GoPro’s Session camera is a small, light weight point-of-view camera. I thought it could serve as a dash cam in my F-Type. The camera has a “looping” mode in which it records, optionally, the past 5 or 20 minutes of video. Or you can just record video continuously until the storage card is full.

I also use an Escort Solo radar detector mounted behind and just below the rear view mirror. I use their optional “Stickycup” windshield mount for a more secure mount.

The GoPro cameras come with a variety of mounts. I decided to use one of the flat surface stick on mounts adhered to the bottom side of the Escort as shown in the left image of the first pair of images below. The GoPro then clips onto that mount as shown in the right image.



The next pair of images shows the Solo in place on the windshield mount without and with the GoPro in place. As shown, it makes a quite neat installation.



HOWEVER, in use I found that there was considerable shaking of the camera because of two things: 1) the Stickycup-to-Escort mounting is little loose; and 2) the GoPro hanging down allows some side-to-side movement when driving on less that very smooth roads.

The third pair of images below show my current solution to the vibration problem. I used rubber cement to construct a stack of foam rubber that I rescued from a storage case. The resulting foam block has two levels: 1) a full height section that is used if the climate control system is off (as shown in the left image); and 2) a shorter section when the climate control is on and the center dash vents are up.



In real life, the setup doesn’t look quite as kludgy as it does in the images and it does a good job of improving recorded image quality. I am going to see if tightening up the connection between the Stickycup and the Solo would be sufficient to eliminate the need for the foam support. I’ll report on that in the future.

 

oh dear .......... not exactly subtle is it

 

I can barely see it.

 

To be honest, it seems like a lot more trouble than its worth. Your just better off getting a dedicated dash-cam like BlackVue, sure the initial install is intimidating, however in the long run, you don't have to worry about taking it out or having to recharge it. And the time you do need, you don't have to worry if it was on or not.

 

Valid points but I had the GoPro already. I virtually always take the detector out when parking in "dangerous" locations so that's not a problem. For extended time usage, I just connect the camera to the car's cigarette lighter via a USB adapter.

 

Due to popular demand, I investigated another method to prevent most of the shaking that doesn't involve the kludgy foam block.

Most of the shaking of the camera comes from the fact that the "tongue" on the Stickycup that inserts into the Solo does not fit firmly so the Solo can jiggle around.

So, I strategically placed some pieces of cloth tape on the tongue that made its fit to the Solo tight such that most of the movement of the camera has been eliminated. This also eliminates the need to change the foam block when using the climate control system. The installation now looks like this.



How much and where to place the tape on the Stickcup tongue is left as an exercise for the student.

 

might as well go all the way ....

 

Oh no! please spend $100 and get a simple dashcam mounted elsewhere. Using those foam pieces to solve a problem you should not have had to begin with is a no-go. You just wont be driving the $100K vert anymore.

 

You could always try this approach, from our friends in the XJS forum.
https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...my-xjs-161039/