Dash Cams

Over the last few years Houston has become a hotbed of insurance fraud auto "accidents". To help protect my family and I for this sort of fraud I've installed dash cams in all our vehicles. Picking a camera system was fairly easy. Understanding the rules and regulations of them has been a real trip down the rabbit hole. Things to consider:
1. What are your state's privacy laws? Do people need to agreed to being recorded before you can record them?
2. Will your court system allow dash cam video as evidence?
3. Can other video from the camera be used against you? Do you normally drive like a jerk?
4. Does having a visible camera invite smash-and-grab theft?

Sadly, dash cams open up a big can of worms. That being said, I personally still feel the benefits outweigh the potential negatives.
Thoughts?

Did you go front and back or just front facing?

Blast, can you share your product research with us? There is tons of dash cams out there. I'm guessing that the lower end ones are all made in the same factory. But then the higher end ones might also come out of the same factory.

Two of your points -

3. Can other video from the camera be used against you? Do you normally drive like a jerk?
4. Does having a visible camera invite smash-and-grab theft?

- - - -

I have a post-it note on my dash. It says "Drive Meekly." There are too many (other - besides me) jerks out there to be ticked off at their bad behavior. "Teaching him a lesson" never works.

I have a Garmin GPS/dashcam in front with a dash-mount pad instead of a suction cup window mount. It has a 'sticky' weighted pad that just sits on the top of the dash. When I park I move it from the dash to the center console to discourage people from seeing it. I also have a budget rear-mounted cam on the back window.

Both front and back facing.
-Blast

After ordering, trying, and returning several I settled on this make/model for our vehicles: AUKEY Dual Dash Cam*

It uses capacitors instead of batteries so supposedly this makes it better in southern cars where the internal summer temperatures can get over 120F. I hardwired each directly to an "always on" slot in the fuse box of each car so that it records even when parked. The only issue with that is it does slowly steal power from the car battery if it's left sitting for a long time. The video quality is good, it's easy to program, and it came with cables more than long enough to run the length of a Toyota 4Runner and a Honda Pilot. I've had them for several years and they are still going fine.

The others I tried either had too short of cables, glitchy rear-facing cameras, or flimsy construction.
-Blast

I'd like to try a dash cam but I've found the process of researching them to be overwhelming. I'm not really super confident in installing one if it has to be wired in.

Use a good endurance SD card for recording. Normal ones will fail soon when used in continuous recording.

I skipped the cable that came with it and just use a very long USB cable. Cable is hidden under the trim and shows up at my 12V socket, where it goes in one of the four USB slots. This allows me to disconnect it easily when crossing some borders.

They don't require hardwiring in, that was just something I did on my own. They come with a 12VDC "cigarette" power plug.
-Blast

Blast.... AFAIK... recording in public..... there isn't any expectation of privacy. As a road medic, I have had people literally cell phone video OVER MY SHOULDER on scene of a crash. Cops have said there is no law against it. I'd assume since a dash cam is in public, there'd be no problem. Even the 'audio' portion as it is IN PUBLIC. Hence no expectation...... Just my 2c.

In our country (Finland) it is legal to film in public places. But to publicly show those films (like on internet) that´s more complicated and not allways legal.

Several legal websites mention that in some states you need to let passengers, mechanics, and other people who may be in your vehicle know that they are being recorded (audio). My understanding was it used to be illegal in TX but that's been changed. I need to dig into this more.
-Blast

Put a little sign on back of the camera?

Yeah, I'm thinking something that says, "All activity in this vehicle is recorded and if entertaining enough, will be posted on the internet"

-Blast

LOL!!!!!

Dash cams used to be illegal in Germany.
Not anymore: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-germa...s-idUSKCN1IG1LO