Dash Cam

[Gregjam]

Put memory card in (just like in phone) attaché power lead from cigarette point to gadget. Use suckers to attach to windscreen. Mine turns on automatically and off when power stops. Had to set up date and time via a menu which was not difficult. Now I just leave it plugged in.

[Big Boy]

Great news guys, even I could 'probably' manage that level of installation

[Gregjam]

If you can post a couple of photos on this forum I am sure you will be able to handle it.... And I understand you have had a bit of practice at that lately.

[VincentD]

GJ, not all dashcams are created equal. My second one also said HD but was nowhere to be found in the settings. Caveat emptor. Mine is plugged in all the time and will turn on and off with the ignition. Sort of set and forget. I have had to buy an additional 3-socket plug for any additions - at present the radar detector is the only other one also connected permanently with the other spare for the GPS (whenever it's needed).

Hope I don't run out of windscreen space!

[crazy88]

Double edged swords these gadgets. You are, hopefully, insured anyway. How long before the BIB cotton on to them and simply playback and find a traffic violation? And they WILL find one and waste more of your valuable time than normal before extorting a couple of hundred Baht as they need to watch the video. Might not want the missus seeing that you pulled up outside "Spicy girls a go go" when you were supposed to be at golf either.

Crazy 88

[Big Boy]

Might not want the missus seeing that you pulled up outside "Spicy girls a go go" when you were supposed to be at golf either.

I don't think that would be a problem for me. However, now that I've seen they are well affordable, and relatively easy to install (even for me), I'm starting to have second thoughts.

Everyday, when driving my truck, there are always incidents. Since starting this thread, I've been evaluating where the biggest risk lies. Very little happens in front of me. The biggest danger is from idiot motorcyclists overtaking or undertaking when there is insufficient space. Yes, stupidness happens in front of me, but I feel in control of those situations, it's the potential danger creeping up behind/beside me that is my biggest worry.

One thing we agree on:

How long before the BIB cotton on to them and simply playback and find a traffic violation?

Somebody said theirs recorded speed as well. That would not be a good idea for me

[VincentD]

BB, just a basic with HD capability is good enough. I don't need GPS coordinates telling me where I'm at. I believe these are also the ones capable of telling you your speed.
As to feeling in control, having the cam installed is insurance you DID NOT do what you could have been accused of doing in the front.
The BIB first look at where the damage is; if in front or on your right (driver's) side, it's your fault. If you had a ding on your back, the other party is to blame. The reason for the wide angle is to also include as much of the right wing as possible.

Typically, though, even the insurance companies don't want to bother with video footage, much less so the BIB.
P.S. My wife won't know how to operate these things; the old one was fitted in her car and she finally stowed it in the dash as she couldn't use the sucker attachment properly. Sigh.

[VincentD]

Oh, just to add... Someone I know had a HD one installed and was sideswiped by a runaway tour bus. The insurance wasn't really interested as it gives them an excuse to increase your premium and they don't have to go chasing after the offender. However, on his insistence they had to do their job and his insurance premiums did not suffer as they were clearly able to read the offender's number plate (and province - note this is also extremely important info if you have to make a police report.)

[Terry]

The main event that instigated the purchase of my Dashcam was as follows..............

Around 8 wks ago, I was traveling back to HH one Friday evening and minding my own business - cruising at around 100kph in the middle lane approaching Samut Sonkhran on the Rama II road.

About 100-200m in front of me, a pickup started to shed it's unsecured load of 0.5m long sections of angle iron. They were bouncing all over the road.

One piece went under my nearside front wheel and then bounced up to my door sill proceeding onwards to put two nice gouges in both of my LHS doors. I was not amused.

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Frankly, I was bloody lucky that the damage was not worse or even through the windscreen

THB 40,000+ worth of damage (New sill and door skins + labour - work carried out at Honda Hua Hin). There is no evidence that it ever happened - excellent repair job, done on insurance.

But the insurance took some convincing on how it happened - a dash cam would have been very handy at the time. Who knows - I might have even got the bastards number? Needless to say, he did not stop.

[Nereus]

Frankly, I was bloody lucky that the damage was not worse or even through the windscreen

If you had been driving in the usual Thai tailgating position, it probably would have.

A couple of weeks ago on the same road I was one car back behind a freezer truck, when one of the doors came open and 6 or 7 HUGE frozen fish came hurtling out! The door swung right around to the side of the truck, and the driver must have seen it right away, as he pulled up (in the middle lane), immediately. How the car in front of me avoided the fish I don't know.

Try telling that to a Thai insurance assessor!

[Gregjam]

Mine is a SC Morestech กล้องติดรถยนต์ 2 เลนส์ - รุ่น DVR SC310 (GP400) ตัวTOP มี GPS Logger that I got from lazada.co.th which I have discussed earlier and is definitely not HD but lets the wife relate to all and sundry of our experiences. Definitely pros and cons but no problems with stopping at places I should not be at. The wife goes with me to play golf and after over twenty years of marriage has established a spy network to rival MI5 in the local area. The cam will be more useful to convince her where I was in case of dodgy information.

[Gregjam]

Just had a thought. My daughter has one of those Range Rover Evoques which has more cameras than a TV studio to help her park (she still has not worked out how to use the automatic parking system it comes with). In cars with front and rear cameras do they have a recording facility or can this be added. Could be the next mandatory safety item on cars and trucks. A lot of trucks have these dashcams fitted and also reversing cameras so it should not be an expensive mod.