Mazda CX-5 - Dash Cam good enough for reading Number Plates? - Kenneth Green

Hi

Are there any Dash Cams that actually do the job they are suppoosed to do and allow you to read a Number Plate of a car in the outside lane?

I have spent weeks researching Dash Cams and my head is still no clearer. Some people sware by the cheap ones while others say only the expensive ones are best but having looked at the sample videos on youtube you cant read the number plates.

Thats going to be a fat lot of use if some burk does a bad overtake or clips you?

I've been looking at the BlackVeu and the Lukas Qvia AR790 but even oin thier footage you cant read the number plates?

I know one of the Nextbase ones is supposed to be good but its so damn bulky and having spent a decent wedge on my new dream car I do not want a bulky thing cluttering up my screen.

Any honest thoughts would be great...

Thanks all and Happy Christmas.

Mazda CX-5 - Dash Cam good enough for reading Number Plates? - RobJP

You don't need to be able to read numberplates off them.

They are used, generally, to ascertain exactly which party was responsible for an incident. In 99%+ of incidents, the 2 parties have stopped and exchanged details, and it is purely determining which party (if either) caused the collision by their actions.

'If some burk does a bad overtake' is nothing to do with you, it's a police matter - unless he hits you - in which case it's highly likely that both parties will have come to a stop.

Mazda CX-5 - Dash Cam good enough for reading Number Plates? - bazza

Yes, as Rob says. Merry Christmas, by the way......

Mazda CX-5 - Dash Cam good enough for reading Number Plates? - Kenneth Green

Yes, as Rob says. Merry Christmas, by the way......

Merry Christmas to you and yours too. :)

Mazda CX-5 - Dash Cam good enough for reading Number Plates? - RT

Wide-angle is better than "normal" - you need something approaching 180 degree angle.

Mazda CX-5 - Dash Cam good enough for reading Number Plates? - Kenneth Green

Wide-angle is better than "normal" - you need something approaching 180 degree angle.

Good advice - thanks

Mazda CX-5 - Dash Cam good enough for reading Number Plates? - Kenneth Green

I disagree - if someone is driving badly, or worse in a dangerious way, then it's all of our concerns and the Police welcome footage being provided of such incidents.

Mazda CX-5 - Dash Cam good enough for reading Number Plates? - RichT54

I've had a look at some of the output from my old Transcend DP200. In the best daytime lighting conditions you can read number plates on cars in adjacent lanes up to about 30ft. In poor light, rain, spray: less than 10ft (if you are lucky).

Also, if the speed of the other car is significantly different to your own, it can look blurred even when you freeze the playback.

Mazda CX-5 - Dash Cam good enough for reading Number Plates? - primus 1

I went for a my witness camera and got both front and rear cameras, am very pleased with it and its very clear, but was quite expensive so it depends what your budget is

Mazda CX-5 - Dash Cam good enough for reading Number Plates? - Kenneth Green

I went for a my witness camera and got both front and rear cameras, am very pleased with it and its very clear, but was quite expensive so it depends what your budget is

Thank you.

I dont mind paying well for a Dash Cam if it does the job well...

Mazda CX-5 - Dash Cam good enough for reading Number Plates? - Kenneth Green

I've had a look at some of the output from my old Transcend DP200. In the best daytime lighting conditions you can read number plates on cars in adjacent lanes up to about 30ft. In poor light, rain, spray: less than 10ft (if you are lucky).

Also, if the speed of the other car is significantly different to your own, it can look blurred even when you freeze the playback.

Thank you :)

Mazda CX-5 - Dash Cam good enough for reading Number Plates? - colinh

Just checked output from my Garmin Satnav/dashcam, and basic answer is "yes", but bad lighting or road surface conditions can be a problem -sample:

i.imgur.com/BgLIOUo.jpg

Mazda CX-5 - Dash Cam good enough for reading Number Plates? - Kenneth Green

Just checked output from my Garmin Satnav/dashcam, and basic answer is "yes", but bad lighting or road surface conditions can be a problem -sample:

i.imgur.com/BgLIOUo.jpg

Thank you :)

Mazda CX-5 - Dash Cam good enough for reading Number Plates? - gordonbennet

Note in that freeze frame is your speed there for all to see, incriminating evidence of your own speeding at that or at other times if you did speed should the old bill seize the camera, so if you get one with GPS it might be prudent to get one where it can be switched off...not as i'm suggesting the posted pic shows speeding in any way.

Yes i know there are some here who sport glowing halos, but the rest of us might not be quite as perfect as we think we are.

As for sending footage to the old bill of other's driving misdemeanors, that smacks of another step down the road where the UK is gradually morphing into East Germany 30 years ago, something that should be resisted not welcomed.

Net tax payers pay quite enough for our police service already maybe a few less shiny bottomed well paid blinged epauletted higher levels driving desks, and lot more real coppers driving cars might help, they don't need £40+k executive cars doing 20mpg to catch the odd idiot either.

Edited by gordonbennet on 25/12/2016 at 09:38

Mazda CX-5 - Dash Cam good enough for reading Number Plates? - Wackyracer

I've been looking at the DD Pai M6+ recently with a view of maybe buying one. You can see reviews of it on youtube. I like it because it's small, has no screen and a mounting that means it can be easily removed and used in other vehicles with mounts/PSU's available at a sensible cost.

Mazda CX-5 - Dash Cam good enough for reading Number Plates? - alan1302

I've been looking at the DD Pai M6+ recently with a view of maybe buying one. You can see reviews of it on youtube. I like it because it's small, has no screen and a mounting that means it can be easily removed and used in other vehicles with mounts/PSU's available at a sensible cost.

Have one of those and found it to be great

Mazda CX-5 - Dash Cam good enough for reading Number Plates? - bazza

GB I couldn't agree more, it's a slippery slope we're heading down. The idea of snitching on

fellow citizens was encouraged in 1930s Germany it might be worth reminding ourselves.

Mazda CX-5 - Dash Cam good enough for reading Number Plates? - Andrew-T

It wouldn't matter how good a dash-cam is - some rear reg-plates I have seen recently have been so thick in crud that is has been hard to tell if there is a registration on them. I assume it to be a deliberate attempt to fox cameras.

Mazda CX-5 - Dash Cam good enough for reading Number Plates? - RT

It wouldn't matter how good a dash-cam is - some rear reg-plates I have seen recently have been so thick in crud that is has been hard to tell if there is a registration on them. I assume it to be a deliberate attempt to fox cameras.

In many cases it's not a deliberate attempt at anything - it's simply not caring/bothering - my son recently had to clean his rear number plate as the employer's ANPR wouldn't let him out of their car-park - he hasn't inherited all my good habits!

Mazda CX-5 - Dash Cam good enough for reading Number Plates? - RichT54

I decided to get a dashcam after witnessing a maniac on a motor scooter on the M3 a couple of years ago. Traffic was heavy in all 3 lanes but maintaining 65 - 70 miles per hour. Not content with going with the flow, the rider was weaving rapidly from lane to lane in a very dangerous manner. Suddenly he flew past my right side and swerved violently left in front of me, cutting back into the inside lane. I missed hitting him by millimeters. His actions were completely irresponsible, putting himself and everyone else at great risk. It made me think that, if I had hit him he would surely have been killed. How would I be able to prove that it wasn't my fault (assuming any witnesses didn't hang around).

I also wondered in this sort of case, where somebody was behaving so recklessly, even though there was no accident, that if I had had a dashcam recording at the time, should I have offered it to the police? I believe that in this case I would have. That rider should not be on the road.

Fortunately since getting the dashcam, I haven't seen anything worthy of such consideration.

Mazda CX-5 - Dash Cam good enough for reading Number Plates? - Kenneth Green

This is exactly the situation I am talking about.

It is not a case of being a "snitch" as I think that is completely stupid and irrisponsible attitude for people to take. There are far more idiots on the roads these days and how some of them pass the driving test is beyond me. Plus we have far more drivers from other countrys now who may not have the same standards as the UK.

I forget the number of times I have seen drivers using mobiles on both back roads and motorways and it is plain idocy - it is that simple. In my mind no driver who is driving correctly and safely has nothing to hide and has no reason to object to Dash-Cams. The price of Car Insurance is through the roof and is only going to get worse so as far as I am concerned anything we canm do to make the roads safer is only a good thing.

Mazda CX-5 - Dash Cam good enough for reading Number Plates? - davecooper

On the subject of siting dashcams, I have a Nextbase in my Mazda 3. It sits at the top of the screen, just to the left of the rear view mirror. From my driving position, it is completely hidden by the mirror so not a distraction, even at night.

Mazda CX-5 - Dash Cam good enough for reading Number Plates? - Kenneth Green

Thanks for all of your replays and advice everyone.

In the end I have ordered a Thinkware F770 Front and Rear which is being fitted at the Mazda dealers ready for me to collect the car together with a Tracker.

Thanks all.