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An honest question about dash cams and the GPS in it.


mr. cob

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Howdy All,

I know this is the sort of thing one shouldn't put on the internet but I am just being honest and would like the opinion of others.  When I travel, I travel, I knock down the miles when road and traffic conditions allow it I run at or usually slightly above the speed limits that are posted on the freeways at 70mph or lower, I don't run 75 even when its legal but my Pete, seems to really like running at 72mph in 18th gear, I will hammer down to make a pass and get it over with rather then drive along side of another truck for miles. 

I really think that a dash cam would be a great thing to have in case someone pulls in front of you and then hits the brakes or changes lanes to make an exit and causes a wreck but having the gps within the unit displaying your speed at the time of the incident EVEN IF YOUR SPEED had nothing to do with the accident may cause some problems.  And for that reason alone I have not bought or installed a dash cam. 

I know, I can hear it now, SLOW DOWN well in my opinion its a lot more dangerous to yourself and others to be blocking traffic rather then to move at the same speed and flow the traffic around you is moving at WITHIN reason.  For example, 55mph whilst traversing califorina is just not my cup of tea, the same as when traveling in most of the western States where NORMAL truck traffic is going 3-5mph over the posted limits if the trucks aren't owned by some big major company that has them choked down to 60-62mph.  When I am traveling the two lane back country roads I drive at the speed limits as on that type of road its the safe and reasonable thing to do, when crossing States on the freeway I usually look for and find a trucker who is making time and stay within sight as the miles slip away.  I would be interested in hearing the thoughts and opinions of others on this subject especially the LEO's on the list.  Thanks.

Dave

2001 Peterbilt, 379, Known As "Semi-Sane II", towing a 2014 Voltage 3818, 45 foot long toy hauler crammed full of motorcycles of all types.  Visit my photo web site where you will find thousands of photos of my motorcycle wanderings and other aspects of my life, click this link. http://mr-cob.smugmug.com/

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While I don’t typically drive that fast towing, I will at times if the conditions are right.  The easy answer is use a dash cam that doesn’t record speed.  There are ways the speed could still be determined without gps, but it would be much more difficult and in most cases wouldn’t happen on the LEO side (unless a major injury or fatal collision and speed was a potential issue).  

When I retire, I will add a dash cam.  It will just be an additional camera in my system and I will set up a recorder to record all the cameras (without gps).

 

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1 minute ago, Chad Heiser said:

While I don’t typically drive that fast towing, I will at times if the conditions are right.  The easy answer is use a dash cam that doesn’t record speed.  There are ways the speed could still be determined without gps, but it would be much more difficult and in most cases wouldn’t happen on the LEO side (unless a major injury or fatal collision and speed was a potential issue).  

When I retire, I will add a dash cam.  It will just be an additional camera in my system and I will set up a recorder to record all the cameras (without gps).

 

Howdy Chad,

Thanks for your reply as an LEO it is good information.  I know that by analyzing the footage at 30 frames per second you will travel a certain distance at a certain speed and can therefore determine speed but like you said this would probably only happen in the case of a sever accident presumably when you were at fault. 

I invested in good commercial grade tires and wheels on my trailer that are rated at a continuous 75mph, I have a truck that has the horse power and brakes to tow and STOP my trailer, I usually travel long distances between my stops and cover anywhere from 500-750 miles per day that won't happen at 55mph unless you spend a lot of hours behind the wheel and that has dangers of its own.  I just don't care to provide evidence against myself and a dash cam with a gps can be used to do that.

Dave

2001 Peterbilt, 379, Known As "Semi-Sane II", towing a 2014 Voltage 3818, 45 foot long toy hauler crammed full of motorcycles of all types.  Visit my photo web site where you will find thousands of photos of my motorcycle wanderings and other aspects of my life, click this link. http://mr-cob.smugmug.com/

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I have a Garmin dezl GPS/Dash Cam.  You can control what you want included on the recording.  

I choose to not include speed or an in-cab microphone.  Too much information, IMO.

Av8r3400
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10 minutes ago, SWharton said:

We have a dash cam that does not show speed and we have the audio turned off also. It is the Black Box G1W.

Howdy SWharton,

Thanks for your reply.  Most dash cams record at a speed of 30 frames per second, using that number if there is anything in the footage that shows distance covered the speed can be calculated by how many frames were shot whilst covering that distance.  So if it came down to it the speed your traveling at that particular moment can be figured out and it may have only been for that moment in time, on the other hand if the dash cam is constantly imprinting the footage with real time gps information your speed for any distance at any time is readily available.

My concern is this, if I am traveling at the same or close to the regular flow of traffic which is usually a few miles faster then the posted speed limit such information can be used against you even if your not at fault if an accident should occur.  I have seen more risks taken and I dare say more wrecks or near wrecks happen due to people who are holding up traffic then I have by folks who run at the regular flow of traffic even if it is a bit over the posted speed limits.  In my opinion, people who park in the left lane or who will pace right along side of someone and prevent making a pass for MILES cause way more driver stress and risk taking then the folks who drive a bit over the limit. 

Dave

2001 Peterbilt, 379, Known As "Semi-Sane II", towing a 2014 Voltage 3818, 45 foot long toy hauler crammed full of motorcycles of all types.  Visit my photo web site where you will find thousands of photos of my motorcycle wanderings and other aspects of my life, click this link. http://mr-cob.smugmug.com/

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6 minutes ago, Av8r3400 said:

I have a Garmin dezl GPS/Dash Cam.  You can control what you want included on the recording.  

I choose to not include speed or an in-cab microphone.  Too much information, IMO.

Howdy Av8r3400,

Thanks for your reply, I'll look into that Dash Cam.

Dave

2001 Peterbilt, 379, Known As "Semi-Sane II", towing a 2014 Voltage 3818, 45 foot long toy hauler crammed full of motorcycles of all types.  Visit my photo web site where you will find thousands of photos of my motorcycle wanderings and other aspects of my life, click this link. http://mr-cob.smugmug.com/

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We run a cheap dash cam from Amazon, ACCfly. It does have in cab audio, but other than that no information. If you want to see how the camera performs, go to youtube and search Foolish Mortals Truck 999. I have several videos I have downloaded most from the HDT, but one from our Jeep over Thanksgiving, showing it working at twilight and night.

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1 hour ago, PaHunter said:

We run a cheap dash cam from Amazon, ACCfly. It does have in cab audio, but other than that no information. If you want to see how the camera performs, go to youtube and search Foolish Mortals Truck 999. I have several videos I have downloaded most from the HDT, but one from our Jeep over Thanksgiving, showing it working at twilight and night.

Howdy PaHunter,

Thanks for posting how to get to your videos, that camera seems to work well.

Dave

2001 Peterbilt, 379, Known As "Semi-Sane II", towing a 2014 Voltage 3818, 45 foot long toy hauler crammed full of motorcycles of all types.  Visit my photo web site where you will find thousands of photos of my motorcycle wanderings and other aspects of my life, click this link. http://mr-cob.smugmug.com/

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Howdy All,

I did a bit of experimenting yesterday using my phone in camera mode in the truck while it was parked just to get an idea of where to mount a dash cam should I decide to buy one.  On the Pete, with long Hood and the drop visor over the windshield it was difficult to hold the phone in a position where the road ahead was visible, yeah I know just another thing about using a classic truck as an RV tow rig, I'll do a bit more tinkering and see what I can come up with.

Dave

2001 Peterbilt, 379, Known As "Semi-Sane II", towing a 2014 Voltage 3818, 45 foot long toy hauler crammed full of motorcycles of all types.  Visit my photo web site where you will find thousands of photos of my motorcycle wanderings and other aspects of my life, click this link. http://mr-cob.smugmug.com/

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I run a dash cam and have the GPS/speed option turned off and I think you can do this in many of them in the menu options. Yes I know there are other ways they can get it, but at least not having it display prominently on the video. 

I have some videos from mine I can share just to show you. I need to upload them to a site I can link in here. 

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3 hours ago, BlueLghtning said:

I run a dash cam and have the GPS/speed option turned off and I think you can do this in many of them in the menu options. Yes I know there are other ways they can get it, but at least not having it display prominently on the video. 

I have some videos from mine I can share just to show you. I need to upload them to a site I can link in here. 

Howdy Dan,

Thanks for your reply when you have time if you could post up some videos that would be great.  Also what model and brand of camera are you using?

Dave

2001 Peterbilt, 379, Known As "Semi-Sane II", towing a 2014 Voltage 3818, 45 foot long toy hauler crammed full of motorcycles of all types.  Visit my photo web site where you will find thousands of photos of my motorcycle wanderings and other aspects of my life, click this link. http://mr-cob.smugmug.com/

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I have a Garmin DashCam 20 that DOES record speed (can it be turned off, I do not know or care).  Like you said speed can  be determined other ways.

On you point about where to place the camera for good visibility....I recently installed a two camera INNOV K2 system on my Harley that comes with two bullet cameras that are waterproof.  They could be mounted anywhere on the front of your rig.  Cable lengths might be a problem but I suspect that could be overcome.  Google INNOV and take a look.  They are not cheap but seem to work great.

Lenp

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2 minutes ago, lenp said:

I have a Garmin DashCam 20 that DOES record speed (can it be turned off, I do not know or care).  Like you said speed can  be determined other ways.

On you point about where to place the camera for good visibility....I recently installed a two camera INNOV K2 system on my Harley that comes with two bullet cameras that are waterproof.  They could be mounted anywhere on the front of your rig.  Cable lengths might be a problem but I suspect that could be overcome.  Google INNOV and take a look.  They are not cheap but seem to work great.

Lenp

Howdy lenp,

Thanks for the information I'll check it out.

Dave

2001 Peterbilt, 379, Known As "Semi-Sane II", towing a 2014 Voltage 3818, 45 foot long toy hauler crammed full of motorcycles of all types.  Visit my photo web site where you will find thousands of photos of my motorcycle wanderings and other aspects of my life, click this link. http://mr-cob.smugmug.com/

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Dave,

I installed a camera system from rearviewsafety.com  It was a wired system utilizing 4 different cameras.  So I mounted a forward facing camera on the cowl just above the hood.  A "lipstick" camera on the both the right & left "A" frames that showed vehicles approaching from both sides.  The 4th camera was pointed at the hitch.  All 4 cameras are recording.  No speed or GPS recordings.  It did record sound, if turned on.  Since all 4 cameras were outside of the cab they could listen to all the wind noise to their hearts desire.

Front View Camera:

CAMERA_FRONT.JPG

Left Side View Camera:

CAMERA_LEFT.JPG

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1 hour ago, RickW said:

Dave,

I installed a camera system from rearviewsafety.com  It was a wired system utilizing 4 different cameras.  So I mounted a forward facing camera on the cowl just above the hood.  A "lipstick" camera on the both the right & left "A" frames that showed vehicles approaching from both sides.  The 4th camera was pointed at the hitch.  All 4 cameras are recording.  No speed or GPS recordings.  It did record sound, if turned on.  Since all 4 cameras were outside of the cab they could listen to all the wind noise to their hearts desire.

Front View Camera:

CAMERA_FRONT.JPG

Left Side View Camera:

CAMERA_LEFT.JPG

Howdy Rick,

Thanks for your reply, I'll look into that camera as I would like to have on on the hitch as well.  On your Volvo mounting the forward looking camera as you did in your first photo would not work on the Pete, the hood of your Volvo slopes downward, mounting the camera as you did on the Pete all you would see is 40 acres of Hood.  I will have to figure out some way of hanging it from the top of the windshield so that it shows a view clear of the visor on top and clear of as much as possible of the Hood on the bottom it will be a pretty narrow view as it is from the drivers point of view.

Dave

2001 Peterbilt, 379, Known As "Semi-Sane II", towing a 2014 Voltage 3818, 45 foot long toy hauler crammed full of motorcycles of all types.  Visit my photo web site where you will find thousands of photos of my motorcycle wanderings and other aspects of my life, click this link. http://mr-cob.smugmug.com/

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17 minutes ago, Lance A Lott said:

Could,you do two one in the upper left and right of the windshield? If you can use inside cameras you will have better luck in the rain.

Howdy Lance,

 I will experiment with my phone to see if I can figure out how to mount a dash cam on the inside as you have pointed out outside forward facing won’t work in bad weather.

Dave

2001 Peterbilt, 379, Known As "Semi-Sane II", towing a 2014 Voltage 3818, 45 foot long toy hauler crammed full of motorcycles of all types.  Visit my photo web site where you will find thousands of photos of my motorcycle wanderings and other aspects of my life, click this link. http://mr-cob.smugmug.com/

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1 hour ago, noteven said:

Upper mirror arms?

Howdy noteven,

Any outside mount would pretty much make the camera useless during bad weather that and it will get full of bugs, I have really come to HATE bugs now that I have a truck that I want to keep nice looking.

Dave

2001 Peterbilt, 379, Known As "Semi-Sane II", towing a 2014 Voltage 3818, 45 foot long toy hauler crammed full of motorcycles of all types.  Visit my photo web site where you will find thousands of photos of my motorcycle wanderings and other aspects of my life, click this link. http://mr-cob.smugmug.com/

IMG_4282-600x310.jpg

 

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I record my footage with GPS, Speed and Audio enabled. I have a habit of calling out license plates when people do dumb things. Its a click of the box to leave off the GPS or audio files when exporting the video. If I don't want it where it can be made to go away. Unless there is a huge incident I don't see anyone confiscating the dash cam. The request will normally come days or weeks later at that time I can choose how much info to provide. 
But If I am 100% in the right, I want that GPS and audio data to help drive it home. I try very hard to be a good boy when out driving. I will speed a bit here and there not more than 5 over and never for very long.

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On 11/23/2018 at 3:21 PM, mr. cob said:

its a lot more dangerous to yourself and others to be blocking traffic rather then to move at the same speed

I prefer to go with the flow--of traffic.  I'm not trying to be in a hurry.  I spend alot of time going to jobsites as contractor and try to change that habit when I am travelling in my rig.  Its my time OFF and I want to enjoy the scenery rather than it being a blurr.

But that just me...

Marcel

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