Are there any privacy friendly dash cams on the market? Something that doesn’t phone home, require shady brand apps, force me into cloud storage, etc.

Pi-like SBC and a USB camera and I’m sure you can find software for it.

MisterFeeny
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I have this one, and it just saves the video to an sd card. The review I linked to mentions it’s lack of connectivity as a con, but clearly it’s not a con if that’s what you’re looking for.

If you have an old smartphone I’d just mount that on your dash. There’s quite a few apps you can use. Pull out the SIM and away you go.

Aren’t most of them like that? The one I have records when the car is on and turns off when it’s not. It basically has no features at all except for the capability to record video and audio. Made by Garmin.

The Viofo A119 V3 might be what you’re looking for. It unfortunately doesn’t have the best sensors that the company produces but it also doesn’t have built in GPS, voice control, Bluetooth, or WiFi. Also the mic has a button to enable or disable.

KptnAutismus
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own an A229 pro. you can disable GPS and any other nasty features on there, and you can use it without the app afterwards. just take out the sd card. also doesn’t have any network bullshit in the app, since you connect to the cam directly through wifi.

do recommend, there’s a shortage of these for a reason.

Good to know. Thanks for your input!

I mean, a normal dashcam from Walmart or something should suffice. I don’t think the cheap ones use any internet stuff.

Otter
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Yea I didn’t know internet dashcams like the above existed, sounds like it would be expensive to get the same benefits out of it. A dashcam should work like a blackbox, it can’t lose data during a collision. The data should be easily accessible and not locked behind some proprietary format.

I’ve heard Garmin recommended for watches, maybe similar for dashcams? But again, like others are saying, most brands should probably be ok

Better to look for other factors like tolerance to shake/temperature or video quality in poor conditions (darkness, fog, glare)

I think his issue is the AD hoc wifi connectivity to phones and relying on 3rd party apps to view/download the footage.

Seems to me anything with a SD card and a live view screen would do.

GPS is nice since it’ll track speeds. The issue is wifi and bluetooth

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