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RoadHawk launch multicamera black box drive recorder
Article by: Darren Griffin
Date: 21 Aug 2014
With ever rising cost of motor insurance and crash for cash scams, in-car black box video camera systems are now a popular add-on that can help tip the balance back in favour of the motorist.
RoadHawk are specialists in this area with a range of in-vehicle camera products. In the past we've reviewed a number of their products including the RoadHawk DC-1 and the RoadHawk HD. Now they've added to the range with the RaodHawk E10, a multi-camera solution designed for commercial fleets. The RoadHawk E10 can provide 360 degree coverage, with both internal and external protection and supports upto 4 cameras.
Other features include 'side swipe/cyclist' protection, rear view, load and occupant monitoring options with the evidential grade video and GPS data recorded on a 100+ hour loop. The RoadHawk E10 system starts from £249.95 ex VAT plus fitting.
Source: Roadhawk.co.uk
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 Posted by PeteB on Fri Aug 22, 2014 7:26 am |
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When you think about it, (relatively) affordable CCTV systems have been available for the home for many years, so it's surprising it's taken so long for something to be made available for cars.
Even more disappointing is that a forward facing camera system was demonstrated on a road safety programme some 9-10 years ago, built into the rear view mirror, but as far as I know no vehicle manufacturer yet offers a built-in event recording system at any price!
A GSM add-on would be useful too to be able to receive warnings and view through the cameras remotely when the vehicle is parked.
PeteB
Hopton, UK |
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| Posted by RogerTil on Fri Aug 22, 2014 8:53 am |
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I'm surprised nobody has developed a smartphone app. yet.
Should be fairly easy - my phone sits in a cradle and faces forward and I've taken photos myself. The app. would just need to shoot a lowish res. photo every half a second or so and delete pix that are older than 5 minutes, unless the accelerometer detects a crash or user intervenes.
Res./frequency/retention period all paramaterised to match the amount of storage available.
May not be "evidence grade", but would certainly help in a court case...
Simples.
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| Posted by Darren on Fri Aug 22, 2014 9:03 am |
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There are loads of smartphone apps that do this. But none can replace a dedicated device that is always active when you're driving and dedicated devices have wide angle lenses.
Darren Griffin |
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| Posted by PeteB on Fri Aug 22, 2014 10:16 am |
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| Darren Wrote: | | ...dedicated device that is always active when you're driving ... |
and that's a key point.
Before I had a RoadHawk hard wired into my car (nice to have CCTV [to the front, at least] when parked too) I had a cheap and cheerful screen mounted camera that I had to charge indoors every day, and remember to attach to the mount and switch on every time I drove.
I was always worried the odd time I forgot would be the time I needed it!
PeteB
Hopton, UK |
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| Posted by RogerTil on Fri Aug 22, 2014 11:59 am |
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| Darren Wrote: | | There are loads of smartphone apps that do this. But none can replace a dedicated device that is always active when you're driving and dedicated devices have wide angle lenses. |
I looked for an app. like this a couple of months ago for a droid phone but couldn't find one. Pointer please ?
Agreed it wouldn't be as good as a dedicated device of course...
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| Posted by lthomasrx on Fri Aug 22, 2014 2:11 pm |
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| RogerTil Wrote: | | Darren Wrote: | | There are loads of smartphone apps that do this. But none can replace a dedicated device that is always active when you're driving and dedicated devices have wide angle lenses. |
I looked for an app. like this a couple of months ago for a droid phone but couldn't find one. Pointer please ?
Agreed it wouldn't be as good as a dedicated device of course... |
Trying looking for "dash cam" in either appstore or google play.
I use Autoguard Pro on my Note 2 runs in background mode and starts my Sygic satnav automatically so if I'm driving it's on.
Autoguard stores video files in whichever format you specify and also stores a .srt file which can be read by players like videolan's VLC as subtitles. This means you can play them back on your pc or any other similar device without special software.
As for the delete after 5 mins that's fine for accidents but what about if you're sure you went past that camera under the limit but you get a little note through the post claiming you didn't? I transfer both my video and srt files to a folder on my network and keep them for three months just in case.
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| Posted by RogerTil on Fri Aug 22, 2014 2:43 pm |
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| lthomasrx Wrote: |
Trying looking for "dash cam" in either appstore or google play. |
Thanks, I'll give it try.
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| Posted by matthewj on Wed Aug 27, 2014 12:15 pm |
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| PeteB Wrote: | | Even more disappointing is that a forward facing camera system was demonstrated on a road safety programme some 9-10 years ago, built into the rear view mirror, but as far as I know no vehicle manufacturer yet offers a built-in event recording system at any price! |
The biggest problem with that is the sales message: "Our car includes a camera for when you CRASH". (That's how the buyer will hear it - who wants a car that will crash?) I suspect nowadays there have been enough cases where it has been shown to help avoid insurance scams, so perhaps that might change.
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| Posted by PeteB on Wed Aug 27, 2014 4:12 pm |
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| matthewj Wrote: | | The biggest problem with that is the sales message: "Our car includes a camera for when you CRASH"... |
doesn't that apply equally to air-bags, seats belts...?
PeteB
Hopton, UK |
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