[Closed] Dashcams, do you bother with a rear one?

For the sake of a few extra quid & bit of effort, why would you not? Plenty of useful scenarios... such as recording someone driving into the back of you whilst parked, then ****ing off without stopping!

I have front and rear. No idea if it works yet as thankfully have had no need to test it

I didn't, as I was skint, and the front facing one will still show what you were up to at the time. When I get round to upgrading mine, I'll put the old front one in the back.

TBH I've noticed a couple in the rear window of cars I followed, and it did make me more conscious of my driving, so may they are a good thing.

The rear camera might get you a shot of the front plate as they approach which is useful when the rear plate is obscured.

I would say the rear is just as important as the front, especially if shunted from the rear, a scenario that no front facing dash cam would register, especially as it could show the car speeding or maybe the driver not paying attention.

When I got mine 5 or 6 years ago the rear ones took a lot of wiring through the car. Dunno if that's changed but put me off. So front only here, fortunately never required.

neither... don't much care.

I'm in the no camp. Generally anyone hitting you in the rear is at fault, especially if the front facing one doesn't show you changing lanes late or brake checking the driver behind.

A neighbour had someone drive into the back of him whilst he was at a T junction waiting to pull out. The other driver then claimed he (my neighbour) had (mistakenly?) put his car into reverse and driven into her. She then went onto claim the usual neck injury nonsense. Something that should've been called out as bollox at the start dragged on for months.

I imagine he'd recommend a rear facing dashcam, but I'm not so sure -  insurance companies default behaviour seems to be bellendery.

I've got one and it proved one of my neighbours, a few doors down had run into the back of my car when parked. The rear camera cost me £120 extra, fitted; the repair cost her £600. I'd like to think she'd have come clean but I was glad of the camera.

I have front and back. As there's a 12v socket in the boot its easy enough to plumb in, but can get in the way when packing the boot to the gunwales. After someone drove across our lane and disputing the facts, the front dashcam footage smoothed things over on the insurance claim. Following that we paid a small amount for a rear one. If its got a little screen, you may want to cover it with tape as it can be a distractio in the rear view mirror at night.

Some dashcams have an auxiliary rear camera so it's just one screen/recording.

I use a cheap one like that as a reversing camera for my campervan

I think a rear is useful, problem is though if it's feeding into the same unit as the front it often means the front resolution and/or frame rate is lowered to

I've got a front one currently which was useless when someone hit my boot when it was parked and drove off. It recorded the time of the incident but all it saw was the wall and the houses opposite. When I replace it I'll be getting one with a rear camera.

If you had no front or rear cam at all but thought having both was a good idea, what would you get?

I want one, along with a front. My mum bought me a cheap one years ago the same as they'd bought - when they actually needed footage turns out for whatever reason it hadn't recorded anything. So I'm going for a solid brand next time.

if you are going to the trouble then just do it properly and get one with a rear camera.
its not that hard to do and cables can typically be pushed up into the trim insitu (so no or very little trim removal needed). I've done a Yeti and a Kia in my time, both pretty simple. hardest part was fitting the powerfeed into the fusebox on my pretty old Blackvue, did a nextbase (with rear) for my dad and that was super easy.

I think a rear is useful, problem is though if it’s feeding into the same unit as the front it often means the front resolution and/or frame rate is lowered to

I haven't got either, but looked into it.

I'd go for both if I eventually get round to it

Pretty straight forward to fit. I used a fuse piggy back to do a self install, and ran the rear wire along the top of the door seal edging and popped it behind the trim. Obviously more work than a front only. Fit and forget - just leave the thing now.

never heard of that from a quality brand tbh!

I didn't phrase it very well but my NextBase 522GW has the 'problem' if you want the rear cam recording at 1080p then the front camera can only record at a max of 1080p @ 30fps. If the rear camera is recording at 720p then the front camera can do 1440p @ 30fps or 1080p @ 60fps (so more it's not great I have to run the rear at lower resolution in order to maintain 1080p 60fps on the front camera)

I didn’t phrase it very well but my NextBase

Whats a quality brand then??

Nextbase, go for the W range as you can just connect your phone app over Wi-fi, otherwise you have to mess around with SD cards. I'de get a dedicated unit for front and back, and go for as slim a unit as possible for the rear so you can close the boot when its full, something like this (not W so you'll have to take the card out for footage but not a big problem).
https://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/home-and-outdoors/car-accessories/dash-cams/nextbase-rear-window-dash-cam-black-10191780-pdt.html?store=2828&&istCompanyId=bec25c7e-cbcd-460d-81d5-a25372d2e3d7&istFeedId=2928af81-b29b-476c-a180-ac5de265a98e&istItemId=watrwalmt&istBid=t&srcid=198&cmpid=ppc~gg~1008%20(shopping%20Ads)%20GPS%20Navigation%20-%20Generic%202021~All%20Products~Exact&mctag=gg_goog_7904&kwid=GOOGLE&device=c&ds_kids=92700060718102538&tgtid=1008%20(shopping%20Ads)%20GPS%20Navigation%20-%20Generic%202021&gclid=Cj0KCQiAnuGNBhCPARIsACbnLzq8M4U-aH5WOhAzjLVQKQEf5Xmkn0fcZgr7G3kSgXqEXmMP3-YyptgaArLtEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds

I'd have a rear, we've had more than a few aggressive tailgaters and general lunatics double lane changing at speed that one would be useful.

as I said, never heard of that from a quality brand

:p my main criteria for brand selection was anything but Garmin as the amount of shite I've had to deal with over the years from their bike computers I'm not touching any product they sell ever again that involves a software component...

Realised the device I linked to was a unit that links to the front. If you can get a slimline one like this, it would work really well in the boot when its full.

https://www.halfords.com/technology/dash-cams/blackvue-dr590x-1ch-dash-cam-with-32gb-microsd-card-461694.html

They couldn't fit mine, so just got the front one. Apparently, VAG group cars have some complex loom to bypass. Anyway 3 Halfords engineers and a SEAT engineer couldn't fit it. So just got the front one.

They couldn’t fit mine, so just got the front one. Apparently, VAG group cars have some complex loom to bypass.

I’d have a rear, we’ve had more than a few aggressive tailgaters and general lunatics double lane changing at speed that one would be useful.

You say a rear one would be useful for the tailgaters and double lane changers (what is this, and why is it bad?), but in what way would it be useful?

What would you do with the footage if you did have a rear facing camera? I'm assuming none of them actually caused any kind of accident.

In the event of 'just' dubious driving (ie no actual accident, just aggressive tailgating and lunatic double lane changing) do the police do anything with all this footage, or is capturing it all just a bit pointless and (assuming you send it to the police as an example of poor driving) a waste of your time and the polices ?

Do any cars come with dash cams fitted as standard? I'd imagine there'd be a demand for that

Tesla's and I think the Citroen C3 did for a while.

You're right though, given the amount of built in tech and sensors in cars these days, it seems like an obvious fitment. Easy to integrate into the windscreen like rain sensors and the like.

? it’s just a cable connecting the rear cam to the front shirley? Tucked in behind the trim if you want it to look neat?

You'd have thought so but that's not what the fitters told me. The SEAT garage wanted £500 to fit the rear one.

Default fitment would be a good call. Especially as a lot of cars have cameras already for lane assist, traffic sign recognition and such like.

However some countries don't allow dash cams so it would be something that would have to be enabled/disabled on a per country basis.

However some countries don’t allow dash cams 

I didn't know that! Privacy laws I guess..

You’d have thought so but that’s not what the fitters told me. The SEAT garage wanted £500 to fit the rear one.

It might be that it's an estate and I have a towbar fitted. Anyway, they do this every day I don't. And if 3 fitters couldn't do it then it must be difficult.

I've had 2 hardwired in to different Seats, its just a cable that goes to a fuse (one that isn't on unless the ignition is on) thats tucked behind the liner. Unless they're wanting to wire it in to the screen on your dashboard so you can see it there?

I didn’t know that! Privacy laws I guess..

Germany is probably one as the residents can get agitated if you're taking a picture of anything and they wander into shot.

I hope VAGs aren't a problem. Planning to put a Blackvue or Nextbase in the wife's Touran in the new year.

It'll be very similar to my old Yeti, dead easy.
you should be able to do the lot without removing any trim

Default fitment would be a good call.

All they need is a USB C socket hidden behind the rear view mirror or on the rear parcel shelf. Simple as that. Apparently my sister's Nissan X Trail had a faglighter socket under the windscreen.

Shouldn't all new cars by now come with dash cams that overlay telemetry and vehicle controls data?
Should show throttle position, speed, signal light state (turn/brake) etc.
Seems like it would streamline the insurance process and remove fraudulent whiplash claims.

Also, has anyone come across "mirror tap" prongs on their own?
I'd like to direct wire mine to my auto dimming mirror rather than my permanently on ciggy socket that ends up draining my battery over a couple of days of being parked because I forget to unplug it.

You’re right though, given the amount of built in tech and sensors in cars these days, it seems like an obvious fitment. Easy to integrate into the windscreen like rain sensors and the like.

Never mind that, my car (Nissan Leaf) already has the front and rear-facing cameras (for manoeuvring) plumbed into the centre console, and a USB port for data. If the software allowed, I'm imagining it could be as simple as plugging an SSD into the USB and recording onto that.

I don’t bother with either, front or rear. Resolution is perfect. I look where I’m going and keep checking my mirrors. Does that make me old fashioned, tight or sensible? Or all three?

Wouldn’t have a dashcam except that Teslas come with them built in. Front, rear, and ones that look down the side. All they need is a USB partition to work.

I don’t bother with either, front or rear. Resolution is perfect. I look where I’m going and keep checking my mirrors. Does that make me old fashioned, tight or sensible? Or all three?

I assume this is a troll...?