rear and front dash cams

[Cayra]

haven't had Stinger delivered yet.. quote form dealer for cam is nearly 1500
Also said they need the car for 4 hours

Can anyone advise cheaper option ..?

(South Australia)

 

[Coast GT]

Autobarn quoted me about $790 for the Blackvue DR900S 2ch with a 16GB memory card and about $125 to fit it. Price of the camera goes up depending on the size of the memory card. The camera is the top of the line 4K for Blackvue. Shop around, get a camera from somewhere and worst case get an auto electrician to fit it. Don’t go through the dealership at that price.

 

[DCBStingerGT]

haven't had Stinger delivered yet.. quote form dealer for cam is nearly 1500
Also said they need the car for 4 hours

Can anyone advise cheaper option ..?

(South Australia)

If you want a dashcam hardwired , it will of course be more to get someone to do it for you, some owners can Do It Themselves, but if you just want a dashcam, I have a Navman in my Commodore but the cable hangs down from the centre of the windscreen, and there is no power when the car is switched off , i also have another dashcam in rear, so didn't cost anything for install, my Navman 580 which is an older model now, cost $229.
Even if you want your front and rear dashcam hardwired so you can have power even for park mode and hide the cable so it looks all neat, $1500 sounds alot, even if it includes an expensive dashcam, maybe you can purchase a dashcam of your liking and then get an auto electrician to hardwire it, sure it must be way cheaper.

 

[Ozstung]

Autobarn quoted me about $790 for the Blackvue DR900S 2ch with a 16GB memory card and about $125 to fit it. Price of the camera goes up depending on the size of the memory card. The camera is the top of the line 4K for Blackvue. Shop around, get a camera from somewhere and worst case get an auto electrician to fit it. Don’t go through the dealership at that price.

Can confirm Coast's findings coincindentally i just got back from Auto barn i too got quoted that price for the Blackvue. I got a demo the Blackvues clarity + night vision was exceptional. Cheaper brands vision much less clear.

$1500 ! They're pullin' the pud with that.

 

[Stinger GT SS]

I have BlackVue front only, bought it in 2013, transferred it to the Stinger 2017, works fine.
Buy the camera system then have a Mobile Auto Electrician come to your home & fit it, that way you won’t get some kid at Autobarn working on your new pride & joy.

 

[OliverNuther]

I bought a BlackVue DR900S from here https://dashcamsaustralia.com.au/shop/dashcams/blackvue/blackvue-dr900s-2ch-4k/ plus a bigger SD card plus the hardwire kit. All up about 700. The 2 channel is dearer. A mobile installer charged me 150 to install, again would probably be a bit more for 2 channel. Took him a couple of hours but the job is impeccable. You can definitely do cheaper than the dealer. You are basically paying for the convenience and them doing the legwork for you, purchasing, installation etc. What sort of dash cam are they offering you for your money?

 

[Markjohn]

I got a Black box dashcam direct from Korea. took about a week from there. 4k front cam 720 rear [ which hasn't been used). just tucks in nicely from behind mirror to socket. $120 delivered.
But..... It seems to work OK although it seems to overheat & switch off... then on again. As I got it on the net cheap, pay peanuts, get monkeys.
So If you can find a reliable brand name system locally ( and it doesn't use up battery in standby] then get it put in by an auto electrician. Yes 1500 is way toooo much and 1080p is good enough. 4k chews through data.

 

[Metalmania82]

BlackVue makes good products, a bit pricey but good. Also, I would recommend Yi cameras.
It's not very difficult to wire things up yourself and save yourself some money.

 

[max2382]

I have a Viofo A129 Duo (front and back full HD cam) paid ca 150 dollars. I installed it my self and it's very good. You don't need to pay that much

 

[ADSL]

I have a DR900S 2 channel installed (by me) in my MY 19 Stinger... very easy to do with patience.
I have a CELLINK NEO6 battery which plugs into the Cigarette lighter in the back and the DR900S runs to the battery.

It took me about 30 minutes to do after planning where to run the cable and positioning of the front and rear cameras and with lots of outdoor light to keep track of install.

The DR900S 2 channel with a 128GB micro-SD card stores about 4 days of continuous footage.

The CELLINK NEO6 battery has a 10 hour life at 4K recording in front and 1080 at the back in parking mode with the ignition turned off. The CELLINK bluetooth does allow me to connect to keep track of it's charge level but for 10 hours worth of battery life I need to drive around for about 70-80 minutes.

It's a good investment for insurance purposes with a purchase from Autobarn's ebay au store when there was a 20% off sale last chrissy ($531 with pickup in store) and 15% off the CELLINK NEO6 battery ($369 delivered to my door) from ebay au blackbox reseller.

I'm disappointed on how I'm unable to see number plates when driving at night as is shown in the Blackvue demos for the DR900S... I'll need to find out why that is when I get more time.

 

[mandasol]

I bought a dashcam and was planning on paying an installer but decided to try to install it myself and it was very easy, especially since these days most dashcams have an available hardwire kit with battery protection. So there's no splicing, just pop a fuse out and connect the provided cables and pop the fuse tap back in.

It was super easy. Ordered another camera and installed it in my wife's suv just as easily.

 

[ElChanclo]

I have a CELLINK NEO6 battery which plugs into the Cigarette lighter in the back and the DR900S runs to the battery.

The CELLINK NEO6 battery has a 10 hour life at 4K recording in front and 1080 at the back in parking mode with the ignition turned off.

Can anyone comment on leaving high capacity lithium batteries in the car? Always worry about the thing going up in flames, especially if you forget it on a hot day.

 

[OliverNuther]

Can anyone comment on leaving high capacity lithium batteries in the car? Always worry about the thing going up in flames, especially if you forget it on a hot day.

I can’t comment with any scientific evidence however anecdotally I can tell you that we’ve had about 40 consecutive days of 30-35°C days here. My car is parked in the sun all day and, touch wood, hasn’t burst into flames yet.

 

[Coast GT]

I bought a BlackVue DR900S from here https://dashcamsaustralia.com.au/shop/dashcams/blackvue/blackvue-dr900s-2ch-4k/ plus a bigger SD card plus the hardwire kit. All up about 700. The 2 channel is dearer. A mobile installer charged me 150 to install, again would probably be a bit more for 2 channel. Took him a couple of hours but the job is impeccable. You can definitely do cheaper than the dealer. You are basically paying for the convenience and them doing the legwork for you, purchasing, installation etc. What sort of dash cam are they offering you for your money?

Does it have a separate battery pack or did you get the power magic pro? If I’ve read it correctly that connects to the fuses and just runs in parking mode off the car battery until the car battery drops to a predetermined power level. I was wondering how that works given less than 30 seconds after turning off the ignition and having the radio on the Stinger throws up a power discharge warning

 

[OliverNuther]

Does it have a separate battery pack or did you get the power magic pro? If I’ve read it correctly that connects to the fuses and just runs in parking mode off the car battery until the car battery drops to a predetermined power level. I was wondering how that works given less than 30 seconds after turning off the ignition and having the radio on the Stinger throws up a power discharge warning

Yep I’ve got the Power Magic Pro which is wired in to the fuse box. I don’t know the figures but the power drain must be minimal because it will record for hours and hours and hours in parking mode. I think the power discharge warning you’re talking about is more an advisory type of thing that comes on automatically rather than being triggered by actual battery drain, isn’t it? I’ve had the cam installed for 3-4 months and no problems with battery drain whatsoever.

 

[Coast GT]

Yep I’ve got the Power Magic Pro which is wired in to the fuse box. I don’t know the figures but the power drain must be minimal because it will record for hours and hours and hours in parking mode. I think the power discharge warning you’re talking about is more an advisory type of thing that comes on automatically rather than being triggered by actual battery drain, isn’t it? I’ve had the cam installed for 3-4 months and no problems with battery drain whatsoever.

Good to know. I’m not sure about the power drain message being an advisory. I ignored it the other day and left the system on, I had an active call going on bluetooth. It came up a second time a bit later and I shut everything down just in case it did actually kill it. I’m curious how long it can go but st the same time I don’t want to have to jump start my car

 

[eflyguy]

The entertainment system in the vehicle draws a substantial amount of power, that's what the warning is about. A dash cam would (should) only draw a tiny fraction of that - although I would be concerned if the vehicle isn't being driven for an extended period. I would expect the instructions that come with it would explain that.

 

[Never thought]

You Aussies with the blackvue, any over heating issues? I live in the desert, so that’s my concern.

 

[Never thought]

The entertainment system in the vehicle draws a substantial amount of power, that's what the warning is about. A dash cam would (should) only draw a tiny fraction of that - although I would be concerned if the vehicle isn't being driven for an extended period. I would expect the instructions that come with it would explain that.

I believe the blackvue hardwiring kit turns the dash cam off once it drains the car battery to a certain level so it doesn’t harm the battery.

 

[Stinger GT SS]

You Aussies with the blackvue, any over heating issues? I live in the desert, so that’s my concern.

No problem for me, never remove it always works, this was one of the reasons I purchased BlackVue at the time 2013 as it had a higher temp. rating compared to others on the market at the time.