WdnUlik2no

While I was at the doctor a few weeks ago, some jerk hit my car in the rear twice and drove off. Luckily someone saw what happened and left a note on my windshield giving me the plate number and type of car. I filed a police report and I was able to track down the driver information as well as his insurance. The owner initially tried to deny it, but I guess once they saw my police report and the note, the finally admitted to it and I was able to get my deductible back through his insurance.

Without that note, I would have been SOL and would have been out $500.

I am looking to get video monitoring equipment for my car that can record the cars surroundings when I'm away.

There are so many options out there, but I do not know which one to choose. I'm looking for something that is inconspicuous as possible and does recording of the front and rear; if possible I would also like to have it record while I'm driving to protect myself from insurance scammers.

I have my eye on this one, but I'm not sure. 2 Security Camera System for Cars & Trucks (Park & Drive Mode) With Built-In Wi-Fi For Mobile Phone Viewing and Playback ? Home Restored

Any other suggestions?

Jottle

The good news is that this is feasible. The bad news is that it is neither easy nor cheap. I'd do some research on carcamcentral.com and dashcamtalk.com first. It's easy to find a decent enough 2-channel front and rear dashcam, but having it draw power while the car is parked brings certain problems along with it. Some dascams have a parking mode where they will record video from just before and just after the moment they register an impact on their motion sensor. Others will remain on the whole time and record everything while your car in in park. In both scenarios the cam needs to draw power from your battery. Unless you drive some crazy big rig, your battery will be drained in a day or so without some kind of battery backup that's designed just for powering the dash cam. These batteries are available (see the guide on carcamcentral.com), but good ones will run you close to $200. This isn't even mentioning the headache of hard wiring all of this into your car.

The camera you linked to seems to be a rebranded version of another popular 2-channel dash cam. You'll want to definitely consider your supplier and warranty options when purchasing these. Lower end cams are super cheap and made by no-name chinese knock off suppliers who do not offer warranties. Spytech is a trusted distributor of many dashcam models. They offer a 1-year warranty and sell on amazon. So that might also be a safer bet when you decide to make your purchase. For a regular 1-channel front facing dash cam, a new leading budget pick with great video quality is the Viofo A119. I don't know which 2-channel models are superior, but you can find many options on the two sites I linked to above.

WdnUlik2no

Thanks so much!! I'm very wary about purchasing one so I am doing a lot of research. I was surprised that many local B&M stores don't sell these and the only place to get them seems to be the internet which could be a gamble. There seems to be enough demand for them to get more familiar companies to make these and more readily available. I'll check out the links you provided me and continue to do research. My budget is around $400 for a 2 channel.

Thanks again!