Originally Posted by
echappist
speaking of GoPros and Contours, how much is a camera that could record up to 4 hrs (and tape over the previously recorded afterwards)? thinking of finally going defensive with my set up and have front and rear cameras for, God forbid, any traffic incidents
I think Contours work well for forward facing (helmet, bars). GoPros work well for rear facing. For auto-overwrite, not sure, I don't even know if it's an option on the Contours.
Dash cams autooverwrite, there's a menu selection. Some offer G-force retention, i.e. a certain impact will retain the last minute. Batteries, not sure how long they last, not very long, but if you had a Lithium battery with a USB type outlet you could plug the camera into the battery. I have a light that is charged via USB (newt? not sure) and I suppose I could use a two ended USB cable to power a dash cam.
Our two cars now have Ojocam 0801 dash cams front and rear. They're less noticeable than before (I'm thinking of putting yellow paint on the rear camera, maybe just a circle around the lens, so it's more visible). During the day it's amazing how drivers react - 99% of them will start off tailgating then suddenly back a good 50-70 feet away (at 40-50 mph). Without the camera they just tailgate. I don't have a causal proof but the correlation is very strong. At night there is no difference in behavior.
Front cam (formerly used a DroidX with Dailyroads app but the LG G2 is too blurry so am no longer using my phone as a dash cam):
Rear is a bit less visible with reflections but at times it really stands out. I used to have a much bigger form factor camera that sat low in the window but the three cams I have broke and I decided not to replace them (broken body molded mount, broken USB plug - broke off inside, broken body molded mount + broken USB plug)
Those cameras power on when they get power and turn off a few seconds after they lose power, so you can plug them into a battery and unplug when done.
I suppose one of the dash cams I removed would work as a rear cam, as long as I used my USB light as a battery source. I might do it, didn't think of it until I was typing this response.