Great advice for a Dash Cam fitment

[GrumpyGranddad]

I bought this one from Amazon and it’s fine.

 

[nickb77]

Hi Nick, yes I saw that whilst doing (many hours) research, but I read one or two negative posts regarding using this option, so I’ll have to have another read up. It would certainly simplify the installation though, that’s for sure!

I’ve had mine for a year and it’s been fine. Only ‘quirk’ is that when I’m on hookup the camera stays powered constantly even though I’ve got the switch on the power adapter set to switch off 10 mins after turning the ignition off. Just learned to pull the power cable out of the camera when I’m on hookup.

 

[Hawthorn37]

To be honest I was all for getting a decent front & rear professionally installed and liked the sound of a place in Nottingham as they got good feedback for work on Cali’s, but they quoted me £250 to fit and 3-4 hours to do that and fit Ghost (for £450). Seems a bit steep? That was for the BlackVue DR750 2 Ch LTE with 32gb card. I suppose that is going to be a good set up but £750?? What do you think?

I‘m assuming TTW are saying that they’ll take 3-4 hours because they’ve cracked the technique for the rear camera. As I DM’d to you, they took over 5 hours on mine, but I didn’t mind, and told them ‘take as long as you like’ when I left the van. For £250 I think that was reasonable value, and I wouldn’t have contemplated doing it myself on a brand new van.
The DR750 provides a decent HD image, the only drawback is you need to connect to a laptop, or remove the SD card and put it in a card reader. The standard 32 gig card will give you about 3 - 4 hours run time on the best image setting before over-writing. I bought a 256 gig card from Amazon and I’m running on that, keeping the Blackvue card as a back up. That did our entire trip to and from France this year. Nb. Need to take care specifying the SD card for repeated over-writes, so get the best otherwise you’ll pay twice, just as @dspuk says. Our buy was ….

“SanDisk MAX ENDURANCE Video Monitoring for Dashcams & Home Monitoring 256 GB microSDXC Memory Card + SD Adaptor 120,000 Hours”​

I like the option in Parking mode to do time lapse, as it doesn’t consume so much power. The unit disables at 12v, and happily works without moving the van or on hook up on this mode for at least 3 days ( that’s the limit I’ve tried so far).
So far, we’ve not gone for the Cloud option, but this can be added after the install. It’s another cable into the camera, and another box for your screen. I’m interested in the comment about acting as a WiFi hub though, mentioned by @dspuk - not considered that.

 

[This Eva]

I’ve been on some beautiful car journeys in my life, especially the ones over the cols in the Alpes and Pyrenees.

I’ve never thought of videoing them though, Do they make for entertaining films?

Sarcasm aside, I drive at the speed limit, my Cali has adaptive speed control so I never am too close to the car in front and I NEVER see things happening that I need to record, not in thirty years.

Why do people need dashcams?

Because there are some people in this world that after crashing into your rear bumper say you were at fault for breaking erratically. Rear dash cam proved he was not looking. Wonder what his insurance company thought about his story after they saw the front and rear dash cam footage

 

[dspuk]

I‘m assuming TTW are saying that they’ll take 3-4 hours because they’ve cracked the technique for the rear camera. As I DM’d to you, they took over 5 hours on mine, but I didn’t mind, and told them ‘take as long as you like’ when I left the van. For £250 I think that was reasonable value, and I wouldn’t have contemplated doing it myself on a brand new van.
The DR750 provides a decent HD image, the only drawback is you need to connect to a laptop, or remove the SD card and put it in a card reader. The standard 32 gig card will give you about 3 - 4 hours run time on the best image setting before over-writing. I bought a 256 gig card from Amazon and I’m running on that, keeping the Blackvue card as a back up. That did our entire trip to and from France this year. Nb. Need to take care specifying the SD card for repeated over-writes, so get the best otherwise you’ll pay twice, just as @dspuk says. Our buy was ….

“SanDisk MAX ENDURANCE Video Monitoring for Dashcams & Home Monitoring 256 GB microSDXC Memory Card + SD Adaptor 120,000 Hours”​

I like the option in Parking mode to do time lapse, as it doesn’t consume so much power. The unit disables at 12v, and happily works without moving the van or on hook up on this mode for at least 3 days ( that’s the limit I’ve tried so far).
So far, we’ve not gone for the Cloud option, but this can be added after the install. It’s another cable into the camera, and another box for your screen. I’m interested in the comment about acting as a WiFi hub though, mentioned by @dspuk - not considered that.

Yeah - the hub works great. Depends on your cam if you get a 4 device hub or a 1 device hub. I think the 4 devices is the PLUS series. It’s the cam itself that is a conduit to the LTE device so you actually connect to the cam as a hotspot, not the LTE device. The SIM is 4 quid a month and the data more or less unlimited. 40GB is the top out though. We use to connect laptops and our Capsule Max, works perfectly. Of course depends on the phone signal where you are but I have held teams calls without issues for work over it. Defo a billy bonus.

 

[Californication69]

Cheers mate. I’m gonna have to give it some more thought. I just want to get the van now and start enjoying it, but all this waiting has got me researching all sorts of stuff, some that I need and some that I probably don’t! I’m still undecided between a full system, installed or a front camera installed, or nothing at all….
Ps. You don’t know any good installers in the Birmingham/Midlands area do you?

I use Lee at JATE Automotive 07966253267 as the official Ghost installer. He also does everything and anything electrically on Cars/Motorhomes/vans.
He’s a really good guy.
Think he lives Wombourne way. Works on your drive or work place

 

[Hawthorn37]

Yeah - the hub works great. Depends on your cam if you get a 4 device hub or a 1 device hub. I think the 4 devices is the PLUS series. The SIM is 4 quid a month and the data more or less unlimited. 40GB is the top out though. We use to connect laptops and our Capsule Max, works perfectly. Of course depends on the phone signal where you are but I have held teams calls without issues for work over it. Defo a billy bonus.

They really keep that info buried deeply! It’s not even in the product spec sheet or user manual. All of the stuff I read when buying the dash cam mentions the LTE module only in the context of connecting to Blackvue Cloud so you are always in contact with the dashcam. As we’d spent more than we set out to for the dash cam, the extra £170 plus £4/ month was a bridge too far. I might be rethinking this now.

After a bit of searching I found this (which might help others)….

Share Your BlackVue's Internet with Mobile Hotspot Function

Mobile Hotspot Function is a BlackVue dash cam feature that lets you use your dash cam as a Wi-Fi access point for you and you passengers. This way, when you use the BlackVue LTE Connectivity Module with a Mobile Hotspot Function-compatible BlackVue, you can connect your dash cam to BlackVue...

blackvue.com

 

[dspuk]

They really keep that info buried deeply! It’s not even in the product spec sheet or user manual. All of the stuff I read when buying the dash cam mentions the LTE module only in the context of connecting to Blackvue Cloud so you are always in contact with the dashcam. As we’d spent more than we set out to for the dash cam, the extra £170 plus £4/ month was a bridge too far. I might be rethinking this now.

After a bit of searching I found this (which might help others)….

Share Your BlackVue's Internet with Mobile Hotspot Function

Mobile Hotspot Function is a BlackVue dash cam feature that lets you use your dash cam as a Wi-Fi access point for you and you passengers. This way, when you use the BlackVue LTE Connectivity Module with a Mobile Hotspot Function-compatible BlackVue, you can connect your dash cam to BlackVue...

blackvue.com

Yup. Exactly that. You need a X Plus series so the 750X Plus or the 900X Plus. I have the LTE unit very top right of the windscreen. Did a lot of research before buying and this is why I used this combo as I wanted cloud upload from cam AND hotspot. Was the only combo that did it as far as I could see. As per the cam I got the LTE unit on ebay for only 120 and again the BV refurb page has them on frequently.