Poor choice of dashcams on Lazada!

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404cameljockey
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Poor choice of dashcams on Lazada!

Post by 404cameljockey »

I want to buy a front facing dashcam and have seen several I like the reviews of on international websites, but Amazon charge a fortune for shipping plus estimated amount of import tax. These add about a third to the price.

I don't know anyone coming to Thailand who can bring one in for me, and don't want to buy the rubbish on Lazada (even the Xiaomi Yi has terrible international reviews for license plate reading and fuzzy images when hot).

How can I get my hands on a Street Guardian, Blackvue, Thinkware, etc.?
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Re: Poor choice of dashcams on Lazada!

Post by huahin4ever »

I've got this one and is very pleased. Did not buy it on Lazada, but it is available there as far as I can see:

http://www.lazada.co.th/blackvue-dr650g ... 60&sc=EfwO
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Re: Poor choice of dashcams on Lazada!

Post by laphanphon »

I got my present one from Lazada, and it's excellent, and standing the test of time. Quite a few years old now.

Own 2 Yi cameras, and they're great, and fly them, UAVs, in the sun / heat all the time, and perform great. Never left them in the car for more than hour or two, and they worked fine afterward. If using as dash cam, AC would be on.
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Re: Poor choice of dashcams on Lazada!

Post by VincentD »

Since it's a dashcam, you might as well get a front and back one in the same package. I've been through three front facing ones, the reason I've just changed is because the battery in the camera does not keep the date if I don't drive the car for more than a day.

I picked one up from a CCTV place, excellent value at 3,100 baht with all the bells and whistles (many of which I turned off). I'm sure you will have the PeopleFU CCTV place somewhere in HH, I got the FU CCIR 1004 front and rear camera, have been using it for three weeks now and I'm happy with it. Excellent night resolution, with 170 degrees front view. SD card seperate, but I already have a 32GB class 10 card from the old one.
One gripe, though. The screen was reflective so went to the phone shop and got a frosted screen protector film, cuts the glare while driving. Also has screen saver, so screen blanks out after a minute (thank goodness!) unlike the one my wife has, no way to turn the bl**dy thing off at night, it's right in your face..

Note I did the install myself, so the price is for the camera(s) only.
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Re: Poor choice of dashcams on Lazada!

Post by Dannie Boy »

I bought a front and rear camera set from Amazon in the UK and had a visitor bring it out. The make is Bnoia (I’d never heard of them either) but the buyers reviews were good and it has a 170 degree angle so covers full left and right traffic. The cost was £37 = 1600 Baht and Mitsubishi charged me just 500 baht to install both cameras during the cars last service. As the insurance was due within a month, they also dealt with the claim for the 5% discount, so I’m very happy
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Re: Poor choice of dashcams on Lazada!

Post by STEVE G »

There is a small shop on the top floor of Market Village that has dashcams, up on the left side going from the street with all the phone shops. I haven't a clue what brands they sell as I already have one, I just noticed they have them on display.
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Re: Poor choice of dashcams on Lazada!

Post by Big Boy »

Most of the phone shops sell them - they're the ones I use, and are a third of the cost of the ones mentioned above.
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Re: Poor choice of dashcams on Lazada!

Post by 404cameljockey »

Thank all. The cost of the Blackvue mentioned above made my eyes water! I checked Lazada again and see there are two or three decent brands on there that I missed before. I'm not a very savvy online shopper.

I'm thinking about THB 3-4000 for a good brand front only cam (two heavy duty 64GB SD cards for front and rear is too much money, especially as they don't last anywhere near as long as the cam should). I do read a lot before buying any electronic equipment, and won't buy where there seem to be more than a few question marks (poor job of reading numberplates on the Yi has been mentioned quite a lot of times). I won't gamble and buy non-branded (yes, I know they're cheap, there's a reason!).

I sincerely appreciate the input. :)
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Re: Poor choice of dashcams on Lazada!

Post by Big Boy »

404cameljockey wrote: Wed Nov 22, 2017 9:07 am there seem to be more than a few question marks (poor job of reading numberplates
After reading your comment, it got me wondering, and I looked back at the first of the dashcam videos I posted yesterday. Yes, about 50% of the numberplates are unclear. I then started reading signs all around, and had no problem.

Is there something about number plates that makes them particularly difficult to capture? My cameras are top end of the cheapo range. Until now, I've been more than happy with the clarity, and my insurers are happy with the cameras. Maybe you could post footage of the standard I need to be getting.

I guess I'll have to put my Go Pro back on the dash, and do a clarity comparison.
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Re: Poor choice of dashcams on Lazada!

Post by VincentD »

BB, clarity of the videos depend on the resolution (i.e. number of pixels) the dashcam is rated for. Most these days can record at a true 1080 resolution at 30 fps (frames per second). Don't settle for anything less than this. The front camera I got has a resolution of 1296, which helps with the issue of being able to read number plates clearly when zoomed in. The rear camera only does 720 so is pretty much bog standard.
WDR (Wide Dynamic Range) helps even out exposures at night so you don't get two bright spots that are the car in front tail lights and nothing else.
The other stuff I won't use are the LDWS (Lane Departure Warning System) - it detects the lane lines and tells you you're drifting out of the lane, and the other annoyance, FCWS (Front Collision Warning System) which tells you you're too close to the car in front.
I've yet to really try out the parking mode where it will record a clip if bumped while parked, but I know it does work. Some of the G-sensors these days are so sensitive even heavy rain can set them off.
Both front and rear camera footage is recorded on the same SD card, in seperate file folders, though the display has that PIP (picture in picture) display on the screen. I keep it turned off so it's easier on the eyes at night. However a 32 GB SD card will only give you a few hours of recording time at best if you're at the highest resolution.

I'm actually quite pleased with it, for that price range. You can order direct on their website if you're interested. One drawback is that it is mainly in Thai language.
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Re: Poor choice of dashcams on Lazada!

Post by 404cameljockey »

BB I never owned a dashcam so I am doing a lot (a lot) of checking up different specs and models. Checking around the web about a cam I like the look of and the spec of, I see sometimes they can be reported often as suffering from a specific problem. Bad plate recognition, overheating leading to fuzzy image, danger of battery fire (capacitor seems the way forward if you want to leave it in the car 24/7 in summer in hot countries), vibration due to poor mounting, best daytime capture tradeoff against lower quality night capture (they all seem to excel at something but not everything), 1080 res at 60 fps against 1440 res at 30fps (the VIOFO cams - this is a bit of a tecchie choice but from reviews it makes a difference, especially day vs. night - resolution is not everything, especially when some chips even do some post-capture processing), I could go on. I think it seems a trade-off to get the cam that does what you want the most.

As VincentD says, LDWS is something you might pay for that you have no want of (same as being told you're too close to the vehicle in front, that would drive me mad). On the other hand I want wifi, and would like GPS. Not all cams have both. GOOD WDR is useful too (some cams seem to boast it but actually don't really have it). And I think G-sensor is not actually full 'parking mode' (i.e. constant time lapse capture).

He also pointed out that adjustable G-sensor sensitivity is a must too, I agree.

I'm reaching info saturation, but I have 2-3 cams I would be happy with, if i can get one!
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Re: Poor choice of dashcams on Lazada!

Post by 404cameljockey »

http://www.lazada.co.th/ddpai-m6-plus-h ... 1511358262

Price scares me silly but it's one of the best small format I saw, and it's also sold by the manufacturer, not some Chinese/Thai third party branding. Lazada is a minefield, this morning I saw the ad on Lazada and I'm sure it said 12 month manufacturer warranty and seller DDPai, this one says generic non-branded and no warranty. FFS! TIT.
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Re: Poor choice of dashcams on Lazada!

Post by VincentD »

404cameljockey wrote: Wed Nov 22, 2017 8:41 pm ... On the other hand I want wifi, and would like GPS. Not all cams have both. GOOD WDR is useful too (some cams seem to boast it but actually don't really have it). And I think G-sensor is not actually full 'parking mode' (i.e. constant time lapse capture).
These options will drive the price range through the roof, and really how often would you need to actually use wifi? I just pop the SD card out and copy the lot into the laptop with a SD card adapter. (Unless of course the dashcam has no in-built screen, so this becomes a necessity when it comes to setting things up and such). And the space behind the rearview mirror is already occupied. The advantage of having one with a screen just under the mirror is that you can always pivot the thing in the direction of that annoying police bloke in your side window and make sure he knows he'll be on YouTube later that evening..
As far as GPS goes, there are times when I prefer not to have pinpoint accuracy, but try and buy a phone these days that does not have gps? I can still track my wife's old handset even though her brother now has it..

Last, but not least, is that if someone decided to nick the thing, an average priced one won't hurt your sense of loss as much.
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Re: Poor choice of dashcams on Lazada!

Post by Big Boy »

VincentD wrote: Wed Nov 22, 2017 8:10 pm BB, clarity of the videos depend on the resolution (i.e. number of pixels) the dashcam is rated for. Most these days can record at a true 1080 resolution at 30 fps (frames per second). Don't settle for anything less than this. The front camera I got has a resolution of 1296, which helps with the issue of being able to read number plates clearly when zoomed in. The rear camera only does 720 so is pretty much bog standard.
WDR (Wide Dynamic Range) helps even out exposures at night so you don't get two bright spots that are the car in front tail lights and nothing else.
Mine actually meets all the top specs, and I was quite happy until cameljockey mentioned the number plate recognition, and I saw 50% of yesterday's numbers (in attrocious conditions, of course) were not easy to read. However, everything else in shot was readable.
404cameljockey wrote: Wed Nov 22, 2017 8:41 pm BB I never owned a dashcam so I am doing a lot (a lot) of checking up different specs and models.
I know where you are coming from, I was the same when I bought my first.

From what I can see, they all seem to run the same or very similar software. The phone shops have a variety of models, with different capture specs. A few of the shops have demo movies demonstrating the quality captured by each model. I went for what was the clearest picture available, and I've been very happy until your comment (I know there was nothing bad in your comment), which made me think. I will do a Go Pro/Dashcam comparison, and post the results here. I will use the short Market Village to Soi 88 stretch - there are always cars on that stretch.
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Re: Poor choice of dashcams on Lazada!

Post by VincentD »

Ooh, ouch. That is one expensive piece of kit, before even the shipping and taxes are added..
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