£40 Car Cameras Review 1 of 2
Sunday, March 18, 2012 at 9:22AM 
One of the more common email questions I get asked is "What is the best cheap car camera that I've tested?". Well I've only really reviewed two purpose-built car cameras, one was a couple of years ago and really wasn't very good and the other, the V1000GS costs over £100.
In case you are wondering what separates car cameras out from action cameras, well they come supplied with a car mount and more importantly, they auto-start and stop when they receive power from a car 12v power adaptor.
So given the level of interest, it looks like its about time that I took another look at cheap car cameras to see what is currently available. My aim was to get the most amount of features for a price of no more than£40. I bought two different HD cameras that fit the bill and the first of what will eventually become two reviews is shown below.
The second camera, has already arrived from Hong Kong, but there are quite a few other things that I need to look at first before I put that review together. As a result, it will most likely be a few weeks before I'll upload the second (and last) of these cheap car camera reviews.
Here's the first video...
Example ebay seller links
Reader Comments (21)
Hi Techmoan,
Thanks for another great review,do you have a link to the eBay site for this camera and the other one that you have still to review.
Thanks again
Another interesting post Techmoan.
This camera seems a bit to cheap & cheerfull ! but as a rear facing camera it may be OK.
Nether the less an interesting review in the usual Techmoan style, thank you.
Hi,
Ebay links now added to the end of the post.
I'm waiting for youtube to update the thumbnail for this video to the one that I uploaded a couple of hours ago before I take the Unlisted status off this video. The current thumbnail isn't really what I was looking for.
Hi,
Thanks for the quick reply,looking forward to the next review.
Brilliant review, again, many thanks! This one looks like a pretty good unit and as you say would suit most people. I haven't dipped in yet to buy one but I do use an app for my iPhone called Witness Driving - I use a rubber band to attach it to the rear view mirror. It works quite well but it would be nice to liberate the phone back to being used for TomTom and still looking for that reasonably priced device to do just that!
One of the sellers auctions lists a correction that the lens is 130 degrees not 150 as their headline claims.
Great and comprehensive review, thanks!
Question: how does the 12V power plug trigger the camera so it knows whether the engine is started or not ?
In many cars the 12V power socket is always on regardless if the engine is on or off.
@ ChieftainY2K
If the cigar lighter socket is permanent live then an alternative swicthed supply will have to be used.
When is part 2?
Hi Techmoan,
I had a thought, perhaps before you write off in-car night vision entirely you could try something?
Perhaps you could add an infra-red headlight of sorts. Many of the home security camera setups can be coupled with additional IR illuminators. such as this illuminator.
Perhaps you already have something similar knocking about which might be worth gaffer taping in place for a test within a car park. I expect the tinted glass would weaken the IR light from the standard LED's both when it is going out and further weaken any returning light. If I recall correctly Mercedes and a few other high end manufacturers mount their IR emitter and camera on the front grille of the car.
Just an idea anyway. Thanks for the excellent reviews!
Much appreciated - this is exactly the sort of review I'd been hoping to see here. Seriously - this review could save a lot of viewers a lot of money and maybe even get a dangerous driver or two off the road.
Looking forward to part 2.
@slimgym - thanks for the tip on "Witness Driving" for the iPhone - seems to work very well. I'm using an old Nokia suction cup mount and getting good results for 99 cents!
When do you expect part two to be out?
For everyone who is waiting for part 2.
The camera that was supposed to be reviewed in part 2 was a massive failure. This will be the subject of a short video explaining what happened) I have, however been supplied with two different new car cameras by a UK eBayer (both are looking a lot better than the failed camera and one looks better than the camera reviewed in part 1). So the next car camera review will be worked on over my next weekend...and will be released as soon as possible thereafter...probably 10 days or so from now. Please consider though that I'm working to my own schedule in my spare time, so timings are very fluid.
Anyone know if or where there are any IR sidelight bulbs in existence? The 501 w5w style that is.
Hi
Love the website and all your reviews. Keep up the good work.
I was directed to when searching for in car cameras. Any updates on part 2 of your review and more information on the new camera that you said was better than review 1?
:-)
@Parv1 Part 2 was abandoned when the camera I got turned out to be a dodgy copy of the K2000. See the Cheap Car Camera Fail video. I then went on to test a few more models, including the Smartcam.
Hi Techmoan, love the reviews. Have pretty much watched them all, even the stuff I have no interest in! Just a quick question with regard to this camera. Are you able to use the little stand upside down as a windscreen mount? I was thinking of sticking it onto the windscreen right at the top where it would make a much more compact installation as the supplied windscreen mount sticks out a bit too far by the looks of it. I intend to have something like this permenantly wired in and if I can do it that way it would be perfect. Many thanks.
@Matt Unfortunately I sold this on ebay along with a few other things that were cluttering up the place, so I don't have it any more.
I did not understand from the review if it does loop recording after all...Can you specify if so ? Thanks!
All the car cameras do loop recording....it's the only guaranteed feature.