Dashcam or car camera in your car?

A dashcam - also known as a car camera or dashboard camera - is a small camera in your car that films everything that happens on the road. You place a dashcam on the windscreen, usually behind the interior mirror, and connect it to the cigarette lighter with a car charger and long cable. As soon as the dashcam receives power (when you start the car) it turns on and starts recording and when you turn off the car, the dashcam turns off. So you don't have to worry about it anymore.

You insert a Micro SD card into the dashcam, and all videos are stored on it. A dashcam stores the videos in short fragments of usually 3 or 5 minutes. As soon as the SD card is full, the oldest videos are automatically deleted to make room for new recordings. This means the dashcam continuously records so that the most recent journeys are always saved. This function is called loop recording.

The capacity of the Micro SD card and the quality of the videos ultimately determine how many videos can be saved. Most dashcams support Micro SD cards up to 128GB or even 256GB, which is good for approximately 20 and 40 hours of FullHD videos respectively. With a 2CH dashcam with a rear camera, the total recording time is of course less because the dashcam then has to save two videos at the same time.

Another unique feature of a dashcam is the G-sensor. This vibration sensor detects when you have been in a collision and saves the current video in that case. These protected videos can no longer be overwritten. This ensures that the most important recordings are always saved.

When buying a dashcam, there are a few things you can take into account. With a dashcam with Wifi, it is possible to connect your phone or tablet to the dashboard camera within range of the dashcam. You can view or download stored and live images and also change settings. With a cloud dashcam, you can even connect to your dashcam remotely, but you will need an internet connection in your car.

You can buy a GPS dashcam if you also want to track the locations and speed of the videos. Later, you can also view the route travelled. With ADAS on a dashcam, the car camera will notify you of dangerous situations on the road, such as when you are approaching a car at high speed or that the car in front has changed lanes without signalling. With some dashcams, it is possible to place a CPL filter over the lens. This works like polarised sunglasses and can prevent annoying reflections from the dashboard.

To be able to film with your dashcam, you usually only need an SD card. All files from the dashcam are stored on the SD card. It actually works the same as with a photo or video camera. Most dashcams are supplied without an SD card, but in other cases it is specifically mentioned in the title or description (the capacity of the card supplied is usually stated, such as LUKAS LK-9379 WD 16gb).

To hide a dashcam in your car, either professionally or discreetly, you can use a hardwire kit. You can connect this power supply to the fuse box or another power point in the car to power the dashcam (even when the ignition is off, e.g. in parking mode). Another advantage is that you can keep the cigarette lighter in the car free to charge your phone.

In the Netherlands and most other European countries, filming with a dashboard camera is permitted. You can therefore buy a dashcam with confidence in our country. Be careful, however, with uploading dashcam videos to the internet, especially when persons or licence plates are recognisable in the image. In the case of a serious offence or crime, it is better to give the dashcam footage directly to the police.

Dashcams are not permitted in every country. Filming with a dashboard camera is prohibited in the following countries and can result in (very) high fines:

- Luxembourg
- Austria
- Switzerland
- Portugal

In some countries the use of a dashcam is not permitted, but in other countries it is mandatory. In those countries you cannot claim on your car insurance if you do not have a dashcam in your car. In Russia and South Korea, among other countries, this is mandatory and no one goes on the road without a dashcam.

In many other countries – including the United Kingdom – you receive a discount on your car insurance when you use a dashcam. The use of a dashcam saves these insurance companies so much time and money that they can lower the insurance premium. The use of dashcam footage saves the companies a lot of time when sorting out who is at fault in an accident. In addition, insurance companies lose a lot of money on unjustified payments because it is difficult to determine who is at fault in an accident. Moreover, the large-scale use of dashcams throughout the entire chain saves a lot of money because accidents are prevented in advance as people drive more carefully. This makes the use of a dashboard camera advantageous and safe.

You hear it more and more often in the media: the police or judicial authorities looking for witnesses to a crime and requesting dashcam footage. Because a dashcam records continuously, it is the ideal witness in the case of crimes or offences. Fortunately, the image quality of most dashcams you can buy these days is so good that people and licence plates are easily recognisable on camera. Dashcam images are therefore serving as decisive evidence in more and more investigations and court cases, thus indirectly contributing to a safer society.

A fair and important question that arises when recordings are made in public is: what about privacy? The fact that it is permitted to film in public in the Netherlands does not, of course, mean that every dashcam event should be posted on the internet. We believe in mobility and the ability to move about freely - as discretely as possible. We therefore advise against posting dashcam footage on the internet, even (or especially) if it concerns a dangerous, frustrating or funny situation. It is better to send the footage to the police so they can determine whether further steps are necessary. If you do decide to post dashcam footage on the internet, make sure you blur licence plates and faces. There are various apps and video editing programmes that can help you do this without too much trouble.

We are also often asked whether a dashcam can also be used outside the car, for example to monitor the car from outside. In principle, you can also use a dashcam outside the car, provided you have a power supply for your dashboard camera. In the house, you can connect a dashcam to the mains with a standard USB phone charger, for example. Mounting a dashcam outside the car is usually not possible because dashcams (with the exception of some motorbike dashcams) are not waterproof. You also have to take the mounting into account, as dashcams are supplied with suction cup or sticker attachments that are meant for mounting on a slanted windscreen. Not all dashcams make it possible or easy to aim the dashcam in the right position.

At Allcam, we have specialised in dashcams for over 12 years. During this time, we have built intensive and personal relationships with our suppliers and would like to pass this on to our customers. Please also take a look at our Belgian, French, German, Spanish, Italian, Dutch or Swedish website.