My wife nearly got wiped out by a drunk driver on Friday night, and should have had a dash cam, but it was in the house at the time. . i need to fix that today. She missed the head on collision by driving onto a curb at 40 MPH, we still have not taken the car to get the alignment checked (to busy this weekend), but know the house that the car pulled into that night and parked.
I have some what I might call 'disposable' dash cams. They are all less than $25 now on this website. In Russia, it is common to cause a accident to collect insurance money, and dash cams are used by most who own something expensive to save on insurance claims. I think they could become standard equipment in a couple of years on all new cars.
http://www.aliexpress.com/item/2015-New-1pcs-New-Camcorder-LCD-270-dgree-2-5-HD-Car-LED-DVR-Road-Dash/32284558864.htmlThis $10 device does not have a internal battery, though you can buy one for it. It might not come with the memory card, but I just ordered some 32 GB cars for less than $9 each that are class 10 for a camera (10 MB per second). Class 6 is more than fast enough for a dash cam (6 MB per second transfer rate) and are a little less expensive.
I have a wired back up camera for my shuttle bus, and it has a built in front and remote camera. They both record to a 32 GB card in 5 minute files, each will over write a prior file if you run out of room. It's display and front camera strap to the rear view mirror. It is a 9" wide mirror with a 4.3" diagonal screen built in, that displays the rear view, or what has been recorded on the camera.
This was $64.
http://www.aliexpress.com/item/New-1pcs-car-camara-Large-4-3-inch-16-9-SD-480-272-screen-resolution-CAR/1975185577.htmlI like that it is a wired camera, and leave it powered on all the time I am driving. There is a switch in the shuttle van to activate a relay controlling the interior lights and several circuit breakers, so I wired the camera to run from one of those circuits. I guess if plugged into a switched cigarette lighter, it will start automatically. It has a battery, and will turn itself on when the vehicle is moved (say a car hits it, or I open one of the doors) and will record a short time with it's internal battery.
I had to extend the wiring on my shuttle van, it is 23' long overall. By cutting the wire to the camera, I was able to drill a 3/16" hole through the back wall, and mount the camera, seal the hole, and it looks factory installed.
Good luck,
Fred.
