Dashcams

Junsun

Have recently bought these as a dual camera setup, front and rear (2x 1080p for front/rear)
https://go.fox.nz/dashcam

- Not bad overall for the price (Around NZ$160 shipped at the time)
- you can get just the front cam and record in 4k (Around $120), and getting the non-GPS models are slightly cheaper (I'd highly recommend the GPS and rear camera though)
- Quality is fine. Window reflections are a bit annoying, but some sort of shroud would probably solve this. Wide visibility with playback is great.
- A big microSD Card is useful (a 128GB card is working fine on one of mine). Keep a spare SD card in the car in case you want to swap them out in a hurry.
- One of mine failed after a few months, (I've purchased 5 sets now), but is still useable and installed... it is just that the display isn't working.
- I've already used it once to send to my insurance company for evidence of an incident!

Functions

- If you push a button (twice if screen is off) it will lock the most recent recording which is nice, ie won't record over it. I do this often.
- the car/lane avoidance stuff is useless to me as it doesn't sound an alarm (visual only.... screen is tiny).
- I haven't really tested the GPS stuff, it embeds the location in metadata and you can review via their windows app (I think this is a standard, so other apps will read it). GPS is most useful for the fact that you don't need to set time/date - it is done automatically,
- You can save recording space by turning on timelapse. It records at a lower frame rate. I use this in one car that has a smaller SD card installed.
- there is movement sensing (i.e. record on movement). I turn this on, but most of the time something is moving in at least one of the cameras. Maybe it is useful if the car is in a garage or something.
- It is supposed to automatically lock a file recording after an incident (hi G forces...) I haven't checked this. The one incident I knew I needed it, I pressed the button to lock the file anyway.

Powering It

Simplest Method
- It comes with a cig lighter plug and cable. This is not a very elegant install method (the rear camera has a long cable that plugs into the main camera box)

Better Method
- A power cable with piggyback fuse adaptor, is usually the easiest install. Eg I bought a stack of tap mini blade fuse adaptors to speed up installations.l . You still need something to supply 5V, eg a buck boost module
- I've also purchased a couple of these Junsun hardware wire kits to save mucking around with getting 5V power for the install:
- You would generally power it from an ACC circuit so it was on when the key was in. If you power it from a permanent you get a permanent record, but your vehicle battery will only last a couple of days if the car wasn't being used.. Installing a switch might be useful, just in case you want some permanent recording (eg if parked on a road overnight)

Best Method
- These ZEROGOGO Hard Wire Kit 12V to 5V Hardwire kits are probably the best to enable carpark recording and recording when driving.
- They cut power to the camera at around 11.4V, so there is still enough power to start the vehicle. Most cars will easily get a day or two of recording out of the battery before this whuts off the camera. I am successfully using these in a few vehicles now (I was previously doing this with a voltage detection and cut-out module)

Mounting It

- I generally always mount the camera to the left of the rear vision mirror, as high as I can (but so your can still get the SD card out)
- All the wiring gets tucked in the headliner.
- I install the rear camera first. In a hatch/liftback, I mount on the window in the centre up the top, and carefully route the cable though the rubber grommets and flexible pipe that the other boot lid cables go though.
- The rear cable is routed (I do this in the side of the headliner) to the camera at the front - there is a socket to plug this camera in. You get enough cable from front to rear to do a decent sized car, but check first.
- The 3M mounting pads seem the genuine product and I've never had one let go.
- The main camera can be removed if needed, but check there is enough space to do this as it slides upwards.
- wherever you mount the front camera, make sure you can reach the button that you press to lock a file after an incident.

Mobius

Previous to that I was using a Mobius camera - I have recommended these in the past: https://www.mobius-actioncam.com/ and still use one in one of my cars (now with a Junsun as well).
These are great quality, have a decent configuration app (windows) and huge following.
They come with a tripod mount, so I purchased this adhesive mount to mount it in a car for $3
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/Gopro-Accessories-1-4-Tripod-Mount-Adapter-Long-Screw-J-Hook-Buckle-Flat-Adhesive-Sticky-Mount/32362532310.html

My review a few years ago: https://zorruno.com/2014/dashcams-and-the-80-dollar-mobius/

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CategoryVehicles
CategoryCCTV
CategoryElectricVehicles