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Joe asked: “I am looking for a dash cam for my car and I wanted your recommendation on which one to buy.”
Joe, no one has really emerged as a strong leader in the dash cam segment, most products are fairly comparable: they’re almost all high def, with collision sensors, parking sensors that turn on the camera when they sense bumps, auto saving features to preserve accident footage, but the quality varies.
The main problem people seem to face with dash cams is that they just stop working, which is understandable, they actually take quite a beating. They’re left in boiling hot parked cars in the summer, in mobile ice cubes in the winter, they’re constantly being shaken, but they’re only actually useful if you can rely on them.
The main problem people seem to face with dash cams is that they just stop working
Since the problem is reliability, you may be better off going with one of the few name brand options, at the very least they’ll have to stand by whatever warranty they’re willing to offer with their devices.
Both Cobra and Garmin sell dashcams. Either company is probably worth a look because they’ve been making rugged gear for years, Cobra radar detectors face the same challenges dash cams face, and Garmin makes action cameras and plenty of other tough gear for cars, planes, boats, and sports in general, by now they’ve figured out how to make reliable devices.
Frankly, both brands are overpriced, but then again, the less expensive cameras seem to stop working. Your choices seem to be either to overpay for better known brands that do much more than just cameras, or try your luck with less expensive brands that are unknown outside of a specific camera.