Dash Cams vs Go Pro

JSTJPN

JSTJPN

New member
I am looking at purchasing a video camera that will capture our trips while out on the trails. I know lots of folks use Go Pros and other similar devices. Is anyone using a dash cam type of camera? If so, what are the pro's and con's?

Thanks in advance for the feed back.
 
I use a GoPro and would prefer that to a dash cam. I like being able to mount the camera outside the vehicle so it isn't just looking through the windshield. I also have the wireless remote so I could effectively put it most anywhere and get whatever shots I wanted. I have also used it in the pool, doing obstacle course races and all kinds of places. I have even used it indoors to film Christmas with my family and my in-laws.
 
we use the GoPro and it is mounted to the front stinger.
we did find out a couple pro's and con's by doing that,
1st pro is if you publish to YouTube there is no conversation you need to cut out because it is on the outside.
1st con of mounting inside is if your radio ( or anything playing music ) is on and you publish then YouTube will flag it with a violation for unlicensed music and make you remove it.

we had ours on the outside bumper and i had the radio on in the car when i opened the door to get out and a minute and it was far in the background and it was flagged for removal if i didn't remove the 30 seconds of background music... that was pretty surprising to me.
they will let you leave it but the give back is you need to let other ad's be put over your video for that artist.

if you don't want them on YouTube then its no issue.

not sure if you can get extended batteries for the dash cams but i was able to get an attached 8 hour battery for the GoPro and that beats getting out of the Jeep every hour or so to change a battery.

just my opinion
 
This all depends on what you want to do with it. Do you want to spend your money on something that is only going to record video looking through the windshield? Or would you like to have the flexibility to take the GoPro and mount it Where ever you want. Also I have the hero 4+ and the picture and video quality are second to none for an action camera. It all what you want to be able to do with it.
 
technically you can turn a gopro into a "dashcam" its kind of what i do sometimes if i want it more accessible instead of being on the exterior...
 
Thanks everyone for your opinions. I do agree that the Go Pro is more versatile than the dash cam type cameras. However, has anyone read or known of anyone that has the dash cams with the better night filming capabilities? Night time filming is always a little tricky from what I have seen on most videos.
 
Dave, I have a GoPro Hero 3+ and it takes amazing video in bright daylight conditions. It does not do the best in flat light or dark conditions. I think the 4 does better. I also have a brand new dash cam I haven't even opened. I would say the go pro is going to be better than a standard dash cam. There are many different dash cams though.

Do you want to mount the camera? Be able to move it around to different mounts? Then a go pro would be better. If you want to film handheld, then a digital camcorder would be better. The gopro is great, but has its limits. A dash cam is really for a different purpose in reality and has its limits.

It all really depends on how you want to fill. If you can get a 3+ for $80, that is awesome deal. I need to find the 8hr battery setup.
 
They're 2 different things... Dashcams really can only record in front of the car and they're always on loop deleting the old footage so it can always continually record unlike a GoPro
 
Had to check. Mine is a hero 2. There are now the 3, 3+, and 4.

I forgot about loop feature of a dash cam. The one i bought has a save button. I bought it for traffic, not anything else.
 
The biggest down to a dash cam is that if you're like me you'll forget to turn off after wheeling so you end up losing all the footage
 
I have both Go Pro Hero 3+ and a Dash Cam. Go Pro Hero will record continually until you run out of memory, battery or make it stop manually. A dash cam will record your GPS coordinate, time, and speed. you can change the recording interval to 2, 3 , 4, 5 minutes loop. The bigger the memory card the more recording it can save without overwriting the old ones. What I like with the dash cam is that recording starts automatically when the engine is started and ends 5 minutes the ignition is cut. You can also set the G-Force sensor to automatically save and not delete any shock it detects IE. accident, sudden stops, rear ended, hitting a big pothole or curb or anything that will cause a sudden shock. That way you are not looking at one long video to see the accident etc. as it is automatically saved, plus most high end dash cam have some form of night enhancement.
 
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Thanks again for the new feedback. I may end up with both, dash cam and go pro. The one dash cam that has caught my eye has the low light/night capability. And i like the mobility of the go pro.

Well, that should sit well with the Misses. Lol
 
I use a garmin virb xe for mine it's pretty much the same as a go pro but I happen to like the gmetrix overlays I can add in with it as it records everything, speed ,elevation,g's, pitch,roll,route .... and able to overly the ones I want on video or leave them off entirely..
 
Draconianwinter said:
Check out the cobra dash cams. The one I have can be set to work as an action cam
Click to expand...

Thanks. I will check it out.


Overland_stormtrooper said:
I use a garmin virb xe for mine it's pretty much the same as a go pro but I happen to like the gmetrix overlays I can add in with it as it records everything, speed ,elevation,g's, pitch,roll,route .... and able to overly the ones I want on video or leave them off entirely..
Click to expand...

Gotcha. I like the idea of the overlays as well. So it can used mounted and hand held?
 
Don't have much experience with dash cams..but I do own a gopro hero 3..use the suction cup mount on the dash good bit..as that dang thing will stick anywhere (at least for me anyways)
 
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