These days, almost every car comes with an in-car camera or dashcam. As a driver who has been driving for more than 20 years, I’ve to vote for this as an exceptional invention to add into my car. It’s a must have gadget regardless of what car we buy, be it a luxury continental or a regular bread and butter ride. However, how many of us actually notice what a dashcam can do other than record our trips?
For a start the dashcam must have a high enough resolution to capture the view clearly. There are cases where the scenes were captured but the licence plate of the front car cannot be read due to its poor resolution. I’ve experienced a hit and run accident happening right in front of me. My car camera captured the incident but not the licence plate. Hence an investment on the right camera is a necessity, as I realised that the lower price cameras tend to have a lower resolution resulting in blurry images that lack the crucial details when you need it the most.
Another key feature to have is the in-built GPS. It can pinpoint the exact location where the action has taken place and this feature is extra useful as it will be embedded into your video. The GPS in your dashcam will also add more context as it will also show your speed of driving and the route you took, which will provide the proof you need for insurance claims and to settle disputes. On unfortunate incidents, you can use it to locate your car if you have a Cloud connected dashcam.
Battery life of the dashcam is another huge consideration now as most of the time the car is stationary in the parking lot. As the dashcam battery still requires charging, it will only be charged when we are driving and the dashcam battery will start to deplete when it is left to record in the parking mode. Most dashcams can only continue to record for a couple of hours whilst parked, if anything were to happen after the dashcam battery is depleted it will be of no help at all. Therefore, a dashcam with Low Power Mode where it starts to record on impact can be the solution we need, if we decide not to invest on an extra dashcam battery. I heard some dashcams can last for more than a week in Low Power Mode ensuring it can capture any impact even if you park for a week or more. So that can be a good consideration, especially if you do not drive out every day or if you tend to go on trips and leave your car stationary quite often .
One new feature to look into now will be the ability to inform you when a traffic cam is nearby or so called “Safety Camera Alert“. This ability does help in keeping our driving license safe. Most of the time we only notice the mobile traffic camera when it is too late, as you would have been captured before you could ‘say cheese’. Hence the only way to escape this ‘trap’ will be to religiously drive below the speed limit or knowing the location of the speed camera in advance. For someone who always wants to live a little on the wild side, this is a must have feature for me.
Save driving.
