Best dashcam & rearcam?

Adding things to my new 2024 Tundra 1794 LE. Next up is a dash cam, preferably with cabin facing can or rear cam.

Any recommendations? My ideal feature list:
- minimal visibile install artifacts like cabling
- 4K+ front resolution
- ability to record when car is off would be nice
- connection to car hotspot or 5g/LTE sim card

 

FITCAMX I have one on my 23 gx460 and it’s great. Looks very oem on the front. The rear cam not so much oem looking but it works well. I’ll probably be getting one for my tundra at some point.

 

Love my rexing. Had it in a car I sold and had to get it for the truck.

 

I bought the VIOFO A119 Mini 2 a few days ago and already boxed it up to send back. It requires a WiFi connection to your phone to view recordings but I always have my radio connected to the phone so that's a no go for me.

Incidentally, is there a dash cam out there that can run on rechargeable battery when parked at night or day? Would be nice to be able to connect to the rearview outlet without having to run a hardwire to a constant power src.

 

You’re right that the Viofos are not as good as some of the other brands on viewing the videos if needed.

For battery packs, check out Black Box My Car. They make their own packs in house and they are supposed to be really good. That said, I have an idea. I was going to get a battery pack, but instead I’m going to get a small portable solar panel and plug it into the cigarette lighter on the dash. This should trickle charge my truck battery enough to keep the dash cam going above the voltage cutoff. That’s my hope anyway! The batteries are not cheap so I wanted to try this first. Since my truck just sits in front of my house most of the time and faces south.

 

viofos dominated the market just like 2+ years ago, so fast times have changed

 

for the price the viofo 229 pro 1ch is what i went on the 23 tundra. for the price and the ability to add a rear cam later made it an easy choice over the blackvue (from what i remember if you get the dr970x 1ch you cant add a 2nd camera after the fact). plus the price is about double the viofo 229 pro 1ch for maybe 10-20% overall improvement.

the a119 is not a good viofo. the new starvis 2 229 pro's are like night and day for day time and especially night time capture vs the s119 old starvis 1.

pretty much any new dashcam not going to the new starvis 2 camera is going to be behind the curve on quality.

 

as far as video viewing over wifi, meh, trying to transfer a 4k 5min video to your phone takes to long on the viofo. i just pop out the sd card and use a dashcam viewer software on my pc, but thats just me.

i have spare 128/256 gb sd cards laying around so i just swap them around as needed.

 

Didn’t Toyota have its own OEM dash cam at one point?
Seems disappointing that they can’t use the lane departure cam and trailer/backup cam, and just have it spooling data to a SIM card slot in the truck.
This vehicle is literally full of cameras. How much does a chip slot cost to integrate?

 

The problem is the video quality and night vision. Moving objects even more challenging. It’s actually not an easy task. The stock cameras aren’t made for it. The main goal is to capture a readable license plate in every situation. If that isn’t done, then most of the time the video capture isn’t going to be helpful. Also faces at night while moving. They are not going to stop and strike a pose.

 

^^^
I mean, I’m not an expert, it’s just the LAYT era that we live in (Life After YouTube).

 

$120 WOLFBOX G840S 12" 4K Mirror Dash Cam Backup Camera, 2160P Full HD Smart Rearview Mirror for Cars & Trucks, Front and Rear View Dual Cameras, Night Vision, Parking Assistance, Included 32GB Card & GPS

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0811Q28N6
Got me a wolf box with extension and hard wire kit. Impressed with it so much I ended up installing it in 6 of my families cars.

 

That’s cool! Nice mirror option! Looks like there’s some great options coming out

 

The A119 is 2k res so it was more than capable of streaming it - I did it a couple times without an issue until I realized that if I wanted to do it everytime I'd have to turn off my radio. Popping the SD card in/out, feeding it into a reader, etc is more trouble than I wanna get into. The premise of using an app to watch recordings was alluring. The video quality is more than fine for me (it is Starvis 2).

 

I have this one, and it seems satisfactory.

$260 VANTRUE N4 3 Channel Dash Cam, 4K+1080P Dual Channel, 1440P+1080P+1080P Front Inside Rear Three Way Triple Car Dash Camera, IR Night Vision, Capacitor, 24 Hours Parking Mode, Support 256GB Max

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B083V6K8RH?ie=UTF8

Here's a video shot with it.
https://youtu.be/TQQzgbhq7YQ?si=_rFLfH_MjR7LEc5C

 

COOAU Dash Cam,Built-in GPS WiFi , Front and Inside Car Camera Recorder for Uber
I have used this on my 2023 Tundra 1794. It's only $80 so if it's stolen or breaks, I am not out a lot of dough. It records sharp; date stamped; vehicle license stamped; time of day; speed. Replay via wifi from cell phone app. It has all the necessary information needed to use in traffic court or other legal proceedings. Night vision is superb. I bought 2, one for me and one for the wife's car.

 

Nice! Does it need exclusive WiFi connection to the phone in order to see recordings on the app?

 

Yes, but you only need it to connect to your phone if you need to access the videos on SD card. I use a 256 GB which will auto overwrite when needed. There is also an emergency 'bump' motion that saves the clip in case there is either a sudden stop/bump/accident while driving. The videos are crystal clear. I have it hooked up via plug on top of dash though you can hard wire to battery if you want the continuing recordings while parked. Inside cabin views are great and all with sound too. (I have to be careful what I say..lol evidently I swear a lot)

 

Well, all of that is pretty much what the camera I'm sending back has - I am looking for one that doesn't need to be hardwired to run in parking mode and can show recordings maybe via bluetooth or not have me turn my radio off to connect it to the phone.

 

I have the Viofo's in three cars. They work well - you do have to connect to their wifi to download videos; or you can simply pop them off of the mount and connect via usb to your PC. The video is very clear.

 

I recently installed a THINKWARE U3000 in my truck after doing some research on what I wanted. The THINKWARE U3000 has the Sony starvis 2 in the front camera and Sony starvis 1 in the rear. The camera is 4k. THINKWARE also offers free cloud services. I also installed my unit with a power cell external battery. I got ACC power from the fuse box under the glove box. The THINKWARE U3000 also has the laser detection when the vehicle is off which pulls the least amount of power from the external battery, enough to last 30 days with a parked car and a full battery charge. I also purchased a rear bracket to mount my rear dash camera so that I can still roll down my rear window without affecting the dash camera.

https://www.blackboxmycar.com/produ...owercell-8-battery-pack-bonus-1-year-warranty

https://www.thedashcamstore.com/custom-folded-bracket-for-secondary-dashcam-lenses/

 

The external battery and cloud sounds like what I've been looking for. Does it need to have exclusive access to the WiFi on your phone?

 

Yes, you can use the dash cam THINKWARE app to view videos recorded on the micro sd card and when you are away from your vehicle, the dash cam needs a WiFi access to alert you of any contact made with your vehicle. This is made through THINKWARE connected app. So, you will need either a in car WiFi service or if you can access a WiFi, when your vehicle is parked or within close proximity of a WiFi, like at your home or work, that will work too.

 

What about the hotspot on my phone?

 

Yes, when you are in the vehicle, the dash cam will link with the hotspot on your phone but when you are away from your vehicle and you have your phone with you, if you want to remotely monitor your vehicle, you will need a separate WiFi access.

The dash cam can also link via bluetooth with your phone. This allows you to watch the videos directly on your phone. The dash cam will also alert you when you get into your vehicle of any occurrences while you are gone.

 

Man I like what I hear.

 

That price tag tho

 

It’s definitely one of the higher priced units but you don’t’ have to pay for the subscription service for remote monitoring. That will save some money. I got the Dash cam for 499 and the power cell for 350. I didn’t buy that bundle I linked because I didn’t need some of the other items. If you buy the power cell, it comes with the add a fuse and the connection needed to go from the power cell directly to the U3000.

 

Will the cam plug into the back of the rearview mirror? (I have the connector by Dongar I think it is).