I have now been in my second Prius accident. The first one totalled the gen 2 Prius, leading me to buy a 2012 PiP. Now i've been in an accident with that one too, just half a year later. Luckily the second one was minor, but for both I've been 100% not at fault. These were rear-enders so it was easy for the insurance adjusters to find me not at fault, but nonetheless, the outcomes could have been different. Perhaps a dashcam may not have helped in these types of cases so much, but I figure it's about time I get a dashcam regardless. What would you recommend for good quality (within reason for cost), with the best in-cabin aesthetics? I don't want wires everywhere, but I'm also not keen on DIY tapping of hidden wires either. If the latter then I'd strongly consider hiring someone to do the install. I'm thinking US$150 or CAD$200, give or take. Cheaper would be better, but I don't want something that is low quality and unreliable. I hear stories of overheating eBay cameras.
If you find one, let me know. I researched the topic and bought the "best" overall rated one from China. It was a piece of garbage that stopped working not even a month later. Fortunately, I got it through Amazon, so on the last day of their AtoZ guarantee when I still had not gotten a credit, I filed a claim and got my money back. The chief issue is that direct sunlight is a killer on most common electronics left in place, but it's not practical to mount and dismount a camera each time to go to drive. You'd think they'd make them much heartier or at least include a case with plenty of thermal shielding.
I bought a A118-C. It is a nice discrete camera that can easily hide behind the mirror. I'll post some photos of the installation as well as a demo video of the camera in action tomorrow (I'm new and can't yet post links). The wires are actually really easy to hide (search for "BlackVue Dash Cam Review & Install in a 2011 Toyota Prius" on YouTube) once you know how to pop off the panels. The installation took me perhaps 30-45 minutes and it looks great. In fact, almost nobody even notices the camera is there!
Mobius Action Camera and a Mobius ActionCam Dash Camera Kit is my recommendation. I have one on each of our 3 cars and they work great! They are configurable to turn on automatically when power is applied (turning car on) and turn off automatically as well. Once installed I never have to touch them as they just do there thing and that's what I wanted. I've ran the wire up along the windshield and down the A pillar and under the glove box and have it plugged into the outlet under the shifter. Video from my old gen 2 prius with the Mobius. The panting sound is NOT me! Dog sitting passenger. LOL
Here are a couple of photographs of what my A118-C looks like once installed. It is very discrete, almost unnoticeable unless the lighting is right outside as it hides quite well behind the mirror: The perspective when the camera is installed is slightly higher than the video above so you can't make out any of the Prius' dash indicators: If you really want to know more about dash cams, you should probably review posts on DashCamTalk about what is the best model given your target price. I followed the instructions in this video for how to route power cables down the left pillar: Getting cables through the dash is a bit tricky, but easily managed once you pop out the black panel at the front too.
Here's my Dashcam adventures: Dashcam and Subaru Homelink Mirror Install - 2015 Prius THREE | PriusChat I have a wire cover now so it looks factory. I need to update those pics
