Speaker 1: Dash cams have moved from being just a source of YouTube fascination to a, why wouldn't you have one device, but with a few notable exceptions, like Tesla's century mode, they remain frustratingly rare as factory equipment. So here are my tips on how to select the best aftermarket dash cam using examples of some of the best ones out there right now. Quick refresher at its most basic a dash cam is like, so it records [00:00:30] constantly looking forward out the windshield. It automatically saves a clip. When it detects a collision, it can wake up and record if it detects an impact like when parked and it's easy to install with either in a heat is patch or a suction cup, but beyond that basic profile of options, there's a whole lot else to think about. Here are some examples.
Speaker 1: Now let me show you the Garin mini too, which has one of my absolute favorite features in all of dash Camry. It's mini. [00:01:00] I love small dash AMS, all other things being equal because up here at the top of your windshield is a pretty crowded neighborhood. These days, obviously you've got a sun visor, then you've got a mirror, obviously, and then you've got a bunch of sensors up here these days. The good thing about this is it doesn't add much clutter. The downside of a tiny dash cam is what do you have to give up to get it? The is small, for example, on this one, which by the way is, you know, a quality brand name model. You still don't get 4k resolution today. A lot of [00:01:30] folks want 4k because it allows them to zoom in. When they look at a clip later and maybe read a license plate that you couldn't read in 10 80 resolution. Secondly, there's obviously no screen on this one. If you want a screen on your dash cam, you want a bigger dash cam. So this one uses entirely a wifi connection to your phone.
Speaker 1: Let's talk about the tyranny of the power cable. Look at the dash cam. Now look at its power cable. The power cable's actually bulkier than the camera. [00:02:00] Now, obviously it's not all gonna sit here. It's gonna be stronger around the car. So take care to run this carefully up over your headliner, trim down your a pillar, garnish, snake it along a crevice in your dashboard. And then you'll plug it into a USB adapter like this to get the power. If any of this makes you blanch go to a 12 volt, an auto stereo store, and just telling him you need help installing your dash cam. They might look at you saying really, but just have 'em do it. Cuz they can do a really [00:02:30] clean job. If this doesn't seem familiar to you and it's worth it in the long run, don't clutter up your car.
Speaker 1: Now, before I show you the next camera, the next R beam GPS, let me show you, I'm gonna Mount it up here because you want to think about mounts. If you have multiple cars that you're gonna use your camera in, many of them use a permanent adhesive patch and that's great. They tend to stick like mad and never let go. But this one's interesting because it has one of those little sticky, gummy suction cups on the back [00:03:00] that you often see with phone mounts, for example, and that makes it a whole lot easier to move between cars. It's not really using an adhesive per se.
Speaker 1: And this one's also interesting because as you can see, I think right through there, the GPS sensor is part of the Mount and it becomes active with the camera. Once you attach this to the windshield and then plug the whole apparatus into the camera, which hangs here below, let me show you. So I'll attach my Mount like, [00:03:30] so, and then I'm going to rotate it like any typical suction cup for GPS or what have you. And then I attach my little mini built-in cable here and then the whole apparatus gets put in like this and like that. Okay. I think we're in good shape. Now, something along those lines, all this is a little bit of inside baseball, but I'm pointing it out. So you think about the Mount that each camera uses and give it a quick glance and say, is it highly each transportable, [00:04:00] uh, are features built into the Mount?
Speaker 1: Or can I look at this sort of thing as a permanent one time stick on most, give you a choice of either. Or another thing to think about here is because this is small. Again, no screen on the back. This does have a wifi connection to your phone and your phone's usually with you in the car, right? So whenever these tour in proximity, they are gonna meet and connect and that's going to create a de facto connection to the cloud. So this is gonna operate like a cloud connected camera, constantly backing up clips to your cloud [00:04:30] account, which by the way is free from Nexar. Now that kind of cloud connectivity necessarily means you cannot log into this camera remotely when you and your phone are somewhere else to see what's happening in your car, because the connection is from your phone, which isn't in the car as cams move more toward using your phone as their interface and cloud connection, check a camera specs before you buy it to make sure it's compatible with your phone. That's not always the case. For example, this camera didn't work with my phone. [00:05:00] Oh, by the way, if you're looking for new trends in dash cams, I guess I have to say AI is it, this one uses AI. So it claims to identify important clips and automatically put the save tag on them. So they don't ever get overwritten without you to push any button or say anything.
Speaker 1: Now the van through N four is interesting because it's one of those cameras that doesn't rely on your phone as its interface. [00:05:30] It has a ton of interface built in buttons all around the thing, a nice size screen on the back. Lots of IO ports over here on one side. So this is a great camera for those who don't wanna fiddle with another device to control this device. It's also big on multi-channel recording, doing three views at once, all recording at the same time, the forward camera you see here, there's a builtin, always connected cabin camera over on this end with four little infrared emitters to illuminate [00:06:00] the cabin for the camera anyway. And then you've also got packed with it, this rear camera and a long cable that lets you stick this in your back window. As we've seen on some other cameras and therefore have that rolling at the same time, it'll capture all three of those at 10 80 P or a little better.
Speaker 1: Or if you just want to grab two, it has combinations where one is 4k and the other one is 10 ADHD. But this one really says I do a lot of channels at once. It's also powered by a super capacitor, which is a different way of storing [00:06:30] power than using a traditional battery main advantage. There it's really good and more durable in very hot punishing climates. Now that's for sleep operation. Like when the car is parked for typical driving and charging of that super cap, it of course still relies on one of those long power cords we talked about. And while just about every dash cam, these days has a G four sensor. That'll make it wake up when the car is parked and start recording. Like if someone bumps it or tries to break into it, this one also has [00:07:00] a motion sensor at the same time, looking for motion visually, as opposed to just waiting for bumps or impacts, either of those can wake it up to start recording. So ideally it might catch the person who's thinking about breaking into your car before the impact of them actually doing it.
Speaker 1: This is the next base, 6 22 GW. This one to me is an example of a premium camera. Pretty much at the top of the market. It's the most expensive camera [00:07:30] I'm showing you today. A little over $300 is the list price. You'll do better street price, but still this is not some hundred dollars camera you can tell by the quality the of it, the weight when it's off the Mount, it's got a nice aluminum shell here. It just feels like quality. Look here at the nose. There's this neural ring that lets you turn that filter on the front as a polarizer to take out some of the glare that you typically find when you aim a camera through windshield glass, nice touch. It's got a nice screen on the back as well. [00:08:00] 4k image stabilization, which is another way to make sure that you get the resolution.
Speaker 1: You need to see fine details. 4k is part of that, but having a stable image is also a key part of that because if something's shaking and vibrating, every frame that can make it hard to read, even if it's 4k other interesting features include support. For what words, a sort of lesser known GPS location system. Now on this cam smart algorithms are used to process out fog. That's a neat trick because [00:08:30] it's actually capturing more than you can see in a sense that could be useful. Given the fact that fog often causes incidents on the road that you would want to have a recording of. And it also connects through your phone like so many do, but using that connection, once it's G sensors detect a major accident, it can automatically reach out to first responders and relay any information about maybe your blood type or any allergies to drugs you may have or medical conditions that are part of its SOS report.
Speaker 1: [00:09:00] If you choose to put that into the app and have it share that information. So there's a lot going on in here beyond just capturing the view of the road. Oh, by the way, it captures more than just this view. A whole slew of accessories allow you to attach other cameras. Look out behind you. For example, into the cabin, out to the road behind you from the front of the cabin or out to the road behind you from the back of the cabin, it all depends on where you wish to put other cameras around the car and what you want them to record. But you've got a ton of flexibility [00:09:30] for that second view that this will record simultaneously. I think dash cams are on the road to being nearly as essential as a phone charge cable in cars. And now, you know, a little better how to get or gift one.
