Steverino
black sheep
So I thought I'd post a short review and demo. It's the Auto-Vox B40-C 1080p dash cam.
$72.25 + $11.99 for a 32G micro-SD card from Amazon.
The camera sticks to the inside of the windshield via super-sticky 3M adhesive tape. Once the little docking piece is in place, it's there for good until you razor blade it off. You mount that little dock piece and then you can attach the camera itself to the dock. This enables you to remove the cam if you need to. A 12VDC cable also runs from the cam down to wherever you need to get the required 12 volts.
Admittedly, I have not played much with the control buttons on the camera itself. I have not gone into any settings other than set the date, so the camera is pretty much operating right out of the box, as it was configured from the factory (which I'm sure is in China).
The micro SD plugs into a little slot on the side. You can eject it to insert into an SD reader for viewing of playback video on your PC. I use the VLC video player, but have also used QuickTime.
The camera lens is convex to get a wide angle; for viewing of vehicles that are alongside you etc. While this is good, it also creates an illusion that objects are significantly farther away than they really are. At about 2:10 in the video I just uploaded, the asshat in the white Altima was way closer than the video shows. I don't like that at all, but I think most dash cams are this way.
The camera starts to record as soon as you connect it to DC power. You can configure it not to. I just plug its cigarette-type male connector into a cig lighter socket and off we go. When I park, I reach down and unplug it from the lighter socket. I'm sure you could do a neater, more efficient way so that the cam starts as soon as you start the car. The cam's cig plug plugs into a 12v source, but the camera itself runs off 5V, so this needs to be kept in mind if you're thinking about wiring it directly into a fuse panel.
The cam will continue to record until you either remove power or stop recording via a small button on the unit itself.
Recordings are split into folders. The user can select either 1, 3 or 5 minute-long videos. With a 32G card and 3 minutes each, you'll notice quite a few folders in the card before the card runs out of space and the camera will begin to overwirte the oldest one. Any jolts, jars, bumps or accidents are recorded via the G sensor and are saved in a separate folder that cannot be overwritten (or so it says).
Anyway, that's it. I dig it. Yesterday, a freakin' vulture flew up off the shoulder and clipped the antenna on the roof of my truck. Scared the crap out of me, thought he was coming in the cab for a second there. I went back and captured a snapshot. Pretty sure that's a piece of roadkill delicacy falling from his beak as he's realized he's about to be whipped with stainless steel at 77 mph.
$72.25 + $11.99 for a 32G micro-SD card from Amazon.
The camera sticks to the inside of the windshield via super-sticky 3M adhesive tape. Once the little docking piece is in place, it's there for good until you razor blade it off. You mount that little dock piece and then you can attach the camera itself to the dock. This enables you to remove the cam if you need to. A 12VDC cable also runs from the cam down to wherever you need to get the required 12 volts.
Admittedly, I have not played much with the control buttons on the camera itself. I have not gone into any settings other than set the date, so the camera is pretty much operating right out of the box, as it was configured from the factory (which I'm sure is in China).
The micro SD plugs into a little slot on the side. You can eject it to insert into an SD reader for viewing of playback video on your PC. I use the VLC video player, but have also used QuickTime.
The camera lens is convex to get a wide angle; for viewing of vehicles that are alongside you etc. While this is good, it also creates an illusion that objects are significantly farther away than they really are. At about 2:10 in the video I just uploaded, the asshat in the white Altima was way closer than the video shows. I don't like that at all, but I think most dash cams are this way.
The camera starts to record as soon as you connect it to DC power. You can configure it not to. I just plug its cigarette-type male connector into a cig lighter socket and off we go. When I park, I reach down and unplug it from the lighter socket. I'm sure you could do a neater, more efficient way so that the cam starts as soon as you start the car. The cam's cig plug plugs into a 12v source, but the camera itself runs off 5V, so this needs to be kept in mind if you're thinking about wiring it directly into a fuse panel.
The cam will continue to record until you either remove power or stop recording via a small button on the unit itself.
Recordings are split into folders. The user can select either 1, 3 or 5 minute-long videos. With a 32G card and 3 minutes each, you'll notice quite a few folders in the card before the card runs out of space and the camera will begin to overwirte the oldest one. Any jolts, jars, bumps or accidents are recorded via the G sensor and are saved in a separate folder that cannot be overwritten (or so it says).
Anyway, that's it. I dig it. Yesterday, a freakin' vulture flew up off the shoulder and clipped the antenna on the roof of my truck. Scared the crap out of me, thought he was coming in the cab for a second there. I went back and captured a snapshot. Pretty sure that's a piece of roadkill delicacy falling from his beak as he's realized he's about to be whipped with stainless steel at 77 mph.
