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This site compares and reviews dash cams. It's solid.
https://dashcamtalk.com/best-dash-cams/
I'm unaffiliated with it.
this post was submitted on 22 Jun 2026
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I have a Blackvue camera, and just checked the settings. I don't think I've looked at it before when setting it up, but it seems to be defaulted to off. You have to opt in to this. I'm not sure why anyone would. Maybe to attempt tracking your car if it gets stolen? I'd be pretty easy for any thief to thwart by unplugging the camera, but in the heat of the moment they might miss it.
Or maybe it's for those vain idiots that constantly broadcast their lives as if anyone else gives a fuck, in which case I hope they get everything they deserve.
Have you traffic sniffed it or are you just trusting?
I am learning so many new words today
I was in bed when I checked the app, so no, but I will.
Later: looking in the app while the camera was on, I couldn't even find the screen that showed other cameras on the map. :shrug:
Sounds like the perfect dash cam for law enforcement.
Allow anyone to view and know their location. It's all in the name of safety! Think of the children! If I have a heart attack and my phone got stolen and my child needs to know where the closest cop is, they can check! think of the children reeeeee
Unironically want these in cop cars tho. It should help keep an eye on them when they pull shady shit if everyone can view their dashboard camera at all times
I love what CalFire (or UC San Diego I'm not sure) did with the fire cameras all around the state. Wanna watch?
It would be great if there were something similar with police cameras, but at the same time, do we really want to go down that rabbit hole of an oversurveilled society?
Wait. Shut up. Pretend it's the 70s and I said that.
BlackVue used to be the best and everyone went for these as they were really easy to install and use.
Over the years it has quickly degraded, their app got worse, privacy got worse, intrusive ads, hardware malfunctions, support going downhill... Enshittification at its finest.
This is pretty much what happens with every company that becomes popular. Eventually they begin to exploit their popularity to take back value from their own customers.
I wouldn't ever spend money on something that requires an app, an account, or an internet connection. Fortunately my car has dashcams built in.
I find this often aligns with purchase of the company by hedge investors.
I wouldn't ever spend money on something that requires an app, an account, or an internet connection. Fortunately my car has dashcams built in.
What car has built-in dashcams but isn't itself an enshittified nightmare?
All modern cars are, unfortunately. But I can't go back to driving a gas car. I have a Slate on order.
What car ~~has built-in dashcams but~~ isn’t itself an enshittified nightmare?
Sometime pre-2015ish. Probably up to early cellular connectivity cars as those bands are defunct now.
My vintage 2014 and 2011 beaters win!!!!!
I want to know this too
Thanks for this. I used to have one about 6 years ago and thought it was pretty good. I have been too lazy to buy a new since that one died, so it is good to hear I shouldn't look at them again.
I watch a lot of dashcam videos on YouTube and the Viofo ones are consistently good quality video. I wound up getting the A119 but haven't recorded anything interesting enough to pull footage yet.
You should pull footage now to ensure it’s working the way you want. I realized my date/timestamps were broken cuz the camera was only powered when the car was. Misc stuff like that is good to know ahead of time
That is something I've been meaning to do since installing it but haven't yet months later. I do keep mine powered constantly so I might not have your same issue but it would be really shitty to actually need it someday and find out it hadn't been recording this whole time.
One of these days I need to get around to hard-wiring my dashcam so that it can always be powered.
Why do dash cams or their apps need any connectivity at all?
They tried to upsell me with my new car a few years ago. $1200 for one of these dashcams, Jesus. I said no and bought a $80 one at Officeworks.
But they said that basically the idea is if your SD card is destroyed or lost you have no evidence. This device always streams to the cloud, so theoretically it's more robust. If the police takes your SD card at a crash (common in Australia), and then it's lost or "lost", your SOL. But of course you get privacy problems with any cloud...
Cop sees camera, cop grabs camera, no proof of camera.
I guess it's good if your vehicle goes up in flames after being hit by a tanker or something. Grabbing my dashcam's SD card might not occur to me on the way out of escaping my burning vehicle.
If you want to buy anything, don't get one that has an app associated with it.
It's an impossible ask. Even the cheap $20 imports require an app to set them up.
Privacy nightmare on multiple fronts, given the latest wifi/bluetooth scanning revelation.
I literally bought a no name dashcam a few months back that's 4k on the front and 2k on the back and it just records to an SD card.
I skipped any product that showed an app, phone, or android icon.
Got a link? I'm actually in the market for a replacement and have had no luck finding a simple device.
I've been very happy with my viofo which is SD only and no app. But damn, have prices gone up in the last 5 years.
every Viofo I've checked had WiFi + app. Even the cheap ones.
https://www.viofo.com/products/a119-v3-with-gps-2k-25601600p-30fps-quad-hd-car-dash-cam
Had to go out to the car to check, but this is what I have.
Wow! That's not even listed on their Amazon storefront.
Thank you so much!
I have an antique AUKEY that has been limping by for quite a while now, and that's exactly what I need. Ordering it now.
Why in the world would they make this a thing? This is the dumbest feature since glass doors on public bathroom stalls.
Absolutely disgusting. Who would intentionally broadcast this??? "Hey guys, I'm not home and won't be for a while, so please rob me!"
It would be a great feature for someone who is being harassed by authorities like ICE and wants a public record to be available even if they are abducted or killed.
But you'd have to go into it knowing that's happening. I wouldn't otherwise want this around for any other reason. Personally.
You asked who would intentionally broadcast this. It is a feature that some people would want, and I provided an example. That example person might want it on all the time because they don't know when they will be harassed.
I personally would not want it either.
Well, Touché
Except that it'll also help ICE abduct and kill them...
Would be a better feature in that situation if it could store the footage on a self hosted server with a dead man switch to publish the footage...
That sounds like a pretty obvious feature, though? I'm not saying it's good but the original article by Nine News Australia just makes it sound like it's just a feature of the app.