Does anyone use front / rear dash cameras on their car? I've only been in the F-Type about 6 months now but find so many people decide to act stupid driving around me. One car decided to peel out and threw rocks on the car at a stop sign, luckily no chips or damage. Basically looking for feedback if anyone is running them.

 

Hi,

Yes, I do... .. since I bought it..


..very entertaining..


You see the make/model on the lower edge of the video. This is now 3yrs in use, never a problem. Records in 4K.

I also have front/rear in my BMW shopping trolley that works fine : " Viofo A129 Pro 2CH Duo 4K Wifi GPS dashcam ",

this since my 3 kids drive it and I want to know "why" if they damage the car or some other.

Since I have it powered through an outlet, it happens the plug doesn't sit tight and the cam doesn't record,

and the kids pull it out it they don't want there discussions recorded. So the rule is now : no recording and damage,

no more use of the BMW.. .. you have to be though as a parent..

Also for the sake of -not- placing a (thick!) cable from the front to the rear, I put two independent cams in my D5, also Viofo.

I never considered placing a 2nd cam in the F-Type. I should probably, and I will if the Aukey passes on..

At a speed difference of > 130kmh , by freezing the frame you can read the license plates.. ..illegal in Germany.. (thats why I disabled location and speed/date stamp, then its OK..).

 

Dan-NL how have you it wired up, would you have a picture of what it looks like fitted, thanks

 

General idea :



Above the windshield you just push it under the rooflining, there is a slit there.
At the corner of the window , you slightly lift the airbag cover on the A-pillar ( contact off !!! ).
Then there is a door seal. You push it under from the inside outward, and guide it down.






Under the dash level, push it under the vertical black trim. Then put it in the plastic covers under the dashboard (reach under until you feel the edge above, put some pieces of tape to fix it.
Beware for the movement of the steering column.





Then you push it under the trim on the centre console. Lead it all the way back until the trim ends, beyond the back of the chair (move chair forward to get there).




The red line gives the routing under the trim. Doesn't need to be so high up. There is an edge, just half a centimeter up suffices.






Then double back over the top and let it pass under the lid, there is the socket.

 

Everyone should have a dashcam. Keeps people honest after an accident (and occasionally records internet meme-worthy behavior for pure entertainment value). There's tons of them on Amazon with prices from dirt cheap to ridiculous, pretty much all made in China of course, pretty much all running one of only a few chip sets and software. If you look online at a bunch of them, you'll even find a few cases where a brand name one from a stereo manufacturer looks identical to a no-name brand Chinese one.

Having bought a few different styles, I have come to prefer the ones that just hang from a suction cup despite the obvious accessory appearance (you can still run the cable stealthy and just leave a pigtail hanging out). They are much easier to operate and don't get in the way of sunshades. I also have a couple of styles mounted permanently to windshields. The lens swivels to allow aiming it regardless of the windshield angle. The problems with those I find are that the screen is difficult to impossible to read at the windshield angle. Plus if I have to park out in the sun, lets say I go to daytime ball game, then they wind up trapped in the hot zone between the windshield and the reflective sun shade or are in the way of the sunshade altogether. The ones that hang from a suction cup are perpendicular to your line of sight which makes them easy to read, even at a glance while driving to confirm its recording. Also I can remove it so that it doesn't interfere with a sunshade, put it in the glove box where it won't melt, plus then its even easier to operate while holding it in a comfortable position. One Christmas I gave suction-cup mounted dashcams to friends and family as gifts because they're not expensive and I figured it was something that no one already had.

Somebody posted in the XF section a dashcam kit made just for the XF that mounts in an aesthetic pod behind the mirror that looks OEM and doesn't interfere with a sunshade. It supposedly doesn't have its own screen but rather connects to a smartphone wirelessly. I already had a dashcam installed when that was posted or I might have gone that route. Maybe there's one like it for the F-type. But if you want a permanent/stealthy install with a generic one, the things to consider are where you intend to mount it (probably as close to the top and out of the way as possible), how its affixed to the windshield, where the cable(s) plug in and which way the cable goes from there (some cables plug in the side, the top, come with right-angle adapters or not, mini vs micro usb if you're buying adapter separately). And depending on the voltage, you may also need to purchase a 5v converter and hide it somewhere under the dash (I had to do that with the model I installed in my XJ8).

 

I also have the VIOFO A129 dual (non 4K version). Installing was pretty easy but I ran it on the passenger side so to hardwire it to the fuse panel under passenger floor. Camera is to the right side of the rear view mirror and I barely see it from my line of site. Definitely nice to have. I may pick up an extra mount (suction type) so I can use the front camera on my other cars if I take a long trip along with the cigarette power cord.

 

I recently purchased a Rexing M2 Smart Rearview / Dash Cam.
I comes with two cameras (one forward facing, and one remote for the rear view) and GPS Antenna.
The mirror also offers front crash warning, or blind spot warning (but not both simultaneously).
I will document my install process, which will include tapping into the reverse light wire for back-up view.
Pretty slick product.

 

Nice videos.

I've been using a Blackvue DR900S 4k with cloud/ parking mode combined with couple of GoPro 9 5k since they have way more features.

 

You can pull power from the mirror and thus avoid the long wire run, can't you? I've seen people power radar detectors that way.

 

i have been using BlackVue dash cam on my F Type and previously on my XF. I chose this model after reading several reviews and have been very impressed with the quality of the video and the software. The recordings can be viewed by WIFI connection to a Smartphone or take the card and connect to the computer via an adapter ( supplied)

I mounted the front camera on the passenger side door pillar/ windscreen. The BlackVue has also a rear camera which I mounted centrally on the shelf behind the seats.

Both positions allow to hide the camera wires and power lead behind the facia of the central console, behind the glove box and up behind the door seal.

I power from the cigarette socket in the centre arm rest.

it might be possible to mount the front camera centrally near the rear view mirror. This is where I had mounted it in the XF.

 

That's my thoughts on running power to it if the power supply would be the same to go there to the rearview mirror.

 

I've been extremely happy with my VIOFO A129 Pro Duo 4K and believe it's one of the best front/rear camera values out there. Installation wasn't that bad using their optional $15 hardware kit which I connected to the fuse box in the passenger side floor. I have it set up to cut power to the camera while in parking mode once the car battery voltage drops to 12V. I've never once gotten a low battery warning in the car due to the camera.

 

Have a 3 channel dash cam from VANTRUE on my 2017 XF for similar reasons. Had it professionally installed and wired directly into the car's battery. Works extremely well.....

 

Techmoan on YouTube is the DashCam expert/reviewer. Three years ago he recommended the DD Pai. Been solid as a rock.

 

Here is a video of my DD Pai 4k
not sure if you have to set the resolution on you tube or not but very happy with it. Wifi link to your phone when you want to download anything off of it. Had build in memory ssd chip so no memory card issues and it is hardwired to power in the mirror. Also has embedded data in the video file that you can use the DD Pai app to overlay on your video if you view through the app. See the picture after the video to see what you get.
gimmicky but probably fun if you track your car.




and it also under reports the recorded embedded speed in the video !!!!!

 

the backvue interface (i removed speed as camera can be retain for evidence but still shows speed when you load videos on software, have to find out how remove it):

 

 

I just installed a Thinkware FA200 Dual channel dash cam with a Thinkware dash cam battery pack to keep the dash cam going when the car is off. So far it seems to work well and was a relatively easy install. The front wires are hidden and the battery unit is in the glove box but I might move it to the arm rest back plate hiding area or to the trunk. The rear camera wire is slightly exposed because I don't feel like ripping out the back trunk lid trim yet, save it for another night. The camera was only $140 and the battery pack was another $210. I might upgrade to the Thinkware U1000 and get a mifi hotspot to keep it connected.

 

Have a Rexing 4K wifi camera. Got tired of taking the microSD in and out on my old car. It's decent, I only mean to have it for insurance reasons. Unfortunately the connection through wifi is deathly slow, you can't watch videos in real time on the app.

 

Hi Herman, Big Fan of your youtube channel! I will be installing my dashcam over the weekend. Did you end up documenting the steps to do so? Regards, Caspar