Any special considerations when choosing a Prius dashcam?

Don't leave climate control on without the car being fully on. You will drain the battery and be left stranded. Dash cams always run when in accessory mode or higher. As to what kind of dash cam to get, its all in your budget. I waited until the a nice one went on sale and then bought it.

Things to consider are field of view, HDR, night vision performance. parking mode like you said, GPS is usually nice, and since you are in Wisconsin, cold weather performance.

 

I would wire it in properly... it's easy to run the power cable under the ceiling liner, down the door pillar (under the flap of the rubber seal), and into the area where the fusebox is located in the footwell. I used a gadget called an "Add A Fuse" which taps into any existing fuse socket, the original fuse plugs into the back of it, and an additional fuse is added to it to power a spur (which goes to your dashcam). If you tap into the 12V cigarette lighter/accessory socket then this will switch with the ignition, thus preventing your battery being drained. For the ground connection, there's a conveniently located metal bolt in that area too, that seems to hold the entire dashboard in place (don't worry, its held in by several other bolts too). You can just use a ring terminal to fasten it to that.

If you really don't fancy wiring it in properly like that, you can take the original power cord the same route, but go behind the carpet in the footwell, tuck it under the side of the arm-rest area, and then up to where the 12V socket is.

In terms of what dashcam to get, VanTrue is a tried and tested brand, which is what I currently use. I used to use RoadHawk and BlackVue, but both of those have dropped in quality more and more as the years have passed. Both of their HD models are super unreliable (which is why I jumped ship to VanTrue). You get what you pay for. Get an HD model. Anything less and you can't read numberplates. You can get 4K, but to be honest that's not needed, and both 4K dashcams and the SD cards they need seem to struggle. It's actually far more important to have 50FPS or 60FPS than 4K, as at 140MPH (combined speed of two vehicles at 70MPH) a vehicle travels 250cm (over 8 feet, or pretty much an entire car length) in a single frame at 25FPS. Also a big lens on the front... that means a faster shutter speed. If it's tiny then the shutter speed gets so slow that everything just looks like a blur, and again the footage is useless in the event of an accident.

 

The dashcams that have a parking mode, at least the ones I've seen, are basically wired to an accessory switched source in the fusebox (e.g. the 12V cigarette lighter socket), and a permanent supply (e.g. the central locking fuse). They detect when the car is switched off, because power is cut to the accessory wire. They'll usually go into a reduced power mode, such as lower resolution and frame rate, or only recording when there's motion or an impact, so they don't flatten your battery as quickly. Other dashcams will monitor the video feed for movement, and/or GPS, and do the same based on if the car, or what it can see, is actually moving or not.

Either way, it will use your 12V battery, and it will deplete in around 12 to 48 hours, depending on dashcam.

To prevent battery depletion, many dashcams offer a "hard wiring kit" that may cut off the supply if the battery voltage drops below a threshold. In my experience, this happens pretty quickly, often within a couple of hours of switching the car off.

If you're planning on sleeping in the car with the AC and/or heating on, then the car will need to be switched on (Ready mode). Heat comes from the engine running, and the AC only runs in Ready mode (I think). In Ready mode, 12V power isn't an issue, as the 12V battery is charging. Bear in mind that in Ready mode, every time the HV battery drops below 2 bars of power, or the cabin temperature drops a few degrees below the set climate control temperature, the engine will start up for a few minutes to charge the battery or warm up the cabin. This may wake you up unless you're a heavy sleeper.

 

I just use vantrue dash cam with a short usb cable connecting through usb port near the dash box. Looks ugly but it does its job.