Windshield / Dash HD cam install

My rear dashcam is maybe more mistake than anything. If you get hit from behind, it's generally assumed you're not at fault. However, in my neighbourhood, there are a lot of surprise witnesses that tend to turn up long after the accident with all kinds of strange stories, so better be safe. But my camera location, on that vertical glass, is not so good. In the Canadian winter, all kinds of grime collects on there to make a blurry picture. I've taken to wiping clean that area between each drive. The back-up camera that came with the car needs the same frequent cleaning anyway. Maybe I should have put my camera on the sloped glass, but then it would need to be within the windshield wiper sweep area, and would be highly visible.

Routing the wire took hours. First it had to take a longer path along the floor, under the door weatherstripping, to avoid the curtain airbags on the roof. Had to pull the trim on the centre post between front and rear doors, and carefully cable tie the wire out of the way of the seatbelt mechanism. Then had to pull down the headliner a bit to cross to the centre of the hatchback, and finish it off with a devilish pull through the S-shaped conduit between hatchback door and frame. Not worth the effort in retrospect.

 

Regarding the poor guy who was harassed by a cop, you need to know that it is legal to record your interactions with the police; you don't need permission. Some states have tried to pass laws against this, and they've been found unconstitutional by the courts. Know your rights!

 

Yup, the front camera is pretty much invisible to both the driver and passenger. That part I'm happy about. Thanks!

 

I use an AEE SD20
Not fantastic but good value for what it is although I did need to buy a suction cup mount for it but at around £130 it was much cheaper than the GoPro.

Here is some example footage inside and outside my car. The wind noise is a bit of an issue that I believe you don't get with the GoPro but I could be wrong.

 

My understanding of current US policies:

You can record pictures in public places with no particular permission from anyone. Officials of various kinds may take offense because it interferes with their ability to be in charge of the narrative. They may invent laws on the spot or have some local custom where they just don't allow that. You can contest this but you have to consider what they can do if you piss them off.

The laws governing the recording of sound are not identical to the laws regarding pictures. In some places it is considered wiretapping if you record the conversation of a person without their knowledge. You ever call a business and a robot answers and says "This call may be recorded for quality control purposes"? Once you notify all participants, your recording becomes legal. You can do the same thing either verbally or with a sign.

However you have to consider that if you tell someone "I am just recording the &^%! out of you" they may develop an attitude and haul you in, tow your car, keep you for a while, just because you are annoying. This is called "Non-judicial punishment" and is effectively legal. The details of what is and is not wiretapping vary considerably from state to state.

If you care to pursue this you may want to stop in at Photography is Not a Crime

 

True, but only if there is a reasonable expectation of privacy, as in a telephone call to tech support. When talking to a police officer, or pretty much any government representative in an official capacity, there is no expectation of privacy and you can record sound. The cops are often recording you with a little device in their shirt pocket. Neither you nor the cop needs to let the other know.

True again, but only for the swearing, not for the recording. They can detain you until you calm down and cooperate with them. Even then, they can't arrest you just for using swear words, and they can't tow your car. And you don't have to stop recording just because you're detained, in fact you really shouldn't stop. But do be polite, it always helps.

 

I have the ITB-100HD and can't say enough about it.
Great quality in day or night. Cant be seen from inside and hardly at all from out.
Perfect video even with the high windshield placement and never any glare.
Just the power wire to wrap around top ceiling molding and down right edge and over to outlet. Took 2 mins and no wires seen. The quality of video is great!
Good Luck on your choice.

 

Let me start off by saying that all of the prior postings to this thread are giving good advice. (in other words, what I'm about to say is that my solution below works for me, and it involves a different [cheapo] dash cam)

My key criteria for a dash cam was that it be as non-intrusive as possible, auto on and off, night vision IR, a wide view lens of 140 or more degrees, mountable directly on the Pri windshield and not too expensive. I took a chance on a unit from eBay from a seller in China like the link below.

The key point to this unit is that you can adjust the lens independent of the camera body. So I mounted the camera directly on the windshield using that heavy duty 3M velcro that they give you for your EZ Pass transponder. I mounted it in the upper left corner of the windshield, so way out of my field of vision. Note that from the picture in the eBay listing below, what you end up doing is swivel the camera lens about 120 degrees towards the back side of the unit (screen facing you is the front, "back side" in this case is the side mounted to the windshield).

This particular unit can handle up to 32GB micro sim card that I paid about $22 for on Amazon. The description / instructions on the dash cam say that it overwrites the oldest files continuously, but it doesn't. For me, about every 3-4 weeks the card fills up and then I need to put it into my computer and erase the files. Is that a little bit of a hassle? Yes. Is it the end of the world to do the erase procedure? No.

For the install wiring I used an inelegant solution of putting the 12v male connector into the plug under the flying buttress, ran the wire under the dash, and then underneath the gaskets up the A pillar. I left 2 feet of slack wire that is between the driver sun visor (I never use the Sun visor) and roof liner with the thought it will be enough excess wire in case the driver side head airbag deploys it won't make a projectile out of the dash cam. Is 2 feet enough? I don't ever want to find out.... So this install took me all of 2 minutes. (My unit only has front facing, the link below also has the rear camera, which I wish I got since there is no shortage of dips hit tailgaters out there.)

The quality of the video is OK. It says that it's 1080p, but I'm not so sure. But I'm not looking to post videos on Youtube.... just looking for piece of mind if something goes wrong and I need to protect myself with the facts of how it all went down.

Good luck choosing and once you get it, post some pics and let us know.


*****
EDIT:
The link isn't showing, so try searching eBay using some combination of these words:
FHD 140°1080P Car Dash 2" TFT HD DVR Single Camera Cam Recorder IR Night Vision