Aldeer.com Forums Alabama Deer Talk Aldeer General Forum Dash cams. Opinions.

I’m now considering one after today.

A patient today told me about a terrifying experience her friend had in east Montgomery last week. She was driving along when a car speeds past her and cuts her off and slams on brakes. She was able to slow down but could not avoid bumping into him. Immediately afterwards another car comes on behind her and traps her between the 2 cars. The man in front immediately gets out and begins to berate her and yelling at her “look what u did to my car! You paying me now and you can go!” Then a woman gets out from the car behind her and started in on her too. Telling her that “her white girl tears ain’t gonna help her now!” By this point the victim was crying hysterically and calling the police and telling the thugs she is on the phone with the police. All the while they are yelling at her to get out of the car and get off the phone. To her credit, she stayed on the phone and once the thugs realized she was not going to get off they both jumped back in their cars and sped off.

So I’m thinking about a dash cam now. What do y’all think about them? Front and rear? How does it save the recording? Ect. Thanks in advance.

I believe they use an SD or micro SD card. I’ve thought about it as well but I’m worried it will get stolen.

I've thought about it a lot, but never wanted to spend the money. You make a good case! If I get one I would get both a front and rear. I would want one where somehow you could get it to auto upload to the cloud after an event. Either an acceleration trigger or manually telling it to do that.

A dash cam will probably get me in trouble but in a situation like that when you stick a pistol in someone’s face they tend to change their tone. I would have drove through the first car and left if I was fearing for my life

I have them in all my vehicles. Jump on utube and watch some of the dash cam videos and the things idiots do thats caught on dashcam.
Too many folks out there will lie about not being at fault. Dashcam will save you a lot of times.
I run the Vantrue S1's in mine. They are about $120 on amazon with coupon. Great day and night videos. And its small enough to fit behind rear view mirror out of sight.

Did you install them yourself or have it done so wires are hidden?

It is super easy to hide the wires, TXHuntress. I did all of my kids and wife’s cameras. I habe an el cheapo in my work truck, but have to say it records as well as the Garmins in our other cars. The Garmin does have a nice app you can connect and pull video off the card without removing it.
On a related note, I am working with a grad student at AU who sent me a video of her accident the other day. She had a green light for a good 8 seconds and some young kid t-boned her, totaling her truck and smashing her up pretty good. Kid was most likely on his phone, which will come out in court. That video is pretty damning for him.

I know some guys that put them I their work trucks.
Saved one of them so far from lawsuits. Sadly a young guy died but it was his fault.

A very good friend of mine uses them in his semi. It has saved him a lot of money when people do dumb things.

The one that came in my Tundra can be manually activated as long as you want or if there is an event (extreme braking, abrupt stop or acceleration, or collision) it automatically writes, to sd card onboard, a few seconds before the event and for the next 20-30 seconds (it may be longer).

I'm researching them for our vehicles. Have had several close calls that I know the other party (driver) would whine and complain and pull the "But I dint doo nuthin wronggggg!" bullchit. A camera would negate that.


Drivers have lost their damned minds in the last eight years, and the last three (post-Covid) especially. It's like nothing matters, no one is at fault about anything, phones make things work, fewer people care about or follow traffic laws or common sense (like how to merge) things.

We have them in all trucks . At least 30 . Bout only way get logging company insurance nowadays is use cameras . Saves ur butt if u in a wreck especially if it ur not at fault . We use an app call samsara drive . Keeps up with all cameras. All data is stored at shop on hard drive . The gps on them keeps up with ur driving habits also an we are tracked every where we go. Insurance company does safety meeting at shop. I have seen many videos of wrecks thru the dash cams . Unbelievable at the stupidity out there . We are a true believer in them .

I run Vantrue dash cams on two vehicles. Both units have front and rear view cameras. My F150 was easy to run the wires. The Rav4, I took to a professional installer. You can lock videos and they have microphones. Garmin also makes nice dash cams as well.

There are other cameras you can view from your home while someone else is driving. My son has these installed in all his work trucks.

I have a Wolfbox in one of my trucks. Wasn't a lot of money. It has outlasted my expectations and worked well.
I'm not sure brand names make a lot of difference in this stuff. I review some recent footage once in a while to
make sure it's still working properly. It might save me someday.

On a related note, the amount of hatred that runs deep in the black community is real.

After a wreck 2/2/2023 I installed one. Hwy 280 in Phenix City, lady was turning left had the red, I had the green. Insurance did an investigation, if not for witness statements it could have gone either way. Make sure the officer puts witness statements, name and contact info in the report, at least get the contact info yourself, that's what saved me. Officer was a dumb A and left them out even though I requested it.

I have a Thinkware F70 in all my vehicles, front only. Uses an SD card that overwrites FIFO. Records all audio inside the vehicle also. Mine was <$100 each. Thinkware has other models that will record front and rear if that's what you want. Easy to install and hide the wires. I have been very satisfied with Thinkware, these are basic but do what is I need.

I HIGHLY recommend a dash cam.

Best thing to do to cover your a$$ ! B

On a related note, over the years I have witnessed several accidents. I always stop safely and get out and give my business card with my phone numbers to the person who got hit. Just happened about three weeks ago at the I-85 SB off ramp at Chantilly in Montgomery. Saw a lady driving a White Crown Vic blow thru a red light and T-bone a guy in a truck who had the green turn arrow. He was alright but his truck was heavily damaged. I got out and gave him my card and told him I saw the whole thing. About thirty minutes later, I got a call from MPD to verify what I saw.

The reason I do this is because my wife got sideswiped in Auburn a couple years ago by a hit and run driver going thru a four way stop. A nice elderly man approached my wife and said he saw the whole thing from his front yard. Got the witness statement on the accident report and our claim sailed thru the insurance company. He didn't have to do that and I told him how much I appreciated his doing so.

Huntsville, 565 and Memorial PKWY has become an absolute schit show.

Dash cams are great unless you’re at fault. Someone correct me, but I’m pretty sure the footage can be obtained by police and used against you as well if you’re involved in an accident. Just something I would consider as well. I’ve thought many times about getting one and may get one soon.