GR86 Dash Cam

[--Rage--]

Toyota does a hardwired NextBase front and rear dashcam system which is £278 for the parts and £380-400 with installation by the dealer.

Toyota NextBase 1080p Front and Rear Integrated Dash Cam - Toyota Parts Direct

Toyota NextBase 1080p Front and Rear Integrated Dash Cam - Genuine Toyota Parts Direct - UK Stock - Secure Payment - Shop Online

toyotadirectparts.co.uk

Don't think it's that great for the price, but I suppose some people would be tempted for the convenience of having it installed by the dealer before picking up the car.

Saw this installed on some of the demos, looks great but my concern is that it is almost so invisible that it stops it from being a deterrent.

 

[midlife_sportscar]

Saw this installed on some of the demos, looks great but my concern is that it is almost so invisible that it stops it from being a deterrent.

Personally, I prefer not to draw attention to it...
But if you wanted to, you could put warning stickers in the window(s) - sometimes see vans etc with them.

 

[PaulT]

Personally, I prefer not to draw attention to it...
But if you wanted to, you could put warning stickers in the window(s) - sometimes see vans etc with them.

They come with stickers. On mine, you can clearly see the front and rear up close.

 

[beorg]

With car deliveries imminent, has anyone ended up ordering the dash cam through their dealer, or perhaps decided to go with a different one entirely?

 

[PaulT]

With car deliveries imminent, has anyone ended up ordering the dash cam through their dealer, or perhaps decided to go with a different one entirely?

Yeah, I ordered it from the dealer, £390 for front and back, I think.

 

[KobayashiMaru86]

I'll wait for now. Thinkware was who I was looking at but haven't gone back to it. There's a 12v behind glovebox to make it an easy install. But ideally I'd hard wire to get parking protection too

 

[James-UK]

All seems a tad pointless to me - if the camera isn't pointing the right away (it can't cover all angles) how much can it help?

Also I'm not sure most people realise - fault is irrelevant! Years ago, a bus took the front off my car. Fault was clearly established as the bus drivers fault and no one disputed this. I still had to register the claim and my insurance still increased dramatically (actually more than a fault claim) as the stats say a no-fault claim makes a fault claim more likely.

A dash cam would've made no difference here.

They also make it so self incrimination is possible which is utterly ridiculous. My footage is my ownership, and unless I choose to share it. It should be private. However, that is not the case. I would never install one just for that very reason.

 

[vinny85]

I’ve had a transcend 520 since 2016. Still seems to working. Luckily I’ve never had to use it other than checking if I was over the speed limit when I’ve gone past a mobile speed camera. The stress of not knowing for 2 weeks when you can just play back the video is worth it just for this reason.

 

[PaulT]

They also make it so self incrimination is possible which is utterly ridiculous. My footage is my ownership, and unless I choose to share it. It should be private. However, that is not the case. I would never install one just for that very reason.

How is that not the case? The video is stored on a memory card in the camera, you can format it with one click from an app on your phone.

 

[James-UK]

How is that not the case? The video is stored on a memory card in the camera, you can format it with one click from an app on your phone.

First of all, what you are suggesting is illegal. It's destroying evidence.
Second, when you delete/quick format which is what those options would default to. All it does is put a 0 in-front of the first 1 in the binary sequence.
(ie, all someone needs to do to restore your footage is use specialised software and put 1s back in-front of all the 0 files.)

Sadly, I think they're more trouble than they're worth! I'd love to have one in case idiots hit you whilst parked but... I think the possibility of self incrimination is too dangerous. Everyone makes mistakes when they're driving, all takes a risk they shouldn't have. Most are luckily learning situations and you don't ever repeat them. But having camera footage of said mistake... could actually hurt you.

Anyway each to their own! There's no right answer here. Plusses and minuses on both! I am just going to be a super careful parker haha.

 

[beorg]

Doesn't look like anyone opted in for the Toyota dash yet. Would be great to know the user experience with one if they do, as there are no real reviews of the specific model and I have my concerns about the quality and viability of the Nextbase dashcam.

I'll be holding fire for now, but if there's another elegant dashcam that does a better job, it would be great to hear about it.

 

[Seano]

Doesn't look like anyone opted in for the Toyota dash yet. Would be great to know the user experience with one if they do, as there are no real reviews of the specific model and I have my concerns about the quality and viability of the Nextbase dashcam.

I'll be holding fire for now, but if there's another elegant dashcam that does a better job, it would be great to hear about it.

I’m waiting till the new year as I don’t want to rush into it. Just going to do some homework on it first.

 

[PaulT]

I have the Nextbase one on my Lexus at the moment, getting the same one on the 86. It's ok and does the job, you get an app on your phone to control it which, on Android, works most of the time but tends to disconnect while you are using it.

There is a motion sensor, so if the car is knocked when stationary, like you open the boot , it records a bit of video. Recording continually overwrites in one-minute clips, but if you press a keep button, it will lock the previous, current and next videos so if something happens, that won't be deleted.

Night video is ok, but it's not infrared or anything. If you can't see something, the camera isn't going to see it.

The install is neat, though, no trailing wires either from front or rear, and the front camera slides out of its holder easily if you want to take the card out.

Probably not worth nearly 400 notes for both cameras, but if it goes wrong then it's a warranty fix.

 

[mackie]

For those looking to use a hardwire kit I found these pics elsewhere on the internet:

 

[volksdub]

I’ve just fitted a Garmin Mini 2, using the socket in the glove box for now. I have the parking mode writing kit so will likely switch to hard wiring when I use the car more.

Seems a great little camera that hides well behind the mirror.

 

[Swizzle]

Halfords have a dash cam sale on with very good prices, just ordered a road angel

 

[mackie]

Finally got round to installing my VIOFO A129 with their hard wire parking mode kit. All good so far, just need to verify the parking mode works as it should.

There’s a decent amount of space behind the plastic panel next to your foot to hide away the little electronics box and excess wiring.

 

[mackie]

Quick correction to the above. The switched circuit (left column) is actually one down from where it is in the pic. It now switches into parking mode reliably as soon as the ignition is turned off

 

[kacpr]

Can you make a quick review after you played with it for a while? I am interested in getting a Viofo camera but would like to know how the parking mode works like and how does it affect the car's battery.

 

[mackie]

Can you make a quick review after you played with it for a while? I am interested in getting a Viofo camera but would like to know how the parking mode works like and how does it affect the car's battery.

I've actually had the A129 Pro since 2020 as it was installed in my previous car.

There is a voltage cutoff in the hardwire kit which will prevent the battery getting too low. It will use some power ofcourse and the battery management stuff in my previous car (a G-series BMW) would complain about low charge occasionally but I never had any malfunctions or failures to start. This was over COVID too ofcourse so the car was sat around sometimes for a couple of weeks without moving.

I will check tonight to see how it's affected the GR86. It helpfully has a proper voltage meter and likely a less sophisticated management systems than the BMW that's less likely to get upset.

As for the camera itself - it survived the hottest summer on record and is still going strong on the original SD card. Video quality is good and supports up to 4k but I use 1440p/60 which seems like a decent res/filesize combo.