams into a car’s power, you
won’t want it to stop your car
starting. Some models come with
separate, chargeable batteries
that can be used to power 24-hour
monitoring.GPS
While we’re not convinced GPS is
totally necessary to identify the
location of an incident, it can be
useful if you’re on an unmarked
road at night. More importantly,
though, is that it adds
your speed to recorded
footage – which can be
as self-damning as it is
useful should the law get
involved.Rearcamerasand
wiremanagement
Many dashcams now
come with rear cameras.
While these are often
lower resolution they’re
still very useful
considering how many
incidents come from behind. Just
note that most don’t operate
independently – they need to be
connected with wire to the main,
front-mounted dashcam. It’s
common for there to be many
metres of cabling for this, so plan
how to wrap it around your
windscreen and through the car.
In some cases you can wedge it
under panelling (which can be
hard to remove later) but often
you’ll need (unsightly) tape orcable-tidy stickers (which aren’t
always included).Driveraids
Some dashcams come with driver
aids such as brake-light detection
plus lane-drift, school-zone and
speed limit warnings. Just note
that the former live-processing
warnings are very poor when
compared to expensive,
integrated car safety systems.Doyouneedadashcam
whenyouhaveaphone?
We found it simple to place a
phone in a windscreen holder and
start recording using an app.
However, idly filling and re-filling
flash memory can reduce its
lifespan and performance over
time. This is a particular concern
for Apple devices which are prone
to getting filled up with junk,
whereas Android phones often
have microSD card slots to
shoulder the burden. The apps
also make phones get very warm
which won’t be good for battery
longevity. Ultimately, we
preferred knowing that the
dedicated dashcam would just
start-up and work regardless of
who was driving the car. If we
were in a rush, even the mild
chore of starting up and recording
seemed too much to bother with
and you just know that the one
time you don’t do it is the one time
you’ll wish you had!If we were in a rush,
even the mild chore of
starting up and recording
seemed too much to
bother with and you just
know that the one time
you don’t do it is the one
time you’ll wish you had!Dashcams come
in a range of
form factors.