Dashcam

[Eccleston]

I wanted my Yaris to be fitted with a Dashcam already owned but this was disallowed.... I agreed to go for a dealer fitted cam which turned out to be a Nextbase 380GWX front & rear cams 'plumbed' in. So far, so good until spending some time to attempt to download video to my mobile phone. This proved to be nigh on impossible! A short trip followed almost immediately. On this trip a 'set of circumstances' occurred and it was thought to be sensible to stop somewhere to save the video. It transpired that no video was recorded whilst driving but there was video for the periods immediately prior to and after the drive. I can offer no explanation for this whilst Nextbase immediately blame the SD card.....

Now, I do not have any knowledge of the cameras nor their reliability or otherwise but clearly a fault has occurred. 

Has anyone else had problems?

Diolch 'n fawr,

Eccleston 

[Graham47]

Has the ‘incident’ video been moved to the “protected” folder and that’s why you can’t see it ?  It seems to be too much of a coincidence that no recording took place only at that time, faulty sd card or not.

 

Incidentally, my dealer has been more than happy to fit my Nextbase dash cam to my new car.  In fact I took it in last week ready for March collection.

[flash22]

High G or yaw will put the file into a protected folder, pop the SD card out of the camera and read it with a pc or with the pc software

[Bernard Foy]

8 minutes ago, Graham47 said:

Has the ‘incident’ video been moved to the “protected” folder and that’s why you can’t see it ?  It seems to be too much of a coincidence that no recording took place only at that time, faulty sd card or not.

 

Incidentally, my dealer has been more than happy to fit my Nextbase dash cam to my new car.  In fact I took it in last week ready for March collection.

Yes my dealership was happy to change my hard wired front & rear dash cams from my trade in Yaris Hybrid to my new one only after telling them it was a deal breaker if they wouldn’t do so. In other words I used the big stick 🤪. My cams were next base too.

[Roy124]

Protected storage is a good possibility.

Rather than taking the SD card out of the camera, just take the camera and plug it into your computer.  Interestingly the 380 had both ordinary and C USB ports.  I think you can use either.

I had a problem on my previous car and the SD card was suspected.  Nextbase required an image of both sides of the SD card to prove ownership and then sent a new card.  I had no issues after that.

[Cyker]

One tip I have, is if you are a hardened road warrior like me (Or an insane foaming hardened road warrior like TonyHSD  ), it's worth getting one of those high endurance microSD cards - I used to get 128GB Sandisk microSD cards (So cheap now!!!) and they'd last maybe 2 years before developing weird problems, which I finally realized were due to them wearing out - They worked but would randomly have read errors, and after a while the camera would complain the SDcard was too slow for it to write video to.

When so-called high-endurance cards came out, I figured I'd try one, and so far I've had one of those in for 5-6 years over 3 cars and 2 cameras and it's still working as well as it did when I bought it! (I was actually hoping it was going to show signs of degradation so I could get a new one under warranty, but so far it hasn't skipped a beat! Still, got 4 years before the warranty runs out so we'll see  )

[forkingabout]

Customer goes through a lot of SD & micro SD cards at work, there fitted on the camera recorders on reach trucks plus Battery carts, eventually they do wear out & just fail.

As for Toyota supplied Nextbase dash cams, the box my 380GWX kit came in says to use a Nextbase microSD card - I'm sure a decent branded correct specification card would work just as well.

[flash22]

1 hour ago, Roy124 said:

Protected storage is a good possibility.

Rather than taking the SD card out of the camera, just take the camera and plug it into your computer.  Interestingly the 380 had both ordinary and C USB ports.  I think you can use either.

I had a problem on my previous car and the SD card was suspected.  Nextbase required an image of both sides of the SD card to prove ownership and then sent a new card.  I had no issues after that.

I can't quite remember, but...................

2 sockets on the base for straight, angled plugs and a mini USB on the camera its self

 

SD card class 10 or better

 

[Mojo1010]

Try new card or look into secure folders as suggested above. On another note, on a conversation with my dealer today, he said they got a special offer on fitted front and rear dash cams when my car arrive for £300. Immediately and politely decline, I can do it myself with 2k cams front and rear for less. Have a 2k cam on current car which i'll probably transfer over anyway. 

[Primus1]

Is there a fuse box located in the car somewhere, ?  under the glovebox perhaps..

[Mojo1010]

9 minutes ago, Primus1 said:

Is there a fuse box located in the car somewhere, ?  under the glovebox perhaps..

Yes, this is where I will hardwired it to on new car, currently cams are powered by 12v socket. 

On the note where the OP dealer refuse to fit already owned cams is because they want to make money, simple as that. 

[Cyker]

Probably more a liability thing - They have full instructions for the Nextbase one and I believe it is exempted from affecting the warranty as an approved accessory, but third-party non-approved ones wouldn't be.

Some dealers will tho' - My nearest one didn't want to know, but the other one did quote for it and were going to do it when they put on the 15" rims (Although they didn't in the end, saying they'd need to take out a 1-use trim piece to run the rear wiring and it would be an extra £50 and 2 weeks wait for get a replacement. I ended up doing it myself... I still don't know what this 1-use £50 trim piece they're talking about is!!   )

 

[Roy124]

There was an excellent Chinese cam mention not that long back where the central screen fitting could be opened and this conformal camera plugged in there. 

I like the Nextbase map and speed recording. 

I also have a Chinese camera with a 170 degree fisheye.  Amazing coverage. It could clear you or condemn you as could cover the steering wheel and gear stick. 

[Cyker]

I think you're talking about the slightly unfortunately named FitcamX - Sounds like video streaming website for women wearing too few clothes, but they make cameras that integrate into the windscreen camera pod and hook into the electrics there; Very clean install by the looks of it, esp. as you don't have to run extra cables to a hardwired power supply!

170 degrees is a very good view; My old Viofo had a 160 degree view which was great, but I 'upgraded' it as I wanted the newer one with the Starvis chip for better low-light vision - Although it is better in low light, it's only got 140 degrees and it's very noticeable how much narrower it is. At 160 I can see both A-pillars but at 140 it's pretty much ahead only.

It was partly because people on the dashcamtalk website kept telling them to reduce it, and I get why, as the narrower field of view gives a bit more detail and resolution with less distortion, as at 160 everything has this fish-eye zoomed out-ness to it, but I felt a bit safer having more side-vision (Esp. with all these SUVs cutting me up!!)

 

[Primus1]

I asked about fitting my Dashcam with the dealer, I wondered if it would invalidate the warranty but I was told it wouldn’t, I wonder if you have it professionally installed if it would make a difference?

[Cyker]

Theoretically, the dash cam (Or any modification) can only invalidate anything it touches, so if you fit one and  e.g. the hybrid system blows up, they can't (Or rather shouldn't) be able to refuse warranty repair because of the Dashcam, unless they can somehow prove the Dashcam caused the hybrid system to blow up.

If a fuse or some electric widget blew and it was connected to the Dashcam power supply however, the warranty for that would likely be invalidated.

The thing with dealer installs is they can't turn around and say it wasn't installed properly, but where a third party has installed it, some less scrupulous dealers may try that to get out of the repair.

[Max_Headroom]

I have been considering this it has a rear view camera that fits on the side so no wires running from back to front of the car - 

 

 

[Cyker]

They are a lot more convenient to set up - As you say, no wires!

It depends on what the rear visibility is like tho' - On my Mk4 it'd be practically worthless as all it would see is C-pillar and rear headrests and a tiny sliver of rear window  

 

[Mojo1010]

Yeah although it's a semi good idea, it won't see much with the head rest and rear small window of the Yaris. 

Give the normal wiring a go or ask a friend/family member. It's not too difficult to do, I had to get an extension cable as the rear cable were short, 2 different cams, not a 2 in 1 in my car. 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/295079241359

This was something I was thinking of getting for my new car. Wait for some 10-15% off discount from eBay. 

[anchorman]

Just put the rear cable in mine.  It requires a lot of trim off but it’s done now.  All fitted and working.  

[Cyker]

What would you say the Time needed and Pain in the Donkey rating would be for that job?  

[anchorman]

5 minutes ago, Cyker said:

What would you say the Time needed and Pain in the Donkey rating would be for that job?  

You need a good couple of hours.  Part of the problem is the trim is so flimsy.  It’s the thinnest plastic you’ve ever seen so getting the sill cappings off without ruining them is a task.  I’m fussy about routing the wires so went to a lot of trouble keeping it neat.  Despite me trying to avoid the right hand umbilical, I couldn’t so it’s through there with a couple of ferrite chokes on the cable.  The grommets to the hatch are very fiddly but they have to be done right or the break and or leak.  I’d probably rank it 7/10.  I’d rank oil and filter 3/10 and front discs and pads 5/10 for scale.  

[paul9]

Max, I think when you plug that rear camera into the side, it is more for keeping an eye on the passengers, useful for taxi and uber drivers. Not so much for keeping a record of who drove into the back of you.

[Graham47]

You can buy and install either version….both rear vision and cabin view.

[Eccleston]

Hi Folks,

Your input to my post is greatly appreciated, thanks to all.

The 'missing' files are nowhere to be found on the SD Card even using Recuva has not found a file let alone about 15mins worth so my conclusion is that the Dashcam is at fault. Proving this to the satisfaction of supplier, seller and manufacturer may be nigh on impossible. The SD Card itself is a Nextbase branded. Previous experience suggests that any other make is not supported by the camera.

Thanks again,

Eccles