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In a lot of areas, those cameras would be vulnerable to "smash and grab" thieves.

Al
 
I wish the cameras were more obvious. The rear cam is somewhat visible to tailgaters. They often back way off once they figure out what it is. For some reason, younger drivers spot the cam at a much higher rate than older drivers. I am more concerned with the hit-and-run than the smash-and-grab. It takes seconds to remove the cams.
 
Well.
When I looked into it in Michigan they said that it can't be close to stock exterior , it has to be 100% stock exterior..interior or engine didn't matter and and I was restricted to 3 or 4 months of hood weather driving only..was restricted on roads in spring and winter and then it also could have gotten collector plates that only had to be renewed like every 5 years or something and was dirt cheap to due so.
 
Along with my basic liability insurance, I'm covered with front and rear dashcams.
I have this dashcam in my DD or a similar one (a VIOFO in my Prius). Perhaps this is more of an issue in a hybrid car but I have found multiple times that if I accidentally turn the car on/off quickly and interrupt the dashcam during its boot cycle, it will corrupt its firmware; this often happens if I parallel park, decide i need to adjust my position, so I turn the car on/off again to quickly move things.

When booting, the new corrupted cam will make the necessary tones like it's booting correctly but when you take a peak on the screen, you'll see that it's goofy looking and it's definitely not recording.

I checked one time and this happened 2-3 weeks ago (from the timestamp on the file) before I caught it. The fix is easy (you just drop a new firmware file onto the SD card) but kind of annoying.

My recommendation is don't just trust the cameras are doing what they supposed to do: check up on them every few weeks just to be safe.

-g

PS. I live in SF -- one of the capitols of smash and grab b/c our BS DA doesn't prosecute petty criminals. I have mine mounted just in front of the mirror and while i was worried at first, I haven't had any issues (knock on wood). I suspect that they just dont bother with such a worthless item. When you pass some of their fences on the street (like in the mission hawking their wares), I haven't seen ANY dashcams on their rugs.
 
I have this dashcam in my DD or a similar one (a VIOFO in my Prius). Perhaps this is more of an issue in a hybrid car but I have found multiple times that if I accidentally turn the car on/off quickly and interrupt the dashcam during its boot cycle, it will corrupt its firmware; this often happens if I parallel park, decide i need to adjust my position, so I turn the car on/off again to quickly move things.

When booting, the new corrupted cam will make the necessary tones like it's booting correctly but when you take a peak on the screen, you'll see that it's goofy looking and it's definitely not recording.

I checked one time and this happened 2-3 weeks ago (from the timestamp on the file) before I caught it. The fix is easy (you just drop a new firmware file onto the SD card) but kind of annoying.

My recommendation is don't just trust the cameras are doing what they supposed to do: check up on them every few weeks just to be safe.

-g

PS. I live in SF -- one of the capitols of smash and grab b/c our BS DA doesn't prosecute petty criminals. I have mine mounted just in front of the mirror and while i was worried at first, I haven't had any issues (knock on wood). I suspect that they just dont bother with such a worthless item. When you pass some of their fences on the street (like in the mission hawking their wares), I haven't seen ANY dashcams on their rugs.
I have a good hardwired USB hub for my dashcams. A good Samsung SDHC solved what few problems there were. I just start the car and go. The front cam is pretty much invisible in front of the rearview mirror. Many new cars have stuff there. The rear cam isn't very visible. It looks sort of like a center brake light when parked. Few people are going know it doesn't belong a TBird with a spoiler.
 
To elaborate, when I talked to my agent regarding "declared value" or "agreed value" policies, he said North Carolina was a "non-compliant" state, or something along those lines. This was at least 5 years ago, so my memory on the exact terms he used is a little fuzzy.

He said that them having pictures, and a description will help your case, but that number is not guaranteed.

Al
Good to know. I will be touching base with my agent (also in NC) again in June to discuss my own coverage.

I wish the cameras were more obvious. The rear cam is somewhat visible to tailgaters. They often back way off once they figure out what it is. For some reason, younger drivers spot the cam at a much higher rate than older drivers. I am more concerned with the hit-and-run than the smash-and-grab. It takes seconds to remove the cams.
Dash cams are on my to get list. Which models do you have?
 
Good to know. I will be touching base with my agent (also in NC) again in June to discuss my own coverage.



Dash cams are on my to get list. Which models do you have?
In the TBird I have VIOFO A119S. The GPS logger is a separate module that mounts to the window and the camera mounts to the GPS module. The rear cam is the same except it doesn't have the GPS.

My other car has a Mini 803 similar to this. It has worked very well for about 5 years now.

My family made fun of me when I got the dashcam. They thought it was ridiculous and unnecessary. A few weeks ago a family member was the driver in a fatal pedestrian accident. They believe the pedestrian was at fault. The police are still investigating...
 
In the TBird I have VIOFO A119S. The GPS logger is a separate module that mounts to the window and the camera mounts to the GPS module. The rear cam is the same except it doesn't have the GPS.

My other car has a Mini 803 similar to this. It has worked very well for about 5 years now.

My family made fun of me when I got the dashcam. They thought it was ridiculous and unnecessary. A few weeks ago a family member was the driver in a fatal pedestrian accident. They believe the pedestrian was at fault. The police are still investigating...
I have the VIOFO A119S + GPS module as well. It's a pretty decent cam EXCEPT the annoyance of having to reflash the firmware every so often.
It'd be nice if it had a small battery pack in addition to the capaciters that power it.
 
In the TBird I have VIOFO A119S. The GPS logger is a separate module that mounts to the window and the camera mounts to the GPS module. The rear cam is the same except it doesn't have the GPS.

My other car has a Mini 803 similar to this. It has worked very well for about 5 years now.

My family made fun of me when I got the dashcam. They thought it was ridiculous and unnecessary. A few weeks ago a family member was the driver in a fatal pedestrian accident. They believe the pedestrian was at fault. The police are still investigating...
I would hope that the pedestrian was at fault. Either way a dashcam would prove or disprove the case.

I was in a near-accident in Mass. about two years ago where a vehicle pulled in front of a semi that I was in the lane next to. The semi swerved into my lane to avoid the ******* who pulled in front of him forcing me across the centerline. Fortunately for me there was no oncoming traffic at that moment. I really wish I had that on camera. That ******* nearly got themselves AND me killed, they should have gone to jail.
 
I would hope that the pedestrian was at fault. Either way a dashcam would prove or disprove the case.

I was in a near-accident in Mass. about two years ago where a vehicle pulled in front of a semi that I was in the lane next to. The semi swerved into my lane to avoid the ******* who pulled in front of him forcing me across the centerline. Fortunately for me there was no oncoming traffic at that moment. I really wish I had that on camera. That ******* nearly got themselves AND me killed, they should have gone to jail.
The pedestrian most likely was at fault and that's why my relative has not been charged. But the vehicle is still impounded for investigation.

I started saving a collection of things from my dashcam. It recorded a driver going through a light holding a phone and crashing into a car. The GPS records the exact location and time to the second. I had 2 different bicycles swerve in front of me on purpose. A school bus going nuts. A distracted cop weaving all over the road. Hitting a chunk and bending a wheel. The list is long. Noone much cares. But when the crash gets down to he-said-she-said or the cops said, I've got some pretty good evidence and I'm protecting my rights.
 
I have the VIOFO A119S + GPS module as well. It's a pretty decent cam EXCEPT the annoyance of having to reflash the firmware every so often.
It'd be nice if it had a small battery pack in addition to the capaciters that power it.
If you have it powered by a cigar lighter adapter, that might be the problem. Depending on the cars wiring it might not have power momentarily when the keyswitch moves between start and run. My old Mini 803 is wired in such a way and the capacitor has worked well for years. Occasionally if it's been extremely cold and the car has not run for days the cam will freeze, it just needs to be unplugged a few minutes.

I did have a problem with the VIOFO. Not long after I got it, it wouldn't power through the GPS mount. But it works fine including the GPS with the USB connection to the camera. You will find that all these cheap dashcams have their quirks and duds.

I've been running my dashcams in the TBird with a USB battery. Dashcams use very little power, only about 400 mW with the screen off. I plan on running a positive wire to the trunk and putting a small breaker box in the trunk. I will add accessories from there.
 
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