Does anyone who knows these things well, know if there is a good quality dashcam with GPS connectivity that sends its video image direct to an iphone for immediate playback if required - even if it overwrites the video every few minutes?
I did quite a bit of research on the leading dash cams and trialed a few and concluded that the newly released ‘2ch Blackvue DR900s’ takes the crown in just about every aspect. It has GPS and you can view all saved footage on demand from your phone/computer either remotely over the internet or direct Wi-F. It’s been available since May this year and you may notice a few negative reviews from users primarily stating compatibility issues with Android phones, but I think this is undeserved as from my own experience over the last couple of months with two difference Android phones, everything works flawlessly! There is also no DAB interference whatsoever as reported with many previous Blackvue models and so no need to use ferrite cores.
As far as I’m aware, it’s the first and only UHD 4K dash cam available, (be careful of some China branded ones that claim to be 4K but are not according to people who have bought them). There is the option to record in various video formats, including 1080p 60fps, but when set to record at the highest definition, 4K extreme, the clarity and the amount of detail in the video is astounding and surpassed my expectations. Most HD cams are fine and good at capturing important things like number plates but this 4K camera takes it to the next level that even whilst driving it will capture faces of other road users so there won’t be a question like who was driving. To really benefit from 4K you need to view the recordings on a 4K monitor, but even on a standard display, the difference between a HD cam and 4K is night and day.
The camera supports parking mode, not many dash cams do and I personally think one without is almost pointless since just as much can happen whilst the car is parked as when driving, I’d say more so with RS cars. Until very recently, the only way to safely power the dash cam without the risk of completely discharging the car battery would have been via external battery pack, which are bulky/expensive or using the Blackvue Power Magic Pro that requires hardwiring/taping a car fuse and going by the reviews on Amazon appears to be woeful when it comes to operation/reliability. Now there’s an easier way, you can power the camera via the cars OBD port using the ‘Conecta for Blackvue dash cams’ available at Halfords & Amazon for just £20 (half the price of the Magic Pro) and makes installation a doddle done in next to no time! Like the Magic Pro it has battery discharge protection and a switch if you only want the dash cam to power with the engine on. It only has pins to draw power from the OBD port and does have any data connections so you do not have to worry about it communicating with the cars ECU and messing anything up. It doesn’t take up space like the battery pack/Magic Pro options that you would typically mount in the glove compartment and with the OBD port being under the dash in the driver’s footwell, it remains well hidden out of normal view and makes it very easy to hide all the cables on just the driver side behind the dashboard/A pillar trim up to the headlining. I don’t know why they didn’t come up with this simpler and more effective way sooner!
The one thing I love the most and which I use almost daily, is the live view over the cloud, the Blackvue DR900S & DR750S are the only dash cams currently on the market that are equipped with this feature, some may say it’s a gimmick, but far from it! To be able to see & hear (has built in 2 way mic/speaker too) what’s happening within the vicinity of your car from both the front and back in real time, from almost anywhere & anytime, directly on my phone, gives me a lot of peace of mind when I’ve left the car parked somewhere it might get a lot of unwanted attention. You also receive immediate push notifications on your phone when motion/impact is detected by either camera, which works brilliantly and you can set the sensitivity to suit you. To use live view you need a Wi-Fi hotspot with internet data, the best way to achieve this is to get a cheap 4G phone (I use one bought from China for £40) that you can always keep in the car and on charge via one of the two USB ports underneath the armrest and then use it to tether a connection to the dash cam. Even better would be a 4G USB dongle which is more discreet but this would only work if anyone knows a way to enable the USB ports to remain live even with the ignition off? Then just remember to remove the dongle if you’re not going to drive the car for more than 2 days so not to drain the car battery too much. Get a free, Three data sim card from the below link …
https://www.three.co.uk/Free_SIM_MBB/Order
The sim allows you 200MB free data every month (can also be used in 71 different countries including whole of Europe), I’ve used one for the last 2 years and there’s no catch, you do not need to pay for anything or be an existing customer and no billing information is required. Ignore the part on the order page where it only refers to ‘tablet’, it can be used in any sim device. 200MB isn’t a lot, but if you only use it for the remote live view that’s enough for around 25 mins worth of streaming video every month (uses approx. 8MB of data per a minute of compressed HD video) which is really all you need to occasionally check on the car when you’re out and about. If you think you’ll need more than this, just order multiple sims and swap them out when one runs out of data. Remember to set a Wi-Fi password on your phone so that no one piggybacks your data allowance. The dash cam allows you to configure two different Wi-Fi networks, which is great as you can set your home/work Wi-Fi as the priority hotspot (providing you have the range that you get with a decent router) so whenever your car is parked at home/work, the cam will automatically connect to that Wi-Fi and only use your fixed line broadband data and then revert back to mobile data when you drive away and out of range.
In my opinion it’s the best looking dash cam out there that does not look out of place in the Audi, the cylinder design makes it unobtrusive and means it can be neatly tucked behind the rear view mirror (photos below). The dash cam is expensive but you get what you pay for and unlike most other tech, these flagship cams won’t lose much value and years from now you could probably sell it for nearly what you’d pay for it new, especially as I don’t see dash cams getting much better than this!
As a side note, a small number of insurance companies reward you with a discount if you have a dash cam fitted, LV= being one of them, it reduced my premium by £70 and they further discount those with 'autonomous emergency braking' (part of the optional driver assistance pack) and even if you have parking sensors (which all of us do) this combined saved us another £180. I believe they introduced these specific discounts only last year and to my knowledge are the only insurance company to offer this, which for me was an added bonus as they were already by far the cheapest to insure the RS3 even before taking this into account. You have to get your quote directly on their website as the price comparison sites (except Confused.com and only for dash cam) do not yet have the option to specify this and so the quotes you receive will be higher. If you already have a policy with them and have either a dash cam/AEB but they are not aware of this maybe because you bought via price comparison site or used the change of car method to an existing policy which doesn’t ask these questions, then call them and they should be able to recalculate your premium and refund back any difference.
